ha, ha, HA, ha, hhhhhhaaaaaaaaaa ----- Original Message ----- From: "Goanet News" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Goanet" <[email protected]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 3:27 PM Subject: [Goanet-News] Baroque Nazi war criminal hoax — an update (Jonathan Allen, Reuter's blog)
> July 2nd, 2008 > > Baroque Nazi war criminal hoax — an update > > Posted by: Jonathan Allen > Tags: 1, hoax, India, media > > I'm sad to learn that not everyone at the DNA newspaper reads this > blog. Yesterday, they ran the story [1] of the arrest of Johann Bach — > the fictional, music-loving, piano-stealing, octagenarian Nazi war > criminal with a fondness for Goan trance parties — a full day after it > was exposed as a hoax. [2] > > The Pen Pricks, the Goan bloggers behind the hoax, have e-mailed me > back, and have also updated their blog with a gleeful recounting of > the prank. [3] They won't say who they are, other than to say they are > journalists based in Goa. They said they got the idea for the hoax > after being disappointed in the media's coverage of recent > high-profile murder cases, where, they say, "Almost every kind of > rumour, tidbit was reported as the gospel truth". Here's another > passage from their e-mail: > > All we wanted to do, was expose the depths of depravity in the media > by leaking this absolutely fake story to the media in Goa. As > expected, once the story was picked up by a couple of papers, the > national media just sucked in on it, without verification. > > It's interesting to see how different victims of the hoax are > reacting. As far as I can see, only Goa's Herald has published a > straightforward mea culpa. [4] Other papers have shifted some of the > blame onto hapless local police and intelligence officials, who had > earlier been gently criticised for not knowing the details of the > case. > > The Indian Express [5] partly blames local intelligence officials for > what "could be a media hoax". The New Indian Express [6] said it > regrets that it fell for the hoax, but also explains to readers it had > confirmed the story with local police. (They did not include this > confirmation in the original report [7], which only quotes a police > officer who was "unaware of the incident".) > > The Telegraph, however, has heard that "certain blogspots" are saying > the whole thing is a hoax, but the paper is still hedging its bets [8] > (although it appears to have wiped the original story from its > website). It says it is asking its sources in India's Intelligence > Bureau to reveal the whereabouts of Mr Bach, the name of the > concentration camp he had overseen, the name of the Perus Narkp agent > who lead the operation, and to provide more details on that stolen > piano. The truth is out there. > > [1] http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1174793 > [2] http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2008/06/30/indian-newspapers-fall-for-baroque-nazi-war-criminal-hoax/ > [3] http://penpricks.blogspot.com/ > [4] http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=6310&cid=2 > [5] http://www.indianexpress.com/story/329584.html > [6] http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE120080701234148&Title=Bangalore&rLink=0 > [7] http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEK20080629000956 > [8] http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080701/jsp/nation/story_9487179.jsp > > SOURCE: http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2008/07/02/baroque-nazi-war-criminal-hoax-an-update/ >
