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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: hoax

hoax stories: 45 news summaries

1 - 20 of 45 Stories | 1 2 3 Next >>

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 Mobile Firm's 
 Meteor Stunt 
 Backfires 

Hoaxed Latvians plan to cancel Swedish company's contracts

Oct 28, 09 4:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - A Swedish mobile phone company has dug itself into a crater with a marketing stunt involving a fake meteorite. Tele2 dug a hole in a meadow in Latvia and placed burning chemicals in the bottom to simulate a meteor strike, making headlines worldwide and fooling emergency services into cordoning off... More »

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Iraq • hoax • meteorites

Brandon Keim

 Thanks for the Ride, Falcon 


Oct 23, 09 1:52 PM CDT
(Newser) - Just about everyone seems to hate Richard Heene, but the emotion just proves how powerfully the balloon boy hoax gripped our collective imagination. “Had Richard called 911 and reported that he’d last seen his son near a Greyhound bus station, almost nobody would have cared,” writes Brandon... More »

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hot air balloon • hoax • balloon • helium balloons • Falcon Heene • Richard Heene • balloon boy hoax • balloon boy

 Kanye Lives!  And So Do 
 These Other Hoaxed Celebs 

Fake rumors of celebrity death from Kanye West to Frank Sinatra

Oct 22, 09 4:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - We're happy for you Kanye, but Paul McCartney's may have been the best celebrity death hoax of all time. An elaborate Internet hoax fooled many into thinking Kanye West had been killed in a car crash yesterday, prompting the Los Angeles Times to look at other celebs who fell victim... More »

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Paul McCartney • Tom Cruise • Kanye West • celebrity • Tom Hanks • hoax • rumor • hoaxes • Frank Sinatra • celebrity death

OPINION

 Balloon Boy 
 Another Blow 
 to Trust 

Politicians are the ones most lost in forest of fakery

Oct 22, 09 3:35 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Falcon Heene fiasco sums up the dilemma facing a society riddled with fake news, Photoshop fakes, and even fake Rush Limbaugh quotes, writes Daniel Henninger. "Reality TV" is the perfect metaphor for a world where you need to routinely "ask yourself whether what's in front of you... More »

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reality TV • satire • health care reform • hoax • Falcon Heene • balloon boy hoax

Balloon Family Feels
'Under Siege': Lawyer

Lawyer says stunt has turned into a "nightmare for the family."

Oct 19, 09 4:56 PM CDT
(Newser) - Richard and Mayumi Heene are likely regretting the hoax they staged using their 6-year-old son and a balloon: With criminal charges looming and public opinion turning against them, the family feels “under siege,” their lawyer said today. The FAA has opened an investigation into the incident; it has... More »

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Colorado • hoax • Denver International Airport • Falcon Heene • Richard Heene • balloon boy hoax • Falcon Heene hoax • balloon boy • Mayumi Heene

first person

How I Helped Plan
the Balloon Boy Hoax

Scheme was a campaign to return to reality TV: researcher

Oct 18, 09 3:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - Balloon boy Falcon Heene's father, Richard, planned the hoax because he wanted to return to reality TV, claims a former research assistant. Heene "was often driven by ego and fame," Robert Thomas says in an interview with Gawker, which the website acknowledges it paid him for. "... More »

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Colorado • hoax • Falcon Heene • Richard Heene • balloon boy hoax • Falcon Heene hoax • balloon boy • Robert Thomas

WATCH IT

 Balloon Boy  
 Throws Up 
 on Today, 
 GMA, as Dad 
 Denies Hoax 

Falcon Heene vomits twice on-air during morning show rounds

Oct 16, 09 8:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Heene family made the morning show rounds today, denying that the “Balloon Boy” saga and search for assumed-missing son Falcon was a publicity stunt. “I went through such a rollercoaster of emotions yesterday, to have people say that, I think is extremely pathetic,” dad Richard told... More »

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hot air balloon • missing child • hoax • balloon • Falcon Heene • Richard Heene • balloon boy hoax • balloon boy throws up • Falcon Heene hoax • balloon boy today show

UPDATED

 Was Balloon Boy Stunt a Hoax? 

Falcon Heene tells CNN 'we did this for the show'

Oct 16, 09 6:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - An apparent "slip" by Falcon Heene has fueled frenzied internet speculation that yesterday's balloon hoohah was a publicity stunt orchestrated by his family. When his dad asked him during a CNN interview with the family why the 6-year-old didn't come out of the attic when people were calling his... More »

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Colorado • hoax • balloon • Falcon Heene • Richard Heene • balloon boy hoax • balloon boy throws up • Falcon Heene hoax • balloon boy today show

OPINION

 Jim Morrison 
 Is Not in This Photo 

Chalk up ghostly image to wishful thinking

Oct 13, 09 6:27 PM CDT
(Newser) - Jim Morrison is still dead. Repeat: Still dead. Unfortunately, and just in time for Halloween, researchers in a new book assert that an old photo taken of a visitor to Morrison's grave does indeed show the singer's ghostly image rising, complains Lou Carlozo. These supposed experts rule out weird lighting... More »

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hoax • Jim Morrison • The Doors • ghosts • rock

 Underwater Billboards? 
 They're Suspicious in Seattle 

Seafood standby heavily promoting 'recently' discovered underwater ad campaign

Sep 18, 09 9:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - After unearthing plans laid long ago by its founder, a legendary Seattle seafood restaurant is pulling underwater advertising billboards out of Puget Sound—though Ivar’s accompanying advertising blitz and founder Ivar Haglund’s notorious record of self-promotion have residents smelling something fishy, the Times reports. “If I was... More »

