From the Washington Post:
This story has all the usual markers of internet reporting idiocy. It’s got the overwrought headline. It’s got the faux outrage from a tiny number of tweeters. It’s got the ending quote from an academic:
Alicia Jessop, a sports law professor at Pepperdine University, said IHOP’s Mother’s Day tweet, and the blowback it received, should serve as a lesson for companies on what not to do the next time they want to pay respect to mothers on their big day. “This Mother’s Day is a case study in social media strategy,” Jessop said.
Yesterday the Post ran a similar story about two (2) Republican members of Congress criticizing Rep. Rashida Tlaib for completely made-up reasons—which the article acknowledges. Then why write it? Why even give it the publicity? Is invented outrage from two (2) idiots in Congress really enough to justify the headline “House Republicans criticize Rep. Tlaib over remarks on Holocaust, Israel”? Or to justify writing anything at all?
Stop it. Just stop it. We don’t have to give endless publicity to cranks and idiots—or PR stunts—just because it’s a slow news day and social media stories are easy to write. These aren’t real controversies and the Post knows it.
