A HoosierGazette.com feature a little more on the serious side…
The Hoosier Gazette’s own ‘Talented Mr. Ripley’
By John Andrews, THG Opinion
This past Tuesday, HoosierGazette.com founder Josh Whicker took a page out of
the script from the movie, The Talented Mr. Ripley. The tagline for the movie
is: How far would you go to be someone else?
Apparently, pretty far. Whicker used the pen name Ross Leslie to compose a
fictional story about a mix-up at Yorktown High School. The theme of the story
is Purdue University mistakenly signed the wrong Jason Smith for its basketball
team. Instead of obtaining a commitment from a blue-chip prospect, they ended up
with a real nerd.
Entertaining, thought Whicker, but not something plausible. The story was
amusing because it reminded him of his own high school days. Those who did well
academically might receive a token $500 scholarship, and those athletically
gifted, but learning challenged, accepted full rides. All was fun and games
until a nationally syndicated radio show fell for the ruse.
Ruse might be an inaccurate word, because no trick was planned. In their haste
to find entertaining news, The Jim Rome Show disregarded proper journalistic
procedure and ran with the story.
Rome broadcasted the story as fact on his Tuesday afternoon radio show. This
would not have been so funny except that at the top of the article, The Hoosier
Gazette header clearly reads “Indiana’s first source for inaccurate news and
commentary since 2003.”
Rome caught his error and slightly backed off the story. He said clarification
from Purdue was needed. Confirmation was indeed given by the Purdue athletic
department: The story was false. It had appeared on Fark.com and Rome’s crack
production staff took it at face value.
Rome, to his discredit, played the situation off as if he knew the Smith story
was false the whole time, as reported by Black & Gold Illustrated. Right. Not
many media outlets broadcast false news to garner laughs. The Rome show was no
exception. The pimp-in-the-box went on the air later and notified his faithful
clones that the story was fiction. He then replied, “Well, someone is having
their laughs.”
No Jim, not someone, but thousands. The Hoosier Gazette has received over 80,000
hits (and counting) on the story.
Rome, in his defense, was not the only one fooled. Many other media outlets were
bamboozled as well, namely, the San Diego Union-Tribune. UT writer Steve Oakey
not only fell for the story, but also topped Rome by plagiarizing the story
verbatim. Not to mention committing an utter violation of copyright laws. Is it
a coincidence that both of these media outlets-- Rome and the UT-- originate in
California? Many other individuals were equally deceived-- just check out the
posts on Fark.com or college basketball message boards.
How were so many made to look so dumb? Not by tricky and deceptive writing, but
rather by their inability to apply critical thinking. We at the Hoosier Gazette
try to write entertaining fictional stories. Some stories are rooted in truth,
but always with a fictional twist. We also aim to provide social commentary
using an age-old literary method--satire.
This story accomplishes both objectives. This episode begs the question--if a
5-week old internet site can fool the national media, how many other times does
this happen? What else do you learn on the news that is make-believe? People of
all educational backgrounds should take a harder look at the news they consume
and scrutinize the messages they hear, watch, and read in this age of
unparalleled mass-communication.
For those who follow current events that directly affect them (no, not the
latest happenings of The Bachelorette) you would know the FCC is allowing large
corporations to own a larger percentage of the media in a particular market. How
does this directly affect you? It’s simple--the quality of news suffers. The
less competition there is in the marketplace, the lower the quality of a
product.
For example, cities that traditionally had at the minimum two newspapers, now
find themselves with only one. By law, the same company that owns the newspaper
can also own television and radio stations. This seriously diminishes the
incentive to produce a superior news product. Investigative reporting is the
essence of any news agency. Why exert the extra effort to get the story when no
one will refute what you report or top it? After all, there’s only one company
or source competing for your attention. This affects you because you might not
be getting the full story in your morning paper or nightly news. Think this
won’t happen or doesn’t affect you? Take a hard look at the events of this week.
You get the type of reporting displayed by Steve Oakey. In the past you had to
hit the streets to get the scoop. You had to actually follow-up on sources to
determine their legitimacy--now you can ‘cut’ and ‘paste’ off the Internet.
Oakey was just unlucky this time because someone was actually paying attention.
As for the author, Mr. Whicker, this story has enabled him to be Tom Ripley. In
the movie, as described by Charles Taylor on Salon.Com (take note, Oakley, this
is the correct way to cite a source), Ripley takes advantage of a circle of
contacts whose means are far above his while working scams almost as amusement.
To all of our amusement, Whicker has been contacted by ESPN, the Jimmy Kimmel
Show, and the Purdue University athletic department. An article was written
about the episode in Gold & Black Illustrated, the fan magazine for Purdue. The
nationally syndicated Bob and Tom Show mentioned the affair on their program.
Even I was able to tell this fascinating story on a local sports radio program
(not to mention giving an interview for the UT). In this high tech age, it’s
funny how one day you can be a school teacher; the next you’re making the nation
laugh.
As for his next project, Whicker says this has given him a perfect idea. He’s
going to start a nine-week Internet course on how to ascertain if news is fact
or fiction. “Apparently many people did not pay attention in their English and
American Literature classes,” said Whicker, “What I always thought was common
sense turns out to be not so common.” Whicker will compliment this with a
seminar on journalism. “I’ve never taken any journalism classes or published any
writing, but even I know it is important to check my sources.”
Jim Rome and Steve Oakey--Whicker has already given you two a complimentary
lesson you soon won’t forget.
