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So I may have been dipping my toes into the dangerous waters of citizen journalism - but there always needs to be one kid around to point out that the Emperor is in fact running around in the nuddy sometimes.

I may waffle on a bit here on the ol’ blog - but I usually make sure that I’m at least waffling on about something factual. This tends not to be the case with several stories from professional media outlets.

Our old favourite reputable storytellers news.com.au have now posted that the story “may" be fake. Well done lads and lassies. Amusingly enough Cerebral Soup is quoted as one of the sources for the debunking.

To clear a couple of things up - it’s not just my claim that Hokkaido is the centre of sheep breeding and all things sheep - it’s actual fact. Prof. Naomichi Ishige and the Hokkaido Prefectural govt seem to believe the same.

Shaun Davies (who commented on the previous entry) from ninemsn did write a corrected story, involving actual fact checking. It’s a pity that his colleague who wrote the earlier story did not bother with the tedious process of checking facts - that would have been a real scoop for them I guess. Flying in the face of sensationalist, tabloid journalism.... a lone voice crying out against falsehood....

Ephraim Schwartz thinks “for all its good intents, citizen journalism is a form of fascism waiting to happen” - but you do have to compare that with professional news outlets who repeat false stories. Which is worse? That topic alone is probably several entries worth of discussion - but let me say I do already have the perfect boots for my citizen-journalist fascist outfit. And really we all know the right boots are key.

news.com.au: So perhaps the story, originally sourced from UK tabloid The Sun, wasn’t watertight – but it did offer an opportunity for some early-morning wordplay.

Oh yes we published a story that was complete crap and xenophobic - but hey it’s ok because gosh we could then make silly puns and have a jolly laugh!

You know what - fuck that. The story isn’t actually funny. Let’s put it in a different context - I’ve chosen Australia because well I am an Australian, and this is where a lot of the commentary about this has gone down.

Scene 1: Dazza and his mate Gazza are down the pub.

Dazza: So did you hear about the chick in Mosman, who bought a poodle online? She couldn’t work out why it didn’t bark or eat dog food.

Gazza: Yeah?

Dazza: Yeah so she takes it to the vet right and he takes a gander. Then he says to her right “I have worked out why your poodle is sick!” She looks relieved - the chick from Mosman right - and asks “What is wrong with my poodle then?”

Gazza: What does the vet say?

Dazza: He says right - get this - because it’s a sheep!

Gazza: ......

exeunt omnes

Not amused? Ok try drinking a bottle of wine. Read it again. Remarkably - it’s still not funny!

See it’s only “funny” in the wacky Japanese context. ‘Cause those Japanese - they are so wacky right? Look at the funny Japanese people - they eat food that’s different (except when we go to a Japanese restaurant), and they look different!

Sure it works the other way too - and that’s part of the reason for my personal frustration involved here. It’s tedious enough spending so much time debunking myths about your own country, to then come online - where you naively assume that people with so much access to real information would actually read it - to see the exact same crap being spewed out by actual news sources. It’s boring and tiring. Just ask any immigrant in any country.

There are lots of true wacky stories here in Japan - just as there are wacky stories in every country. The true stories are amusing enough without making up fake ones which show people from a particular country in a negative light. And that is all this story does.

Oh except for driving viewers to the site the story was published at. Hits = advertising dollars remember!

Which somehow makes it just that little bit more distasteful.

So feel free to call me a citizen journalist fascist killjoy. I prefer my news factual, and my jokes amusing.

Oh for all those who believed the original story - I’ve just come into possession of a large orange tower. Unfortunately I can’t fit it into my rather modestly-sized Japanese apartment - so I’m looking to sell. Taking offers for either the entire tower, or for parts. Email me for a link to my PayPal account where you can transfer the cash.

• *snorkle*

  You are a wicked woman!!  That is why we loves ya, sheila.

  The Goddess
  07/04/27 06:23 PM

• How DARE you accuse the fine and upstanding Noise Ltd of sensationalism!

  Um, just how big are these orange towers? Are they made out of real oranges? :D

  weez
  07/04/27 08:11 PM

• Nine.MSN should give Shaun Davies a raise and penalize whoever reprinted this ridiculous story. Maybe the story the news outlets should be reprinting is the old story of the boy who cried wolf. Remember, people stopped believing him and the wolf gobbled him up. Thereby saving any sheep and poodles in the vacinity at the time.

