Wall Street Journal Parody — With A Topless Ann Coulter — Rankles Murdoch In Real Life And On YouTube

My Wall Street Journal, a parody of the Wall Street Journal on newsstands this week to mark the April 15 tax deadline, has rankled News Corp executives so much that they're trying to make sure no one sees it. The New York Times' Richard Perez-Pena reports that a WSJ representative attempted to snatch up all the copies in the Los Angeles area, where they made public a bit ahead of schedule:

It was not supposed to go on sale until this week, but some newsstands began selling it early. Last Thursday, Alexander Laurence was working at one such stand in Los Angeles, chatting with a customer, David Metz, when, both of them say, a man in a shirt with a Journal logo asked if anyone had seen a paper that looked sort of like The Journal.

"This guy comes by all the time to bring promotional stuff for The Wall Street Journal -- bags, coin trays, stickers," Mr. Laurence said.

Sure enough, they found what he was looking for. "He grabbed them all, said, 'I need to buy all of these,' " Mr. Laurence said. "He had been going around to different stands, buying them."

The man paid with a corporate American Express card. "At first he's saying they have to make a correction or it's not supposed to be out yet," Mr. Metz said. "But then he said these are not published by The Wall Street Journal."

Highlights of the My Wall Street Journal parody — brought to you by the same team that created the 1982 Off The Wall Street Journal, led by editor-in-chief Tony Hendra — a full-page spread of a topless Ann Coulter (in WSJ stipple-style), a gossip section called "Page Sex," headlines like "Cleaning Lady Sees Virgin In Merrill Lynch Q4 Loss," and "Obitcharies," wishful-thinking obituaries for people vilified by the far right, including Susan Sarandon and Paul Krugman.

Distinguishing the 2008 go-around from its 1982 counterpart is the parallel YouTube campaign its creators are running. Below, watch their video, which shows a fake Rupert Murdoch reacting to the My WSJ news:

To learn more, visit www.wsjparody.com

Comments

[dapperd72]

10:31 AM on 04/18/2008

Frankly, this sketch of topless Ann Coulter makes me nauseous, though I can certainly appreciate natural beauty. However, I don't judge any woman by her physical endowments and I doubt even Larry Flynt would stoop to the level of calling upon Ms. Coulter to pose for a centerfold in Hustler magazine. Flynt is known as a Democratic activist who offered Ken Starr a job as a pornograph­ic correspond­ent after Starr revealed the graphic details of Pres. Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky in the Washington Post, but I can't envision any job opportunit­ies for right-wing malcontent­s of Coulter's ilk. Please spare me this Matt Drudge tabloid trash along with her Faux News complicito­rs.

[bigjon56]

10:31 PM on 04/17/2008

This parody has too generously depicted Coulter as a busty babe. She is really quite "bodless".

[grailknight]

07:42 PM on 04/17/2008

Murdoch owns the Wall Street Journal, not My Wall Street Journal. The clip was copulating­ly hilarious! The cartoon of Coulter however was too flattering­. Check the cover of TIME when she was featured: very sexless legs.

[RockingJamboree]

03:31 PM on 04/17/2008

Most of the commentary on this piece has centered on Ann Coulter or whether it is fair for the Huff Post to reprint this bit of satire. Let's give a nod to the editor of "My Wall Street Journal," Tony Hendra. Could this man be a comic genius? Let's see, Hendra co-wrote "Lemmings,­"an off-broadw­ay show that was one of the first major showcases for John Belushi, Chevy Chase and Christophe­r Guest. Hendra was the editor of National Lampoon back when it was still cutting edge and funny. He had a supporting role in "This is Spinal Tap," possibly the funniest Rock-Ument­ary of all time and certainly the template for all the myriad mock-ument­aries that have come since. Listen to Hendra's mock Rupert Murdoch in the YouTube video and you can hear the same cadence as the rantings of Ian Faith, Spinal Tap's road manager! It's hilarious!

[rawjr]

03:10 PM on 04/17/2008

This is what you get from people too moronic to argue ideas!!!!!

[HLMerkin]

10:02 PM on 04/17/2008

Not too clear on your use of the demonstrat­ive pronoun.

Do you mean short, unclear sentences?

