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FreakingNews
Former official logo of FreakingNews with subtitle of "News Photoshop Contests"
Former official logo of FreakingNews
in October 2003
Type of site
Online community, Photoshop contest
Available inEnglish
Created byVladislav Golunov
URLwww.freakingnews.com
CommercialNo
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedAugust 2, 2002; 22 years ago (2002-08-02)
Current statusOffline
Written inActive Server Pages[1]

FreakingNews was a news-oriented Photoshop contest website that came online August 2, 2002 and officially opened on October 23, 2003, as a sister site of Worth1000. The virtual community of 17,000+ digital artists and members featured free daily Photoshop contests that were fueled by global news and events. FreakingNews was featured on television shows, magazines and newspapers, including Comedy Central,[2] MTV,[3] Weekly World News,[4] Glenn Beck Show,[5] Stern Magazine,[6] The Guardian,[7] The Daily News,[8] The Dallas Morning News,[9] and the Los Angeles Times.[10] The site closed in 2020.[citation needed]

History

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Founder Vladislav Golunov and Rich Taylor became online friends in 2001 after Golunov contacted Taylor after he had seen a photo-manipulated image[11] that Taylor had created under the pseudonym Internet screenname "Registered". Golunov had an existing website that posted humorous images with the visitor being able to leave comments or share the images via email. Taylor's news based parody[12] and satire images[13] have been circulated and often thought to be real[14] by Internet users that had received them, primarily via email or posted in online forums. During one subsequent conversation, Taylor mentioned to Golunov that he wished there existed a community of Photoshoppers that would create, or "chop" images based on current news stories. Following this discussion, Golunov registered the domain and called the site "FreakingNews", as a mockery of "breaking news". Golunov bought the edited code for Photoshop contests from Worth1000—by then an already established Photoshop contest site. Apart from the custom code, Worth1000 played a major role in launching FreakingNews by promoting it to its member artists.

In April 2017, Golunov handed over the site to a new owner.[15]

Google Jet hoax

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On December 6, 2007, Fox News showed the picture of the Google Jet Boeing 767, Page and Brin's personal plane,[16] without realizing that the picture was a photo hoax created by a FreakingNews member for one of the Photoshop contests.[17] Three months earlier, aviation news site Plane Nation, featured the same hoax image as a real photo in their article about the Google Jet Boeing 767.[18] The Business Insider website also published this image on June 4, 2008.[19]

Dora the Explorer mugshot controversy

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In May 2010 an edited image of Dora the Explorer, depicting her in a mugshot[20] created by FreakingNews member "AndWhat" (Debbie Groben) for a FreakingNews Photoshop contest, was featured in the newspapers, magazines, and TV programs[21] in light of the Arizona's Immigration Law debate. This mugshot image was used in the public rallies and was met with a lot of controversy, revealing some Americans' attitudes about race, immigrants and where some of immigration reform debate may be headed.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Golunov, Vladislav (August 23, 2014). "FreakingNews FAQ: What is the site coded in? How long did it take to make?". FreakingNews. Archived from the original on May 28, 2018. Retrieved May 28, 2018. This site is an ongoing project spanning through 11 years already. It is coded in ASP, and uses MS SQL database, totaling over 20,000 man-hours of coding work so far.
  2. ^ Lesinski, Chris (8 July 2009). "Celebs with Ears Instead of Eyes". Comedy Central. Archived from the original on 12 July 2009.
  3. ^ "Is Britney The New Courtney?". MTV. 20 September 2007. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007.
  4. ^ Vann, Tap (6 February 2009). "Bat Boy Contest". Weekly World News.
  5. ^ "Picture of the Day - September 16, 2009". Glenn Beck Show. 2009-09-16.
  6. ^ Pohler, Kathrin (20 September 2007). "Willkommen in der Horrorshow" [Welcome to the Horror Show] (in German). Stern.
  7. ^ Williams, Ian (2008-05-30). "Antiviral medicine". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  8. ^ "Spitzer Photoshop contest". New York: The Daily News. 2008-03-13.
  9. ^ "What we like: Photoshop contest sites". The Dallas Morning News. 2006-06-15.
  10. ^ Garrison, Jessica (2004-06-26). "Wigging Out Over Governor's 'Girlie Men' Remark". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  11. ^ "Tom Daschle Pledge of Allegiance". Snopes.com. 2001.
  12. ^ "Does a photograph show Senator John Kerry and Jane Fonda sharing a speaker's platform at an anti-war rally?". Snopes.com. 2004-03-01.
  13. ^ "Tom Daschle Pledge of Allegiance". Snopes.com. 2001.
  14. ^ "Soldier Wears "Doing The Work Of..." Patch on His Uniform?". BreakTheChain.org. 2004-05-10.
  15. ^ "An Introduction -FreakingNews forum thread". freakingnews.com. 23 April 2017. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  16. ^ "The Greenest Hypocrites of 2007". Fox News. 2007-12-06. Archived from the original on December 8, 2007.
  17. ^ "Google Plane - Photoshop Contest Entry". FreakingNews. 2005-11-05. Archived from the original on 13 November 2007.
  18. ^ "Sneek peek at the Google Jet Boeing 767". Plane Nation. 2007-09-07. Archived from the original on 26 October 2007.
  19. ^ Blodget, Henry (4 June 2008). "Google Bribes NASA, Gets Use of Land and 767 Runway For 40 Years". Business Insider.
  20. ^ "Dora the Explorer Mugshot - Photoshop Contest Entry". FreakingNews. 2010-05-15. Archived from the original on 2 January 2010.
  21. ^ See examples here:
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