The scheme involved a fake press agency, Data Driven, which issued press releases on seemingly offbeat research projects. For example, one release claimed Open VLD supporters enjoyed sexual relations more often than other party supporters. Following the recent election, another claimed that votes in Flanders spent an average of 27 seconds in the voting booth and that vote counters across the region consumed 17,000 litres of coffee.

All of it was plausible, but none of it was true. Ruben Steegen, a reporter with Het Belang Van Limburg, became suspicious when he read the release claiming that a voter’s political choice could be determined by studying the clothes he wore. Steegen looked into Data Driven’s website and soon found that Woestijnvis was behind it.

Media critics, included politicians, had a field day, arguing that the fact the prank had gone on for a year showed that the media was not doing its job: instead of checking and doublechecking sources, newspapers were accused of lifting press releases wholesale.

The press responded that the economic situation in newsrooms, with fewer staff producing more material for print and online outlets, means proper old-school checking was becoming more and more difficult.

The Council for Journalism said that any journalists taking part in the prank had committed a serious breach of professional ethics by deliberately misleading their colleagues. Pol Deltour, secretary-general of the Flemish Journalists’ Union (VVJ), said that the prank had undermined the credibility of the whole Flemish media. The press had its share of the blame, he admitted, but “the principal responsibility lies with Woestijnvis”.