# REVEALED: The earliest recorded incidence that the ‘Fake News’ professor’s bogus PhD was referenced – and it’s not when or where you think…

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/revealed-the-earliest-recorded-incidence-that-the-fake-news-professors-bogus-phd-was-referenced-and-its-not-when-or-where-you-think/
- Published: 2026-11-14T23:43:01+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-15T00:04:38+00:00
- Original publisher: Daily Mail (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16292949/The-earliest-recorded-incidence-Fake-News-professors-bogus-PhD-referenced-not-you-think.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
- Topics: World

## Key points

- A 2016 family notice called Tom Felle “Dr”.
- RTÉ reported his claimed PhD does not exist.
- Felle said he earned it in 2022.

## Summary

A family notice published in 2016 described University of Galway academic Tom Felle as “Dr Tom Felle”, six years before the date he gave for earning a doctorate. The detail adds an earlier public reference to a qualification that RTÉ reported last week does not exist, raising questions about how long the claim was used.

Felle, an associate professor and former head of Galway’s journalism department, said he earned a PhD from City St George’s University of London in 2022. He told RTÉ it was based on journal articles, but could not recall the thesis title; the university had no completed thesis on record. Felle began doctoral study at the University of Limerick in 2009 and is understood to have left after a year, before working at City St George’s from 2013 to 2018 and moving to Galway.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.