TV & VIDEO - Nov. 29, 1988
The Orson Welles Memorial Public Fear Award goes to a Dutch political satire program aired Sunday on a state-run TV channel that incited widespread panic in the Dutch capital of The Hague by jokingly telling viewers that the water supply in most of the Netherlands would be cut off for a day because of pollution. Many people filled buckets to prepare for the cutoff, and fire and police departments said Sunday they were swamped with telephone calls. The announcement was aired immediately after the regular Dutch evening newscast and made to appear as if it were part of the news. But it was really the opening scene of a political satire.
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