Asahi TV created fake blogs to cite as source material

ATV proves that its programs are just as unreliable as random internet sites:

Blogs featured on a TV Asahi variety program that the show claimed were a source of information for the program, were written by the show’s staff, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Sunday.

The program, “Variety: Rumor Verification,” which was broadcast at 7 p.m. Saturday, examined the authenticity of various pieces of information posted on blogs.

The quiz-style program examined a claim that the word “news” was derived from the initial letters of the English words north, south, east, west. The show also looked at into whether the boar used in the 12 annual zodiac signs is traditionally a pig in China and South Korean tradition, and whether the terms for salmon–sake and shake–are different depending on whether the fish has been processed.

[via Asiajin]

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OsakaGuy

Any real blogger worth their salt could easily check such myths. Like this:
http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/acronyms.asp

It sounds like more work creating fake blogs than just googling up some error ridden sites. There are plenty out there. Except for Time Cube, that one is 100% true.
helical

Another shining example of “Asahiru”.
Just like TBS creating a fake 2ch-like bulletin board. Google “通販さん＠賛成です” for details.
LB

Interesting. In Yesterday’s Yomiuri (actual paper copy delivered to my house) they reported it as follows: the TV producers found the “myths” online, and asked the owner(s) of the blogs for permission to use them in the show. The blog owner(s) refused permission, so Asahi “copied” the information onto fake blogs which they used in the show.

In any event, the “myths” they “busted” were already extant well before the program was filmed, so it isn’t like they were making up “myths” to “bust” strictly for the show.

helical

True, but that may be a moot point anyway since it’s easy enough to find just about any crazy idea on the Interwebs.

This fiasco could have been avoided if they just stuck a little disclaimer on the image saying it was a recreation.
Instead, they neglected to do so and the show ended up being an elaborate straw man that tried too hard to take a cheap shot at “The Internet”, trying to spread FUD about how the web is a dangerous and unreliable place.

I should have mentioned it in my own post but the company that produced this program, NON Productions, was also the company that made the 発掘！あるある大事典 show which was later busted and canned for making up data and spreading myths, of which the most famous is the natto diet.

discotune

A claim that the word “news” was derived from the initial letters of the English words north, south, east, west?

That’s the origin of the Johnny’s Entertainment group NEWS’s name. Sure there isn’t a mix up there somewhere?

Asahi TV created fake blogs to cite as source material

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