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Waterford Whispers News
Type of site
  • Political satire
  • Social satire
Available inEnglish
OwnerWhispers Media Ltd.[1]
Created byColm Williamson[2]
Editor
  • Colm Williamson[2]
  • Gerry McBride[2]
  • Karl Moylan[2]
URLwaterfordwhispersnews.com
CommercialYes (free content, paid advertising)
RegistrationOptional, but registration is required for posting to WWN articles
LaunchedJune 2009; 15 years ago (2009-06)[2]
Current statusOnline

Waterford Whispers News (WWN) is an Irish satirical news website run by Colm Williamson and based in Tramore, County Waterford, Ireland. The site has been called Ireland's answer to U.S. satirical media company, The Onion, and has been the source of several satirical articles that gained international notability, including: North Korea Lands First Ever Man On The Sun, Confirms Central News Agency, and "Jesus Not Coming Back By The Looks Of It" Admits Vatican.

History

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The website originated from a Facebook page set up in June 2009 by Tipperary-native Colm Williamson, who became unemployed after moving from Dublin to Tramore in Waterford just before the Irish economic downturn.[2][3][4] Williamson chose the name as a reference to the game Chinese whispers.[5]

In 2014, the Irish Times called Waterford Whispers News "Ireland's answer to The Onion".[6][7][8]

Since 2014, Waterford Whispers News has published selections of their best stories, plus new material, in an annual year book.[7][9]

In a 2014 interview with the Irish Independent, Williamson noted how strict Irish libel laws are compared to those in the United States.[8]

In 2015, when discussing the Denis O'Brien article, Williamson noted that unlike physical newspapers, purely online sites have the ability to take down a story when issued with a "cease and desist" notice from a law firm.[10]

In October 2018, Williamson said WWN had three writers (including Williamson), the original IT developer McCabe, and was still based in Tramore.[2]

Since October 2018, WWN has branched out from a solely online format into a tour of live performances in Ireland.[2]

For New Year's Eve 2020, WWN produced a 23-second comedy sketch for RTÉ, in which it portrayed God as a rapist who impregnated a Middle Eastern immigrant. The sketch earned more than 1,000 complaints and condemnation from Ireland's Catholic primate, Eamon Martin. RTÉ apologised for the content.[11] The channel stated that the sketch violated its own broadcast guidelines on causing undue offence to religious groups.[12]

Notable articles

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Williamson described their "big breakthrough" as their January 2014 article: North Korea Lands First Ever Man On The Sun, Confirms Central News Agency.[4] The "scoop" was picked up by Canadian blogs, American talk shows, and Indian and Chinese television.[4][13][14][15] In 2018, Williamson said the story continued to be one of WWN's most viewed articles.[2][13]

Williamson has said in interviews that his favorite notable WWN article was in April 2014: "Jesus Not Coming Back By The Looks Of It" Admits Vatican.[2][16] The article, citing a fictional cardinal, Cardinal Giorgio Salvadore, was repeated by other U.S. sources, including religious groups, such that it caught the attention of Snopes, who rated it false in 2016.[17] TruthOrFiction.com also covered it in 2017.[18]

In May 2015, the site gained further international notoriety with the headline: Dozens Injured In Stampede After Second Checkout In Lidl Opens, which was mistaken by German magazine, Focus, as genuine.[19][20] Focus magazine ran the story as "Customers trigger mass panic in Lidl outlet", however they retracted the article stating: "An earlier version lacked the info that it was satire".[21]

In August 2015, WWN received a cease and desist letter to take down a satirical article written about Irish businessman, Denis O'Brien, titled: Denis O'Brien Receives 20-year Jail Sentance for Mobile Phone License Bribe in Parallel Universe.[10][22] Williamson tweeted an image of the letter that was sent to him from Meagher Solicitors, and which was addressed to the website's publishers Whispers Media Ltd.[1] Willamson described the affair as an example of the Streisand Effect, and that "The whole thing went crazy. It was all over the news".[10]

In May 2018, WWN listed an article titled: Palestine Granted Permission To Compete In Eurovision 2019, which went sufficiently viral to attract a false rating from leading fact-checking site, Snopes,[23] as well as other fact-checking sites.[24] While Snopes recognise that WWN is a satirical news website and not a deliberate fake news website, they have intervened to tag other WWN articles as false where they have gained sufficient virial notability, including (as well as the previous articles above): Did Trump Appoint Bill Cosby as Secretary for Women’s Rights? (2016), NASA Admits It Is in Contact with Alien Species and Just Forgot to Mention It (2016), Rock Legend Animal Is Not Dead (2016), and Was J.K. Rowling Hired to Rewrite the Bible? (2014).[25]

Site traffic

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In May 2014, WWN announced that it had appointed an Irish media agency to manage its advertising business, having previously relied on Google's AdSense program for revenue. At the time of the appointment, the Irish Times reported WWN had 800,000 sessions per month.[6] In May 2016, the Irish Times reported that WWN had 1.25 million sessions per month, and over 14 million per year.[16]

In November 2018, in an interview with Sunday Business Post, Williamson said that Facebook's new anti-fake news measures had halved WWN traffic and would cause the site to lose money in 2019.[26]

As of April 2019, WWN had a global Alexa rank of 120,236 and an Irish Alexa rank of 661. The site averaged circa 600,000 sessions per month during 2019, and over 6 million sessions for 2018. The United States was responsible for over 35% of traffic, the United Kingdom for 17% of traffic and Ireland for 16% of traffic.[27][28]

