Hoaxes

Historians will identify the end of last week as the moment when a question asked through the ages – has the world gone mad? – was finally and categorically answered in the affirmative by the Heene family of Colorado.

Authorities now say Richard Heene and his wife plotted to hoax the world into thinking their six-year-old son Falcon was stuck inside a runaway balloon contraption in order to increase their chances of getting on a reality TV show.

But instead of getting on TV Heene could be going to jail, possibly depriving the children who were central to the alleged plot a father for a good deal of time. And all because, apparently, he wanted a little bit of money and fame.

Continue reading "The age of the media hoax" »

Are we becoming so jaded by Photographic forgeries that we now question every image?

“Amazing picture is the real deal-no porkies”  this was the headline on the page 5 picture story in last Tuesday’s Sydney Daily Telegraph.

The news content in this story about a giant feral pig shot some years back in Western Australia was that it was indeed a genuine picture and not forged. It had been written off as an internet hoax and even the WA ‘s own Department of Environment and Conservation had dismissed it as a forgery.

How have we reached this point where it is now news when a picture is in fact genuine and does it matter?

Continue reading "Stop the presses: this photograph is real" »