Waterford Whispers just fooled one of Germany’s biggest news magazines

aaaaaaaahhhhhh

Fair play to the lads at WWN. Hilarious stuff and still keeping us all entertained some years on. Thought this article from the Journal was worth the mention.

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Waterford Whispers just fooled one of Germany’s biggest news magazines



YESTERDAY, IRELAND’S FINEST satire source Waterford Whispers published a story about a stampede in Lidl.

It described an incident at a store in Dunboyne, Co Meath in which “thirty people were injured” when a second checkout opened.

The story also featured quotes from fictional local woman “Sheila Mannion”…

"who had spent the time leading up to the stampede bitching about how she only had a loaf of bread and should have been let go ahead of those with full trolleys"

It’s pretty obviously satire.

However, it has now been reported with a straight face by respected German news weekly Focus.

(This headline translates roughly as “Because only one checkout was open… Unnerved customers cause mass panic in Lidl store”.)

The Focus report describes the incident as follows:

"Customers in a Lidl store in Dunboyne, Ireland had been waiting for what felt like an eternity when finally a second cash register was opened. What happened next is almost unbelievable [...] a stampede occurred and more than 30 people were injured, as the “Waterford Whispers News” reports.

It includes quotes from “Sheila Mannion”, although it doesn’t mention her loaf of bread or her bitching.

The article on the website of the magazine – whose main edition has a circulation of more than 500,000 copies, and is described on this corporate page as “the key medium of the cosmopolitan urban elite in Germany” - concludes:

"This accident has again raised the pressure on Lidl to open more than one cash register during peak times in its stores."

Which, frankly, is a step down from the Waterford Whispers version:

"This latest incident has brought fresh pressure on Lidl to open more than one checkout during rush hour; although the retail giants are unlikely to do so as this would cut down on the amount of staff available to push pallets of bottled water around the shop at all times."

It’s not the first time Waterford Whispers has seen ‘real’ news outlets fall for its stories. A 2014 article about North Korea claiming to have launched a rocket to the sun also went international.

SOURCE: http://www.thejournal.ie/waterford-whisipers-focus-lidl-2098550-May2015/

Harry Palmr

This is the problem with Germans, apart from Henning Wehn obviously!

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Harry Palmr wrote: »

This is the problem with Germans, apart from Henning Wehn obviously!

The problem is, if you've ever shopping a German supermarket, that's actually kinda believeable.

Trick of the Tail

The editor of that magazine obviously has a below average sense of humour.

Which in Germany, is quite an achievement.

Whatsisname

God bless Waterford Whispers.

aaaaaaaahhhhhh

WATERFORD WHISPERS has done it again.

On Saturday, the satirical news site posted an article about John Waters ‘relocating to Uganda’ in response to the marriage referendum result:

In the piece, Waters ‘said’ that he wanted to go somewhere where his work “will not be judged” and Uganda, where homosexuality is banned, is his “best option”.

WWN ‘reported’ Waters had secured a column in a Ugandan state newspaper, and was taking an indefinite leave from Irish journalism:

"With that, Mr Waters put away his passport and walked slowly to the departure gate, turning briefly with a smirk and flipping this reporter the bird."

Fairly obvious satire, right? But it seems the article was discovered by English-language Independent magazine in Uganda, which this morning has reported it as fact:

The short Independent article uses the fake quotes from John Waters and adds this at the end:

"John Waters will be attached to one of the Ugandan newspapers in a capacity that is yet to be announced."

It’s not even the first time this month that an international news outlet has fallen for a Waterford Whispers story - earlier in May, a German news magazine reported on a fictional ‘stampede’ in the Dunboyne branch of Lidl.