Romenesko spotted a story in the Fresno Bee wherein the paper had to admit it was taken in by a tale of a "fat, blind goldfish rescued off a lawn and reunited with his owner." The original story is here. From the report about the hoax:
Did you hear the one about the fat, blind goldfish rescued off a lawn and reunited with his owner?
Turns out it was more than just a fish story. It was a hoax.
Wednesday
– when The Bee published an article about Charley the goldfish’s
reunion with his owner — some readers called to blow holes in the
story.
Charley is real. So are Lori Igasan and Bernadette
Planting, the two women featured in the article. But they’re not
strangers to each other, as they told reporter Will Albritton, and good
old Charley never was lost or discovered on Igasan’s lawn.
"Journalists
are trained to be skeptical, but at some point we have to take people
at their word," said Betsy Lumbye, executive editor and senior vice
president of The Bee. "We’re disappointed that these ladies weren’t
honest, and disappointed that we didn’t catch the hoax."
Both
women said they meant no harm with their yarn, which started with a
classified ad in The Bee and achieved minor notoriety on "Late Show
with David Letterman."
To Igasan and Planting, friends for several years, it was simply a joke.
"It
was not our intention to hurt anybody," said Igasan, who launched the
hoax with an ad that read: "Found: Large, obese goldfish. Approx 11yrs
old, blind as a bat."
…
