BLOG VIEW | HEADLINE VIEW

ALL

GEEK

End of an Era: "Weekly World News" Shuts Down

SATURDAY JULY 28 2007 12:00 AM

Submitted by thefreak. Edited By erin_broadley.

TAGS: Weekly World News, tabloids, Bat Boy, aliens, Bigfoot, Elvis, odd news

While many of you read about the Iraq war in The Washington Post, or learn about the juiciest celebrity gossip in the latest issue of Us Weekly, some of us prefer to spend our time reading headlines like "WOMAN MARRIES BIGFOOT!" and "ELVIS ALIVE AND LIVING IN UTAH!" Sadly, those days are coming to a close.

Weekly World News, the self-billed "World's Only Reliable Newspaper" is stopping publication after almost 30 years, effective next month.

Publisher American Media Inc. said on Tuesday it will stop printing the Weekly World News, which for 28 years gleefully chronicled the exploits of alien babies, animal-human hybrids and dead celebrities.

The company said in a brief statement it would end the print version of the tabloid newspaper next month but would maintain the online version.

Weekly World News is most famous for breaking the story of the enigmatic Bat Boy. The paper published many of his "exploits," including his daring escape from the scientists who captured him in 1992 and his recruitment by the US government to find Osama Bin Laden. His story even became an off-Broadway musical.

American Media, who also publishes the National Enquirer (who reads that crap?), cited dropping sales and "a strategy to focus on celebrity weeklies and lifestyle magazines."

I call bullshit. Why read about which B-list celebrities are fucking who and Lindsay Lohan's latest relapse (surprise, surprise) when I can read about Mother Nature endorsing Al Gore in 2008?

WWN editor Bob Greenberger also broke the news on his July 21 blog:

Friday morning, Jeff Rovin comes in for a meeting and then the staff was to be called in. He�s looking harried, not at all relaxed. At 11:30, we�re finally shown into an office where we are told the Board of Directors has chosen to close Weekly World News. The reasons given make no sense. We�re stunned and shell-shocked. We�re to stay on through August 3, finishing the reprint issues and then we�re done. A glorious, funny, odd publication, born in 1979, will go out with a whimper and all I can think is that something�s going on that they�re not telling us because it just doesn�t make sense.

All we can do now is cherish the memories we have of the Weekly World News, instead of mourning its passing. Bat Boy would want it that way.

36 Comments

PAGE:

1 | 2 | 3

ckdexterhaven

Redding, CA

December 2005

JUL 28, 2007 12:25 AM

I heard about this. It makes me sad. With all of the bias in news these days (and the straddling of the line between news and opinion), this was in fact one of the only reliable news sources out there. You knew that what you were reading was totally made up. 100 percent. Consistency is the name of the game, and WWN always delivered. Now I have to go online to get my Romanian Vampire Tuna fix. It's a sad, sad moment in time folks.

PAfoto

Portugal

May 2007

JUL 28, 2007 12:54 AM

at least there will still be the online version.

we eall need a bit of weird in our lives everynow and then...

Firestar

Corpus Christi, TX

January 2007

JUL 28, 2007 12:58 AM

I used to read these thing with my dad when i was little ^_^ I always enjoyed them so much. How sad that it is no more

KeatingMcFly

Dallas, TX

October 2005

JUL 28, 2007 01:08 AM

My dad introduced me to the WWN around the same time that he clued me into Ed Wood's movies and the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. I always wanted to write for them...I thought it would be the only publication I would have fun writing for.

I have two issues in my living room...what am I supposed to read now?

scylis

Anchorage, AK

November 2004

JUL 28, 2007 01:10 AM

Bat Boy the Motherfuckin MUSICAL?!?

sweet ass-raping Jesus YES!!

oh, and i still maintain that the Astro Train filled with alien soldiers sent to conquer Earth was, in fact, only the Astro SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLLL TRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNN making a stop at Earth, featuring the one, the only Don Cornelius as a special Guest Host.

wenis

Brentwood, CA

July 2006

JUL 28, 2007 01:17 AM

now there is no reason to go to the supermarket.

malkav11

Saint Paul, MN

July 2003

JUL 28, 2007 01:26 AM

Only tabloid worth the paper it was printed on.

Tommy_the_Cat

Louisville, KY

May 2007

JUL 28, 2007 03:28 AM

That's shocking. I've read WWN forever. I spend my work break reading the store's copy everyday. My dad use to bring them home to me when I was little all the time. That hurts.

stitchpuller

Morrisville, PA

December 2003

JUL 28, 2007 05:05 AM

i have bits of Weekly World in my artwork dating back from 15 years ago ......i used to get smirked at by cashiers when buying it....
...it feels like a little magick is disappearing from the world.

...hopefully someone picks up the torch...well, a badly photo shopped torch with a nifty weird story.

:sad:

Sick

Minneapolis, MN

June 2003

JUL 28, 2007 05:35 AM

I heard about this the other day, and it's pretty sad. Weekly World News wasn't just another tabloid about celebrities and other crap. It was creative and original. Now all we're left with is the horrible celebrity gossip rags.

This also spells the end of one of my long-time dreams: writing a regular column for Weekly World News.