Categories: OLD Media Moves

CNBC updates story that was a hoax

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.)”

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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