Bibliography

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  • Colm Williamson (October 2018). Waterford Whispers News 2018. Gill Books. ISBN 978-0717181469.
  • Colm Williamson (November 2017). Waterford Whispers News Newsageddon. Gill Books. ISBN 978-0717179503.
  • Colm Williamson (October 2016). Waterford Whispers Breaking News. Blackstaff Press. ISBN 978-0856409882.
  • Colm Williamson (October 2015). Waterford Whispers News: Takes Over the World. Blackstaff Press. ISBN 978-0856409547.
  • Colm Williamson (November 2014). Waterford Whispers News. Blackstaff Press. ISBN 978-0856409332.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Gleeson, Colin (6 August 2015). "Waterford Whispers removes article after Denis o Brien threat". Irish Times. Retrieved 29 November 2016. The letter referenced the image with the article, quoted widely from the article, and called the "parallel universe" in which the article was set "a sham".
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Sinann Fetherston (13 October 2018). "Waterford Whispers News: Meet the man behind the headlines". RTE News. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  3. ^ Daragh Brophy (2 February 2014). "Fake news site Waterford Whispers is planning to create some real jobs…". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Agnew, Roisin (17 December 2014). "Meet the son of two behind Waterford Whispers News". The Irish Times.
  5. ^ Brophy, Daragh (2 February 2014). "Fake news site Waterford Whispers is planning to create some real jobs…". TheJournal.ie.
  6. ^ a b Laura Slattery. "Waterford Whispers News joins Sweatshop". Irish Times. Ireland's answer to 'The Onion' hires new team to represent it to advertisers
  7. ^ a b Emerson, Newton (12 December 2015). "Waterford Whispers News Takes Over the World: all the news that's fit to mock". Irish Times. Retrieved 29 November 2016. WWN is an Irish take on The Onion, [..]
  8. ^ a b 20 April 2014. "Behind the headlines - inside Waterford Whispers News HQ". Irish Independent. Retrieved 10 May 2019. In the United States, where satire is protected under the First Amendment, the great and good may be ridiculed with impunity by lesser mortals. In Ireland, satirists enjoy no such protection. Indeed, a former Taoiseach once took issue with RTE merely for reporting a story about an unflattering portrait of him surreptitiously exhibited in the National Gallery.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Sean Murray (27 December 2018). "'It's just a sh*tfest. You can't parody the man': Waterford Whispers and satire after Trump". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 10 May 2019. The online publisher has a huge following on social media and, with its fifth Christmas annual publishing recently, founder Colm Williamson told TheJournal.ie that the operation is now a finely-tuned one.
  10. ^ a b c Roland Fitzpatrick (5 November 2015). "Waterford Whispers: Funny ha-ha or funny libellous". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  11. ^ "Irish state broadcaster apologises over TV comedy depicting God as rapist". The Guardian. 3 January 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  12. ^ Bowers, Shauna (7 January 2021). "RTÉ says God sketch 'did not comply' with its standards". The Irish Times. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  13. ^ a b Daragh Brophy (25 January 2014). "Whoops... Media outlets duped by North Korea 'rocket to the sun' story". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 10 May 2019. NEWS OUTLETS AND websites in Ireland around the world have been taken in by a story from an Irish satirical website about a North Kor ean mission to the sun.
  14. ^ "North Korean becomes 'first man to land on Sun' in hoax news". India Today. 3 March 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  15. ^ Dan Miller (28 January 2014). "China and U.S. amazed that North Korea landed on the Sun". China Daily Mail. Retrieved 10 May 2019. On January 21st, a satirical post "appeared at the Waterford Whisper News…" mimicking typical North Korean propaganda;
  16. ^ a b Una Mullaly (28 May 2016). "Journals reimagined: Ireland's alternative media". Irish Times. Retrieved 10 May 2019. Perhaps no other alternative-media outlet has made as big an impact in recent years as Waterford Whispers News, the satirical website that often cuts hilariously close to the bone.
  17. ^ Dan Evan (27 July 2016). "Jesus Is Not Coming Back, Vatican Says". Snopes. While RealTimeNews.info does not carry a readily available disclaimer on its web site, the story quoted above is a carbon copy of an article published in 2014 by Waterford Whispers News, a web site that does label itself a satire publication:
  18. ^ "Vatican No Longer Believes Jesus is Coming Back-Fiction!". TruthOrFiction.com. 27 July 2017. Retrieved 10 May 2019. The story first appeared online at Waterford Whispers News, a satirical website, in April 2014.
  19. ^ Molloy, Dave (12 May 2015). "German magazine falls for Waterford Whispers story on Lidl 'stampede'". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  20. ^ Kelly O'Brien (13 May 2015). "A Lidl embarrassment for Germans thanks to Waterford Whispers". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  21. ^ "German magazine fooled by Waterford Whispers story of Lidl 'stampede'". Irish Independent. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  22. ^ "Meanwhile, In A Parallel Universe". Broadsheet.ie. 6 August 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  23. ^ Bethania Palma (14 May 2018). "Was Palestine Granted Permission to Compete in Eurovision 2019?". Snopes. Retrieved 11 May 2019. On 14 May 2018, the satirical Irish publication Waterford Whispers News reported that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) will allow vocalists from Palestine to compete in the famous annual singing contest Eurovision in 2019:
  24. ^ Maarten Schenk (14 May 2018). "Fake News: Palestine NOT Granted Permission To Compete In Eurovision 2019". Leadstories.com. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  25. ^ "Waterford Whispers News". Snopes. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  26. ^ Barry J White (25 November 2018). "Fake news no laughing matter for Waterford Whispers Satirical website's traffic is halved after Facebook move". Retrieved 10 May 2019. The popular website has been walloped by Facebook's anti-fake news measures, meaning it is likely to lose money in 2018
  27. ^ "Rank2Traffic for waterfordwhispersnews.com". 1 April 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  28. ^ "CuterCounter: waterfordwhispersnews.com". February 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
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