Internet Hoaxes
27 October 09
The recent balloon boy story is not the only hoax of the moment. In the past two years there have been numerous internet hoaxes, scams and faked scandals. Out of the numerous ruses, our top four most successful, original and outlandish internet hoaxes are as follows:
The story of a man and his placard
On August 26 of this year, a man stood on a busy street near Washington, D.C. with a placard stating, "I cheated and this is my punishment." The story of the penitent and embarrassed adulterer carrying a placard of shame went viral. It was picked up by Fox 5 WTTG-TV in Washington, D.C and repeated by dozens of news outlets, including London's Daily Mail. Turns out, the whole scenario had been staged by a local Washington radio station in order to dupe journalists and as an exercise in the way the media 'bizz' works. Fox later reported that the story was bogus, failing to mention that they were among the first to 'scoop' the scam.
A doctorate in deception
The New York Daily News reported the excellent story of the female rapper who forced her record label to pay for her PhD from Cornell University. Sadly, the story proved false. The article begins "Twenty-five years after the first queen of hip-hop was stiffed on her royalty checks, Dr. Roxanne Shante boasts an Ivy League Ph.D. - financed by a forgotten clause in her first record deal."
Unfortunately, it appeared that Cornell had no record of Shante ever attending Cornell despite words on their website to the contrary, and the article now appears online underneath the following disclaimer: "It has come to the attention of the Daily News that a number of statements in this article written for the Daily News by a freelance reporter are, or may be, false. Cornell University has told us that Shante did not receive any degree from it under either her birth or stage name. We have confirmed that prior to the article, at least four publications on Cornell's own website reported that Shante had earned a Ph.D. from the university. Those references have now been removed. And in response to an inquiry today, Marymount College stated that Shante attended there for less than one semester."
Tears caused by Onion
An article in the US-based satirical magazine, the Onion, reported that Neil Armstrong had seen the error of his ways and now realised that that whole 'landing on the moon' thing was all a massive conspiracy. In the article, the Onion 'quotes' Armstrong as attributing his conversion to the tireless efforts of one fanatical online conspiracy theorist.
One very special Armstrong 'quote' had Armstrong saying he "could've sworn" he was leaving the earth's atmosphere. Incredibly, this article was picked up as fact by not one, but two Bangladesh-based newspapers. Apologies were later offered by both papers. Turns out he was the man on the moon.
Feed a cold, starve a fever, burn the 'flu
In our favourite hoax, The Vanderbilt Hustler, the student paper of Vanderbilt University in the US, announced that the university's health department was encouraging students who had been ill with the Swine Flu virus to burn their contaminated clothing, books and miscellaneous possessions in a massive university bonfire.
The article was intended as an in-joke, given the huge number of students who had fallen ill with Swine 'Flu since the beginning of term in September. However it was picked up by at least two papers as fact. Both papers have since apologised for the confusion.
