Several legitimate news sites picked up a hoax press release saying that representatives of the fictional land of Narnia had walked out of the recent World Trade Organization's talks in Hong Kong, Australia's The Age newspaper reported.
The news release from "the independent state of Narnia" was picked up by the financial news agency AFX and found its way onto top business news Web sites, including Forbes.com.
The news release said that Narnia had walked out of the World Trade Organization talks in Hong Kong because it was fed up with being bullied by the United States and Europe. Narnia, of course, is the fictional realm from C.S. Lewis' fantasy book series The Chronicles of Narnia, which was recently adapted into the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The news release quoted Narnia spokeswoman Susan Aslan; Aslan is the name of the Christ-like lion featured in the books.
The agencies who picked up the phony news have since removed the reports, The Age reported.
I'm not really sure what journalism majors learn anymore. Do they study that art of the paparazzi? Pointless "human interest" pieces? I don't know, but they certainly don't do News anymore.
Fear the Backstab! "Plato said the virtuous man is at all times ready for a grammar snake attack." - we are lesion "Hell is other people." -Sartre
Narnia is a more believable place than the Isle of Man. But one of them is real.
I have a Manx cat. Still has it's tail though. Kind of a gyp really.
"You have all recieved youre last warning. I am in the process of currently tracking all of youre ips and pinging your home adressess. you should not have commencemed a war with me" - Aaron Rayburn
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