Culture: The “RIP Typewriters” meme that wasn’t actually true
- How was it that Brian Williams got on the telly last night and said the typewriter was dead when it really wasn’t? Well, Bri-man got his info from The Atlantic (well, The Atlantic Wire, to be exact). They got their info from The Daily Mail (who wrote a particularly tabloidy story). And The Daily Mail? They got their info from India’s The Business Standard, which quoted the owner of the factory in question, but didn’t check their info. To The Atlantic Wire’s credit, they did an update, noting that Swintec still makes electronic ones — most of which cost more than an iPad. But other sites kept the misleading info in the headline (looking at you Mashable). As Harry McCracken put it, while noting that you can still buy mechanical typewriters on Amazon, “There will still be people using typewriters long after all of us who are writing about this are gone.” Yep. Like prisoners. source