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  • 2022-01-17 (xsd:date)
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  • Fabricated newspaper front page circulates in Facebook posts about Australia gun massacre (en)
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  • Multiple Facebook posts have shared what appears to be the front page of an Australian newspaper about the Port Arthur massacre -- the worst mass shooting in Australia's history. The front page purports to show the gunman's lawyer claiming he was set up as part of a government-sponsored plot to enforce gun control. The posts circulated more than three months after a biopic of the gunman's life was released in Australian cinemas. However, the image is a fabrication; the newspaper's archives show a different front page was published on the date shown in the posts. The image was shared by an Australian-based user here on January 7, 2022. It appears to show the front page of The Mercury -- a newspaper in the Australian island state of Tasmania -- on October 19, 2017. The purported story is about Martin Bryant -- a gunman who went on a rampage with semi-automatic weapons at the historic Tasmanian colonial convict site of Port Arthur in 1996, leaving 35 people dead. It claims Bryant's lawyer John Avery -- who received a jail sentence for misappropriation and stealing in 2008 -- has since said his client was set up as part of a government-sponsored plot to enact new gun control laws. It reads: Disgraced Former Lawyer Admits Martin Bryant Innocent. A screenshot of the post, taken January 11, 2022. The Port Arthur massacre led to swift gun legislation, making Australia the gold standard for gun control advocates, and the laws retain overwhelming public support, AFP reported . The purported front page image circulated more than three months after the release of the controversial movie Nitram -- a biopic of Bryant's life. AFP reported on the film's release here . The Facebook post's caption reads in part: So WHO killed all those innocent people???? He was there, he had a gun, so what? You blackmailed him into killing all those poor people? WE WANT ANSWERS... You just can’t come out Decades later and say this..WE..WANT..OUR..GUNS..BACK..NOW!! The same image has been shared hundreds of times by other Australia-based social media users -- including here and here . However, the image is fabricated. The Mercury’s website shows a different front page -- about a local council -- for October 19, 2017. An archive of the website on that date also shows there were no articles published about Bryant or Avery. Below is a comparison of the fabricated front page shared in the Facebook post (L) and the genuine Mercury front page on October 19, 2017 (R): In 2016, Avery described Bryant as an insipid little boy in an interview with local television network Channel Seven . AFP found no media reports in which he has ever described Bryant's conviction as a set up. At Bryant's sentencing, Supreme Court Chief Justice William Cox said it was difficult to imagine a more chilling catalogue of crime. His comments can be read here . (en)
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