silly season

A term for the period in the year where the media/press (particularly newspapers, tabloids) do not have enough articles to fill the paper/schedule, and so resort to unverifiable, trivial, irrelevant, stupid or hoax stories. Phrase used particularly in British satire.

When reading a newspaper: "'Buckingham Palace corridors are fitted with traffic lights to stop staff bumping into the Queen?' Must be silly season again."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4198990.stm

Examples of silly season stories:

"Senator John Kerry once rescued a hamster from the sea and massaged it back to life"
"Bebo tries to beam messages to Earth-like planet"
"A rabbit started a fire at Devizes cricket club in Wiltshire, causing more than £50,000 damage"
"A woman has bequeathed to her children a piece of fruit that has been in her family since 1921"

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