"Weekly World News" Killed By Aliens, Zombie Elvis, Declining Circulation
Hoodude
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/newspapers/weekly_world_news_killed_by_aliens_zombie_elvis_declining_circulation_63587.asp
Weekly World News Killed By Aliens, Zombie Elvis, Declining Circulation
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/original/0723weeklyworld.jpg
R.I.P. Weekly World News. The imaginative tabloid, which gave the
world Bat Boy, Ed Anger and a woman celebrating her 7-year wedding
anniversary with a space alien, is no more. They're shuttering the
publication in August. No reason was given.
Staff writer Bob Greenberger commented on his blog:
"Friday morning, Jeff Rovin comes in for a meeting and then the
staff was to be called in. He's looking harried, not at all relaxed.
At 11:30, we're finally shown into an office where we are told the
Board of Directors has chosen to close Weekly World News. The reasons
given make no sense. We're stunned and shell-shocked. We're to stay on
through August 3, finishing the reprint issues and then we're done. A
glorious, funny, odd publication, born in 1979, will go out with a
whimper and all I can think is that something's going on that they're
not telling us because it just doesn't make sense."
The UFO- and Bigfoot-loving tabloid had its share of fans. The
Economist ran a loving obituary for late WWN editor Eddie Clontz and
the Wall Street Journal even found room to praise the magazine. It was
also known as a reliable source of paychecks for science fiction and
fantasy writers looking to make a few extra bucks.
Unfortunately, the tabloid's circulation sharply declined over the
past five years and there's also speculaton that publisher American
Media's financial troubles might have something to do with it.
--
.... --- --- -.. --- ---
Brad Ferguson
wrote:
> Monday, Jul 23
>
> http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/newspapers/weekly_world_news_killed_by_a
> liens_zombie_elvis_declining_circulation_63587.asp
>
> Weekly World News Killed By Aliens, Zombie Elvis, Declining Circulation
>
> http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/original/0723weeklyworld.jpg
>
> R.I.P. Weekly World News. The imaginative tabloid, which gave the
> world Bat Boy, Ed Anger and a woman celebrating her 7-year wedding
> anniversary with a space alien, is no more. They're shuttering the
> publication in August. No reason was given.
>
> Staff writer Bob Greenberger commented on his blog:
>
> "Friday morning, Jeff Rovin comes in for a meeting and then the
> staff was to be called in. He's looking harried, not at all relaxed.
> At 11:30, we're finally shown into an office where we are told the
> Board of Directors has chosen to close Weekly World News. The reasons
> given make no sense. We're stunned and shell-shocked. We're to stay on
> through August 3, finishing the reprint issues and then we're done. A
> glorious, funny, odd publication, born in 1979, will go out with a
> whimper and all I can think is that something's going on that they're
> not telling us because it just doesn't make sense."
Wow.
Bob Greenberger is a friend of mine, but we haven't been in touch
lately, and I had no idea he was working there. He'd been with DC
Comics for years, and then Marvel, and then DC again before some sort
of dust-up with them a year or two ago. His wife's father died a
couple of weeks ago, BTW, making this doubly on topic.
I'll miss that front page. The paper was a hoot. But I'll bet Elvis
can rest easier now.
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, Brad Ferguson <Brad Ferguson> wrote:
> I'll miss that front page. The paper was a hoot. But I'll bet Elvis
> can rest easier now.
How dare they mention Ed Anger and not Dottie!?!
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
***~~~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rich Clancey
>R.I.P. Weekly World News. The imaginative tabloid, which gave the
>world Bat Boy, Ed Anger and a woman celebrating her 7-year wedding
>anniversary with a space alien, is no more. They're shuttering the
>publication in August. No reason was given.
So half a dozen interchangeable Celebrity Diet Shocker papers
continue publishing, but the one checkout counter paper that covered
all the important smoke cloud formations and cured arthritis more
times and the nearest five competitors combined goes under. I bet Ed
Anger shows up again somewhere. You can't keep a fiesty guy like that
quiet.
--
rich clancey r...@bahleevyoome.world.std.com
"Shun those who deny we have eyes in order to see, and instead say we
see because we happen to have eyes." -- Leibniz
Bill Schenley
> Bat Boy, Ed Anger and a woman celebrating her 7-year wedding anniversary
> with a space alien, is no more. They're shuttering the publication in
> August. No reason was given.
Man, I can think of about a dozen AO posters who have just lost their
"reliable source."
Hoodude
Doesn't do much for the AO posters who don't utilize even a
disreputable or questionable source, though.
