The BBC, which covered the fake news, published a report today revealing the hoax:

The story was reported by many high profile organisations including CNN, the Daily Mail, the Telegraph and Forbes.
Questions about the authenticity of the story were raised by readers of the BBC website who established that the company which put out the research – ApTiquant – appeared to have only set up its website in the past month.
Thumbnail images of the firm’s staff on the website also matched those on the site of French research company Central Test, although many of the names had been changed.
The BBC contacted Central Test who confirmed that they had been made aware of the copy but had no knowledge of ApTiquant or its activities.

Wired.com did a good job highlighting some of the red flags that should have warned journalists off the story:

• AptiQuant had no footprint, no history of past studies of either intelligence or technology, despite claiming to have been a “world leader in the field of online psychometric testing” since 2006;
• The assessment tool was a free online IQ test delivered through search engine ads. This might be a valid methodology for generating spammy pop-ups, but not scientific study. (Snarky aside: we’re supposed to believe that Opera users clicking these ads have an average “superior intelligence” IQ of 125?)
• AptiQuant’s mailing address (if deliverable) would be in the middle of an intersection in downtown Vancouver.
• This paragraph:

The study showed a substantial relationship between an individual’s cognitive ability and their choice of web browser. From the test results, it is a clear indication that individuals on the lower side of the IQ scale tend to resist a change/upgrade of their browsers. This hypothesis can be extended to any software in general, however more research is needed for that, which is a potential future work as an extension to this report.

The fake company’s website now carries this message:

AptiQuant was set up in late July 2011 by comparison shopping website AtCheap.com, in order to launch a fake “study” called “Intelligent Quotient and Browser Usage.” The study claimed that people using Internet Explorer have a below than average IQ score. The study took the IT world by storm. The main purpose behind this hoax was to create awareness about the incompatibilities of IE6, and not to insult or hurt anyone.

Several media outlets published posts admitting they were fooled: Gawker, The Atlantic and NPR.

It also caused the mayor’s office to work overtime to knock down this false information. Here’s a tweet sent by the mayor yesterday:

CBS has since scrubbed its original report and replaced it with one that includes some corrective information about walking and texting. But no correction.

Gawker updated its post to add the correct information. An ABC site also published a corrective report:

Have you heard that Philadelphia police will hand out tickets for texting and walking? Philly’s deputy mayor says that’s not true.

A report that texting and walking would be a ticketable offense from a local news station was picked up by a number of news networks and blogs overnight.

The stories quoted Deputy Mayor Rina Cutler.

However, when contacted by Action News on Tuesday, Cutler said that is not true. Furthermore, she questioned how such a law could even be enforced.

The Philadelphia Inquirer weighed in with a piece to explain how the incorrect information spread:

Philadelphia police are, in fact, cracking down on dangerous and distracting cellphone use as part of a larger education program aimed at drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.

But the most a police officer can do to people texting while walking is to “remind them to be careful,” according to Mayor Nutter’s office.

Nutter spokesman Mark McDonald said he spent half his day fielding calls from the national media to douse the misinformation. Nutter himself felt obliged to Tweet the truth Tuesday morning.

“We got hammered,” McDonald said. “You just can’t imagine the calls from all over the place.”

Tamika Felder figured she was young and healthy and could skip getting Pap smears for a few years when her job didn't offer health insurance.

She was wrong.

In 2001, at 25 years old, the television producer from Upper Marlboro, Md. was diagnosed with cervical cancer and needed a hysterectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. She was left unable to bear children.

"I didn't want to lose my womb. I didn't want to lose my fertility. But I was tossed into this world of cancer," said Felder, now 35. "It changes you in such a profound way. You have to rebuild your whole life." THE QUOTE YOU NEED HERE, GIVEN THE REST OF THE PIECE, IS ABOUT HOW SHE COULDN'T AFFORD THE HEALTH INSURANCE. DID SHE NOT HAVE A PAP SMEAR OR DID SHE ALSO STOP SEEING HER OB/GYN? IF IT'S THE FORMER SHE SHOULD SAY HOW SHE WENT TO THE OB/GYN BUT DECLINEE THE PAP SMEAR BECAUSE IT WAS TOO MUCH AND SHE FIGURED SHE WAS YOUNG SHE'D BE FINE.

THEN THE NEXT GRAF COULD BE THE QUOTE YOU USE ABOVE.

THIS GRAF SENTENCE NEEDS TO BE TWEAKED. Each year, about 12,000 U.S. women get cervical cancer and (ANOTHER? OR IS THIS PART OF THE 12,000) 4,000 die. YET DOCTORS VIEW CERVICAL CANCER AS A disease THAT WITH PROPER SCREENING can easily be prevented and treated. Pre-cancerous lesions and early cancer are easily detected through screening. Lesions can be removed in a minimally-invasive procedure before they turn into cancer. And there's a vaccine against the sexually transmitted virus that causes most cervical cancer cases.

HOW ABOUT: BUT FELDER'S CASE IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF WHY THIS MOSTLY CURABLE DISEASE IS STILL A THREAT/IS STILL KILING PEOPLE, DOCTORS SAY. TOO OFTEN WOMEN WHO DON'T HAVE HEALTH CARE COVERAGE OR THOSE WHO,HAVE not HEARD ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF REGULAR SCREENINGS—DESPITE YEARS OF PUBLIC CAMPAIGNS—DISCOVER THE PROBLEM WHEN THE DISEASE HAS ALREADY PROGRESSED TOO FAR .

