News sites fall for Metallica hoax
News Web sites and radio stations reported that heavy metal band Metallica is suing a Canadian band called Unfaith for trademark infringement over the use of "Metallica-branded" chords E and F. The story was a hoax, picked up from a faked MTV.com story about the suit, created by freelance graphic designer and aspiring musician Erik Ashley, 29, CourtTV.com reports. This should have been soooooooo obvious! Aside from the fact that the story itself is ridiculous enough that anyone should have been skeptical from the get-go, the story is on a page with a URL that doesn't even attempt to ape MTV.com's: www1.scoopthis.com/411/met_uf/stc_met_uf_mtv.htmAmong the sites that fell for the hoax were Ananova and ArtsJournal.com, proof that news consumers, too, need to be skeptical of what they find online. Even ABC's Jimmy Kimmel reportedly mentioned it on his talk show before retracting the story the following day.
Jul 23, 2003 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT | PERMALINK | DISCUSS(0)
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