One of Germany’s biggest publications has been caught out by a Waterford Whispers article, reporting to its readers about a stampede in a Co Meath Lidl, in which 30 customers were injured in the panic that followed the opening of a second checkout.
The Waterford Whispers article
The story was typical Waterford Whispers satire, but was reported as a credible, factual report by Focus, a weekly German magazine with a readership of 500,000.
Germany's Focus magazine reporting on a WWN Lidl story yesterday "Customers trigger mass panic in lidl outlet." http://t.co/bLj9FxejI8
— Colm Williamson (@ColmWhispers) May 12, 2015
The Focus story even went on to quote Dunboyne local Sheila Mannion, who told The Waterford Whispers she “was lucky to get out alive”.
Image: The updated Focus article, which now admits the Lidl stampede was more satire than Irish savagery
The Waterford Whispers article also reported that the fictional Ms Mannion “had spent the time leading up to the stampede bitching about how she only had a loaf of rbead and should have been let go ahead of those with full trolleys.”
Waterford Whispers also told readers that: “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.”
None of this, it seems, set off alarm bells in the Focus office before publishing.
Focus have since amended the article, while adding a correction saying that in an earlier version they failed to mention it was a work of satire.
(H/T Breaking News)
