Students who picked up a recent issue of The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, published on March 12^th, were shocked to find that a real company had again printed an ad.  Local restaurant, Gertie’s, purchased the ad, which appeared on page eight, after accidentally mistaking the News-Letter for the “Newletter,” a popular page on Facebook.

“I heard about some spoof thing that was gaining popularity among students.  Unfortunately, I saw that the Johns Hopkins Federal Credit Union had an ad in The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, so I thought that one was the real deal.  I figured all the “s”s in the title were a joke and that this one was the funny one,” explained Gertie’s owner Michael Artsmith.  Little did he realize the extent of his error.

“The John Hopkin Newletter” is a popular parody of the actual News-Letter, although, ironically, this parody produces much more accurate reports than the misinformed student paper, and has more likes on Facebook.  “Founded on 1875,” according to its Facebook page, the Newletter announces, “Journalism is Dead,” (which is funny because the News-Letter announces the same thing with its writing).

Upon learning of his mistake, Artsmith was upset.

“I wanted to support student writing and creativity, not this crap,” he exclaimed.  “Now my restaurant is going to be permanently associated with the ‘shitty one’ because nobody else is going to be dumb enough to buy ad space in this paper.  I would have been better off giving my money to a real club, like the Wading Team.”

Editors for the News-Letter were unavailable for comment, as they were busy not fact checking stories and writing irresponsible op-eds that upset large portions of the student body.