Older article with theme of "reporting on USA as if a foreign country"?

December 7, 2016 2:18 PM

I seem to recall an article some years ago (Possibly about a previous US election?) from a US based news organization where they wrote in the tone and style that's normally used for foreign countries. Does that ring a bell with anyone? I think it was linked on Metafilter but haven't been able to find it.
posted by ymgve to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Best answer: I think you're thinking of the Slate If It Happened There series.
posted by the agents of KAOS at 2:22 PM on December 7, 2016 [8 favorites]

There's a famous anthropology article about the Nacirema that's similar, though it's not pitched as a news report.
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:22 PM on December 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks! It was probably one of Slate's articles in the series.
posted by ymgve at 2:28 PM on December 7, 2016

The Onion's Serbia Deploys Peacekeeping Forces To U.S. is a model for The Slate series.

(Oh... has it been 17 years?)
posted by ovvl at 4:11 PM on December 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

Vox did their own spin on this with "How we'd cover Ferguson if it happened in another country"
posted by CarolynG at 3:51 PM on December 8, 2016