The story of ‘Luis Muriel to LFC’ and how media wrongly copied one tweet

July 26, 2013
This Is Anfield

There are some things in life that are made for each other; wine and cheese, Shankly and Liverpool FC… twitter and the transfer rumour mill…

This is the story of how one tweet can lead to the mainstream media completely inaccurately reporting interest in a player. Read on.

Earlier this week, journalist Rory Smith of The Times was answering questions to supporters on his twitter account when he was asked about Udinese forward Luis Muriel.

Smith responded to say that “they [Liverpool] looked at him”.

@ChrisSullivan23 Oh yeah, they looked at Muriel. He'd fit, but don't know any definite names.

— Rory Smith (@RorySmithTimes) July 24, 2013

Instantly, tweets from over-eager Liverpool fans proclaimed how Liverpool were “looking at Luis Muriel” and cited Smith as the source.

So, within minutes, Smith tweeted to clarify that he “didn’t say he’s [Muriel] being considered as a replacement for Suarez”.

Weirdly necessary clarification: Liverpool looked at Muriel ages ago. Didnt say he's being considered as a replacement for Suarez. FFS…

— Rory Smith (@RorySmithTimes) July 24, 2013

Too late. The “ITK’ accounts and tabloid media aren’t as clever to actually check such things.

Within hours The Express were the first to bite and proclaim the Luis Muriel to replace Luis Suarez story.

They claimed “reports in Italy”, of which of course there were none.

Next up were The Daily Star and then Football Italia.

Then The Liverpool Echo publish the stories in their ‘Rumour Mill‘. So not The Echo themselves actually reporting it, but again, too late, twitter accounts immediately started tweeting how The Echo were reporting Muriel to Liverpool. They weren’t.

LFC have identified Udinese forward Luis Muriel as the player to replace Suarez. (Liverpool Echo)

— Mootaz (@Mootaz_LFC) July 26, 2013

So, there you have it, how one tweet – even despite clarification to the contrary – can lead to national newspapers reporting absolute falsities. And how mainstream tabloids are using twitter as their source for information.