Sunday, January 22, 2012

It's a Fake! Terp Fired for Making up News

There's a fake story making the rounds about a BBC sign language interpreter who was supposedly fired for changing news stories because she was bored. It was posted last year on The Poke a satirical news website in the UK. In the last few days, French media has picked it up and the story has gone viral in that country's social media. According to The Poke article, Leslie Grange had been on the job for seven years but citing "personal difficulties – particularly a crushing professional boredom" she admitted to having deviated from what was actually being reported. During the Japanese earthquake she told of radioactive zombies sighted near the nuclear reactor and later told the BBC audience that Rebekah Brooks was in trouble for raping a monkey. Grange also allegedly told audiences the Prime Minister said teenagers wouldn't have to pay for anything anymore. Of course, it was a big joke, but the French missed the humor and printed it as fact. So have some American bloggers. You can read the original story here.