usenet@ucbvax.ARPA (USENET News Administration) (10/12/85)
I noticed a headline in one of those junk newspapers that one sometimes finds in Supermarkets, saying "Russian Submarine Discovers Atlantis!". I wonder what method these papers use to create their stories, do they just dream them up out of thin air? Anyway I bought the paper and read the article. Being a gullible type, there is a *tiny* glimmer of wishful thinking in my mind ... so I will ask, has anyone heard of this story appearing in any responsible publication?
crs@lanl.ARPA (10/15/85)
> I noticed a headline in one of those junk newspapers > that one sometimes finds in Supermarkets, saying > "Russian Submarine Discovers Atlantis!". > > I wonder what method these papers use to create their > stories, do they just dream them up out of thin air? > > Anyway I bought the paper and read the article. Being > a gullible type, there is a *tiny* glimmer of wishful > thinking in my mind ... so I will ask, has anyone > heard of this story appearing in any responsible publication? Perhaps they are written by an AI project that failed and ran amok! -- All opinions are mine alone... Charlie Sorsby ...!{cmcl2,ihnp4,...}!lanl!crs crs@lanl.arpa
doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (10/18/85)
> I noticed a headline in one of those junk newspapers > that one sometimes finds in Supermarkets, saying > "Russian Submarine Discovers Atlantis!". > > I wonder what method these papers use to create their > stories, do they just dream them up out of thin air? A fellow I once worked for claimed that he once worked for one of "those" papers, and as I recall he said (hey, I know that's not an authoritative source, but this *is* net.rumor :-) that his job was to monitor the unbelievable volume of stuff coming over the regular wire services and look for opportunities to create interesting stories by using news items out of context. As an aside, he also claimed to have worked for a legit daily, also selecting the incoming wire stories. The publisher and editor provided "guidelines" such as "anything bad about Democrats". He didn't have much more respect for that paper than for the pulp rag. They didn't take things out of context, but did pick and choose what news to report. At least with the Enquirer you know what you're getting. -- Doug Pardee -- CalComp -- {calcom1,savax,seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!terak!doug