YOU NEED A GENERAL QUOTE HERE TO SUPPORT THE GRAF ABOVE. THE KRISHNAN QUOTE BELOW IS TOO SPECIFIC. YOU NEED SOMETHIGN THAT SAYS: THIS IS A PREVENTABLE DISEASE, BUT WHEN PEOPLE DON'T OR CAN'T GET SCREENING, IT BECOMES A DEADLY ONE …

CORRECTION: A previous post mistakenly claimed that “Nobody in America gives a shit about hockey.” In fact, two people in America and one person in England give a shit about hockey.

Previously.

In a story contained in WENN’s fifth feed on 6 January (10), headlined ‘BEYONCE’S PRIVATE NEW YEAR CONCERT FOR GADDAFI’S SON’, WENN erroneously reported a 2009 New Year’s Eve (31Dec09) Beyonce Knowles concert in St Barts was hosted by Saif Gaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s son. Mr. Gaddafi representatives have made it clear that the businessman was not part of the event and was not in St. Barts at the time. He was in Asia. WENN apologises for this unintentional error. Please correct this story on your website or in your database and accept our apologies for any inconvenience…… WENN Editor.

That’s the correction from WENN, but it’s got nothing on Gawker’s offering. Here’s an excerpt from its corrective post, “Correction: Beyonce Played NYE Show for Different Shithead Gaddafi Son”:

Tonight we received an urgent email from the PR firm representing shithead Libyan Dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi‘s son, Saif al-Islam: We incorrectly reported Beyonce performed for him this New Year’s! She actually performed for Col. Gaddafi’s other shithead son, Hannibal.

It continued:

… Col. Gadaffi is in fact a ranting, terrorist-backing shithead of truly staggering proportions. It is as if God literally took a pile of shit, fashioned it into the shape of a head, placed it gingerly on the neck of Muammar al-Gaddafi, then let him run a good-sized country using only the worm-addled brain contained therein. Not a “perception”: A cold, hard, metaphorical fact.

The post ends by listing the “the amazing amount of shitheaded things 33 year-old Hannibal (nee Moutassim) Gadaffi has done in his short, useless life.”

Wow.

“Ryan,” Carton said, “Are you gay?”
Silence.
“Ryan, are you a homosexual?”
With that, Seacrest was headed for the door.
“I can’t stay here, man,” Seacrest said. “I gotta jet.”
The “American Idol” star stormed out of the studio and into the NJ-101.5 offices, but he was coaxed back into the studio with the understanding that the rest of the interview would center on the television show and not on his personal life.
“This was supposed to be about the show, about ‘American Idol,’” Seacrest said when he returned to the air.
Co-host Ray Rossi, an admitted “Idol” fan, was ready to move on, but Carton wouldn’t let up.
“Are you gonna walk out again if I ask you about it?” Carton asked Seacrest.
“Absolutely. I’m outta here,” said Seacrest.
Immediately, Carton asked “Are you gay?” “You know,” Seacrest said, “I don’t know why I trusted you.”
And, again, Seacrest was out the door, this time for good.

Pretty shocking, huh? Well, it was a prank. That wasn’t Seacrest on the air; it was an impersonator. As a story in Newsday noted, this isn’t the first time this radio show has pulled a prank. “During yesterday’s show, Carton recalled the duo’s interview three years ago with singer Bobby Darin, who had died 30 years earlier,” it noted.
“Carton also promised that listeners can expect another scam three years from now.”
As is frequently the case, the story spread from the Trentonian to other papers such as the Philly Daily News and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Gawker also noted the item. The DJ later revealed the interview was a fake, causing several outlets to run corrections. We’ve noted some below. One problem, however, is that the Trentonian’s original, incorrect story is still on their site without any correction appended. (The paper did run a corrective article, which is excerpted below.)

Dan Gross would like to apologize to Ryan Seacrest and to Daily News readers for an incorrect report in his Thursday column. It was not
Seacrest, the host of Fox’s “American Idol,” who stormed out of an interview with New Jersey 101.5 Wednesday afternoon. It was an imposter. “Jersey Guys” hosts Craig Carton and Ray Rossi were interviewing a Seacrest impersonator when they repeatedly asked whether the TV star were gay.

Seacrest’s publicist Meredith O’Sullivan told Gross yesterday her client has never done an interview with New Jersey 101.5, but had nothing else to say about the radio prank. Link

An item in Friday’s Peach Buzz about American Idol host Ryan Seacrest storming out of a radio interview was incorrect. New Jersey 101.5 did an interview with a man pretending to be Seacrest as a hoax, according to the Philadelphia Daily News, the original source of the information. Link

You know how it didn’t really make sense that Ryan Seacrest would be doing a live, in-studio radio interview in New Jersey? And how it didn’t really make sense why, after the first time he walked out of the studio because the DJ asked about his sexuality, he would have agreed to continue the interview? Yeah, well, it now makes sense that it didn’t make sense. Because it turns out it didn’t actually happen… Link

We were scammed. Local radio station New Jersey-101.5 pulled an on-air prank Wednesday afternoon and we fell for it.
So did other media outlets from New York to Philadelphia and beyond — including The Trentonian.
During Wednesday’s “Jersey Guys” broadcast, host Craig Carton told listeners that television’s “American Idol” host, Ryan Seacrest, was there inside
the Ewing studio as part of a publicity tour for the show.
Yesterday, however, Carton revealed that the whole thing had been a hoax and that he’d enlisted someone with a similar-sounding voice to act the part of Seacrest.
Listeners – and media outlets – were fooled by Wednesday’s fake interview… Link