Gordon Lightfoot Is Not Dead. Here's what happened.

Yesterday, a false rumour quickly spread across Canada that Gordon Lightfoot was dead. The rumour was quickly quashed, as Lightfoot rose from his dentist's chair apparently none for worse. The media is blaming the rumour simultaneously on Ronnie Hawkins and on Twitter.  Twitter in this case is a friend of mine, someone who feels awful about starting a firestorm. Except, she didn't start a firestorm: she like everyone else was the victim of a prank. Her name has been reprinted across the internet - unfairly - as the perpetrator of this hoax. That's not how it happened.

Here's what we know. At some point on Thursday, a man claiming to be Gordon Lightfoot's grandson called Ronnie Hawkins' management office and claimed that Gordon Lightfoot was dead. Hawkins, being a longtime family friend of Lightfoot, was understandably devastated. His wife started spreading the word via phone call and fax to their circle of friends. As the news spread through the circle, inevitably it reached someone who is a regular Twitter user - Fleminski, who has many friends in the entertainment industry.  She, trusting the source and believing that the rumour was true, and believing that it was common knowledge, tweeted a very simple line:

RIP Gordon Lightfoot.

Simple. Not link-mongering. Not starting a false rumour. Just paying respect to an artist who deserves it.

This tweet wasn't re-tweeted. The first three responses to it (including one from myself) consisted of people going, huh? I haven't heard anything.

However, it appears that the mainstream media jumped on it. Within half an hour of tweeting, Fleminski received a phone call from a reporter from CanWest (1. holy sleuth work, and 2. boundaries much, media?) asking for the source. She replied honestly: Ronnie Hawkins. The media then called Hawkins who confirmed the story. Believing they had a confirmed story, the media then ran with it.

Only problem, of course, was that Lightfoot wasn't dead. He soon thereafter saw the reports and set the record straight.

But here's where the *real* hoax set in.

It was clear to Fleminski that the media outlet who contacted her had already heard the rumour, and was desperately looking for a source. The speed with which they contacted her made it clear that they were searching Twitter for the story, as no media outlets had been following Fleminski otherwise. When she directed them to Hawkins, they contacted him immediately. He confirmed the story. He was the victim of the initial hoax.  So, despite media reports stating otherwise, the first report wasn't from an Ottawa twitter user; the first report was on the telephone, from Ronnie Hawkins.  And when that word started to spread, Fleminski was punk'd just as much as everyone else.

Soon thereafter, Lightfoot himself cleared up the rumour and the media all across Canada printed corrections, in one breath blaming Twitter and in the next explaining the hoax on Hawkins. But the thing is, Twitter isn't to blame. Neither are any of the people on Twitter who took the information in good faith and passed it on. The only person to blame here is the person pretending to be Lightfoot's grandson, who played a cruel joke on Ronnie Hawkins. And perhaps on the mainstream media for publishing a story without doing all of their homework.

If you use Twitter, you know that there are several different kinds of users. There are those who use it for play, and there are those who use it to influence. Fleminski is the former. She is great and funny, but she is not a Twitter influencer. Her tweet was not picked up and vastly re-tweeted.  She got a few replies, but her tweet really didn't set off the firestorm. And once she realized that nobody else was talking about this, she made her twitter feed private to stop the spread of what was looking like a false rumour. It wasn't until CanWest outlets started running the story that it truly started to gain traction on Twitter or anywhere else. In the end the bulk of the comments on Twitter weren't about Lightfoot being dead; they were about Lightfoot NOT being dead. So, frankly, Twitter corrected the story. It didn't spread it.

And yet, the media blames Twitter, and in particular that one "Ottawa user".  Is it because that's the good "story", that Twitter started another rumour, oh, that wild online west where nobody checks their sources? Or is it, as is more likely, the media trying to deflect the blame for spreading the false story in the first place? After all, one call to Lightfoot's publicist would have nipped this story in the bud, and no media outlets seemed to do this. In fact, his publicist had to call them to kill it.

By saying it started with "one Twitter user in Ottawa", the media is truly being disingenuous. That twitter user named her source. CanWest contacted her source who verified their story. Then Global ran with it. By hanging it on Fleminski, they're trying to deflect the eyes off themselves for running an incorrect story. Hey Media: you are the media. Twitter isn't. It's just a tool.  So put the blame where blame is due: On the telephone the hoaxter used to call Ronnie Hawkins. Or, if you think blaming the mode of communication is ridiculous (and you're right) then don't blame Twitter. 

Blame the prankster.

Not the pranked.

In the meantime, let's all rejoice. This hoax did one wonderful thing: Reminded us that we still have a great man among us.  Let's continue to enjoy the gifts he's given us.