April Fools Editions Are Not Cool

By Allen Bacon, Editor, The Daily Bosco

Before today gets away from me, I wanted to get a rant off on something that has been building up inside for a while. I want to address the subject of April Fools Day Editions of newspapers.

My local paper, The Fullerton Observer, has done one for a few years now. Except I forgot this year. I wasted about 15 minutes reading the front page of the newspaper and thinking how interesting all the news was when I realized I was reading a bunch of fabricated nonsense.

This morning, I was reading an online trade publication which I think is the most informative. Fifteen minutes into my read I realized that I was also reading nonsense.

I don't mind a good Aprils Fools joke. My good friend Gina emailed me an Aprils Fool joke last year that was really funny...but I also knew right off the bat it was an April Fools joke and she had the good sense to keep it short and simple and not waste my time.

April Fools jokes in newspapers, however, are another story. First of all, editors, you are not doing anything novel or rare. The April Fools edition is old news. Secondly, if you want to be taken seriously as a publication...don't do it. Even as an editor of a high school newspaper...I had good sense not to do it. It's just tacky, unnecessary and annoying.