Fox News and the Ham Sandwich
by David StromFiled under: Media Pranks, Pranksters, Propaganda and Disinformation
Thank you David Strom for sending us this story about Fox News falling for a parody of a news story about a ham sandwich incident in a middle school in Maine.
From Think Progress:
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…The backstory: Last week in the town of Lewiston, Maine, a group of Somalian Muslim middle school students were the subject of a cruel prank when their peers placed a ham steak next to them in order to personally offend the students. School officials filed a report because the students considered the act to be a hate/bias crime.
This actual story was then spoofed by a parody site called Associated Content, which made up quotes and details, such as the school”™s intention to “create an anti-ham “˜response plan.”™”…
Fox & Friends subsequently picked up the spoof story and reported it as news, or should we say, mocked what they thought was the news. Here’s the video:
More links of interest:
Article by Paul Gerke on Associated Content about Associated Content’s reaction to the incident. (Unfortunately, the original parody by Nicholas Plagman, a member of the site since September of 2006, appears to now be blocked by Associated Content.)
Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine) article: “Ham report stirs ‘mess'”
