When I studied journalism at Bournemouth before Covid, the whole University went through lockdown because a student have called in to the police seeing a man in a 'bomb vest'. People started tweeting it and it was followed up by the local media. I took some video footage of the police helicopter flying over the campus and sent it to a classmate. People then started tweeting that they've heard someone talking about a man covered in blood trying to access one of the campus buildings and that he had a knife. Soon the story was all over national media and my footage was broadcasted on BBC South. In the end it all turned out to be a jogger with a big track suit.On a more serious note. I thinkFattynomates has proven through this act how scary the world is now. A stupid rumour like that can get picked up by social media and make national headlines without anyone even checking the credibility of it. The fact that there is a spelling mistake blatantly there should get alarm bells ringing.
Such is the power of social media these days. Extends beyond silly stuff like football transfer news into more serious stuff like politics and fake coronavirus news.
Probably how Trump and Brexit etc came about.
This would be a great example / case study.
The medias search for sensationalism and unreliable information does make the world a scary place nowadays huh?
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