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advertising • Seattle • hoax • underwater • Puget Sound • salvage • Ivar's • Ivar Haglund

Hoaxsters Get German Media to Report Fake Attack on US

Fake city of Bluewater California supposedly attacked by rappers

Sep 12, 09 1:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - A group of Internet-savvy hoaxers had all of Deutschland believing that a group of German rappers had attempted a suicide bombing in a California Thursday, Wired reports. The DPA—Germany’s version of the AP—ran a story with the headline “Attack in Small California Town,” reporting that... More »

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California • Germany • prank • hoax • terror attack

Dutch Museum's 'Moon Rock' an Out-of-This-World Fake

Gift from NASA is just petrified wood, tests reveal

Aug 28, 09 3:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - A “moon rock” exhibited at the Dutch national museum is actually petrified wood, the BBC reports. The three Apollo 11 astronauts gave the object to former PM Willem Drees on a tour following their 1969 moon mission; NASA shared similar artifacts with more than 100 other countries. The purported... More »

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NASA • museum • Netherlands • moon • Holland • hoax • moon rock • Rijksmuseum • petrified wood

OPINION

 Gawker Catches HuffPo 
 Falling for Hoax 




Arianna must be thrilled, Gawker blogger muses

Jul 22, 09 7:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - An airport in Central Park? Sounds ridiculous, but the Huffington Post fell for it yesterday—much to the delight and amusement of Gawker. HuffPo ran a satirical story on its homepage last night (caught in a screenshot by Gawker before it was removed) with what appeared to be a straight... More »

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online media • New York City • Manhattan • airport • hoax • Gawker • Central Park • Huffington Post

 Moon-Landing Denier 
 Exposed as a Cheat 

Buzz Aldrin punched out man who claimed landings were faked

Jul 21, 09 6:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - A filmmaker who persistently claims the moon landings were a hoax is beginning to look like a hoaxer himself, the Examiner reports. Bart Sibrel has produced documentaries labeling the Apollo landing a fake, but a new video has surfaced proving he deliberately mismatched NASA's audio and video footage to mislead... More »

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NASA • Buzz Aldrin • hoax • moon landings • conspiracy theory • Apollo 11 • Bart Sibrel

GOSSIP ROUNDUP

 Britney, Ellen Alive but Hacked 

Also: Is Megan Fox dating co-star?

Jun 29, 09 12:37 PM CDT
(Newser) - Never fear: Britney Spears is alive. A post from her Twitter account claiming she had died is false, the AP reports, a result of the hacking of her Twitpic account.  Ellen DeGeneres’ account with Twitpic—a program not owned by Twitter—was also hacked. Elsewhere:
  • Rumors continue to
... More »

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entertainment • Britney Spears • Shia LaBeouf • celebrity • Kevin Rudd • Ellen DeGeneres • Madonna • hoax • hacking • Sacha Baron Cohen • Twitter • Megan Fox • Bruno • Mercy James • Twitpic

OPINION

 Sony Armageddon 
 Hoax in Crashing 
 Bad Taste 

World will end in 2012: Sony site

Jun 15, 09 2:07 AM CDT
(Newser) - The latest Armageddon hoax has a marketing spin that LiveScience's Robert Roy Britt describes as a "sick twist." Sony Pictures went to elaborate lengths to disguise its movie plug on the "Institute for Human Continuity" website, which warns of "cataclysmic events that will devastate our planet"... More »

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entertainment • Sony • Earth • hoax • movies • armageddon • Election 2012

'Mancow': Waterboarding
'Absolutely Real'

Says term 'hoax' used to throw off police, station management

May 30, 09 2:19 PM CDT
(Newser) - Erich “Mancow” Muller is outraged by the Gawker report that he faked his own waterboarding, the Chicago Tribune reports. The right-wing shock jock defended himself last night on MSNBC's Countdown: “It’s like saying that Mike Tyson’s daughter didn’t really hang herself,” he said. He... More »

MORE ABOUT:
torture • MSNBC • Keith Olbermann • waterboarding • hoax • Erich "Mancow" Muller

(Newser) - Erich “Mancow” Muller’s on-air waterboarding was a hoax, an anonymous tipster tells Gawker, forwarding a seemingly damning e-mail exchange between the shock jock’s publicist and a veterans group she was hoping could find a torturer. “It is going to have to look ‘real,’”... More »

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torture • MSNBC • Keith Olbermann • waterboarding • hoax • Erich "Mancow" Muller • Countdown • Linda Shafran

Obit Editors
Fall for Fake Wikipedia Quote

Papers printed Maurice Jarre gem, but he didn't say it; Irish student did

May 11, 09 3:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - An Irish college student managed to prank the world media in an attempt to illustrate lax fact-checking in today’s 24-hour news cycle, the AP reports. When French composer Maurice Jarre died March 28, Shane Fitzgerald fabricated a delicious quote and put it on the Jarre Wikipedia page. The citizen... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • Wikipedia • hoax • newspaper industry • Maurice Jarre • Shane Fitzgerald • quote • Jay-ZTV

 Joaquin a 'Crazy Person 
 With a Beard': Director

Gray echoes comments from last month

Mar 26, 09 8:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - If Joaquin Phoenix’s transition to rapping is a hoax “then it’s the most elaborate thing that I have ever seen,” Two Lovers director James Gray tells the Times of London, citing the actor’s in-home recording studio and constant claims of being “tired” on-set as... More »

MORE ABOUT:
celebrity • hoax • Joaquin Phoenix • James Gray • acting career • Howard Stern Grid

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