As per tradition in Iceland, many if not most media outlets reported false news stories as April Fool’s Day jokes yesterday.
DV ran the story that Reykjavík city councilperson Sóley Tómasdóttir – a self-indentified feminist who has at times been called “extremist” by some of her critics – and others intended to form a truly radical feminist group that would conceivably use violence to achieve its aims. The group was called The Organisation Of Activists Against The Patriarchy And Prejudice.
Vísir ran the story that someone had broken into the city zoo, stolen a seal, and released it into the pond Tjörnin. The seal was apparently unharmed and only greatly surprised people who spotted the seal that morning.
Smugan reported that RÚV director Páll Magnússon was considering running for president. Not everyone believed this to be an April Fool’s joke, apparently, as perennial presidential candidate Ástþór Magnússon responded to this news with a long column which basically calls on everyone currently publicly considering running for president to make up their minds now.
But the most innovative April Fool’s joke would have to be from Morgunblaðið, who announced that the Central Bank was looking for the public’s opinion on who should be on the newly-announced (for real) 10,000 ISK note. In this online voting page, any choice you make gives you the message that you have voted for Davíð Oddsson. Davíð Oddsson is the former Central Bank chairman and the current editor of Morgunblaðið.
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