Founded 2014 | ||
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Founder(s) Errol Parker and Clancy Overell Website www.betootaadvocate.com | ||
The Betoota Advocate is a satirical Australian website. It was started in 2014 by Errol Parker (Editor-at-large) and Clancy Overell (Editor). It purports to be 'Australia's oldest newspaper' and to be published in the town of Betoota, Queensland, which is currently a ghost town.
Controversies
Several Betoota Advocate articles have been mistaken for real news items by major Australian media outlets. In November 2014 Weekend Today reported as fact an Advocate article about a Sydney city parking ranger who accidentally booked himself. In January 2015, Deadspin reported that the 2016 Olympics would have 3-on-3 Basketball, before realising that the source was a satire site. In March 2015, 4BC also reported as fact an Advocate article about a 78-year-old man fighting off a home invasion, and interviewed Overell.
In December 2014 the RSPCA Australia criticised the site for publishing an article announcing that it was trialling having veterinarians present at dog fights in Queensland without making it clear that the story was satire, as well as including made-up quotes from them in the article. In October 2015 former Wallabies captain John Eales criticised the Advocate for an article attributing to him a quote attacking Australian-born fans of the All Blacks as 'worse than ISIS.'