Why doesn’t America read anymore?

NPR succeeded in pulling off one of the most successful April 1 pranks this year, in terms of number of people fooled.

It posted the article below to Facebook that asked in the headline, "Why Doesn't America Read Anymore?"

The provocative question quickly generated hundreds of responses. Some people bemoaned falling standards of education. Others disagreed with the premise, insisting that people do read nowadays.



But what all the responses shared in common was that the people who posted them apparently hadn't bothered to click through and READ THE ARTICLE ITSELF!

If they had, they would have discovered this text:

Congratulations, genuine readers, and happy April Fools' Day!
We sometimes get the sense that some people are commenting on NPR stories that they haven't actually read. If you are reading this, please like this post and do not comment on it. Then let's see what people have to say about this "story."
Best wishes and have an enjoyable day,
Your friends at NPR

Of course, a lot of the people who were fooled subsequently deleted their comments. So now the thousand+ comments on the post are mostly from people laughing about the joke.

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