A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue headlines of the week. None of these stories is legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. the AP checked these out. Here are the real facts:
CNN’s Anderson Cooper Caught Faking Hurricane Florence Intensity
Several online sites this week shared photos of CNN anchorman Anderson Cooper broadcasting while standing in waist-high water, falsely claiming the images proved he faked the wrath of Hurricane Florence on air. The claims were made after Donald Trump Jr. tweeted the photo of Cooper, which also showed his camera crew standing a few feet away in water only above their ankles. Trump did not specifically mention Hurricane Florence in his social media post. The photo was taken a decade ago when Cooper was broadcasting during Hurricane Ike, not during Florence, which hit North and South Carolina this month. During a Monday broadcast, Cooper addressed several of the claims on the internet and Donald Trump Jr.’s tweet. “I’ve covered hurricanes for about 14 years, and it really does make me sad to think that anyone would believe that I would try to fake something or overly dramatize a disaster,” Cooper said.
Pilot amazingly saves his passengers’ lives during a typhoon
Footage of a plane diving through the sky, doing a roll before righting itself, is not the work of a pilot saving his plane from typhoon winds in China, as some sites are suggesting.
The clip, which purports to be Aeroplane Dragon Air B-737 hit by a typhoon in Shenzhen, China, is actually half computer-generated video of a plane spinning through the air with footage from an emergency landing of a Capital Airlines flight at a Shenzhen City airport in August. The second half of the video matches video frames taken of passengers deplaning from the Capital Airlines flight after the emergency landing. Aristomenis Tsirbas, director at Menithings Productions, told the AP he created the first portion of the video using CGI. “Yes, the part of the video that shows an airliner spinning 360 degrees is stolen copyrighted work – specifically, my work.”
NC Clerk Refuses To Sell Gas To Man Fleeing Hurricane Over Trump Bumper Sticker
A North Carolina gas station clerk did not refuse service to a customer because of a Trump bumper sticker during Hurricane Florence. The story, originating from America’s Last Line of Defense, a site that labels itself as satire, claimed Marathon gas station clerk Marvin Jones “wanted to play God” during the hurricane and decided to turn down Earl Hammerschmidt. The report said police called to the scene said the clerk was allowed to deny him service. The false story circulated on the internet as Hurricane Florence made landfall last week. America’s Last Line of Defense confirmed that the story originated on their site.
This is part of The Associated Press’ ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform.
