False message about death of Nelson Mandela

Embarrassing hoax Deutsche Welle falsely reports Nelson Mandela's death

06/16/2013

An embarrassing blunder has the „German wave“ (DW). On Friday she reported on Nelson Mandela's death. But he is on the way to recovery.

Technical error was the cause
This must be really embarrassing to those responsible: on Friday evening had the German broadcaster „German wave“ reported inadvertently on the death of Nelson Mandela on his English-language website. The post was titled „Southafrica mourns Nelson Mandela“ (mourns translates as mourned) published. The broadcaster apologized for publishing the hoax about the Nobel Peace Prize winner. „We regret that due to a technical error, a report on Nelson Mandela's death in English has been available online for a long time“, so the international channel on Saturday via Twitter. However, an immediate fix to the bug could not prevent the hoax from being seen online for about five minutes. However, the message had already spread via links, especially in social networks. DW had expressed its regret over the "erroneous obituary" and announced "to take additional measures for quality assurance".

On the way to recovery
The 94-year-old former president of South Africa had been taken to hospital in the capital Pretoria for pneumonia. Mandela had to go in the past often in outpatient treatment, as in the past year also because of pneumonia. According to a grandson, the national hero is doing better now. Mandla Mandela in Qunu, the hometown of the ex-president, said: „Madiba is recovering well and looking good.“ Madiba is Mandela's traditional clan name. First, the South African presidential office had the condition Mandela as „serious“ designated. But President Jacob Zuma said in Parliament: „We are very happy with the progress he has made after a few difficult days.“ (Sb)