"The
essential element in the black art of obscurantism is not that it wants
to darken individual understanding, but that it wants to blacken our
picture of the world, and darken our idea of existence." – Nietzsche
Agnotology is the cultural production of ignorance. I like this conception, where ignorance isn't an absence but rather an actual cultural product, e.g. various conspiracy theories, or "intelligent design," or what have you.
How much of the reportage and wild media speculation and fascination with the North Korean situation might be described as agnotological? The media must report something, but not knowing anything, they speculate, instead, and end up producing plenty of "news" nevertheless.
This is the willful production of ignorance-for-profit.