Google news, inquisitr.com, dinner time, and W (yes that W)

[Omaha Steve]

This was the LBN headline: Lightning Strike Allegedly Obliterates Car Full Of Robbers After Raiding Russian Church [Video]

So I was looking through google news. That headline popped up. As I clicked on it Marta called from the kitchen "dinner is ready". I don't think I'ver ever even heard of inquisitr. So I rushed through posting it in LBN.

By the time I had filled my plate and got the lap top on, the story was already debunked. So I self deleted it.

I owe several DUers for catching it.

That is why I prefer the AP before looking for news elsewhere.

That covers everything in the title except W.

[Atman]

1. Some stories just scream out "fake." That was one of them.

As much as we tend to despise the "mainstream" media, I always take a step back when I hear of one of these sensationalist stories on sites with names like inquisitor.com or crazynews.com, yet not one recognized news sources has picked it up. After all, they're all about the ratings and ad revenues, too, and a story like a carload of robbers getting struck by lightening after robbing a church, well...I'm thinking a revenue-dependent news outlet would find that to be a headline grabber. Instead, it's found on some notorious click-bait site. I saw the Russion lightening strike story when it posted, watched it a couple of times, and quickly determined that a) you couldn't even tell if it was lightening as opposed to a fiery car crash, and b) why hadn't any "legitimate" news source picked it up?

The internet can be a great source of entertainment on a slow day. Unfortunately, too many people don't apply a lot of common sense when they see "amazing" videos like this. In fact, a good rule if thumb is that if the teaser headline ends with anything like "...you won't believe what happens next!" it isn't really news at all. The resulting click may be amusing, it might even be "amazing." But it is almost always little more than click-bait.

[jmowreader]

2. It was pretty easy to tell it was just a car crash. Watch it again, frame by frame.

Right after the fireball, there were two wrecked cars in the frame.

Besides...uhh...haven't we always been told the safest place to be in a thunderstorm was in a car with the windows up, because the body serves as a Faraday cage and the wheels insulate it from the ground?