Hearst owned WXII (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) posted a story about a Winston-Salem police officer comforting a dog that had been hit by a car and, in later posts, the page claimed the Winston-Salem officer had adopted the dog.

A heartwarming story, but it didn’t happen, at least not in North Carolina.

The photo of an officer comforting a dog came from the Osceola County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office, yet WXII posted the news as it happened there.

It seems the station got the story from a page called “North Carolina Breaking News” which appears to be a Russian run spoof site that is made to make readers believe that African Americans and other non-whites are dangerous.

WXII posted a story about the officer comforting the dog, and it was picked up and shared by MSN.com.

WXII later took down the story. “The information was sent to the newsroom by a fellow staff member. When we recognized the nature of the source, we immediately removed the post,” Lisa Fulk, the WXII news director said in an email.

Maybe someone should have made a phone call or two before posting the story in the first place.

With people screaming “fake news” loud and often, it is shit like this that gives those people more ammunition.

Viewers also emailed the station voicing their displeasure with how the station handles “news.”

FTVLive obtained the emails:

H/T Winston-Salem Journal