UnNews:G20 protestors distribute fake UnNews in London
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27 March 2009
LONDON, England -- As Prime Minister Gordon Brown prepared to host next week's G20 summit in London, anti-humour protestors handed out thousands of fake copies of the City's most trusted source of political and financial news.
The full-colour replica of the esteemed UnNews publication shockingly featured real news and actual facts, along with accurate weather forecasts and genuine stocks and shares figures. Bearing a parody of UnNews' strapline that stated Your source for up-to-the-minute information, copies were handed out to commuters this morning at Waterloo Station. An UnNews spokesperson says that it is estimated that around 10,000 copies are now circulating. "It may seem like a perfectly funny and harmless prank," she said, "But just think what could have happened had people not spotted it was a fake and acted on what they read in it before they realised they'd been given true facts instead of the misinformation the were expecting. The entire city could have been plunged into a state of order."
It is understood that the spoof was almost entirely devoid of jokes. "There were one or two cartoons," said businessman Mark Rosen, who was handed one of the copies as he arrived at the station on his way to work, "But to be honest, they weren't very funny. One of them was by some guy called Gary Larson - that might have been funny, I suppose, if I'd been able to understand it."
Raoul Jewynoseovitch, who edited the spoof, claims that he did all the work involved on his own using UnDesign and PotatoChop software. "It was pretty easy to do actually," he says. "I was hoping to show that control of information is no longer monopolised by the press and that the people can use it to their advantage as much as we were protesting against the summit." He added that the project cost less than £10,000 and was financed by donations made online. Police say that prosecution is unlikely.
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- Stephen Brook "G20 protesters produce spoof FT" Guardian, March 27, 2009