History Main / AuthenticationByNewspaper

* On AprilFoolsDay 2012, [[AdultSwim [adult swim]]] made sure viewers know that they didn't just replace their block a taped airing of ''{{Toonami}}'' by referring to things that all happened between ''Toonami's'' cancellation and this pseudo-revival. TOM-3 acknowledged the FakeOutOpening suggesting a [[FourIsDeath fourth year of]][[RuleOfThree an April Fool's Day marathon of]] Tommy Wiseau's ''TheRoom'' by quoting it and turning it off, one of the bumps for ''TenchiMuyo'' said [[UnwantedHarem Tenchi]] had [[KanyeWest "99 Problems and these bitches are all of them"]], and the video game review was of ''[[MassEffectThree Mass Effect 3]]''.

* Near the end of ''[=~S1m0ne~=]'', she is seen reading a headline about her own death.

* Parodied in an old sketch of ''[=~Les Guignols de l'info~=]''. The hostage ("played" by the puppet for Christopher Lambert) is registering such a video proving he's well, before realizing the facetious hostage-taker has given him a porn magazine instead of a newspaper. Complaining about the childishness of the joke, said hostage leaves in a huff.

* Parodied in an episode of {{Hey Arnold!}} where [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling Timberly's]] stuffed dinosaur Wally has [[spoiler:[[FakedKidnapping falsely]]]] been stolen. She finds a [[CutAndPasteNote ransom note]] that shows the toy beside a newspaper with that day's date.

* In an epiode of ''TheSimpsons'', Homer gets kidnapped by Ukrainian criminals, and forced to hold up a newspaper.

* Subverted in the most recent special of ''Series/JonathanCreek''. There was a video showing a kidnapped woman and that morning's local newspaper. It turned out that [[spoiler: the woman in charge of the newspaper was in on it and released a swarm of bees at the local council's meeting so she could make sure she knew what the front page story would be]].

** Also used in the episode ''Angel Hair'' in which a group of men kidnap a woman and display a newspaper. This however backfires on the kidnappers. [[spoiler:They want it to seem as though the woman is in on the kidnapping and is about to extort money out of her lover by pretending to be held hostage. Unfortunately their tactic of cutting off all her hair causes an inconsistency in the tape (which the recipient watches as it was being ''recorded live'') considering they rig the set-up immediately ''after'' she had just participated in a catfight complete with hair-pulling.]] Coupled with the date that the newspaper provides, it seems impossible that the woman's hair grew back in so short a time.

** There's also a variation in an earlier episode of ''JonathanCreek'' where a woman gets an alibi due to a faked video of a stalker filming her while she flips through Thursday night's TV. It turns out that this was actually a videotape compiled out of splicing together recordings to make it look as though she was channel-hopping, and was recorded the night after.

* Subverted in the most recent special of ''JonathanCreek''. There was a video showing a kidnapped woman and that morning's local newspaper. It turned out that [[spoiler: the woman in charge of the newspaper was in on it and released a swarm of bees at the local council's meeting so she could make sure she knew what the front page story would be]].

* Subverted and failed recently. A few weeks or months ago, a website placed up a story about how Hayley Williams of {{Paramore}} was to appear on a magazine (called G-String, a suposed dirty magazine that nobody had heard of dedicated to rock chicks) cover topless. However, it was proven to be fake by a number of things, including the fact that a ''real'' topless pic had became well known online and people were comparing the two images, and a thong is very prominant despite her refusal to talk about her underwear choices. But the thing that proved it false was, the hoaxer placed a date on it to make it look legit... except that it claimed it was a year old, making it, if it was real, far too old to have not been discovered before had it been real. It did get some praise however for being a very realistic photoshop image and did look real.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-[[HarryTruman Truman]] proving that newspapers are [[SarcasmModealways right]].-] ]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[-[[HarryTruman Truman]] [[SarcasmMode proving that newspapers are always right]].-] ]]

** The newspaper doesn't actually ''prove'' anything, since getting a newspaper from years ago, putting it in a box, and burying it under your patio, without a trace, is merely very very difficult, not impossible. The ring is actually better proof, since she has seen her ring recently, and knows the patio hasn't been disturbed since it left her possession.

* 4chan has "Timestamp or GTFO!!", which is like this but with a hand-written date instead of the newspaper.
** Of course, people can handwrite any date they want.

The easiest way to prove that a photograph or video was taken recently is to make sure that it includes a newspaper, with the date and at least one article prominently visible. Often this is a photo of a hostage or kidnap victim, and is being used to prove that they haven't been killed.

* Happens in ''HowIMetYourMother'' in a way, where Ted tells Victoria her care package is already in the mail and he sent it a few days ago when in fact he hasn't made it yet. In said care package is the BigApplesauce Times from three days ago.

* This is served with a massive dose of FridgeLogic in ''{{Dexter}}'''s second season. Bad guy Little Chino gives the cops a picture of him holding a newspaper as if it were proof that he was somewhere else on the day a murder took place. (The picture had a timestamp from the camera on it, but those can be faked pretty easily too...)
** Although FridgeLogic still does apply, it was a video not a picture.

* In ''Call Northside 777'' (1948), a reporter played by Jimmy Stewart proves a man's innocence by blowing up a wire service photo to show the date on a newspaper being held up by a paperboy in the background. Possible earliest use of this trope.
** Though they didn't actually need to go that far - as long as they could see the headline they could tell what date it was from the paper's archives.

* In ''Midnight Run'', a bounty hunter takes a picture of his latest target with that day's newspaper. He shows it to the gangsters he's selling the target to before upping his price. The plan backfires because he didn't think to remove towels with the name of the hotel on them before he took the picture.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-Truman proving that newspapers are always right.-] ]]

->''"Remember to write us every day, and don't forget to include a photo of yourself holding up that day's newspaper."''

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder:{{Radio}}]]
* On Ricky Gervais's Xfm show, he and Steve once asked Karl to name a major news event of the day to prove to a suspicious listener that the show was live. [[TheDitz Karl came up with, "Me mam's budgie died last night."]]

* When Tony Blair was Prime Minister, there were persistent stories of a rift between his wife and Humphrey, a cat who permanently resided in 10 Downing Street. They ended up presenting parliament with one of these photos.

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* In ''Call Northside 777'' (1948), a reporter played by Jimmy Stewart proves a man's innocence by blowing up a wire service photo to show the date on a newspaper being held up by a paperboy in the background. Possible earliest use of this trope.

* Near the end of ''[=~S1mone~=]'', she is seen reading a headline about her own death.

** Also used in the episode ''Angel Hair'' in which a group of men kidnap a woman and display a newspaper. This however backfires on the kidnappers. [[spoiler:They want it to seem as though the woman is in on the kidnapping and is about to extort money out of her lover by pretending to be held hostage. Unfortunately their tactic of cutting off all her hair causes an inconsistency in the tape (which the recipient watches as it was being ''recorded live'') considering they rig the set-up immediately ''after'' she had just participated in a catfight complete with hair-pulling.]] Coupled with the date that the newspaper provides, it seems impossible that the woman's hair grew back in so short a time.

* Near the end of ''{{S1mone}}'', she is seen reading a headline about her own death.