Multiple mainstream journalists spread misinformation based on a doctored video to suggest that French President Emmanuel Macron was so loved on his arrival in French Polynesia that he was completely smothered in garland necklaces.
Turns out the entire thing was a scam based on a hoax video, but many journalists have refused to delete their viral tweets.
On Monday, Illuminati Reptilien, a French satirical Twitter account known for the creation of doctored video shorts, posted an eight-second video of officials in French Polynesia officials draping the president in traditional garland necklaces, reports Sputnik.
The final seconds of the video show Macron standing alongside other officials totally covered in flowers from his head down to his knees.
Soon, some genius took a screenshot of the doctored video, and it spread like wildfire on social media, with some users, including serious diplomatic correspondents, opinion writers and global affairs analysts, taking the photo and video at face value.
Among them were Frida Ghitis, a CNN and Washington Post contributor, who tweeted, and then deleted, the screenshot, accompanying it with the tagline “My God! Macron over-garlanded in Polynesia.”
He eventually deleted the tweet, but others didn’t, including Noga Tarnopolsky, an Israel-based journalist who writes for the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Daily Beast.
“President Macron is turned into a human wreath during his official welcome to French Polynesia,” tweeted Tarnopolsky, receiving over 36,000 likes for the post.
Others, including Newsweek deputy opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon, The Guardian, New Statesman, and Politico contributor Pauline Bock, BBC Radio 1 host Ali Plumb, The Daily Beast editor at large Molly Jong-Fast, and CNN senior global affairs analyst Bianna Golodryga were similarly duped.
Only a few, including Australian Broadcasting Corporation journalist Anthony Stewart, and Le Parisien journalist Nicolas Beunaiche spotted the fake and pointed out to their colleagues that it was photoshopped.
Forsided, 29.07.2021
Source: Sputnik News