Hoodude
Phil Luciano
NEWS COLUMNIST
PEORIA JOURNAL STAR
Friday, July 27, 2007
http://www.pjstar.com/stories/072707/PHI_BDT7IAKR.033.php
Bat Boy, we hardly knew ye.
It's hard to say goodbye to an old friend, even harder to write an
obituary for a newspaper: The most fascinating periodical ever, The
Weekly World News.
If you're somehow not a fan, you've seen it at the grocery checkout
lines, screaming insane headlines about aliens, Elvis, mermaids,
Bigfoot, doomsday - sometimes all in the same story.
But now The Weekly World News is dying. This week, without
explanation, the 28-year-old publication announced it will fold after
the Aug. 3 issue.
Journalism can survive the loss. But my sense of humor won't ever recover.
I'm no fan of typical supermarket tabloids, which focus on celebrity
piffle. I don't care about Julia Roberts' new beau, nor am I
mesmerized by the ballooning size of Kirstie Alley's waistline. Pretty
much, those two themes make for the bulk of tab tales, with
interchangeable names of stars - plus exclusive photos, of course.
But The Weekly World News rose above that gluttony of glitz and
Hollywood hoo-hah.
For one, it didn't bother with glossy paper: It stood out in
black-and-white newsprint. And many stories ran without photos, just
drawings. Hey, not everyone has a camera handy when the Loch Ness
monster suddenly appears.
As for content, The Weekly World News delivered pure craziness - under
the wink-wink front-page slogan: "The World's Most Reliable
Newspaper." Sure, it was reliable - for the finest malarkey its
writers could crank out.
Its biggest star, Bat Boy, arrived under a 1992 cover barking, "Bat
Child Found in Cave!" I can't pinpoint the allure of Bat Boy, as the
paper often did pieces on various half-human creatures, such as
kangaroo women and frog babies. Plus, Bat Boy wasn't always nice;
once, the paper reported, he bit Santa Claus. But, for whatever
reason, Bat Boy became so beloved as to inspire "Bat Boy: The
Musical," currently running at a theater in Florida.
Other stories were equally absurd. The issue on stands now reveals,
"Why Moses Wandered in the Desert for Forty Years; He Lost the Map!"
It quotes a rabbi as saying, "You know how angry your wife gets when
you won't pull over and ask for directions? Imagine how irate the
Almighty gets when you pull the same thing on Him!"
Unlike other tabs, The Weekly World News had little use for pop
culture or political bigwigs - unless they had fallen into the
weirdness typical to the paper. For example, there was a series of
stories about the long romance between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin
Laden, whose fairy-tale wedding ended in tragedy: after a tiff, Saddam
ran off, only to be found in that infamous spider hole - but not by
American troops, as reported by the rest of the media, but by Bat Boy.
Naturally.
Aliens, of course, popped up all the time, even "Hillary Clinton
Adopts Alien Baby." Alien tales became so much the paper's hallmark
that in "Men In Black," the agent played by Tommy Lee Jones cites The
Weekly World News as the "best damn investigative reporting on the
planet" because "every story in this paper is true."
Granted, in the real world, no one - well, no one with a brain -
really believed in any of the baloney. I'd like to say the same about
the news of the paper's demise, but that's not fiction.
Maybe Bat Boy can buy the publication and keep it going. With the help
of Sasquatch. And the financial backing of playboy werewolves. And ...
PHIL LUCIANO is a columnist with the Journal Star. He can be reached
at pluc...@pjstar.com, 686-3155 or (800) 225-5757, Ext. 3155.
--
A Las Vegas "8" is a Cincinnati "11"
~~ Artie Lange
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, Hoodude <hoo...@newnorth.net> wrote:
> Phil Luciano
> NEWS COLUMNIST
> PEORIA JOURNAL STAR
> Friday, July 27, 2007
> http://www.pjstar.com/stories/072707/PHI_BDT7IAKR.033.php
>
> Bat Boy, we hardly knew ye.
>
> It's hard to say goodbye to an old friend, even harder to write an
> obituary for a newspaper: The most fascinating periodical ever, The
> Weekly World News.
My favorite WWN headline ever (1989, I believe):
ELVIS TRIBE FOUND IN JUNGLE
They wear Presley wigs
and sing 'Hound Dog'
just like the King
Brigid Nelson
> In the previous article, Hoodude <hoo...@newnorth.net> wrote:
>
>>Phil Luciano
>>NEWS COLUMNIST
>>PEORIA JOURNAL STAR
>>Friday, July 27, 2007
>>http://www.pjstar.com/stories/072707/PHI_BDT7IAKR.033.php
>>
>>Bat Boy, we hardly knew ye.
