I enjoy satirical websites like the The Onion that take current political events and trends and then twist them around and manufacture a ‘story’ to illustrate some point about it or to highlight some absurdity. It is not uncommon for people who are not aware that these are satirical sites to take them at face value, even though it should be fairly clear that they are meant as humor.
But there has emerged a new kind of website whose purpose seems to be to write stories that are not clever satire but are written as straightforward supposedly news items, just with fake ‘facts’. The point of these sites seems to be to dupe readers and even news organizations into reporting on them as if they are true stories.
Jonathan Turley does not like these sites and neither do I, for pretty much the same reasons he gives. He is also surprised that they have not been sued already.
Admittedly, drawing a clear line between ‘real’ satire and ‘fake’ satire is not easy because it can come down to intent. The idea of the The Onion seems to be to make people laugh while that of sites like National Report seems to be to fool them into thinking it is real. Some of the latter’s stories are so extreme that it is hard to imagine anyone taking them seriously but clearly some people do.
This is also why I do not approve of the practice of actual news organizations indulging in April Fool’s day hoaxes, because they strive to make the story as close to real as possible and thus fool readers.
This is also why I do not approve of the practice of actual news organizations indulging in April Fool’s day hoaxes, because they strive to make the story as close to real as possible and thus fool readers.
Back when I used to pay attention to the mainstream media, I made a point not to listen to NPR or read the national newspapers on April Fool’s Day.
I used to share an office with someone; one day he came in spittin’ mad over a news story he heard the previous day. As he described the story, I finally interjected by asking him the previous day’s date. Hint: it was 1 April.
I still believe in hot-headed ice borers!
There was one fake article I thought was really good, though. Back in the 70s, one of the audio-enthusiast magazines published a review of a revolutionary new phono cartridge and turntable. Instead of the record rotating, the cartridge was on wheels and ran around and around on the stationary record, keeping its needle in the groove.
The device was known as the Lirpa One.
(And yes, I’m old.)
In my family, it’s traditional to hoax young children systematically and persistently enough that they develop acute critical thinking skills. It works extremely well, so I can’t help feeling that enough of these sites will have the same effect on the public at large. Of course, they destroy people’s trust in traditional news media, but if you’ve had an upbringing like mine, you would have them all on permanent probation anyway.
@DonDueed #3
That brought back some memories of a toy bus that played vinyl records. So I went searching, and I found this:
The Tamco Soundbus.
Links in plain, in case I bork them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNowLvmIPoo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abUcpCtMke0
@Me #5 -- Damn. How did I do that? Can you unbork it please?