False CNN-porn report shows how fast fake news spreads

Jefferson Graham , USA TODAY 8:19 p.m. EST November 25, 2016

LOS ANGELES — No, despite what you read, CNN did not run porn for 30 minutes last night, as was reported by Fox News, the New York Post,Variety and other news organizations, several of which later corrected their stories.

User @solikearose tweeted that Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown," travel show had been replaced, instead, by 30 minutes of porn, via the RCN Boston cable network. That tweet, bolstered by a statement from CNN that seemed to confirm the mishap, was the basis of stories from the U.K Independent and other outlets.


[font size=1]The tweet with fake info lit up Twitter (Photo: Medialite)[/font]

"Despite media reports to the contrary, RCN assures us that there was no interruption of CNN’s programming in the Boston area last night," said CNN in a statement.

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Little is known about @solikearose, but the account is now private. "Sorry guys, weirdos sending me hate mail & dick pics in the wake of #bourdainporn," she says on her Twitter page. "Good luck out there."

But as The Verge points out, "this is exactly how fake news spreads." A click-bait worthy tweet sounds like catnip to reporters, who take the info as fact, and run with it.

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