Much hilarity as The People's Daily gets fooled:
The online version of China’s Communist Party newspaper has hailed a report by The Onion naming North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as the “Sexiest Man Alive” — not realizing it is satire.
The People’s Daily on Tuesday ran a 55-page photo spread on its website in a tribute to the round-faced leader, under the headline “North Korea’s top leader named The Onion’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2012.”
Quoting The Onion’s spoof report, the Chinese newspaper wrote, “With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman’s dream come true.”
“Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper’s editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous smile,” the People’s Daily cited The Onion as saying.
I have some sympathy for the People's Daily hacks. How were they to know it was satire? It's not as if the original Onion piece is funny or anything.
Perhaps - it occurs to me now - they were merely demonstrating to those Onion amateurs how satire should be done. You want funny? This is how you do funny - put a spoof in an otherwise serious newspaper.
But then I seem to be in a minority in generally failing to find the Onion as hilarious as it clearly believes itself to be.
Didn't Iran get fooled by the Onion too? Something about white Americans voting for that imadinnerjacket guy.
Posted by: Dom | November 28, 2012 at 12:07 PM
Yes, it's mentioned in that first link at Foreign Policy - a story about a Gallup Poll supposedly showing that rural whites preferred Ahmadinejad to Obama.
Posted by: Mick H | November 28, 2012 at 02:05 PM
I think The Onion's very hit and miss, a bit like The Daily Mash, but I have to say that this left me with an enduring mental image: http://www.theonion.com/audio/mel-gibson-launches-rockets-into-israel,12724/
Posted by: Sinister | November 28, 2012 at 02:26 PM
Authoritarian regimes are not accustomed to satire, and so they get caught out.
Posted by: Bob-B | November 28, 2012 at 03:15 PM
Did you see that the NYT linked to one of your posts:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/index.html
Posted by: Dom | November 28, 2012 at 08:03 PM
Yes, I get an overview which shows if other sites refer to any of my posts, so I had seen that. I've had quite a few from the NYT in fact: must have a fan there.
Posted by: Mick H | November 28, 2012 at 09:09 PM