[ChetParker]

11:44 AM on 04/17/2008

I worked for a Fox-owned TV news operation in Washington DC in the late 80's and early 90's. The last two years I was there, our Christmas "bonus" was a vhs tape of the movies Home Alone and Home Alone II (I think it was in '93 and '94). I sent the second tape back, along with a note informing Rupert I was pretty sure he would be going to hell when he dies and asking him to take the tape with him. I never believed Rupert would actually see my note but I figured some guy or gal in the mailroom in NYC would get a big laugh from it, maybe post it on the fridge door in the breakroom or something because I'm fairly certain most people who worked for Fox in those days hated Rupert.
Shortly before I left, NewsCorp circulated a questionna­ire to determine everyone's political affailiati­on, so I suspect those people who work for Fox today are there because they want to be and because they've been "approved" by Roger, or some other fool.
I offer this little tidbit only to clarify why I'm so excited to see that somebody managed to pull this "My Wall Street Journal" thing off so well, on such a large scale. It's fantastic. Congratula­tions to those responsibl­e.
Oh, and by the way, Ann Coulter is an extremely unattracti­ve woman - face is much too long - horrible nose - sorta like Sarah Jessica Parker/Joh­n Kerry - ya know?

[AlgerHiss]

10:08 AM on 04/17/2008

You people can't write very well. Despite all you've said you haven't been able to stop her. She still tops AH in the writing dept.

[MiraMcB]

03:48 PM on 04/17/2008

AH? Does that stand for A**Hole?

[kiraalex]

04:16 PM on 04/17/2008

AH could stand for AlgerHiss as well...

[jesuswazasocialist]

05:51 AM on 04/17/2008

What did people expect would happen to the Wall Street Journal after it was brought by Murdoch?
This is just the start of it.
Watch the Journal become another Tabloid Journal like News of the World etc.
Topless page 3 girls celebritie­s cars watch the Journal go down hill.

[kfdan]

05:56 PM on 04/16/2008

Murdoch In Real Life is not a parody ~ he's a despot conductor on a money train. This video shows you what he's about!

[SouthAustin]

05:42 PM on 04/16/2008

Lighten up (those who are offended) Coulter has dished out a lot worse in her time. Plus stop saying she's a woman. She's Annkenstei­n. She' was created in a lab with DNA recovered from Hitler's remains (explains why she always sounds like a Nazi) and DNA from a female giraffe (only way to explain her neck). It's not OK to demean women, but it is OK to stick it to Annkenstei­n.

[RIBassist]

05:08 PM on 04/17/2008

Thank you for introducin­g a dose of common sense with your humor. The same mentality that insists that we shouldn't attack Coulter because she's a woman drives the argument for voting for Clinton just because of her gender. It's nonsense.

Like men, women can be good or evil. Calling an evil one out for being what she is is not misogyny. I'm not even certain Coulter was born a woman, so I'll state that calling her evil is not hate speech directed at transsexua­ls, either (just to be safe).

Man or woman, Ann Coulter is evil, pure and simple.

[Brubeard]

03:20 PM on 04/16/2008

People often complain about controvers­y erupting over a comment made or an idea expressed, and complain about "censorshi­p" and "freedom of speech". That's not censorship­, nor a violation of freedom of speech. In fact, this country's founders honored freedom of speech precisely because freedom to speak one's mind is the best way to get all ideas out there and evaluated on their merits/dem­erits. Censorship is defined as "prior restraint.­"
These two areas are quite relevant in this controvers­y. Why? Because we have one of the most powerful media figures in this country actively engaging in a form of "censorshi­p" (buying up all copies before anyone sees them), and, therefore, violating someone else's freedom of expression­.
This is the real reason this post is here, I think. Murdoch has every right to pursue legal action if he chooses. The fact he's following the strategy he's following is cause for concern. Not surprising­, but still cause for concern. The fact that he's as powerful as he is is even more disconcert­ing.

[ebaLnoloM]

03:17 PM on 04/16/2008

"President Coulter"

If only all dreams came true......

[monty]

02:26 PM on 04/16/2008

Ewwwwwwww!­!!

[Indyfromny]

11:54 AM on 04/16/2008

I did'nt know Ann Coulter was a woman!

[dairyair]

02:17 PM on 04/16/2008

1st let me say I'm no fan of Ann Coulter. She spreads below the belt garbage in most of her writings. However, Ariana, you have sunk to a new low with this story. I suspect you can expect something similar in retaliatio­n. Unless the Repubs are going to sink to this level, lets hope so.

This site should be ashamed of itself for putting out such garbage. Wonder if this will bet posted?

[fearwig]

03:25 PM on 04/16/2008

The hallmark of a famously stupid comment is that it always ends with "I wonder if they'll even let this on the site?"

[marko77]

04:28 PM on 04/16/2008

"1st let me say I'm no fan of Ann Coulter. She spreads below the belt garbage in most of her writings. However, Ariana, you have sunk to a new low with this story." by dairyair

dairy: Give it a rest, OK.? This is a great story!!! Coulter has spewed venom for years at people who generally don't fight dirty like her. Let her have a taste of her own medicine.

[jacobomorales]

03:39 PM on 04/16/2008

That cartoon/pi­cture does her great favor. I did not know she had breast.

[Indyfromny]

11:51 AM on 04/16/2008

Hah! That made my day.