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🗞️ Story file #221

Royal Navy member charged with spying for foreign power

Oct 8, 6 AM ET to Oct 9, 1 PM ET

👣 How this story traveled: from the front pages that broke it, out through TV, radio and the shows, into what people retold and what fact-checkers examined, and on into the saga it is part of. Everything here is matched to the story by our tools, so a link can be wrong; the trackers' pages say how each is made.

  1. Oct 8, 6 AM ETfirst on a front page: Reuters
  2. Oct 8, 6 AM ETfirst on TV: BBC News
  3. Oct 8, 10 AM ETpeak: on 8 front pages
  4. Oct 9, 6 AM ETretold online by 7 people

📰 Spread

the front pages that ran it, hour by hour

Oct 8, 12 PM6 PMOct 96 AM12 PM48leftcenterright
Front pages carrying it at each hourly run, Oct 8, 6 AM to Oct 9, 1 PM ET (peak 8), by the outlets' lean: left · center · right
Oct 8, 6 AM12 PM6 PMOct 96 AM12 PMBloombergBloombergBloomberg, Oct 8, 4:00 AM ET: Navy Serviceman Charged With UK National Security Act OffensesBBCBBCBBC, Oct 8, 4:00 AM ET: Royal Navy service member charged with spyingBBC, Oct 8, 6:00 AM ET: Royal Navy service member charged with spying for a foreign powerBBC, Oct 8, 9:00 AM ET: Royal Navy sailor in court accused of preparing to spy for RussiaNewsmaxNewsmaxNewsmax, Oct 8, 5:00 AM ET: Royal Navy Member Charged with Preparing to Disclose Sensitive Information to a Foreign PowerNewsmax, Oct 8, 8:00 AM ET: Royal Navy Member Charged With SpyingNewsmax, Oct 8, 3:00 PM ET: Royal Navy Member Appears in Court on Spying ChargesReutersReutersReuters, Oct 8, 6:00 AM ET: UK police charge member of Royal Navy under National Security ActReuters, Oct 8, 8:00 AM ET: UK Royal Navy sailor appears in court charged under National Security ActNew York PostNew York PostNew York Post, Oct 8, 6:00 AM ET: UK Navy serviceman accused of spying for foreign powerIJRIndependent Journal ReviewIndependent Journal Review, Oct 8, 6:00 AM ET: Royal Navy Sailor Charged Over Foreign Spy AllegationsThe GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, Oct 8, 8:00 AM ET: Royal Navy service member appears in court charged with spying for RussiaThe Guardian, Oct 8, 9:00 AM ET: Royal Navy member appears in court charged with spying for RussiaThe Guardian, Oct 8, 11:00 AM ET: Royal Navy sailor appears in court charged with spying for RussiaThe Guardian, Oct 8, 3:00 PM ET: Royal Navy sailor accused of spying for Russia appears in courtAPAPAP, Oct 8, 10:00 AM ET: Royal Navy sailor appears in court on charges of spying for Russia📺 TVBBC News, 6:21 AM ET: Royal Navy sailor charged with spying for foreign powerBBC News, 8:16 AM ET: Royal Navy sailor charged with spying appears in courtBBC News, 8:17 AM ET: Royal Navy sailor charged with spying appears in courtBBC News, 8:18 AM ET: Royal Navy sailor charged with spying appears in courtBBC News, 8:30 AM ET: Navy spy chargeBBC News, 9:21 AM ET: Royal Navy sailor charged with spying appears in courtBBC News, 9:22 AM ET: Royal Navy sailor accused of preparing to spy for RussiaBBC News, 9:22 AM ET: Royal Navy sailor charged with spying appears in courtBBC News, 9:24 AM ET: Royal Navy sailor charged with spying appears in courtBBC News, 5:24 PM ET: Royal Navy sailor in court accused of espionageBBC News, 7:15 PM ET: Royal Navy sailor in court accused of espionage🧶 online🧶found retold online (the day's report)
Who carried it and when: each outlet in the order it picked the story up, a bar for each headline from when we first saw it on the front page to when we last did, in the outlet's lean color (dashed: not rated); a dot marks a new headline. Beneath, its captions on TV, the radio newscasts that carried it (bigger: the lead) and when people were found retelling it. Hover for details.

📡 wire copy: 1 outlet ran the AP, Reuters headline nearly word for word (The Guardian)

✏️ 4 outlets ran more than one headline on it (reworded, or a follow-up)
  • BBC (3 wordings): “Royal Navy service member charged with spying” → “Royal Navy sailor in court accused of preparing to spy for Russia”
  • Newsmax (3 wordings): “Royal Navy Member Charged with Preparing to Disclose Sensitive Information to a Foreign Power” → “Royal Navy Member Appears in Court on Spying Charges”
  • Reuters (2 wordings): “UK police charge member of Royal Navy under National Security Act” → “UK Royal Navy sailor appears in court charged under National Security Act”
  • The Guardian (4 wordings): “Royal Navy service member appears in court charged with spying for Russia” → “Royal Navy sailor accused of spying for Russia appears in court”
Every outlet's first headline (8), left to right by AllSides rating

📡 Broadcast

TV, radio, and the shows that talked about it

📺 On TV

BBC News6 min
  • Royal Navy sailor charged with spying appears in court BBC News, 4 min
  • Royal Navy sailor in court accused of espionage BBC News, 47 s
  • Royal Navy sailor accused of preparing to spy for Russia BBC News, 36 s
  • Navy spy charge BBC News, 22 s
  • Royal Navy sailor charged with spying for foreign power BBC News, 18 s

🎙️ Shows, investigators, satire

🃏 NewsThump

🧶 Retelling

what people online made of it

🧶 Retold online

  • A 24-year-old Royal Navy sailor, Able Seaman a Royal Navy sailor, is accused of preparing to spy for Russia by allegedly passing protected UK defense and intelligence information to a foreign power. Oct 9: told by 7 people

On Folklore: the latest in full, with their motifs and who is telling them.

🗣️ names in it: Royal Navy Foreign power Royal Navy serviceman UK Navy serviceman Royal Navy member

🔎 Checking

what the fact-checkers looked into

🧐 No fact-checker has taken it on yet.

🧵 Persistence

the running story it belongs to

🌱 A story of its own so far: no saga yet.