Written by Amanda Coers – With a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek articles, hilarious and locally-themed memes, and a few surveys about Brownwood area businesses and parks, the Brownwood Examiner features satirical news stories that may have pulled the wool over on a few readers. News satire presents articles in a format typical of mainstream journalism, with a twist of irony and some deadpan humor. News satire has been around almost as long as journalism itself, but it is seeing a rise in the past decade with websites like The Onion or television programs like The Daily Show.
Over 3,500 fans on The Brownwood Examiner Facebook Page tune in regularly for a laugh or two as updates are posted. And while it’s all in good fun, writers for the Examiner have had a headache or two from readers who didn’t realize it was just a joke.
We were able to sit down with the site’s creator to talk about The Brownwood Examiner and hopefully clear up any misunderstandings.
Stock Image: The Brownwood Examiner staff member agreed to our interview, so long as their identity was protected
1. What is the Brownwood Examiner? A lovely waste of time, mostly. It’s a collective of a few of us who write and the majority of our articles are collaborations. It makes our overall output less than a traditional paper but it really works well for us. We’ve got one person who can come up with headlines like nobody’s business. Another one of us is good at fleshing out the headline, another one of us is good at grammar, and that’s not the one you are talking to right now as you’ll soon discover!
2. When did you first consider running a satirical news site for Brownwood? I’d considered having an ‘alternate’ Brownwood Reunion for a long time to ‘protest’ the pedestrian nature of it. This turned into the Potted Meat Festival which unfortunately never occurred. We’d still like to put it on at some point. Beer, weird people, potted meat, and pyrotechnics now that we’re not under a burn ban. The idea sort of snowballed from there. It was fun, and people seemed to enjoy having something to laugh at. Right around that time, our “Drain Lake Coleman” article was ruffling feathers and going viral. We got so much hate mail from people who didn’t understand satire at that point that our long-standing ongoing ‘feud’ with Coleman began.
3. And when did you actually launch the site? June of 2014. I only know that because I did a whois on ourself. We’re officially toddlers now!
4. Do you actually like potted meat? Oh hell no. The fact it has to declare itself to be a ‘food product’ on the label should be your first warning sign. When I was a kid, my dad used to love the vile stuff. He liked the brand with the Devil on the can, which should be your second warning sign. Have you ever read what’s actually in it? If you tried to feed potted meat to the inmates at Rikers Island, you’d have a full scale riot on your hands. My cat won’t even eat it, and she’s fond of eating junebugs and grasshoppers!
5. What was your own personal favorite article? Historical Ghosts of Brownwood criticize public works. I’ve always said I want to write a follow-up but I never seem to get around to doing so. It was fun to mash up actual history with sheer ridiculousness.
6. Do readers often mistake your site for factual news? Yes, even with a disclaimer and the nature of our stories being utterly absurd. We used to correct people, but if “Could a portal to hell be in the Kroger parking lot, or is it just a massive sinkhole?” or “Brownwood Urinal awarded “Worst in Central Texas”” sounds like an actual news story, you need to put down the pipe, close out of the Breitbart, and go think long and hard about what you are doing with your life. Funnily enough, our most viewed story was one that people seemed to fall for the very most; “Brownwood to Host Miss Pregnant Teen Competition”
7. Why do you feel humor is important? Well, in satire, irony is militant. A lot of the things we joke about if you’ll read deeply into them, are challenging the status quo. A lot of other things are just gallows humor. Don’t try and read too much into everything or you’ll have learned nothing. Humor is the best coping mechanism for the powerless to feel that they can influence the powerful, or at least poke them with a stick from time to time.
8. Is there such thing as poking too hard with a stick? Yes. A few times our articles have landed flatly and in one case recently, we weren’t clear enough and indirectly spoke down about a local business in town. We fixed it, but we still feel bad. One of the longest running quandaries in comedy is where to draw the line.. and if some things simply aren’t funny. We do try our best to avoid this, unless it’s about Dale Street. Dale Street is terrible and should feel ashamed of itself.
9. What do you love about Brownwood? We’re starting to have more and more events and more varied places to go. It’s starting to feel less insular, and that’s a good thing. We can’t be sticks in the mud, biting our thumbs and protesting progress. For a community to thrive, it has to be dynamic and welcoming to all. Downtown is starting to blossom with small businesses, and the small businesses that were already established in the area continue to thrive. I think getting the Lyric back really made Downtown seem alive again. Sometimes it’s going to take the community getting together to make things better, and the results show!
10. If you could see changes in the community, what would you like to see? A Korean joint! 불고기 김치 갈비 … 한번 해보려한다면 모두 한국 음식을 좋아할 것입니다 (roughly translated: Bulgogi kimchi rib … If you want to try it all, you will like Korean food). Historical preservation is also important. I’d love to see someone do something with the Brownwood Hotel like the did with the Settles Hotel in Big Spring. I’d like to see the town become more walkable, and I want a monorail.
11. Any other hobbies our readers should know about? I’m actually a practicing Buddhist who has a paradoxical addiction to watching Muay Thai. In my spare time I enjoy cooking Indian food, trying to get the damn Air Temp song out of my head, and tinkering with old electronics. I’ve got a fairly decent collection of late 70s Magnavox Odyssey 2 games and a fully restored Nishijin Shiroi Kamome pachinko machine, and I’ve built a bartop arcade. My next project is a DIY skeeball once I’ve got the room for it. Life is too short to take yourself seriously. Like Bill Hicks said, “It’s just a ride.”
