This is CNN… issuing a correction over a viral, user-posted report that a giant asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, and would wipe out life on the planet on March 35, 2041. Now “the most trusted name in news” has space egg on its face.
The report, called “Giant asteroid possibly on collision course with Earth,” was posted over the weekend by iReport user Marcus575. It quoted NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as saying a 10-mile wide object is on a trajectory that could bring a “high speed collision course with our fragile planet” from 51 million miles away or so. The date of the “potentially lethal encounter” was listed as “March 35, 2041.”
The post notes in multiple places it is not vetted for or by CNN. See a screenshot of the iReport below, captured by NASA Watch’s Cowing.
The iReport was pulled down on Monday, but not before it received over 250,000 views and was shared over 24,000 times on Facebook, Salon reported. Not to mention, several major publications linked to it, according to CNET.
CNN replaced the post with a statement: “NASA has confirmed via email that this story is false. A spokeswoman for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory says that the largest object detected by NEOWISE measures 3 km in diameter and poses no risk to Earth. The iReport has been removed,” a CNN iReport producer wrote.
Now that we know we’re not all going to die, nor do we need to send Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck into space with a nuclear bomb (and Steven Tyler wailing in the background), the media is focusing on how the hoax will affect the reputation of the first 24-hour cable news network.
“CNN destroyed by huge asteroid: What happens when a news [organization] fails to fact-check or monitor user-generated content? Your brand goes boom,” the Salon headline about the fake post read.