Media Scandals From Around The World (That Make America Look Sane)

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A British Rag Had A Spy Posing As A Footman Inside The Royal Palace

In 2003, the tabloid Daily Mirror decided it was a good idea to commit minor treason by spying on the royal family. The paper sent an intern named Ryan Perry to infiltrate Buckingham Palace as a footman and report on any information that was in the public interest. So what royal secrets did he expose? Apparently the Queen is a bit obsessive about her cornflakes, Prince Edward plays hide and seek with a toy monkey, and the royals occasionally swear at the help. And it sure must be hard to pretend you're the British Woodward and Bernstein when your notebook includes details on how much marmalade her majesty's corgis like on their toast.

Erin Kohlenberg/Flickr"Day #7: Established communication with Sugar. Will attempt to recruit her after tomorrow's walkies."

When The Mirror started publishing every single invasion of privacy, the crown retaliated by seeking an injunction on the story and suing Perry. Fortunately for the snooper, he didn't have a criminal record or a cousin in al-Qaeda, so he could only be prosecuted for breaching his confidentiality clause. But The Mirror and its head editorial ghoul Piers Morgan denied any wrongdoing. They claimed they were justified, having exposed serious security flaws. It's a bit like your landlord claiming you should thank him for showing you how easy it is to install cameras in your bathroom.

Wanting to avoid further embarrassment, the queen quickly settled, dropping the charges if The Mirror stopped publishing details and paid legal fees to the tune of 25,000 pounds ($42,800). Morgan agreed ... while simultaneously bragging that he had already made a small fortune telling everyone the color of Prince Philip's pajamas.

But The Daily Mirror and Ryan Perry did make a single worthwhile contribution to investigative journalism: They exposed what a shit job being a royal footman is. Not only did readers find out it only pays a measly 11,881 pounds ($20,340) per year minus living expenses, but footmen also have to sleep in tiny rooms, share toilets, and are banned from walking in the middle of hallways to avoid wearing out the carpet. Who would have guessed that being the personal attendant to royalty was Britain's equivalent of being a greeter at Walmart?

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A Mexican TV Network Made Up A Child Earthquake Survivor

On September 19, 2017, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Mexico City, destroying dozens of buildings, wounding thousands, and killing hundreds. For days, rescue workers and volunteers scoured the rubble for people trapped. Enrique Rebsamen Elementary School collapsed, killing 21 children and five adults. But right as everyone began to lose hope, Televisa -- the biggest television network in the country -- reported that a 12-year-old girl named Frida Sofia had been found trapped under the debris.

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A Conspiracy Theorist YouTube Star Is Advising The Brazilian President

Olavo de Carvalho became famous in Brazil as a celebrity astrologer, but abandoned that esteemed field to become a conspiracy theorist instead. (Psh, typical Taurus.) On his YouTube channel, Carvalho tells his audience the stories no one else dares to talk about, like how climate change is a hoax and Pepsi is made from aborted fetuses. He's like the Alex Jones of Brazil, with one tiny difference: Alex Jones only pretends to be a high-ranking government adviser.

Alan Santos/Wikimedia CommonsPlus, even Alex Jones hasn't tried to debunk Isaac Newton yet.

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A Documentary Exposing Cambodian Sex Slavery Was Branded "Fake News" By The Government

Human trafficking, a fancy PR term for the slave trade, is a major problem in Cambodia. This is what a small film crew tried to expose in their 2019 documentary My Mother Sold Me, which highlighted the sadly common practice of poor Cambodian people selling their children into sex work. The documentary was met with international attention, and the Cambodian government immediately launched a criminal investigation ... into the filmmakers.

RT/YouTubeTurns out they hired a key grip who wasn't union.

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Argentina's Biggest Newspaper Mogul Was Accused Of Stealing Her Own Children

Ernestina Herrera de Noble was a former flamenco dancer who inherited her husband's newspaper. She expanded it into the Grupo Clarin, a multi-billion-dollar media empire of TV and radio stations. During the '00s, Noble used that empire to attack the Kirchner government for being corrupt bribe-takers. To which the government responded that while they may take bribes, at least they don't snatch babies.

Yes, to defeat the media mogul, the Argentine government had a two-pronged approach: break up Grupo Clarin, and also have Ernestina convicted of stealing her children. The latter sounds crazy even for Argentine politics, wherein every resignation speech begins with the phrase "So you have discovered my terrible secret." But the government's accusations had its roots in an actual tragedy. During Argentina's military dictatorship in the '70s (also known as the Dirty War), an estimated 500 babies of murdered left-wing dissidents were stolen by the junta and given to childless supporters as rewards. It was around this time that childless regime supporter Ernestina Herrera de Noble adopted her two babies, Marcela and Felipe, under very suspicious circumstances.