CNBC.com updated Friday afternoon a story about a German man getting a divorce sawing his possessions in half with a note that it was a publicity stunt by a law firm.
The original story was posted on its site on Thursday, June 18, at 6:52 p.m., with the title, “This man literally gave his ex half of everything they owned.”
Other media also covered the story as if it was real. However, a German law firm later admitted that it was behind the story. Most other media have corrected their original stories.
On Monday, June 22, at 3:54 p.m., CNBC.com posted a new story with the headline, “German lawyers claim they’re behind viral divorce story” but did not post a correction to its original story.
A CNBC spokesman said the follow-up story was “featured on the homepage for a full day.”
However, a correction on the original story was not added until Talking Biz News asked Friday afternoon about why there wasn’t a designation on it noting the story was a hoax.
Now, the story has the following at the bottom: “(Update: This turns out to have been a marketing gimmick by a German lawyers’ group, and not actually the result of a divorce case, as noted in this June 22 story.)”
