News Outlets Fall For Parody That Took Credit For Brooklyn Bridge White Flags

A white flag flies atop the west tower of New York's Brooklyn Bridge, Tuesday, July 22, 2014. Someone replaced two American flags on the bridge with mysterious white flags. The white flags, international symbols of s... A white flag flies atop the west tower of New York's Brooklyn Bridge, Tuesday, July 22, 2014. Someone replaced two American flags on the bridge with mysterious white flags. The white flags, international symbols of surrender, fluttered from poles on the stone supports that hold cables above the bridge connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan. An entity called Bike Lobby tweeted Tuesday that it hoisted the flags to signal “surrender of the Brooklyn Bridge bicycle path to pedestrians.” (AP Photo/Richard Drew) MORE LESS

By Catherine Thompson

July 22, 2014 1:52 p.m.

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Two prominent news outlets were fooled Tuesday by a Twitter parody account that claimed responsibility for replacing two American flags atop the Brooklyn Bridge with white flags.

@BicycleLobby, an account that makes fun of bicycle opponents from the perspective of a fake “all-powerful” cycling lobby, tweeted that it was responsible for the switch soon after photos of the white flags began to circulate on social media:

Earlier today we hoisted two white flags to signal our complete surrender of the Brooklyn Bridge bicycle path to pedestrians.

— Bike Lobby (@BicycleLobby) July 22, 2014

Both the Associated Press and the New York Daily News later ran stories linking the parody account to the mysterious flag replacement.

Please follow this incredible parody account. It goes by the Twitter handle @NYDailyNews http://t.co/WUufRFnFy1 pic.twitter.com/rXzR1JAwDd

— Bike Lobby (@BicycleLobby) July 22, 2014

Below is the AP’s story as it was posted to CNBC.com:

Two Associated Press reporters also apparently requested comment from @BicycleLobby via Twitter and were referred to the account’s profile. @BicycleLobby acknowledges that it is a parody account in the second line of its Twitter profile and also describes itself as “an all-powerful enterprise,” channeling Wall Street Journal editorial board members Dorothy Rabinowitz’s memorable anti-bike share rant.

The Associated Press story posted to CNBC’s website was later updated without explanation to reflect that @BicycleLobby was a parody account. The reference to @BicycleLobby was also removed from the Daily News story without explanation.

Although the person or people behind @BicycleLobby apparently didn’t expect to be taken seriously, the parody account clearly relished its success in fooling the news outlets:

We implore “journalists” asking for comment to A) read our profile B) read more than one of our tweets and C) Google “Dorothy Rabinowitz.”

— Bike Lobby (@BicycleLobby) July 22, 2014

This is the next flag we will plant on the Brooklyn Bridge. pic.twitter.com/EOIlV7bHwA

— Bike Lobby (@BicycleLobby) July 22, 2014

If you believe we’re for real, we have a bridge in Brooklyn we’d like to sell you.

— Bike Lobby (@BicycleLobby) July 22, 2014

This post has been updated.

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Catherine Thompson (@kt_thomps) Catherine Thompson is a senior editor for Talking Points Memo in New York City. She came to the site in 2013 and reported on national affairs. Previously, she worked as a research assistant to investigative reporter Wayne Barrett. She can be reached at catherine@talkingpointsmemo.com.

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