The Day After Veteran's Day Is April Fool's Day 2.0

from the fake-fake-news dept

When The Daily Show ran with its "Palin is so dumb" jokes, I was actually wondering where the jokes ended and the truth began (while laughing at the same time). And it seems I'm still left somewhat puzzled -- due to the reports that MSNBC fell for a hoax in which Martin Eisenstadt claims to be the source for the rumor that Sarah Palin didn't know if Africa was a country or a continent.

... the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for months.

But the reported hoax is about how Eisenstadt isn't a real person and that his blog and job at the "Harding Institute" are entirely made up. That doesn't quite address whether or not Fox News (which broke the Africa story) used Eisenstadt as a source, though.... And it's actually very easy to mis-read the report on the hoax as saying that the whole Africa anecdote is untrue because the source was fake. However, no one knows who the real source is for Fox's story (except for Fox News, of course). So it's very possible that Fox didn't use Eisenstadt as a source, and with all the hoaxes going around recently, it's also possible that there's a very elaborate string of hoaxes going on. In fact, the joke continues as Eisenstadt states on his blog: "I deny any and all accusations that I somehow don't exist."

I'm willing to grant that Palin knows Africa is a continent, but Fox News isn't running an apology for its own reporting (as far as I can tell) -- so where does this joke really end?

Filed Under: hoax, martin eisenstadt, news media, sarah palin