The Wire, Midsomer Murders, and the Nu Labour Journalists Who Will Print Anything

This story makes me laugh. A lot. So many journalists so easily fooled by a basic hoax. One wonders what Recess Monkey wanted to achieve with this; I guess he has shown that left-wing journalists will print anything if they think it embarrasses the Tories. Although quite why he would want to show that is beyond me.

Guido details some of the reasons why no journalist should have been caught out by this story:

The fake press release was riddled with clues – the British spelling, the jokey references and of course the copyright notice at the bottom (R Monkee Esq).

For me, though, the clearest clue is in the choice of programme. Midsomer Murders. Does anyone really believe that the Mayor of Baltimore - who has real problems of her own - sits at home watching that pile of sub Agatha Christie trash? It is a massive leap of faith to believe that she knows or cares what the Shadow Home Secretary of the United Kingdom thinks about her town. That she should care enough about Grayling's comments to research John Nettles' post Bergerac career should stretch credulity well beyond breaking point.