Journalists, at the mercy of financial woes and a shifting industry, have had to find ways to cope. Many have turned to Internet humor to help them bear the strain. There are those who’ve become cynical fast (We’re looking at you, Overheard in the Newsroom), but others have created something that appeals to industry outsiders.
Ken Lowery, Mark Hale and their contributors at Twitter account Fake AP Stylebook, have done just that. Their spoofs on the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, whose grammatical rules journalists have long obeyed, range from scalding cultural commentary to poop jokes. In December, we told you that you should be following the folks at Fake AP Stylebook, and just yesterday afternoon they announced (via tweet, of course) that they’ve been awarded a book deal from Three Rivers Press. The tome is scheduled to hit bookstore shelves in spring of 2011.
Some sample tweets:
“The word ‘diarrhea’ is hard to spell. Try: transporter problems, Jackson Brown, #3, blowing the devil’s trombone.”
“Be sure to get the opinion of failed political candidates on all major legislation. Their opinions still matter for some reason.”
“When writing about the stock market, use words that make it look like you or anyone else knows what you’re talking about.”
“When it is raining put a circumflex above all vowels to prêvênt thêm frôm gêttîng wêt.”
We look forward to flipping through the book full of fake newswriting tips during commercial breaks from CBS’s upcoming family comedy based on Fake AP Stylebook peer Shit My Dad Says."
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This is great! I love @fakeAPstylebook. This might be the next book that ends up on my desk at work...could be extremely useful.
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2 comments:
haha, that's fantastic
but next book? it's not coming out for over a year!
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