| Date: | June 8, 2005 / year-entry #145 |
| Tags: | non-computer |
| Orig Link: | https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20050608-37/?p=35383 |
| Comments: | 13 |
| Summary: | Occasionally, in a news story, the reporter will ask for comments or opinion from a passer-by (nicknamed "the man on the street"). Greg Packer has created a second career as that man. In the last 10 years, he's been quoted at least a dozen times by the New York Post. He's been quoted at least... |
Occasionally, in a news story, the reporter will ask for comments or opinion from a passer-by (nicknamed "the man on the street"). Greg Packer has created a second career as that man.
It got so bad that the Associated Press issued an internal memo instructing reporters not to talk to the guy any more! That story from On the Media reminded me of a related incident back when the hype surrounding Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was building. The New York Times sent a reporter to cover the people who had been waiting in line for months. The first person interviewed is Sangay Kumar, who claims to have flown in from Bombay just to see the movie. A friend of mine read the article and started laughing. Because my friend knows Mr. Kumar, who it turns out is not actually from Bombay. He's from Baltimore. He was just waiting in line with everybody else and saw a reporter coming and decided to put on a campy Indian accent and make up a nutty story. And the reporter bought it. |
Comments (13)
Comments are closed. |
Raymond,
great. thanks for that story :-)
WM_ROFL
thomas woelfer
The media is lazy. Why work harder being skeptical?
That’s hilarious. We Indians know how to crack a joke.
How do you know that Mr. Kumar isn’t really from Bombay? He could you have just seen your friend coming and decided to put on a campy Baltimore accent and make up a nutty story.
So how the hell does he manage to leave work for this time and again??
Ahhh, workin’ for the government!
But Sangay Kumar is also the name of the main ‘character’ in the UK comedic interview show, "The Kumars at Number 42"… Was that really this guy’s real name?
Hats off to Mr. Kumar! I hope that if I’m ever approached for an interview I have the presence of mind to adlib something just as ridiculous (yet plausible enough to get published).
Also, I wish I had a job that let me take time off whenever there’s a media event in New York (does that guy ever show up for work?). No wonder the economy is ‘soft’.
mallard: Kumar’s a pretty common Indian name.
The Kumars at No. 42 team may well have chosen it for just that reason — an everyman name, like the British Smith or Jones surnames.
But Sangay Kumar is also the name of the main ‘character’ in the UK comedic interview show, "The Kumars at Number 42"… Was that really this guy’s real name?
The host of "The Kumars at Number 42" is "Sanjeev Kumar" not Sangay, and his real name is Sanjeev Bhaskar. In reality, he’s actually married to his on-screen grandmother. And his on-screen father is originally from Cape Town, South Africa.
As a previous poster already stated, Kumar is a very popular Indian name.
PingBack from http://www.livejournal.com/users/alan_de_smet/12356.html
PingBack from http://www.ljseek.com/the-man-on-the-street_59849420.html