Schools across UK 'evacuated' after hundreds receive 'death is near' threat as cops probe

The Daily Star reports a second wave of emailed threats to schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland. It quotes the police and the Education Authority at length, including Police Scotland's finding that the emails are hoaxes with no credible threat. Its headline leaves out that hoax status.

1. Headline goes beyond the article

   Minor

   “'death is near' threat as cops probe”

   Why this matters

   The headline presents a "'death is near' threat" under active police investigation. It gives no sign that police had already assessed the emails as hoaxes.

   The impression it gives

   A reader who sees only the headline believes schools across the UK face a live threat of death that police are still weighing up.

   The context

   The body reports that Police Scotland treated the messages as hoaxes and found nothing to suggest a credible threat. The Education Authority said it had no evidence of any credible threat. The headline drops the qualification that decides what the event is.

   How we know

   • Elsewhere in the article“immediately assessed and are being treated as hoaxes”
   • Elsewhere in the article“nothing to suggest that they represent a credible threat”
   • Anadolu Agency (English) reported“with police treating the threats as hoaxes”Hundreds of schools in Northern Ireland, Scotland receive threatening emails (opens in a new tab)

   Show it in the article