The term “fake news” is increasingly used to discredit information from reputable news organizations. This tactic, of framing the news as biased and dishonest rather than just incompetent, has proven unusually successful at sowing distrust. We test the possibility that claims of fake news (compared to other means of discrediting the media) are appealing because they are consistent with the human need to see the world as structured. Believing the news is wrong because of (political) bias and dishonest intent implies a more structured and predictable world than believing news is wrong because of journalistic incompetence or carelessness. We test this hypothesis across four studies that employ multiple methods. Individuals with dispositionally high or situationally increased need for structure were more likely to attribute real-world reporting errors to instances of intentional deception versus journalistic incompetence. This effect persisted after controlling for strength of political identification and occurred for stories that were worldview consistent and inconsistent. This work advances understanding of the psychological processes that facilitate distrust in media, and helps identify when, and for whom, fake news claims are most persuasive.