>>
>>It's hard to say goodbye to an old friend, even harder to write an
>>obituary for a newspaper: The most fascinating periodical ever, The
>>Weekly World News.
>
>
> My favorite WWN headline ever (1989, I believe):
>
> ELVIS TRIBE FOUND IN JUNGLE
> They wear Presley wigs
> and sing 'Hound Dog'
> just like the King
Mine is earlier, like maybe 86:
AIDS WARY VAMPIRES PULL IN THEIR FANGS
A close second is:
SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE RELEASES DEMONS FROM HELL -with photos.
I'm going to miss the paper, but not as much as my son will. I'll also
miss the disparaging looks I get from my mother in law when she sees him
reading it. But really who can resist the saga of Spy Cat, or the
adventures of Bat Boy? No one I want to know.
brigid
ps - I wonder how long we'll have the website -
http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/
Rich Clancey
>Phil Luciano
>I'm no fan of typical supermarket tabloids, which focus on celebrity
>piffle. I don't care about Julia Roberts' new beau, nor am I
>mesmerized by the ballooning size of Kirstie Alley's waistline. Pretty
>much, those two themes make for the bulk of tab tales, with
>interchangeable names of stars - plus exclusive photos, of course.
>But The Weekly World News rose above that gluttony of glitz and
>Hollywood hoo-hah.
Nicely said. For those of us too old to know or care who
Angelina is, this was the junk newspaper of choice. I'm sure
Kaddafi is STILL mad about that picture of him in drag.
Hoodude
Web Posted: 08/18/2007 06:21 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/stories/MYSA081907.01H.seltzer.277db20.html
Rational people know that Elvis expired on Aug. 16, 1977 — a death
that sent his spangled jumpsuits, if not his music, into mothballs.
Among hard-core fans, however, Elvis inspires love, devotion and a
fierce resistance to anything resembling his obituary.
To these people, Elvis is not dead; he is missing, and his face —
greasy hair, curled lip and all — should be plastered on milk cartons
throughout the country.
Enter the Weekly World News, a tabloid that sees the bizarre as normal
and the normal as bizarre.
The newspaper — is that too lofty a term for this publication? —
thrives on Elvis sightings, turning him into the Bigfoot of the
entertainment world.
Well, if Elvis is not dead, the Elvis watch may be on life support:
The Weekly World News, suffering from declining circulation in recent
years, will cease publication on Aug. 27.
The magazine will continue to operate its Web site, the London
Observer reported, but computer screens tend to sterilize the most
outlandish stories, and true devotees will miss the cheesy newsprint
and the lurid black-and-white photographs that complement the words.
Ah, the words — adjectives piled upon adjectives, with a robust
helping of adverbs, each one designed to push the limits of credulity.
In a culture that seems to prize images above words, should we mourn
the demise of a publication that was so inelegant in its use of language?
Probably not; unsophisticated speech is a barrier to understanding —
we have seen this phenomenon play out with the communicator in chief —
and the last thing we need is another forum for literary abuses.
And yet... and yet... sometimes the real world is too real, and if
takes an Elvis sighting or a Batboy sighting or a flying cat sighting
to make it more exciting, where is the harm?
Most readers realize such reports are nonsense, and people who think
the items are credible probably think Mad Magazine is credible, too.
The newspaper once acknowledged its penchant for fabricating stories,
not that we needed a disclaimer from the Weekly World News.
Consider some of the scoops the publication has given us since its
arrival in 1979, according to various reports:
President Clinton meets with "alien" — the Spielberg variety, not the
Tancredo variety.
A pit bull eats a mobile home.
Soviets clone 10,000 Hitlers.
In a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, Mark Miller, a former
writer for the tabloid, explained the balancing act his editor
demanded of him.
"Half the readers realize the stories are tongue-in-cheek; the other
half believe they're all true," his editor told him. "You have to
write the stories to satisfy both groups."
The tightrope walk would prove too treacherous for the magazine. It
succumbed to the same enemy that has conquered so many other
publications — declining circulation. The company, according to
Miller, reported a $160 million net loss for 2006, a burden
exacerbated by a debt of $1 billion.
Weekly World News writers subscribed to a simple philosophy: If facts
encumber a good story, then change the facts. That tenet is good for
novelists, bad for journalists. So the demise of the magazine might
not be such a bad thing.
Then again, without the Weekly World News to peruse during our wait,
the grocery store checkout line will become a little more boring. And
if Elvis happens to show up somewhere, who will report it? The King
must be spinning in his grave — or wherever he happens to be hiding out.
--
Ahh, gimme the crack of the doo-dad gew-gaw
- Professor Longhair
Father Haskell
> No reason was given.
It's cheaper to publish an online edition.