Framley Examiner
The Framley Examiner is an online newspaper devoted to spoofing British local newspapers. Sometimes described as a British Onion, the two publications have quite different approaches. Whereas The Onion uses the vehicle of news reporting to comment on political events, The Framley Examiner spoofs the news media themselves.
Supposedly concerning itself with reporting news from the fictitious town of Framley and its local boroughs including Whoft, Fracton and St Eyot, The Framley Examiner contains lashing of Stylistic Suck (badly formatted and proof-checked text, for example) and strange surrealistic small ads. Two books have been written based on theWweb site; 'The Framley Examiner' and 'Historical Framley'.
Tropes used in Framley Examiner include:
- Cloudcuckoolander: Every single inhabitant of Framley and every correspondent on the paper (with the possible exception of Damium Clavalier).
- Crapsack World: The district of Batley, home to one of Framley's most deprived estates. Every single home there is invaded every single night. On the plus side, all of the prostitutes are fully trained plumbers.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: "It's never toi-late to go to the toilet" is one of the more bearable examples.
- Political Correctness: According to one correspondent, closing the Gypsy House at the zoo is an example.
- Springtime for Hitler: Damium Clavlier's attempts to get fired from the paper have included writing stories in which murderers are given amnesties and sneaking pornographic pictures into the children's section.
- Straw Critic/Caustic Critic: The Framley Examiner's arts correspondent, Ursula Cloybeam. Her articles include a devastating and abusive attack on a local school production of Julius Caesar.
- Worst News Judgment Ever: "A pond coin has been fond abandoned in a phone box in Whoft."