07 June, 2007

Gene Weingarten on outsourced journalism

My life is complete after reading Gene Weingarten’s satire on outsourced, long-distance journalism. Weingarten reports on a meeting of the local legislature in Tamil Nadu via webcast:

A man whose name is, I swear, “Somnath Chatterjee,” addressed the state legislature here today. Mr. Chatterjee was introduced as the leader of the “Lok Sabha,” which is evidently some sort of important national lawmaking body about which few details are available at this time.

Mr. Chatterjee is apparently in ill health, as he arrived surrounded by attendants in white hospital garb. However, he proved hale enough to mount the podium, where he delivered a lengthy speech in praise of an elderly, revered local government official whose name sounds something like “Dr. K. Haminahamina,” a name that, unfortunately, didn’t get any Google hits. But it’s got to be pretty close.

Mr. Chatterjee’s speech was interrupted many times by the sound of antelopes thundering by, which turned out to be people thumping their palms on their desks. This seems to be a local version of applause, a fact that became apparent as the camera panned the audience, and HOLY COW, wait a minute—everybody’s wearing all white, head to toe!

You can read the full piece here. If you want to. No one’s forcing you. I’m sick of being blamed for making people read sick things. Sick! Am I holding a gun to your head? Huh?

(Link via email from Deepak and two mailing lists. Blame them! Pah!)