"How much do you know about Harry Houdini?" asks the so-called History Channel in a quiz on the official website touting its upcoming Houdini miniseries. As John Cox and other illustrious Houdiniphiles have written, the quiz is riddled with errors. This confirms our belief that History is being incredibly sloppy with Harry's history. We've lamented this in detail in earlier posts.
Alas, it's not only History that has gone lame. Nonfiction television, once a source of pride to journalists and filmmakers, has become shark-bait. History's "nonfiction" rival, the Discovery Channel, is also peddling great white lies:
[Video link here.]
Why is this happening? As with everything that works against truth and otherwise makes no sense, the reason is money. Kinky Houdini attracts eyeballs. Sharks eat eyeballs too.
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HISTORY CHANNEL FAKES HOUDINI
REAL V. FAKE HOUDINI
KINKY HOUDINI
I only pointed out the one mistake. The other stuff is forgivable, IMO.
ReplyDeleteI hear you and respect your opinion. But to me, who spent 35 years as an investigative journalist, this spreading non-commitment to truth is a sign that the free press, the linchpin of our democracy, is failing. And why? Just to make guys like Rupert Murdoch richer. If the Discovery Channel didn't call itself "nonfiction," and if History had another name, it would not be a problem. When I used to work at CBS News and The New York Times you got fired for stuff like this.
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