An article titled, “Ferguson Protester Accidentally Burns Down Own House,” is merely satire, but many on social media sites were apparently confused by it.
The fake report was posted on the Daily Currant, a satirical website similar to The Onion.
Here’s the site’s disclaimer: “The Daily Currant is an English language online satirical newspaper that covers global politics, business, technology, entertainment, science, health and media. It is accessible from over 190 countries worldwide - now including South Sudan.”
“Our mission is to ridicule the timid ignorance which obstructs our progress, and promote intelligence - which presses forward,” it also says, and adds: “Our stories are purely fictional. However they are meant to address real-world issues through satire and often refer and link to real events happening in the world.”
The Daily Currant article uses fake quotes, fake names, and even cites a fake newspaper--The Ferguson Post-Gazette (there is a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette but not one for Ferguson).
It reads, in part: “According to a report in the Ferguson Post-Gazette, 32-year-old Tyler Jackson threw a Molotov cocktail into a window not realizing he was setting ablaze his own residence. The home, which was empty at the time, subsequently burned to the ground.”
Over the week, following a grand jury’s decision not to return an indictment on police officer Darren Wilson in the killing of teenager Michael Brown, there’s been vandalism, looting, and arson in Ferguson.
Some users apparently thought the Currant article was true.
“No this is what stupidity in America looks like. Your house burned to the ground because firefighters were busy putting out other fires set by your fellow idiots. Suck it up. You got what you deserved,” one person wrote in the comments section.
