Narnia Spoof Story Tricks Forbes.com

A spoof news report about Narnia tricked some of the world’s best business brains. A Day Today-style story claimed the state of Narnia had walked out of the World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong because it was fed up with being bullied by the US and Europe. The wind-up was posted on news wires on Sunday and stayed up for nearly an hour – long enough for it to be picked up by top business websites, including Forbes.com. The story quoted Narnia’s spokeswoman “Susan Aslan” attacking “bullying by EU and US delegations”, adding its representatives were returning to the capital Cair Parvel. After being alerted to the story, Forbes.com withdrew it. News agency AFX, which ran the story, said it came from Chinese media company XFN. Read the full story at This Is London.