Fans of Alice Munro, the Canadian author renowned for her short stories — for which she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013 and the Man Booker Prize in 2009 — are breathing a little bit easier after news of her death was revealed to be a hoax.
At 6:21 a.m. eastern time on Monday, a Twitter account passing itself off as that of McClelland & Stewart, Munro’s publishers, released tweets saying that the author had passed away. However, the account in question was @McClellandNews, whereas the actual account of the publisher is @McClellandBooks.
“URGENT. McClelland&Stewart and Random House Canada announces the death of greatest short story writer Alice Munro, Nobel Prize in Literature for 2013,” the first tweet read.
The same account later added at 7 a.m.:
“Sheila Munro officially confirms the news of the death of her mother Alice Munro. A press announcement to be released soon.”
After over 90 minutes of reaction on social media, in which fans lamented the “passing” of the Canadian great, the account then posted at 8:07 a.m.: “This account is hoax created by Italian journalist Tommasso Debenedetti.”
The fake account was later suspended by Twitter.
It remains unclear whether the hoax account was in fact set up by Benedetti himself, but the Italian journalist in question does have previous form.
He has become known as one of the foremost tweeters of fake news — particularly fake death news — which he has said he does to expose the weakness of the media. His stunts have included announcing the fake deaths of Fidel Castro and Pedro Almodóvar, the renowned Spanish filmmaker.
“Social media is the most unverifiable information source in the world but the news media believes it because of its need for speed,” he told the Guardian in 2012.
On Twitter, reaction against whoever posted the fake notice was quick to arrive, as were warnings to those who take tweets at face value without pausing for thought.
“Why on earth would you troll Alice Munro? What a hollow little heart you must have,” one user posted.
“Alice Munro is NOT dead,” tweeted Sian Cain, editor of Guardian Books.
“Aside from the facts (we verified she’s alive), this account is obviously fake — the real account is on @McClellandBooks — but I’ve seen people with lots of followers retweeting this. Don’t get your news from just goddamn Twitter.”
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November 12, 2019 at 01:49AM
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