  Cate
  07/04/27 10:56 PM

• “My name is Megan Jane and I am a Killjoy Blogger.”

  At least that is what my good friend, Staff Writers from news.com.au said about you.
  I believe everything I read on the Internets.

  Heh.

  I see you are all over the media now, even my favorite hoax-debunking page Snopes has linked to your blog.
  http://www.snopes.com/critters/lurkers/poodlesheep.asp
  Neat!
  I bet your getting lots of hits. I wish I had something to advertise so I could capitalize on all the traffic you’re getting.

  It would be interesting to look at this from the perspective of media epidemiology; you know like how they track a contagious disease in a medical drama?
  Seems like this story started at either the UK Sun or at Australian AP and then started working its way outward.

  Sort of an interesting social experiment, eh?

  And the reader comments on the news sites were classic.
  Of course we had the usual kind of comments - the largest category being troglodyte mouth-breathers seizing the chance to rip on the Japanese as a whole. There were a few fellow skeptics calling shenanigans too. But the most interesting category that I saw were the people who, although they completely bought into the story, were quite sympathetic about the whole thing. “Those poor people, they live in the city and never see animals, of course they could be tricked, but it’s not their fault...” or “Shut up, even though 2000 people did this, it doesn’t mean all Japanese are stupid” etc.
  I know, I know, they are still mostly clueless about Japan, but they were so… kind about it. It kind of… gives me hope about humanity, you know?
  They may have bought into the story, but they still refused to be mean or judgemental about the people. Nice.

  Anyway, sorry for the long post. BTW, I bought a couple sheep off this guy the other day. I got them for half-price, but they refuse to eat grass and they keep barking and chasing tennis balls.
  Whaddya reckon I should do about it?
  http://www.legionfx.com/sky/poodles_for_pets.jpg

  Have a good one,

  Jeff

  Jeff Gordon
  07/04/28 12:25 AM

• Oh Jeff my poor friend - looks like you’ve been stung by the infamous Poodle Scammers!

  You silly Canadian. For the love of all things holy - do NOT try to milk them.

  Yeah the comments around the place are pretty disheartening aren’t they? Although at least this time no one was setting up domain names like savepoodlesfrombeingmistakenassheep.com....

  Or demanding emails be sent to PM Abe to save sheep or something.

  MJ
  07/04/28 12:55 AM

• I now will know where to go to get the inside story!

  Miss Cellania
  07/04/28 10:10 AM

• Three cheers to you for debunking this one. Long live the citizen journalist!

  Legal Eagle
  07/04/28 10:28 AM

• even CNN anchors got into the act, laughing on air about how stupid the Japs are......shame on CNN for not fact checking. In fact, the entire wortld media got skunked on this. sad. you are right, people laffed because it is the JAPanese......what racist crap....
  wonder if TIME or NEWSWEEK will report the truth...?

  danny bee
  07/04/28 11:12 AM

• Oh good grief.

  MJ
  07/04/28 01:37 PM

• At least they were polite enough to link to you! Does this mean you will start blogging more often again now?

  And on a serious note: Yes, its really nasty and uncomfortable to hear racist and prejudiced comments being made about you, your friends and your nation. And yet you are absolutely right, its equally uncomfortable to see people you would otherwise think you had much in common with (ie nationality, employer, IQ, uni etc) being racist and prejudiced towards other people in the vicinity, in general or in the media. I feel them both pretty much as the same kind of stab.

  j-ster
  07/04/28 06:35 PM

• Honestly, have people always been this gulible or is this just a recent phenomenon?  Why is it that some people do not question anything they read?  or is it that people are used to being spoon fed by the media? 

  Use your brains people - or should I say sheeple!!

  the goddess
  07/04/29 12:20 AM

• - Does this mean you will start blogging more often again now?

  Well the erratic blogging is not due to me having nothing to rave about - but more just total lack of time at the moment.

  The racist issues are really hurtful ones.

  People have always been gullible it seems. PT Barnum was right you know.

  MJ
  07/04/29 02:37 AM

• This story was run all over Australia, particularly in rural communities. Media watch had a story on it just a moment ago; i was watching to see if you were mentioned but unfortunately not…

  j-ster
  07/04/30 09:08 PM

• Mmm waffles.

  Cthulhu
  07/05/02 01:25 PM