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Oops. Today Show reports fake Ed Sheeran news.

Today show fails to realise its news report on a manhunt was all made up.

“Great story T. Vo,” said Karl Stefanovic this morning.

Except that it wasn’t real news at all….

The Today Show reported a manhunt is underway in Ohio for an “Ed Sheeran” lookalike who apparently performed at churches for 35 dollars and a sandwich.

But Nine’s producers failed to recognise that the Portsmouth Ohio Official Facebook page is a parody site.

The man is actually Andrew Campbell of Chester, UK, who was sentenced last month for four years and three months for dealing in heroin.

Nine later deleted their tweet with the report and told viewers “We did fall for this one. It was from a satirical news site.

“Still a good laugh.”

14 Responses

  1. They all cannibalise each other. If you look at The Today Show in the US, you’ll see striking similarities to the set for Sunrise at various points in the show’s history. Sunrise cannibalised from them, Today cannibalises from Sunrise….they all do it. If a competitor is winning in the ratings, their opposition look at what they’re doing and try and replicate it (with some minor modifications). That’s just business.

    But it is a huge turnoff, I agree. Today used to be distinct. Now it’s as generic as Sunrise, which I think has become the victim of its own success. So many people I talk to can’t stand Sunrise anymore.

  2. I don’t see how 9 can just fob it off like they did. Today is a big part of their news brand which relies on credibility. This should never of happened. The Today show is lazy. Cheap set, Sunrise rip off and re hash host, all reflected in the ratings.

  3. It’s an amusing gaffe, but it shows an underlying issue with “news” and research, mainly that research seems to be non-existent. I get that we are working on an incredibly fast news cycle, but there are enough researchers, producers, working on these shows that there has to be somebody checking on the absolute basics at least. Just picking up something from Facebook isn’t a good enough source and it’s a worrying trend.

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