Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Canard \Ca*nard"\, n. [F., properly, a duck.]
   An extravagant or absurd report or story; a fabricated
   sensational report or statement; esp. one set afloat in the
   newspapers to hoax the public.

Source : WordNet®

canard
     n : a deliberately misleading fabrication