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Totally FAKE news story taken to the next level....


tyrannical bastard

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This story is making the rounds on social media...and is COMPLETELY FAKE!

http://now8news.com/over-600-aborted-fetuses-found-in-storage-freezer-of-alabama-mcdonalds-restaurant-closed/

 

And WKRG is debunking the story on their website blow by blow...

 

This takes spoofing to a whole new level. Not only is the story completely bogus, the website rips off WFLA's logo and branding, AND is VERY similar to the former WorldNow look their website (and other Media General stations) used until recently.

 

WFLA has every right to tell these scammers to cease and desist dragging their name through the mud, and should hold them liable with damages for using their name on a completely fake story. Worst part is that almost 60,000 people fell for it, sharing on their facebook pages.

:bang: :bang: :bang:

 

EDIT: The logo has now changed to a generic looking one not tied to any station...

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I think the people who run the fake website will more than likely end up in court, regardless of the outcome.

 

This reminds me of a similar incident that happened many years ago, in which the website of a fake TV station scammed people that were purchasing job training DVD's.

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Media General should also sue them for trademark infringement...

That's the most likely result since these scammers willfully used a logo of theirs to spread lies.

 

Notice how WKRG did not mention the connection between WFLA and themselves. In this case it could have perpetuated things more and the best thing to do was to quash as many falsehoods as possible.

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The website has changed. It's no longer using WFLA's logo, they're using some cheap-looking homemade logo that doesn't resemble WFLA at all. It seems that whoever created this false story heard how they got caught stealing the logo.

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The funny thing is the phone number listed on the website's about page apparently directs to an escort service in Las Vegas, according to the WKRG report. It seems like this Now 8 News website was trying to be like The Onion... only that site parodies the news, whereas Now 8 News faked it and with a "story" that was too disturbing to be true and went too far.

 

Given that the proprietor of the website didn't even bother to alter the WFLA logo in any way (they even kept the NBC peacock and the HD bar tag, for God's sake!), they probably would have been caught in a copyright infringement suit sooner, assuming the site went online long before this "story" went viral.

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The website has changed. It's no longer using WFLA's logo, they're using some cheap-looking homemade logo that doesn't resemble WFLA at all. It seems that whoever created this false story heard how they got caught stealing the logo.

 

It's still on the site (http://now8news.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/cropped-NewsChannel-8-1024x333.png)

 

cropped-NewsChannel-8-1024x333.png

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Great tactic to avoid legal filings. Get a cease and desist letter...change the logo a bit....repeat. How the heck can you prove damages when the legal standing is questionable? What station would even bother to file?

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

Great tactic to avoid legal filings. Get a cease and desist letter...change the logo a bit....repeat. How the heck can you prove damages when the legal standing is questionable? What station would even bother to file?

 

In this case, WFAA probably could since the logo highly resembles theirs. Some of the lower thirds look like CNN's old look from waayyyy back when pre/just after-HD.

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  • 2 months later...
The logo has changed YET AGAIN...

cropped-unnamed.png

 

Looks a lot like the modern version of WFAA...

And to think that was the closest thing to what I was referring to when I mentioned in another post how I think WFAA should rebrand (minus the "now" part and with the letters in the "news" part be lowercase).

 

And what next, they change their logo to one that resembles KFMB's logo?

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