New media kills Queen Fabiola

"We have just learned of the death of Queen Fabiola, who passed away on being informed of the separation of Laurent and Claire (her nephew and his wife)." The press dispatch, circulated on 16 November by the Belgian news agency Belga was all over the country before it was discovered to be a hoax, reports Le Soir. On the morning of the same day, Belga had inaugurated Ihavenews, a new media service inspired by Twitter: 160 characters to enable anyone with access to news to publish it in the flow of press dispatches from Belga, "without any intervention from journalists working at the agency," explains Le Soir. The announcement of the death of King Baudoin's 81-year-old widow, was signed by Jos Joskens — a pseudonym, which means "John Smith" or "Man in the Street" in Flemish. All media outlets with subscriptions to Belga received the news immediately. When informed of the blunder, management at the news agency responded by publishing a retraction, and pledged that in the future press dispatches would be filtered "before being circulated."