Not really headless
The week's news at a glance.
San Francisco
News agencies reported this week that a videotape had surfaced showing a California man being beheaded in Iraq, but he turned up alive and well in his San Francisco apartment. Benjamin Vanderford, 22, said he and two friends made the tape months ago and posted it on the Internet to show how easy it was to stage phony news events. Vanderford, a video game programmer, said he had also hoped to call attention to his own quixotic campaign for a seat on the local board of supervisors. Friends of Nick Berg, who really was beheaded in Iraq, called the hoax insensitive. Laurie Kirchner, one of the video’s producers, apologized, but said, “It’s not our fault. It’s the media that made this real.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: pure 'nostalgia bait'
Talking Point Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder return for sequel to the 1988 cult classic
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: September 14, 2024
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sudoku hard: September 14, 2024
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published