We can attribute the popularization of the term: "Lies, lies, damned lies, and statistics" to the great Mark Twain, who attributed it to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
That was back in the day before the mainstream media adopted "lies, damned lies, and statistics." as their own.
MSM leaders, such as the Washington Post and New York Times will never call "Fake News' what it really is--lies, damned lies and statistics--but their readers certainly can.