MarryOurDaughter.com Hoax, Talk Radio, NYT, Newsweek

WERE TALKERS TRICKED?

Hoax Website Claims It Created Talk Radio Outrage







Did a now- outed hoax website succeed in tricking issues- oriented talk radio hosts, sending a number of them into on- air tirades? As they cover the backlash brewing over MarryOurDaughter.com, that's what several mainstream media organizations have been claiming in recent days.

Snopes has the background on this spoof site here.

But so far at least, none have provided specific examples of talkers and blogs duped by the site, which claimed to offer teen brides for "sale" by their parents. That hasn't stopped both the New York Times and Newsweek from repeating these claims.

Actually, the NYT did mention three stations in its report:

In the last few days, the site’s “publicity director” has also appeared on at least half a dozen talk radio shows around the country, including on Las Vegas (MIX-FM), Houston (KRBE-FM) and Philadelphia (WYSP-FM) and mixed it up with belligerent on-air-personalities and hostile listeners, whom he neglected to let in on the ruse.

One problem: none of these are talk radio stations. Instead, they are music outlets overseen by rock jocks, most of whom have the brains of an ice cube. Without letting that factual error get in the way, the NYT was obviously thrilled to characterize political talk radio hosts as a bunch of easily- fooled idiots.

Worse, to back up its assertion, the NYT points to a page from the hoax site, which goes straight to an error message.

And today, PRWeek followed up with its own report, repeating the assertions made by the New York Times. Taking it even further, the publication rips the "US public" for falling for the scam:

Kyra, a 14-AND-a-half-year-old brunette in the Southeast, "is bright and funny and full of life, and while she has little direct experience with the opposite sex we have made sure she is aware of everything she needs to know to be a good wife and mother." And she can be yours for only $27,995!

Well, not really. Real 14-year-old girls can be wooed with little more than a super-sized order of fries and a charm bracelet. But Kyra, with her lack of carnal knowledge, is noticeably cheaper than 16-year- old Kristin J., who has a "wild streak" and retails for $49,995.

Both of these hot young brides-to-be are available for lecherous, wife-seeking pedophiles on the one stop girl-shopping Web site MarryOurDaughter.com, which bills itself as "an introduction service assisting those following the biblical tradition of arranging marriages for their daughters."

Outrageous! Despicable! And a complete hoax! The site was a clever attempt by an activist to shine light on the ridiculous array of childhood marriage laws dotting our country. But, as expected, the public, fiercely opposed to parody detection, responded (via angry talk radio hosts) with mortification and bloodlust.

Well played as always, US public.

The activist, John Ordover (who also played the site's "publicity director" to bamboozled radio hosts) has done an admirable job of bringing the classic politically motivated PR stunt into the digital age. He leaves silly teen marriage laws and several disappointed, dirty old men in his wake.

In the end, the real hoax appears to be any assertion by the mainstream media that talkers and bloggers fell for this Internet swindle. Show us the evidence, will you?


FOR Boston- area talk radio updates, see our other site. New: could a Republican win a Massachusetts congressional seat next month?


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