Photo of a CBC journalist mistakenly used in the Chicks singer’s obituaries

Vancouver journalist Laura Lynch spent Christmas Eve morning answering messages from friends who had seen articles with her photo, her name and the news that she had died in Texas on Friday.

In fact, the CBC journalist shares the same name as the founding member of the US country band The Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks), whose tragic death in a car accident at the age of 65 made big headlines this weekend.

But some outlets, including Fox News and the online news site The Daily Beast, used photos of Lynch, the CBC journalist and host of the show “Climate Change Solutions.” What in the worldinstead. One person on X, formerly known as Twitter, even gave a eulogy for the journalist, after which Lynch made a correction.

“My main reaction to this is that it could be seen as disrespectful to her family,” Lynch told CBC. “It could only add to her grief, so I feel terrible.”

Obituary with a photo of the fake Laura Lynch:

A photo of CBC journalist Laura Lynch that was mistakenly used in an obituary for US singer Laura Lynch on the online news site The Daily Beast. (Screenshot/The Daily Beast)

According to a CBC spokesperson, the company noticed early Sunday morning that the journalist’s image was being used and asked publications to remove the image and issue corrections.

“We have also reached out to image licensing sites and asked that photo descriptions of Laura on their platforms clearly identify her as a Canadian journalist,” the spokesperson said in an email. “A number of media outlets have since removed her images from their reports.”

A post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, praised the fake Laura Lynch, who then commented to correct the user. (Screenshot/X)

The main photo shared shows journalist Lynch at a 2019 media gala in California. This photo was originally available for purchase on stock photo website Getty Images, with no caption indicating what Lynch does or where she works. The website has since added the word “journalist” to the caption.

“People are in a hurry to get things done, but we’re still supposed to check the facts,” Lynch said. “Photos are powerful.”

Laura Lynch, the musician who co-founded the popular country band in 1989, died Friday in a head-on collision on a highway outside El Paso, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement.

Lynch left the band in 1995. In a statement released by the Chicks after their sudden deaths, Lynch was described as a “bright light” who was “instrumental” in the group’s early success.