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Mar 24, 1475
"Blood Libel" in Italy
A Franciscan preacher, Bernardino da Feltre, and Prince-Bishop of Trent, Italy, Johannes IV Hinderbach, conspire to blame the disappearance of a local boy on the Jewish community, accusing them of killing him and drinking his blood. Hinderbach had 15 Jews burned at the stake for this crime in an example of the "blood libel" that had fueled anti-Semitism in Europe since the 12th Century. Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trento-Italy.jpg -
John Adams plants fake news stories
Adams, his brother Sam, and other patriots plant false and exaggerated stories to undermine the British colonialists. Gilbert Stuart. North Kingston, Rhode Island 1755-1828 Boston. John Adams, ca. 1815. Oil on panel, 26 x 21 in (66.2 x 52.8 cm). Boston Anthaneum. Gift of the estate of William Smith Shaw, 1826. -
Ben Franklin publishes fake newspaper in Paris
Franklin creates a fake issue of a real newspaper, and publishes a false story claiming that the revolutionary army had found bags with 700 scalps of Americans collected by Native Americans in cohort with King George, in order to generate support for the Revolution. Image: Duplessis, Joseph Siffred (French, Carpentras 1725–1802 Versailles). Benjamin Franklin. 1778. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: New York. -
The Great Moon Hoax
The New York Sun publishes a false account of life on the moon. Image retrieved from http://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/the-great-moon-hoax-of-1835-part-1.htm -
German journalist reports "from London"
Theodor Fontane, a German journalist, publishes reports about the 1861 Tooley Street fire "from London," when in actuality he merely uses bits and pieces from other reports combined with his own made up content. People believe his reports because he confirms many details they already know - from reading the same publications that he copied. Read more: http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/04/how-the-techniques-of-19th-century-fake-news-tell-us-why-we-fall-for-it-today/ Image: artist unknown -
Spanish-American War
At the height of "yellow journalism" William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer work with Teddy Roosevelt to gain support for aggression in Cuba with excessive coverage in their newspapers of the U.S.S. Maine explosion; many agree that this coverage swayed the public and led to the Spanish-American War. Image: "U.S.S. Maine." Detroit Publishing Company ca. 1897. Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920, Library of Congress. -
Der Chef
British journalist Sefton Delmer posed as "Der Chef," a supposed German officer, who voiced his excessive, extreme enthusiasm about the Nazi regime over short-wave radio in an effort to undermine Hitler and advance the Allied agenda. Image: CBS and photographer unknown - Self scan of original promotional glossy photograph date-stamped May 28, 1941 -
No Child Left Behind
Armstrong Williams, a prominent conservative journalist, is paid $240,000 by the Department of Education under the George W. Bush administration to promote No Child Left Behind as an impartial commentator on news programs. Image retrieved from www.armstrongwilliams.com
