Valleywag
The Internet, despite its vast repositories of knowledge, has made us stupid. According to the Pew Research Center, Americans know less about current events now than they did in 1989. Too many distractions? Well The New York Times is looking to inform all the Web's denizens, or at least guilt them into scanning RSS headlines. It's launched a Facebook App dubbed The New York Times News Quiz. After a answering five questions based on the day's headlines, takers are awarded a "Times IQ" and ranked against their friends and collective Facebook users. Brilliant move. Even cheaters will end up learning something. No one wants to look like an idiot in front of friends.
The New York Times to shame youth into reading the news
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12:09 PM on Wed Sep 12 2007
By Mary Jane Irwin
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Now if they'd just get rid of Time Select, so we can actually read noteworthy news and quit playing games.
Know what else no one wants to do around their friends?
Talk about the New York Times.
So they better make those quizzes fun. Here's one they could do:
1. Which reporter published falsehoods from mostly anonymous sources, including convicted liar I. Lewis Libby, that helped stoke the US into the Iraq war?
a. Judith Miller
b. Michael Gordon
c. both of the above
2. Which reporter left the paper in utter in disgrace in 2003?
a. Rick Bragg
b. Jayson Blair
c. both of the above
3. What is the most popular nickname for in-over-his-read publisher Arthur Sulzberger?
a. Bud
b. Punch
c. both of the above
4. Which war propagandist recently had an Op-Ed in the Times?
a. Michael O'Hanlon
b. Kenneth Pollack
c. both of the above
5. New York Times feature articles rely heavily on which devices?
a. Promising lots of substantive info early and then fading fast into looked-up background and long quotes
b. Gently but respectfully tweaking conventional wisdom
c. both of the aove
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