We Want Media

If you read Esquire, I bet you have been, too. In its April issue, the magazine that calls itself a "guide for men who want to live a fuller, richer, more informed and rewarding life" pulled a hoax of literally mammoth proportions.

His name is Irwin Leba, or should I say Alan Able? The latter is perhaps the most famous prankster in American history. The former is his latest prank. Leba, according to an Esquire story by Joshua Foer, is an overweight Texas millionaire, who in his free time lobbies Congress for a fat tax. He is, to put it mildly, an over the top, almost unreal personality. Yesterday, the Washington Post's Peter Carlson confirmed that Leba is in fact unreal; a caricature conceived by Foer, Able and Esquire's editors--fake IHA website and all.

Clearly, they skillfully pranked their readers, eliciting both supportive and angry e-mails. But the real issue here is not the magazine's ability to dupe, as they have done before, but its willingness to publish a fake story under the pretense of truth. In a post-Jayson Blair world, with Ben Domenechs and fake Fox News correspondents running amok, media outlets need to be increasingly careful with what they run. However, I defer to comedy. The media should strive for accuracy, but if truth must be sacrificed for hilarity I am OK with that. I am admittedly embarrassed to learn that Leba, who I so incredulously fell in love with, is not real. But most of all, I am entertained. And that, my friends, is what it’s all about.