The Mayo Advertiser are offering €1,000 to any reader who can produce a full hard copy of last week’s paper with the headline “Massive blow jobs for Belmullet”. Internet bloggers have been almost hysterical since a spoofed-up copy of our front page started circulating last Monday. There are still many doubting Thomas’ who think it was the headline of the century that slipped through the proofing process, but alas, our original headline was much more sombre.
Alternatively, if someone cannot find the offending headline in a hard copy format, we would love to meet the prankster who altered our original front page headline on July 3 which read “Massive jobs blow for Belmullet”.
He or she will be delighted to know that keeping up with the incessant queries this week as to whether we actually made the typo ourselves or if it was a prank was hard to say the least, but we have a great sense of humour and have enjoyed a good laugh.
During these recessionary times with the country on its knees, when every story we research these days seems to dwell on dark days of job losses and cut backs, this prank has provided some welcome comic relief to the staff here and our readers.
As long as no one was hurt or insulted by the spoof copy of our front page, which has been circulating wildly on the web, we should all enjoy a bit of a giggle. But it has been hard to swallow for those with a more conservative leaning.
We cannot believe the hysteria this has caused on blogs and chatrooms the length and breadth of this country but then people always allow themselves to be sucked into a naughty tale such as this.
One American journalist, who obviously found a copy of the spoof page in his inbox, even went so far as to make a story out of it on an online Irish/American publication but during what is called the “silly season” in journalistic circles he seemed to miss the point. He accused us of not saying anything on the matter. He obviously didn’t research his story too well or he would have seen the story printed in the Star on Wednesday in which the spoof page and original page featured.
Well K we are telling you loud and clear that we did not make the error and we find the altered copy as hilarious as the next person. But we are a weekly publication and this is the first opportunity we have had to respond. To the trained eye it is actually quite obvious. Not to someone at a glance though.
That said we have actually been inundated with hundreds of phone calls from radio stations and newspapers in Ireland and the UK as journalists, probably as much to answer their own curiosity as to develop actual stories, have tried to uncover the truth. Anyone who works in the industry knows how these errors do actually happen but thankfully in this case our integrity remains intact. Unfortunately our American friend did not see the point in dropping us a line or sending us an email. That would probably have taken the edge off his story and the cynics who often accuse journalists of not letting the truth get in the way of a good story have been proven right on this occasion.
But generally the response has been positive once people actually realised it was all a joke. The up side of this could be a tourism explosion in Belmullet this summer.
Toni Bourke Editor [email protected]
