Gordon Lightfoot Surprised To Learn Of Alleged Demise
Posted February 18, 2010 4:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Erroneous reports about the death of Canadian folk legend Gordon Lightfoot have shone a light on the trend towards news outlets treating rumours as fact in an era of breaking news journalism.
Shortly before 3pm Thursday, several CanWest sites published news briefs announcing the 71-year-old’s death. But within 20 minutes, the posts had disappeared.
Lightfoot spoke to a local news station about 30 minutes after hearing about his purported demise on the radio.
The news was originally said to have come from musician and friend Ronnie Hawkins. But some are now speculating it might have started as a prank on Twitter.
A 15-time Juno winner and Companion of the Order of Canada, Lightfoot is perhaps best known for his songs, ‘If You Could Read My Mind,’ ‘Sundown,’ and ‘Rainy Day People,’ all recorded in the ’70s.
