It was an early August day, and the Daily Observer, said to be Liberia’s largest newspaper, had “breaking” news. The Monrovia-based paper reported that an unnamed man had tried to dump a bottle of formaldehyde into a nearby community’s water supply to induce “Ebola-like symptoms” that would “subsequently kill people.” The man, the newspaper wrote, told residents that there were many more “agents” like him in “communities around the country.”
“We are many,” the Observer quoted him saying.
“The Observer had previously been informed that people dressed as nurses were going into communities with ‘Ebola Vaccines,’” the newspaper continued. “Once injected, it reportedly produces Ebola-like symptoms and sends victims into a coma. Shortly thereafter, victims expire.” It added that residents had chased away these “vaccine peddlers” after their “formaldehyde-water mixtures” had killed 10 children. The report concluded: “Families suspect an organ trafficking operation is capitalizing on the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Liberia.”
At a time when Liberian residents need reliable information to make decisions that could have global ramifications, the formaldehyde article, for which The Washington Post could find no corroboration elsewhere, is one of the most popular stories on the Daily Observer’s Web site. It is far from the only rumor-laden report in the Observer, which has become a feeding ground of phony conspiracy.
Recent articles published by the paper have speculated that the U.S. Defense Department “manufactured” the Ebola outbreak, have alleged that the United Nations “deliberately introduced” the Ebola virus, and have fretted over an impending influx of foreigners. “There are now many towns in Liberia that have ‘plenty’ of foreigners, good neither for our growth and development,” one piece opined.4
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