A Montreal newspaper is filing a complaint with police after someone hacked its website and posted a fake story announcing the death of Quebec’s premier.
The website of Le Devoir was tampered overnight with a story announcing the death of Premier Jean Charest, one that spread quickly through social media.
Newspaper officials shut down the site and posted a note correcting the hoax report early Tuesday morning.
The premier joked about the story when he saw reporters. He said he first heard the news while exercising.
“I hurried to the mirror to see if I was still there,” he said, drawing laughs from reporters. “As you can see, I’m in fine shape.”
Mr. Charest also quipped that he’s been written off many times — politically, at least — before bouncing back.
“This isn’t the first time Le Devoir announces my death — but it’s the first time they’ve covered it from this angle,” he said.
On a more serious note, Mr. Charest thanked the newspaper for dealing with the problem so quickly.
The paper’s management says it is investigating how it was hacked. It also apologized to Mr. Charest and its readers and announced it will file a complaint with police.
According to the fake report, Mr. Charest was admitted to a Montreal hospital after a heart attack and was soon pronounced dead.
The fake report went to some lengths to dupe readers into believing the news: it was written in a standard journalistic style, using a professional photo, official-looking fonts and even the byline of one of the newspaper’s reporters.
Mr. Charest was, in fact, alive and well and attending a cabinet meeting Tuesday morning in Quebec City.
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