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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Roy Greenslade

April Fool's joke with a public message

We routinely condemn the phenomenon of churnalism - newspapers' increasing reliance on PR releases to fill news pages.

But it would be foolish to get upset about the Knutsford Guardian for taking this a stage further with its April Fool's Day joke about CCTV sightings of a monster in the sewers.

It was based on a clever PR initiative by the north west water company, United Utilities, which had a public interest message at its heart: people should be careful what they flush.

The paper's online story included a link to the company's website showing "footage" of the monster.

Hat tip: Fleet Street Blues

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