Copeland publishes article on religion, science and newspaper hoaxes

David Copeland, A.J. Fletcher Professor in the School of Communications, has published “A Series of Fortunate Events: Why People Believed Richard Adams Locke’s ‘Moon Hoax’” in the Fall 2007 issue of Journalism History. Copeland’s research uses contemporary scientific and religious thought to explain why virtually all people believed as fact Locke’s story in the New York Sun that claimed renowned astronomer John Herschel had discovered humans and other forms of life on the Moon.