Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Valentine Pontifex · 04-11-2003, 07:17 PM

Compare:

WOKR (TV channel 13 in Rochester, NY) story

Weekly World News

WOKR had it under "weird news." One might have thought that was supposed to be WWN type stories, but now, that section contain bona fide stories so it is hard not to come to the conclusion that they took the WWN story as being real.

Jesse · 04-11-2003, 08:20 PM

This story has been circulating around all over lately. Snopes.com has the explanation:

http://www.snopes.com/humor/iftrue/insider.htm

Quote:

one need know about this article is that it originated with the Weekly World News, an entertainment tabloid devoted to inventing fantastically fictitious stories while keeping its tongue firmly embedded in its cheek to a depth not measurable by any instrument known to man. Unfortunately, Yahoo!, a primary news source for many people on the Internet, reprints some Weekly World News articles in their TV News section under a heading of "Entertainment News & Gossip," a title that doesn't convey a strong "bogus" warning to readers who don't notice the original source is the Weekly World News (or don't know what the Weekly World News is).

Despite this item's tabloid origins (and the fact that it was covered nowhere but in the Weekly World News), it has showed up in a variety of magazines and newspapers, reprinted verbatim as a "real" news item -- to the amusement and consternation of FBI and U.S. Security and Exchange Commission officials, who have been flooded with a rash of inquiries from journalists seeking confirmation for a bit of fiction:

The spokesman at the US Security and Exchange Commission in Washington gives a weary sigh and then a slightly strained chuckle when he hears the words "time traveller" and "inside trader".

"This story is pure fantasy. There is no truth in it at all," he says. "This is the kind of story that belongs in the same file as 'Elvis Shrine Found on Mars.'

"You know something? We have had an enormous number of calls from the media on this one. It has been absolutely amazing. Of course, we had to look into it, but as far as we know, it�s just not true."

Here's the original Yahoo! reproduction of the story that got it all started:

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/wwn/20030319/104808600007.html

It is in their "Entertainment News" section, and at the bottom of the story it says "Weekly World News will continue to follow this story as it unfolds", but I guess a lot of people who didn't know the Weekly World News picked up this story and assumed it was real.

04-11-2003, 07:17 PM	#1
Valentine Pontifex Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy Posts: 3,092	NY TV News take Weekly World News story seriously Compare: WOKR (TV channel 13 in Rochester, NY) story Weekly World News WOKR had it under "weird news." One might have thought that was supposed to be WWN type stories, but now, that section contain bona fide stories so it is hard not to come to the conclusion that they took the WWN story as being real.

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