This story was first published on July 30, 2014
Outline:
Circulating report claims that 16 members of a Japanese whaling crew have been killed and eaten by a school of killer whales.
Brief Analysis:
The claims in the report are false. No such incident occurred. The story originates from the satirical, fake-news website World News Daily Report. Nothing published on World News Daily Report should be taken seriously.
Japanese Whaling Crew Eaten Alive By Killer Whales, 16 dead
A Japanese whaling crew has fallen victim to a dramatic full on assault by a school of killer whales, killing no less then 16 crew members and injuring 12, has reported the Japanese Government this morning.
Detailed Analysis:
Report Claims Japanese Whaling Crew Eaten By Killer Whales
A ‘news’ snippet currently circulating via social media claims that 16 members of a whaling crew have been eaten by a school of killer whales.
The message links back to a longer article that reports that, after an on-board panic caused by a gas leak on the MV Nisshin Maru, a number of crewmembers jumped overboard where they were viciously attacked by the killer whales, resulting in 16 deaths.
Reflecting widespread condemnation for Japan over its history of whaling, comments on the article suggest that the incident was ‘poetic justice’ and ‘karma’ for hunted whales.
Claims Are False — Story is From Satire Site ‘World News Daily Report’
However, the story is a work of fiction. No such incident occurred.
The story originates from the fake-news, ‘satirical’ website World News Daily Report. None of the stories published on the site should be taken seriously.
The World News Daily Report website includes the following disclaimer:
World News Daily Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within worldnewsdailyreport.com are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental, except for all references to politicians and/or celebrities, in which case they are based on real people, but still based almost entirely in fiction.
The image used in the article is stolen from an old news report and depicts an Australian customs boat beside the Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru in January 2008.
In recent months, the site has been responsible for a series of fake-news reports that have circulated far and wide, including stories claiming that a dinosaur egg hatched in a German museum and that giant human skeletons have been found in Iran.
While such stories may be entertaining in their original context, they often escape the confines of the originating site and circulate widely, duping recipients as they travel.
And, because the stories are presented in news format, many readers believe that the claims are true.
Since it was first published in 2014, various other fake-news and click-bait websites have republished the material. The fake story thus continues to circulate several years after the original version was published.
Fake-News Websites Now Common
Such fake-news websites have become increasingly common. Good satire is both important and entertaining. But, it could be argued that many of the current crop of ‘satirical’ websites just spew out misleading nonsense and are hardly deserving of the ‘satire’ tag.
Before sharing any supposed news item that comes your way via social media or email, it is wise to check its veracity via a reliable news source. If a report about a ‘newsworthy’ event – such as the deaths by killer whale of 16 whaling boat crew – were true, a quick search of a news aggregator such as Google News should quickly reveal plenty of legitimate news stories.
Original Source : https://www.hoax-slayer.net/7685-2/