by Blue Monster 65 » Tue Aug 21, 2007 2:09 am
Years ago, before the dawn of the interweb, I saw an interview with the editor and publisher of the WWN. They were pretty entertaining guys, who openly admitted that they NEVER checked their sources, cribbed loads of stories from Chinese Newspapers, and, when they were sued for whatever reason, it was just as easy for them to pay off whomever was suing them at the time and get on with whatever they were up to than to fight it out in court. They had MONEY at one point in time and many of their writers were journalists who had burned out doing "serious" work for publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, etc. They were all out for a lark.
Unfortunately, with the advent of the 'net, all the bullshit that one once had to get the WWN for is now available constantly; just a click away on Google, et al.
And no one - NO ONE - is fact checking anything anymore. Kind of takes the fun out of it all, especially when so many people are soooo serious about it. Just think how many readers didn't know BatBoy was a joke?
Sigh ...
This ties in to Merv Griffin dieing. Remember when you could see the same people on his show every six months or so - only they would change their story for that episode? Many "B" actors got a break by playing the latest outrageous scandal mongers on there. Someone would play a bisexual in a 3-way marriage for one show, then come back later to be jilted husband or UFO researcher or something. Then, come the '80's, all the Jerry Springers popped up and the real freaks came crawling out of the woodwork, gasping for their 15 minutes of fame.
It's a sick, sick world out there ... and those people are proof.
Woof! - Scott
Is there such a thing?