Late Saturday night CP24 published a compelling clickbait article about a Nazis hiding under the bed selling handmade Christmas decorations on Craigslist Toronto. The story was simultaneously posted on CTV News’ website, both organizations are divisions of Bell Media.
“An online seller is peddling Christmas balls carrying the Nazi swastika,” Chris Herhalt wrote with conviction. He went on to explain that the “seller” claimed the decorations were “custom made” and were listed for sale for $50 in the arts and crafts section of Craigslist Toronto. Two of the seven paragraphs made obligatory references to Donald Trump and Charlottesville, one gave an ethnocentric explanation on the legality of displaying swastikas.
It would be a story in-and-of-itself that CP24’s editors approved such a weak article based on an anonymously posted Craigslist ad. One might argue it’s more about Trump than Christmas balls, but it’s worse than that. CP24’s intrepid editors and writer were so eager to get out their story they appear to have fallen for a hoax- a stumble they could have avoided with just 5 seconds of research.