[Detournment extraordinaire! A very encouraging sign. Anybody know who's behind this?]
Seattle newspaper sabotaged by foes of next week's WTO meeting
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media
Copyright © 1999Associated Press
By PEGGY ANDERSEN
SEATTLE (November 24, 1999 8:32 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -
Pranksters opposed to next week's meeting of the World Trade
Organization sabotaged copies of Wednesday's Seattle
Post-Intelligencer by adding a four-page "wrap" with fake stories
offering an anti-WTO spin.
"Boeing to move overseas" trumpeted the headline on the lead story,
which claimed the state's biggest employer is relocating to Indonesia.
Joe Hill, a union organizer who was executed by firing squad in Utah
early in the century, got the byline.
Other front-page headlines: "Clinton pledges help for poorest
nations," "Economists fear global epidemic of underpollution" and
"Monsanto patents food chain."
Letters to the editor included one headlined: "Having a conscience is
technical barrier to trade," reflecting protesters' concerns about the
WTO's authority to override laws of its 135 member nations if they
hinder trade.
The P-I's managing editor, Ken Bunting, said the fake editions got
into coin boxes on ferries and around Seattle and even into a few
stores.
The newspaper was concerned that the fraudulent front was so well
done, some readers might have thought it was the real deal - despite
the missing "r" in "Seattle Post-Intelligence."
The newspaper reported the guerrilla publishing effort to police.
The P-I has not yet determined how many papers got the wrap, but a
news release from "a group of media literacy activists called Wake
Up!" said thousands of copies of the "special supplement" were
distributed.
The statement adds: "While a few of the articles are fictional ... the
underlying concerns are far too real."
Contact telephone numbers provided on the news release ring through to
fax machines or to a voice mailbox for a free fax and e-mail service.
More than 130 nations are expected to attend the trade talks,
including China and possibly Cuba. The meeting opens Tuesday.
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media