Fox News anchor Jesse Watters propagated some “fake news” on Tuesday. Reporting that sharks had taken over the flooded streets of Texas.
“There’s some really weird biblical things that are going on down there in Houston,” Watters told viewers.
The viral photo was posted to Twitter in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The Photoshopped image of a juvenile great white shark swimming down a Houston street was enough to fool the reporter, who failed to do proper research before comparing the situation to a real-life Sharknado.
Believe it or not, this is a shark on the freeway in Houston, Texas. #HurricaneHarvy pic.twitter.com/ANkEiEQ3Y6
— Jason Michael (@Jeggit) August 28, 2017
The post had garnered over 100,000 likes and had been retweeted over 60,000 times. A basic Google search, however, would have kept the inaccurate reporting from being disemminated.
Similar images appeared in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene in 2011, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and Hurricane Joequin in 2015.
The original image was taken by Thomas Peschak and published in a 2005 issue of Africa Geographic. The nature photographer keeps a collection of all the instances of his image being manipulated
“I always look forward to receiving emails from friends and family who have spotted the same white shark in a different context,” Peschak said. “While I will probably never become a legend in my own right, at least my white shark is well on her way.”
Origin of shark in interstate floodwaters: https://t.co/tKD1QECAig
The fake photo first appeared in 2011 after #Irene struck Puerto Rico. pic.twitter.com/qbCXRDZ39C
— Weather Hustle (@WeatherHustle) August 28, 2017
Source: @politifact