Thread by @StefSimanowitz

1/. The biggest story I ever “broke” (coverage-wise) was a piece about Malawi’s plan to ban farting in public

I was researching an article about homophobia in Africa & stumbled on the story in the @NyasaTimess

I wrote it up for a tabloid & it went global

2/. The story I wrote for the @DailyMailUK - I was a freelancer...don’t judge me - was packed with fart gags: “The winds of change blowing through Africa” etc

The next day @DailyMirror picked it up

By the end of the week, it was the top story on the BBC website & was EVERYWHERE

3/. A week after the story ‘broke’ I was guest on Bluff The Listener - a radio show on @NPR

Broadcast to 30 million listeners, it’s a bit like BBC’s ‘Would I Lie To You’ (@WILTY_TV) where guests have to work out the fake story

None of them got it right👇
npr.org/2011/02/05/133…

4/. Malawi’s Justice Minister defended the anti-fart law claiming it would promote "public decency"

"Just go to the toilet when you feel like farting,” he said

But how would the law be enforced?

Would “he who smelt it dealt it” be a valid legal defence? bbc.co.uk/news/world-afr…

5/. The story was a headline writer’s dream

The only trouble was it wasn’t true

In reality, the proposed new law was a “Clean Air Act” to combat pollution

A mischievous Malawian journalist argued that the way the bill was written, it could be interpreted as including farting

6/. The prohibition of “fouling the air" was intended to prevent the burning of tyres & rubbish, not flatulence

Despite a retraction of his remarks by the Justice Minister who admitted he’d not read the draft Bill before commenting, the ‘fart ban story’ had damaging consequences

7/. The story made Malawi a laughing an intn’l stock

Back then it would be the top result if you “Googled “Malawi”

Tensions btw the media & govt increased as a consequence & led to a clamp down on press freedom

My homophobia story never got commissioned google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.fran…