The Knoxville News Sentinel, which originally published Eric Schmitt-Matzen's story about a little boy who died in his arms, has recently added a note to their original report, saying : "Although facts about his background have checked out, his story of bringing a gift to a dying child remains unverified"
'Santa' is adamant that his story is true
The publication's original story has been included with the addendum, as seen below :
"Since publication, the News Sentinel has done additional investigation in an attempt to independently verify Schmitt-Matzen’s account. This has proven unsuccessful. Although facts about his background have checked out, his story of bringing a gift to a dying child remains unverified. The News Sentinel cannot establish that Schmitt-Matzen’s account is inaccurate, but more importantly, ongoing reporting cannot establish that it is accurate."
The shocking news comes soon after Eric's story of a little boy dying in his arms made headlines across America.
In spite of this, 'Santa' is adamant that his story about the little boy dying in his arms is true. Even if he is still refusing to disclose the boy's name or the name of the hospital where they boy died.
"Now I am being made out to be a liar"
In a correspondence with Time magazine regarding the truth of his story, Eric Schmitt-Matzen is standing firm that his story is real, even if he's declining to share any additional information regarding the boy's identity or even the hospital where the incident happened.
He shares in a text message, "I feel like I have been used and then hung out to dry."
"I emphasized from the very beginning that I intended to keep my word and not disclose any information that could lead to the folks’ identity."
"Now I am being made out to be a liar."
"I tried to do a good deed, was talked into telling the story of what happened to me . . . and now the press is ridiculing me for standing my ground."
Go to the next page to learn more about spotting a fake news story.
How can we be sure that a news story is real?
While we really can't know for certain if Eric Schmitt-Matzen's story is real or not, we can thankfully take some steps to know whether or not a specific news story is real or not.
Here are some tips that you can use to judge if a certain news story is fake or not:
- Check the sources. The most straightforward way to find out if a news article is legitimate or not would be to check the sources. Proper news articles usually have legitimate sources such as academic websites or through a report from a credible news website.
- Look at the grammar and emotions on the article. More often than not, fake news articles can easily be spotted if the writing is sloppy and if it reads as very emotional. Usually, emoticons and copious amounts of capital letters are a dead giveaway.
- Look for similar news stories. Another way would be to do a google search about the story and see if it has been shared by other legitimate websites. Usually if a news story is true, then it will be picked up by large news outfits.
- Google the sources if you're still not sure. If the story has sources, but you're doubting the legitimacy of the sources themselves, then you can do a google search on the sources cited in the story. In some cases a news story might seem legitimate, but the source articles might be fake.
- Check the comments on Facebook. For stories that have been posted or shared on Facebook, you can also check the comments to see what people are saying about the story. Sometimes, some Facebook users would post information about the legitimacy of the news article, so it's very helpful.
READ: ‘Santa’ grants terminally ill child’s Christmas wish
Sources: mirror.co.uk, youtube.com, knoxnews.com, yahoo.com
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