Time to dump April Fools’ editions

Photo: Ali Colwell

I was one of several people interviewed by Michelle Chan for her piece on college newspapers’ April Fools’ Day issues. My advice: “Leave the funny stuff to The Onion.” My former Poynter colleague, Roy Peter Clark, tells her:

April Fools’ Day is one of the stupidest fake holidays ever created, and I’ve never seen an April Fools’ Day issue of anything that was any good. Even in the best of hands, the satire turns out to be pretty lame. And in the worst hands, we get these totally unnecessary scandals like the ones we’ve seen.

* A Fool’s Errand? AJR on April 1 fiascoes
* Maneater’s top editors resign over Carpeteater April Fools’ issue
* Boston University editor resigns over April Fools’ edition

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