Double Sting for the Bonnier Rags

Comeuppance? Karma?

Get It Try It

KNIGHTSBRIDGE (Rixstep) — Comeuppance? Karma? Both the bestial Bonnier dailies had reporters down at 3 Hans Crescent all afternoon waiting for Julian Assange's speech from the balcony. Except there was no speech.

Where they got the idea isn't known, but considering the quality of the 'sources' of their star reporter Niklas Svensson, anything's possible. Obviously.

Ricardo Patiño's in town to bring the jitters back to William Hague, so it's hardly likely there'd be a speech today anyway. And considering how Expressen's been fooled in the past - and how they only last week pushed poor princess Madeleine over the edge - maybe someone finally decided to get even.

But even 'old media' reporters at Bonniers aren't supposed to be that thick. The WikiLeaks Twitter feed is one of the most influential in the world, and certainly if there'd been a speech planned, that feed would have announced it long in advance to maximise the 'impact'. But there was nothing. Not a word. Meaning Bonniers reporters were sent out by their bosses (the fools) possessing about as much of a clue as David Leigh when it comes to how things work today.

Expressen Stung

At time of writing, Expressen still have their piece online. Poor Erik Högström's been standing outside all afternoon, telling people the show will begin at any moment.



'Assange is expected to give a speech', reads the header.

'Julian Assange is expected to make an appearance from his hideout in London tonight at 19:30.'

Oh well. Those that haven't returned to freelancing have to skew things like their boss Thomas Mattsson says.

DN.se Stung

DN.se just got wind of how they'd been fooled and quickly changed their article, putting in a redirect as indicated below.

HEAD http://www.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/assange-vantas-uttala-sig-fran-balkongen/

HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently
Location: http://www.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/assange-far-besok-av-utrikesministern/
Server: Microsoft-IIS/7.5
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
Content-Length: 0
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:26:59 GMT
Connection: close
Expires: Tue, 01 January 2013 01:00:00 GMT

The previous article had a live feed from a reporter with minute by minute updates, 'Assange will appear at any minute', etc.

The previous link, with the descriptive 'Assange expected to speak from balcony' in the RRL, was changed to 'Assange visited by foreign minister'. But the HTML headers reveal their attempt to hide their embarrassment.

So whoever did it, and whether intentional or not, some things are more fun than Ardin's detested '7 steps'.

Postscript

Expressen are now running for cover too, pulling the same trick as their big sister DN.se.

The previous link, with the descriptive 'Assange expected to speak' in the RRL, was changed to 'Assange waved to supporters outside the embassy'. And again the HTML headers reveal the Bonniers' attempt to hide their embarrassment.

HEAD http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/assange-vantas-halla-tal

HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently
Content-Length: 0
Location: http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/assange-vinkade-till-supportar-utanfor-ambassaden/
Server: Microsoft-IIS/7.5
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 19:42:36 GMT
Connection: close
Expires: Tue, 01 January 2013 01:00:00 GMT

Oops. Double jackpot. And it's even better when it's revealed both are using Microsoft's ridiculous web server software.

See Also
The Technological: Microsoft: The Most Ridiculous Software Company in the World