Fake news fact check
A look at what didn’t happen last week
A roundup of some of the most popular, but completely untrue, headlines of last week. None of these stories are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked these out; here are the real facts:
Not real: Rosa Parks’ daughter praises Trump’s response to Charlottesville
The facts: A hoax story created by ourlandofthefree.com claims Rosa Parks’ daughter spoke out in support of President Donald Trump during a speech in Washington, saying her late mother “would have been proud of the President’s words.” The civil rights icon never had children. The picture of the fictional Muriel Parks-Rosenberg accompanying the story is actually a photo of Democratic Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner.
Not real: Delaware cemetery begins exhuming bodies of Confederate soldiers
The facts: A cemetery in the small town of Delaware, Ohio, has no plans to dig up the remains of Civil War soldiers and toss them into a creek, despite a story created by a farce site made to look like a local news outlet. Lee Yoakum, a spokesman for the city, calls the story “the fakest of fake news.” DelawareOhio News.com also posted a story stating Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich legalized exhumation of Confederate graves, which also isn’t true.
Not real: Charles Manson to be released on parole, to (insert city here)
The facts: The notorious mass murderer isn’t being released on parole anytime soon, despite various stories circulating online. The stories originated in 2014 with an article by the hoax site Empire News. A site named breakingnews365.net shared similar stories recently claiming Manson was headed to states including Texas and Connecticut. The 82year-old Manson was denied parole for the 12th time in 2012 and isn’t eligible again until 2027.
Not real: Police: Chester Bennington was murdered
The facts: YourNewsWire.com and NewsPunch.com, two sites that frequently publish stories based on conspiracy theories, have posted articles claiming the 41year-old lead singer of Linkin Park was murdered and the media are covering up his cause of death. The sites offer a quote from an unnamed police source and a deleted tweet from Bennington’s wife’s Twitter account, which had been hacked, as the evidence of a possible homicide. Bennington hanged himself in his home near Los Angeles last month. The Los Angeles County coroner ruled the death a suicide.
Not real: NBC News: By the end of 2017 all Americans will receive a microchip implant!
The facts: NBC never reported such a thing, despite numerous false stories shared online by websites including healthfitpoint.com. The story includes video of a 2007 “NBC Nightly News” report on what life would be like in 2017. NBC made no such claims in the report.