Thread by @danbarker

Here is another example of a viral story that is not really a story at all:

The Royal Yacht, The Telegraph, The Independent, and Prince Philip.

I'm sure most people realise, but here is a short note on what's actually happened...

https://twitter.com/Independent/status/1381259805436870656

In the tweet above, The Independent ask:

"Would you like to see a £190million Royal Yacht built as a memorial to Prince Philip...?"

You'll note: The question is in a form that is easy to quote tweet, adding an angry comment, without any need for anyone to visit the article.

The tweet poses a "Yes/No" question. We are all trained to realise that whenever a newspaper asks a yes/no question, the answer is almost always "No".

(often known as 'Betteridge's Law of Headlines" (albeit not a headline here), after @ianbetteridge, or sometimes "Davis' Law")

There is a nice snippet from @AndrewMarr9 included on the "Betteridge's Law" wikipedia page, describing what people are sometimes trying to do when they use a "Yes/No" headline like the Independent's question.

(Ie, attempt to elevate something run-of-the-mill into controversy)

You'll also note the Twitter card embedded in the tweet, & the headline if you do click through, reference this is something that "MPs want".

That could be 2 MPs, or it could be 650, right?

The answer is: Firstly, it's closer to '2', secondly this is not a new 'want' at all...

The article lists just 3 MPs who 'want' this:

1. "South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay" (remember the name)
2. "Former Northern Powerhouse minister Jake Berry" (remember the name also)
3. "One Cabinet minister" (un-named)

The article does not mention but Craig Mackinlay (MP for South Thanet, on the Kent coast) has an occasional campaign to try and get a Royal Yacht.

Years ago he managed to get 50 MPs to sign a letter of support (there are currently 365 Tory MPs, so that'd be roughly 14% today)

Jake Berry coincidentally *also* has an occasional campaign to try and get a Royal Yacht, leading a debate on the matter a few years ago, and putting it forward as a way to 'unite the country' after Brexit, albeit pointing out it was not Govt policy.

The third MP to "want" the yacht is just described as a Cabinet Minister, and their name is not mentioned. Ie: They don't want to be publicly associated with the idea.

So why would The Independent say "MPs want" something, when only two MPs will say so publicly?

Perhaps the answer is:
- Technically it's true, it just misses out that it's only two/three MPs
- The story doesn't sound strong if you report it precisely: 2 people with pre-existing campaigns for a royal yacht still want a royal yacht - that would not drive traffic/shares

Along with listing the (two/three) MPs behind this, the Independent also notes that one of them "... told The Sunday Telegraph ..."

In other words, this is an article that has been cribbed & rewritten from the Telegraph, with a few extra tweets thrown in.

If you actually click through to the Telegraph, and read the full article, you'll find also find this quote, explaining what Number 10 really think of the idea (below).

I expect most readers would understand this as Number 10 saying "this is a nice idea, but: No."

(It's important to note that The Telegraph is paywalled, so many readers only know its content based on headlines, on rewrites from other newspapers, and on info shared directly on Twitter/other networks)

Jumping back to the Independent article: It then includes a few Tweets showing people angry about the plans.

In each case, these are people responding to a story from the original Telegraph article. In most cases, it *seems* the people tweeting have not read the original article

If you read those tweets above again, you see most of them aren't really about a yacht at all. You may agree/disagree with the points in them, but they are really framing other arguments around the extremely flimsy yacht story.

Each of the above tweets has 100s/1000s of likes/RTs, arguing against a 'plan' that doesn't really seem to exist.

In the last tweet quoted by The Independent, you find the actual tweet that spurred the whole story: from Christopher Hope & The Telegraph.

The Independent article does not mention it, but the original Telegraph article was written by Christopher (who self-styles as 'Chopper').

Chopper is the Telegraph's Chief Political Correspondent, and is excellent at creating controversy (here's his tweet thread, see?), but ...

... regular Telegraph readers will also know Chopper has something of an obsession with the Royal Yacht.

In the last 18 months, the Telegraph has published 8 articles about the Royal Yacht, all by... Christopher Hope.

Even further back, you can see wherever anyone is happy to answer the question "Should we have a royal yacht?" with anything other than "definitely not ever", it risks becoming a "Soandso Backs Royal Yacht" story.

For example, read this Jeremy Hunt headline + quote pairing:

In other words, there are thousands of angry tweets & RTs about a 'Royal Yacht' on Twitter, and The Independent newly trying to ride the viral wave, all off the back of a story from someone who *always* likes the idea, writing about other people who *always* like the idea.

If you pick through this:

1. A political correspondent who regularly calls for a Royal Yacht has reported about two MPs, each with their own long-running unsuccessful campaigns for a royal yacht... saying they would back a yacht being named after Prince Philip

2. That has been reported as 'Calling for Boris Johnson' to back it
3. A variety of people, many unable to read the Telegraph's paywalled article, have tweeted angrily about what the money could be spent on instead, *as if* it is a concrete yacht plan of some sort exists

4. Some of those tweets have 'gone viral'
5. The Independent picked that up, added no real additional research on the likelihood of it happening
6. They've put that out as a story saying "MPs want a new yacht", with tweet wording that encourages further angry quote retweets

And, on the basis of very little, lots of people are angry about an imaginary yacht, bringing Prince Philip's name into an argument he had nothing really to do with.

The height of feeling based on misunderstandings about the non-story conversely increases the likelihood of it actually happening, as a story from nothing suddenly becomes a viable news topic.