Scenario

A man looks at todays newspaper (dated 1st of January 1948). The front-page story reads: A teenager shoots a famous, world renowned supermodel. The teenager is unsure about the shots outcome, so to be sure he drowns her under water too. Finally, he hangs her. The man expects this story to be syndicated across several newspapers over the next week or so, as it seemed very substantial. Unusually, though he never came across the story ever again. Why?

Variations and Similarities

This is the one of the oldest lateral thinking brain teaser puzzles in existence, and so has been subject to many alterations. Even the description above is not the original; I modernized the above for the new era, adding in several subtleties along the way. The original brain teaser was much shorter, and was without the "newspaper" aspect, or even the celebrity. I have also seen puzzle variants involving animals (and why did the RSPCA not act on the situation) etc. I find regardless of the back story, the solution is still well hidden.

Hint

NOTE: The following sentences will start to reveal the above lateral thinking brain teaser. If you do not want this added hint, do not continue reading. If you want to view the hint however, click here.

The wording of this lateral thinking puzzle is ambigous. It can have several meanings. The real brain teaser then is to distinquish the primed meaning from the workable situation to fit the question. If you are still having trouble solving this, the solution to the teaser is available.