April Fools’ Day is here, and some news outlets are creating fake news to prank their readers.
Some news organizations across the globe embrace the spirit of April Fools’ Day by running outrageous, completely fabricated stories designed to entertain audiences with playful pranks.
For April Fools’ Day today, Toronto-based digital media brand blogTO reported that a new Toronto restaurant called “Revoir le Calendrier” located in the Financial District has introduced a unique tipping policy where servers decide how much customers tip. In the article, it says that the tips are determined based on certain criteria like the customer’s behaviour. This article had an editor’s note at the bottom of the page saying, “This is an April Fool’s joke. Revoir le Calendrier is not a real restaurant in Toronto, and this tipping policy is not actually in effect.”
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Another example is an article by Canadian Cycling Magazine reporting that Premier Doug Ford has announced he’ll be taking his daily jogs straight into Toronto’s bike lanes. It even includes a fake quote from Ford regarding concerns about disrupting cyclists, saying, “Just watch me.” Though the article didn’t include a note about it being a joke, it’s rather obvious that it’s an April Fools’ prank.
These news hoaxes can be traced all the way back to 1957. BBC TV’s news program “Panorama” aired a now-legendary April Fools’ segment claiming spaghetti grew on trees in Switzerland. Pasta was unfamiliar to many in the U.K. at the time, so the prank fooled a surprising number of viewers, prompting a wave of phone calls to the BBC from people eager to learn how to grow their own spaghetti.
In 1985, Sports Illustrated published an elaborate feature titled “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch,” profiling a mythical New York Mets pitcher named Hayden “Sidd” Finch. The hoax, written by George Plimpton, included bizarre details about Finch, like how he wore a single hiking boot on the mound. This fooled other media outlets into reporting on the Mets’ “new prospect” before Sports Illustrated revealed the prank.
Canada’s CBC Radio program “As It Happens” reported in 2011 that due to the success of Canada’s $1 loonie and $2 toonie coins, the $5 bill would be replaced by a $3 coin named the “threenie.” The show even interviewed an allegedRoyal Canadian Mint spokesperson about the fake rollout. Some listeners were briefly outraged by this policy change before CBC revealed the joke later that day.
So today, as headlines scroll by and stories seem stranger than usual, take a second look because on April Fools’ Day, even the news isn’t always what it seems.
