BuzzFeed published “several” fake photos of Texas tornadoes April 3, the Guardian reported.
According to the Guardian, the pictures in question were unpublished after “a teacher at the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of Texas” determined the photos were phony.
BuzzFeed added an update to its story, “25 Unbelievable Pictures of the Tornadoes that Hit the Dallas/Forth Worth Area,” that reads: “Note: Three pictures whose origins we were unable to verify, and which may have been of other disasters, have been removed. H/t to @SamJB for pointing them out.”
The Guardian noted that BuzzFeed “was accused of” failing to disclose its take down of the photos, but BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith told the Guardian the update explaining the deleted photos was posted “a short time after” the unpublishing.
Smith also told Poynter’s Craig Silverman that “it really can’t have been more than a few minutes, and we dealt with this very very fast — where the photos had changed but there wasn’t a correction, that was just a glitch, and not so interesting.”
Silverman questioned why the post wasn’t labeled a correction instead of a “note.”
We’ve written to BuzzFeed for comment and will update with any response.