SMITH & Stephen Colbert: Anatomy of a News Story
August 6th, 2007 | Published in Out Loud
Our story begins with a photo essay on our ezine SMITH, Iraqi Graffiti: The Photos of Todd Bowers.
Our pals at the NYPost picked it up for the Page Six article “Thigh Anxiety”:
July 29, 2007—WHICH genius thought the war-torn women of Iraq would be in need of the ThighMaster? U.S. Marine reservist Todd Bowers told Smithmag.net, “We were getting humanitarian aid sent and we got in a bunch of ThighMasters – official, made-in-Taiwan, Suzanne Somers ThighMasters.” Page Six learned the exercise gadgets came from the Defense Department, not Somers, in a bulk aid shipment. The Web site also shows GIs goofing with the dubious “aid.”
And then, a few days later on August 2, here comes Senor Colbert! I’m gonna pretend I’m too psyched to mention the lack of credit to either us or Todd! Seriously, TV people! Come on now! Pretend for once you actually understand how journalism works! Ah, forget it.