Fallout from the EWN Article (9th August)

 It's an improbable story - how an unknown stringer from the Euro Weekly News received two parliamentarians who told him (exclusively) that Spain was planning a lockdown six weeks hence. The article then says that  '...The two Spanish members of congress also revealed to the Euro Weekly News on Saturday that talks have taken place with other nations prime ministers advising of the set-out plan including UK’s Boris Johnson...'. 

Following the panic that the article understandably caused among readers of the weekly, a second article appeared from the same writer, one Alistair Pike, saying '...After the Euro Weekly News published a factual article in regards a conversation between a reporter and two government ministers, that described how plans were being put in place in the event, that if coronavirus figures in Spain continue to escalate, social media has gone into meltdown.
The article headline clearly states Spain is set to go into lockdown phases if the coronavirus continues to spread across Spain...'.

The second article was also critical of the police-run Facebook N332 which had said in turn: '...There is NO OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION from the Spanish Government yet about a new ‘lockdown’ at all...'.

 '...Other readers commented in fury how they had read on N332 that it was not correct...'. (EWN here)

Other sites which have featured the story:

The Costa del Sol Update (satire) headline 'Spain Definitely Possibly Set For Second Lockdown'. 

The Olive Press headline was: 'British Embassy unaware of any plans for second lockdown in Spain after article causes mas confusion among expats'.

The Global247News (weird site) here: 'Spain’s going back into LOCKDOWN on Friday September 18th'. It includes some reactions from local residents (yet was posted only one hour after the EWN original).

Later, the fake-news watchdog Maldita Bulo came out with ¿Qué sabemos sobre un supuesto plan del Gobierno para retomar el confinamiento el 18 de septiembre? What do we know about an alleged government plan to resume confinement on September 18? Journalists from the site checked with the Ministerio de Sanidad who say that 'they don't enter into foretelling the future'. Two other sites that expose fake news, Salud sin Bulos here and Newtral here both throw cold water on the story.

The Dutch Spanje Vandaag said on Tuesday 'Engelstalig Fake news over lockdown vanaf 18 september in Spanje' which is easy enough to translate.  

The German Arena Online here says 'Neuer Alarmzustand in Spanien ab dem 18. September? Fakenews der üblen Art!' That last bit translates as 'Fakenews of the evil kind!'.

A YouTube feature in Spanish here explains the article, doubtfully.

The EWN piece received numerous comments of all descriptions on many different Facebook threads. Some were enthusiastic, others called it 'fake news' and others still were disappointed and talked of cancelling or rescheduling their holidays. One said, 'I cannot believe a government would be issuing a statement on what it is going to be doing in .....6 weeks time!'. 

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But wait, there's more:

From the same plucky journalist, Alistair Pike, who from his desk in the Euro Weekly News building has been (apparently regularly) in contact 'with the Spanish Government', we read on August 11th:

'The Spanish government in Spain’s Madrid (heh!) have issued a “no further comment” in relation to potential lockdown claims in Spain.
Spain’s government have been in direct dialogue with the Euro Weekly News for the last 48 hours, as we pushed them on answers, as they wish to deny a previous article...'. But then the article gets a little silly... including this gem: '...Finally, would it be possible to have an interview with Prime Minister Mr Pedro Sanchez where he can let us know his plans and we can relay them to the large expat population in Spain?' .

The EWN's Facebook page (tragically, I've been banned) features the story with some comments, including this one: 'Sod off! Not fake news!'. 

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Alarmingly (as the story failed to appear in Thursday's print edition of the EWN), the Government became testy. 'I am aware of this bulo, but we will always do as we think best'. El Huff Post here. 

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The (last) word goes to the Euro Weekly News: