Every so often, something happens in the world that makes all of us pause and take stock of our lives: the Moon landing, 9/11, that time someone found Stephen Harper’s son on Twitter.
Laura Stone, a reporter for iPolitics.ca, stumbled across the @Ben_S_Harper Twitter account yesterday and correctly identified it as belonging to Ben Harper, the prime minister’s 16-year-old son. She then managed to wring a 420-word article out of her discovery, somehow.
Stone did not find Ben sharing state secrets or anything, but that doesn’t mean her findings weren’t significant. Here’s a small selection:
- In his profile picture, Ben is “wearing what looks like onesie pajamas decorated with hot dogs”
- Jan. 19 was “the least productive day of my life” for the youngster, who still professes to “#loveitthough”
- He is tall and seems “preoccupied with his height”
- Ben considers “#calgary” to be his “#home”
- Ben Harper’s cat is “pretty much my best friend,” according to a Jan. 16 tweet
A monthly subscription to iPolitics costs $15, by the way.
Not to be outdone by Stone, the National Post’s Tristin Hopper then managed to write a 400-word article about Laura Stone’s article. Here are some of his very important additions to this important story:
- “As of Wednesday night, Ben had 290 followers.”
- Ben’s mother is also on Twitter.
- Ben’s father is also on Twitter.
- Seinfeld
When a brave blogger had the temerity to ask Hopper why on Earth he would essentially re-write the most inane news story of the year for his own publication, he responded by calling that courageous muckraker a disparaging name.
@id4ro Tell that to the page views, nerd.
— Tristin Hopper (@TristinHopper) January 24, 2013
The mainstream media’s attack machine in action, folks.
National Post | iPolitics.ca Twitter