Fake news is more readily understood than specifying the myriad of complaints regarding the shoddy or outright deceitful media coverage of certain issues.
For instance, you could point out that CNN frequently gets things wrong, runs wildly inaccurate stories based on bad information (such as claiming the Boston Bomber was already in custody, with potentially disastrous results), has hilariously coverage practices (such as having reporters stationed a street away from each other), and does ridiculous things to fill their 24 hour news cycle (including spending months on a missing airline, including asking whether a black hole might have swallowed it). At a certain point, it's just easier to call them fake news. Humorously, though, Jon Stewart, John Oliver, and others spent years mocking CNN yet the second it get attacked by a Republican they rallied their wagons around it.
And, while the term came up in regards to Trump, these problems are anything but new.
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand fake news. ---
