Editor and Publisher – the magazine about the magazine and newspaper industry — reports today that:
Supportlordblack.com — a Web site supposedly supporting deposed newspaper mogul Conrad Black with “symbolic” pledges of financial support and an “On-to-Chicago Caravan” for the opening of his federal racketeering trial next week — is a hoax created by the Canadian satirical magazine Frank, the current issue reveals.
The site was the subject of an online column in E&P last week that suggested the site could be satire. “They're kidding, right?” the column asked. But it nonetheless concluded after an e-mail interview with its “creator” — one “Alastair Smith,” a 32-year-old with a vague position in Toronto's financial markets — that it was a serious undertaking by people under the thrall of Ayn Rand.
“…We were kidding,” Frank Editor Michael Bate, signing himself “aka Alastair Smith” said in an e-mail to E&P. “As Lord Black is one of the few satiric assets we have left in this frozen backwater, we pray for his safe return.” … [Read the rest]
The Web site supportlordblack.com is still up — click on the letters section to see who wrote in supporting Black. Frank magazine, like many media outlets this week, features Black prominently in its latest issue.
