New Yorker Twitter Rumor Sparks Sasha Frere-Jones TwitteRant

Earlier today, Washington Post book critic Ron Charles used his Twitter feed to pass along a juicy bit of gossip about The New Yorker: "Frequent contributor tells me the New Yorker is considering switch to biweekly or monthly. Recession pains." Charles wasn't the first to speculate about this, but his twist (twittst?) caught fire amongst the Twitteratti, and it seemed plausible enough, given Conde Nast's recent layoffs.

Enter New Yorker pop critic Sasha Frere-Jones (pictured) to tweet the truth: "These biweekly/monthly TNY rumors are total bullshit. Report it out, or shut the fuck up." This was followed by, "The mags that got hit hardest are the ONES THAT DON'T EXIST ANYMORE. Seriously. This fear-mongering falling-sky shit is. Doing. No. Good."

Not content to simply use Twitter as a source, The Observer took Frere-Jones's advice about "reporting" (whatever that means) and got New Yorker editor David Remnick on the phone to comment on the rumor: "False. False. False. False. Just not true." Now Charles has taken down his incendiary tweet, quickly restoring peace on Twittearth before most Americans could learn how close we just came to total Twittarmeggedon. Related: The Daily News' Mike Lupica is worried that President Obama will start Twittering.