Search Helium

Home > Politics, News & Issues > News > News Industry

Parody website fools Washington Post into thinking Sarah Palin heading to Al Jazeera

by Andrew Moran

Created on: February 13, 2013

The Post sent the Internet abuzz Tuesday after it erroneously reported that Sarah Palin had signed on as a contributor for Al Jazeera. The reporter, Suzi Parker, published an article that cited Daily Currant, a satirical news website.

Hours after it was published, the Washington Post issued two correction notices at the top of its report that the writer had indeed made an error and incorrectly quoted the comedy website:

“An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported that Sarah Palin had signed on as a contributor to the Al Jazeera America news network. The blogger cited a report on the Daily Currant Web site as the basis for that information without realizing that the piece was satirical.”

The Daily Currant wrote a humorous interview last week between the website and the former Republican vice presidential candidate and Fox News contributor. Palin had talked about wanting to promote her message to a wider audience.

“As you all know, I’m not a big fan of newspapers, journalists, news anchors and the liberal media in general,” Palin told (or not) The Daily Currant. “But I met with the folks at Al-Jazeera and they told me they reach millions of devoutly religious people who don’t watch CBS or CNN. That tells me they don’t have a liberal bias.”

Stan Collender, a spokesperson for Al Jazeera, told Politico that Palin was not joining the global news network, which recently made news after it announced that it was purchasing Al Gore’s left-leaning network Current TV for approximately $500 million. This move had incited outrage from various politicians and pundits.

Kris Coratti, a spokesperson for the Washington Post, also confirmed to the news outlet that the organization has plans to investigate the matter.

The Daily Currant is known for writing comical articles on the day’s events, including “Tagg Romney Preparing 2016 Presidential Run,” “Ann Coulter Refuses to Board Airplane With Black Pilot” and “Rush Limbaugh Denied Service at Mexican Restaurant.”

Palin wrote three tweets Tuesday that teased the reports:

“Hey @washingtonpost, I'm having coffee with Elvis this week. He works at the Mocha Moose in Wasilla. #suziparkerscoops #idiotmedia.

“A @washingtonpost writer once promised not to write about me for a month. That was a good month for me. #idiotmedia

“WaPo & like-minded MSM entities, you're about as credible as, well, Barack Obama. Can't wait for tonight's SOTU to point out more examples.”

Many others went to Twitter to criticize Parker by using the hashtag #suziparkerscoops, which actually started to trend worldwide.

Learn more about this author, Andrew Moran.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Parody website fools Washington Post into thinking Sarah Palin heading to Al Jazeera

Helium Debate

Cast your vote!

Should Prince Charles give up succession to the throne in favor of William?

Click for your side.

172810

Featured Partner

Reason Foundation

Reason has partnered with Helium, giving you the chance to write for a cause. Browse Reason's featured titles, pick an issue and write! You can also donate your article earnings. Share what you know, learn new perspectives...more


CONNECT WITH US

Read
our blog
Helum for writers

Write and get published
Share with other writers
Polish your freelancing skills

Join our active writing community
Helium Content Source for Publishers

Quality articles from proven freelancers
Exclusive rights, fast turnaround
Brand engagement, business blogging -- our writers do it all

Get custom content today!

INFORMATION


Helium, Inc.
200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA
#