Thaindian News

By Ranjan Bhaduri
Feb 20, (THAINDIAN NEWS) This is the age of the Internet and media as people are often told. It has made life faster and finding any type of information much more accurate. However, it needs to be kept in mind that the media and Web both are operated by human beings still and a small mistake or hoax can result in misinformation spreading like wildfire. That is precisely what happened to veteran singer and songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. It was nothing more than a silly hoax but spread rapidly online- courtesy Twitter. What’s more, a number of the major media outlets took it to be true.

The internet hoax said that the singer passed away while he was on his ongoing North America tour. However, the singer was amused to hear the hoax. The false news already reached a huge number of his fans who took it to be a fact. The singer is 71 year old and such false news has high chances of appearing like truth. Many still remember that he had suffered a stroke just 4 years back when he was performing in a live show.

It is quite ironical that one of his closer friends played a role in spreading the hoax, though it was not his fault actually. It is another matter that the singer did not take the mater too seriously. In fact he joked about it later. Had he takes it seriously; the media outlets could face legal charges. However, it is undeniable that the issue has brought him under the limelight once again. Now the mistake has been clarified by him.