3. Several newspapers reported the Titanic passengers were all safe
Throughout the day of April 15, 1912, Monday, newspapers around the country reported the Titanic as having struck an iceberg, but that the passengers had all been rescued and were on their way to either New York or Halifax. Some newspapers reported that the ship itself remained afloat and was being towed to the Newfoundland port. By early afternoon officials of the White Star Line, the ship’s owner and operator, announced to reporters swarming its New York Office that the passengers were bound for Halifax, and that trains were being arranged to transport them to New York after they disembarked. The New York Evening Star announced the news in its final edition of the day.
The following morning, the New York Times ran its famous banner headline in italics, announcing the loss of the ship and the heavy loss of life. Within hours the same newspapers which had so confidently presented the passengers being safe began running headlines accusing White Star of deliberately misleading them with false information. Whether White Star had or not continued to be debated by Titanic buffs and conspiracy theorists for decades. The operator and the builder of Titanic were well aware that the ship, like all ships, was in fact sinkable, the myth of it being believed unsinkable can be traced to the same newspapers which so eagerly reported its passengers safe after the sea had taken the ship.