Belgium's "War of the Worlds"
OK, I know. This hasn't really got anything to do with me being in NZ. But it just illustrates how silly my little home country is, and makes me even more happy to be down here...
A fake news report announces that Flanders has seceded from Belgium — a reality-TV stunt that angers many, but highlights real national tensions (By JAMES GRAFF)
Posted Friday, Dec. 15, 2006
The news flash came right after the evening news on Belgian state television Wednesday: the Flemish Parliament had voted for Flanders' secession from the Kingdom of Belgium. Over the next hour and a half, the trusted TV anchors fielded a spectacular special report: They cut to live footage from the Royal Palace, where an emotional crowd had gathered to protest for the survival of their country. A reporter in Kinshasa, capital of the Congo, commented on rumors that King Albert II had fled to the former Belgian colony. A crowd waved Flemish flags behind the live reporter at the Flemish Parliament. The ring road around the capital, Brussels, was blocked, NATO headquarters on red alert, and police controls thrown up along the border between Flemish-speaking and French-speaking regions. A parade of prominent politicians and public figures opined on the grave development, and there was even a report of julbilation among Catalans keen to separate their region from Spain.
And it was all fiction, the culmination of two years of secret planning by television journalist Philippe Dutilleul and his colleagues at the French-language public broadcaster. The ensuing panic didn't quite approach that created by Orson Welles' War of the Worlds — acknowledged as the model for the Belgian prank — but more than 30,000 phone calls flooded the broadcaster's switchboard, and the channel's website crashed as concerned viewers sought confirmation. The reason for the hubbub, of course, is that although the events described in the fake "news" broadcast had more than a dash of melodrama, they were eminently believable.
For those who want to read the whole article, go to: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1570141,00.html
A fake news report announces that Flanders has seceded from Belgium — a reality-TV stunt that angers many, but highlights real national tensions (By JAMES GRAFF)
Posted Friday, Dec. 15, 2006
The news flash came right after the evening news on Belgian state television Wednesday: the Flemish Parliament had voted for Flanders' secession from the Kingdom of Belgium. Over the next hour and a half, the trusted TV anchors fielded a spectacular special report: They cut to live footage from the Royal Palace, where an emotional crowd had gathered to protest for the survival of their country. A reporter in Kinshasa, capital of the Congo, commented on rumors that King Albert II had fled to the former Belgian colony. A crowd waved Flemish flags behind the live reporter at the Flemish Parliament. The ring road around the capital, Brussels, was blocked, NATO headquarters on red alert, and police controls thrown up along the border between Flemish-speaking and French-speaking regions. A parade of prominent politicians and public figures opined on the grave development, and there was even a report of julbilation among Catalans keen to separate their region from Spain.
And it was all fiction, the culmination of two years of secret planning by television journalist Philippe Dutilleul and his colleagues at the French-language public broadcaster. The ensuing panic didn't quite approach that created by Orson Welles' War of the Worlds — acknowledged as the model for the Belgian prank — but more than 30,000 phone calls flooded the broadcaster's switchboard, and the channel's website crashed as concerned viewers sought confirmation. The reason for the hubbub, of course, is that although the events described in the fake "news" broadcast had more than a dash of melodrama, they were eminently believable.
For those who want to read the whole article, go to: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1570141,00.html
posted by Linda at 10:01 pm
3 Comments:
amai, komt da nieuws zelfs tot in NZ terecht ;-))
Little update: this news HAS reach NZ!! I heard someone say today he heard this on the radio here in NZ...
Sterk bezig. Minister flahaut en enkele honderden Waalse vrienden waren er werkelijk mee weg. Wat zijn we toch echt sterk bezig! Alleszins een goede move om het gesprek eens deftig op gang te krijgen :)
p.s. Linda, ik doe trouwens mee met de rage, heb ook een blogje sinds kort juich
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