Drew Curtis, founder of www.Fark.com, was kind enough to answer some questions from the Business & Media Institute (BMI), pegged to his new book: “It’s Not News, It’s FARK.”
BMI: What is the stupidest thing you’ve ever seen the news media do (aside from asking this question)?
Drew Curtis: The most consistent stupid thing I’ve seen them do is hurricane coverage. Send an army of reporters right into an impending disaster area so you can take video of them standing in water when it’s windy out, all the while telling people to evacuate because it’s dangerous.
BMI: The book didn’t include photos of some of the, shall we say, unique graphic images created by Farkers. Was that because of copyright issues? And, if so, why isn’t that a problem online?
Curtis: Nope, had to do with the fact that printing photos is expensive.
BMI: You list tons of problems with the mainstream media, what are your top five?
Curtis: 5) Fascination with itself. If you’re a reporter and you plagiarize something, you’ll get more media coverage than you will if you’re a serial murderer;
4) Non-celebrities in the news. It’s bad enough that people get news coverage because they act in TV shows or movies, but lately you don’t have to do anything at all to get coverage if you’re Paris Hilton or Britney Spears and the like;
3) “Can this common household object kill you? Find out at 11.”
2) Youtube voyeurism. Media is inserting clips of stuff blowing up or people getting hurt as bumpers between stories. Keep an eye out you’ll see what I mean. It’s more common now thanks to YouTube, they just surf around, find stuff, and air it.
1) Giving nutjobs equal time. I can’t say enough about this, it probably causes more problems for society than anything else they do. Giving credence to idiots creates more idiots.
BMI: What are the top five things you would do to fix mainstream journalism?
Curtis: Stop doing the top 5 things I mentioned in the previous question.
BMI: What’s the top complaint about Fark?
Curtis: That we’re biased. There’s no consensus as to which way we’re biased though, I’ve had complaints that we’re too liberal, too conservative, anti-Christian, anti-atheist, etc and so on. Sounds like we’re on the right track to me.
BMI: Do you think of yourself as political at all? If so, do you have a party or are you more of a Radical Cynic?
Curtis: I’m a pragmatist, I just want them to fix stuff that is broken. Amusingly this is why I like political gridlock, keeps the politicians from breaking things that don’t need fixing.
BMI: Do journalists complain about all the comments on Fark or are they happy with the traffic you drive their direction?
Curtis: They love it for the most part. Occasionally they get a little irate when we’re making fun of their articles. Don Surber in
BMI: Let’s be trendy. How do you see the iPhone impacting either Fark or the ‘Net in general?
The what?
BMI: What type of news stories used to be considered Fark-worthy but now occur so frequently that they have become mundane?
Curtis: We used to poke a lot of fun at
BMI: What is the one question no one ever asks, but that you wish they did?
Curtis: Do you want a free lapdance?
