On Monday, political blogger Krusty Konservative of The Iowa Republican linked to Grinnell’s parody newspaper, the B&S, in an otherwise serious criticism of a recent Des Moines Register feature on President Raynard Kington. In an e-mail to the S&B, Krusty Konservative explained that the citation was intended as sarcastic. However, comments to the blog suggest that many readers saw it as an attempt to cite a legitimate news source.
Krusty Konservative’s e-mail reads, in part:
“Like the B&S, my blog is also full of satire, humor, and a healthy dose of angst towards the media establishment. The inclusion of the link to the B&S was intended to be funny, not serious. Looking back I can see why some probably didn’t get the humor since everything I wrote about the Register’s column on President Kington was rather serious.”
Matthew Imber ’11, Editor-in-Chief of the B&S, said in response:
“I think it’s absolutely hilarious. … His statement says that it was intended to be sarcastic and humorous. There’s always that possibility, but to me that sounds suspiciously like the backtracking that others have done when they make similar mistakes with Onion news articles.
“Being mistaken for legitimate real news is an important milestone in the life of any fake newspaper, so I’m very proud that the B&S is growing up so fast.”
The B&S article is entitled “Skeptical Grinnellians Demand Proof of Dr. Raynard Kingtons birth” and parodies the birther movement that questioned whether President Obama was born in the United States. It is available here.
