Saturday, July 28, 2007

Weekly World News, farewell

From another fine newspaper comes the sad news:

Blame microscopic alien vampires, or the general shift in media away from papers, but the Weekly World News tabloid will soon only be available online.
I've been an occasional (and at times regular) reader of the Weekly World News since the late 1970s, when my grad-school friends and I discovered it at a newsstand on Fordham Road in the Bronx. One had to dig to get the WWN, which was buried beneath a dozen other tabloids. It was cheaper than the other tabloids too: only 35¢. (Yes, I like seeing the cent sign too.)

In recent years my interest in the WWN has faded (so I suppose I've played my own small role in the paper's failure), but I would always pick up a copy when teaching Ovid. My favorite recent WWN metamorphosis: a childless couple whose poodle turned into a boy.
In Memoriam: Weekly World News Dies At 28 (Washington Post)
Weekly World News (Official site)
Weekly World News (Wikipedia)
(Thanks, Stefan, for reminding me!)

comments: 2

Genevieve Netz said...

My son is mourning its imminent demise, also. He hasn't read it often for several years, but when he was in middle school, he loved it.

Be careful. if you send them a wild idea -- ummm, some news, I mean -- they may use it. This warning was in the small print. I feel sure the same will apply to the web version that will still be published.

Michael Leddy said...

No wonder it's called "the world's only reliable newspaper." : )