Is a nude beach soon opening in Marshall County on Lake Texoma? No, that's not true: some joker put up a fake article about that on a prank website where anyone can create a story to fool their friends in a few clicks. The story is not real.
The story originated from an article published on Channel45News March 25, 2019 titled "Nude Beach coming to Marshall County on Lake Texoma - Channel 45 News" (archived here) which opened:
Marshall County, OK, A DECISION on whether Cumberland cove resort to be turned into a nudist beach will be made at Marshall County's Council meeting next week. The motion has been put forward by residents and land owners in the area. It is in response to an increasing number of reports about the lack of ...
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Nude Beach coming to Marshall County on Lake Texoma - Channel 45 News
Marshall County, OK, A DECISION on whether Cumberland cove resort to be turned into a nudist beach will be made at Marshall County's Council meeting next week. The motion has been put forward by residents and land owners in the area. It is in response to an increasing number of reports about the lack of ...
We found no mentions about a nude beach coming to Marshall County on Lake Texoma coming from any legitimate news source. There is also no mention about a nude beach on the website of the Lake Texoma State Park.
The site where the hoax was posted is part of a network of prank sites operated by Korry Scherer from Milwaukee, WI. according to WHOIS data. The site lets visitors create their own realistic looking fake news stories to prank friends and family.
The site seems to be part of a network of similar sites. So far we've found these, but there may be others:
- channel22news.com
- channel23news.com
- channel24news.com
- channel28news.com
- channel33news.com
- channel34news.com
- channel40news.com
- channel45news.com
- channel46news.com
The sites all come with disclaimers at the bottom of each prank:
We do NOT support FAKE NEWS!!! This is a Prank website that is intended for Fun. Bullying, Violent Threats or posts that Violate Public Order are NOT permitted on this Website.
NewsGuard, a company that uses trained journalist to rank the reliability of websites, describes channel45news.com as:
A website that lets users make up stories and headlines that mimic real news and share them on social media.
According to NewsGuard the site does not maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability. Read their full assessment here.
We wrote about channel45news.com before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:
