The Onion Fools Foreign Reporters Once Again
from the pealing-away-at-the-fact-checking-myth dept
The Onion strikes again! Seven years ago, we wrote about how a Beijing news program believed a story in The Onion concerning threats by Congress to move to a new Capitol building (with a retractable dome). The latest is that two Bangladeshi newspapers apparently reprinted the "news" from The Onion claiming that astronaut Neil Armstrong was convinced that the moon landings were faked after reading some conspiracy theory sites online. You can almost forgive foreign reporters for not knowing that The Onion is satire, but it just reinforces how little fact checking the supposedly "professional" press does anywhere around the world.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: bangladesh, journalism, neil armstrong, reporting, the onion
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Really?
Want to head down to the Special Olympics and decry their athletic skills next?
Actually, that could be kind of....naaaaahhhhh.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Really?
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Really?
Other then that...I agree with you. :)
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Hell they probably think FOX News is a reputable source as well.
Or for that matter CNN or MSNBC! What a bunch of fools.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
Please, please, please go with a Clinton/Obama wife swap faker...
Or how about an account by the pilot of that plane from S. Korea saying that Clinton nailed those two Chinese journalists. Makes those pictures of him welcoming them to the plane all the more creepy...
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
You call that lack-of-fact-checking
A few days ago an Argentinian news program reported that some teens are getting drunk with a drink called "Grog XD" (yeah, with the ex-di).
The only source that they used was Facebook, and according to it, the drink "Grog XD" containing "kerosene, propylene glycol, artificial sweeteners, sulphuric acid, rum, acetone, red dye no. 2, scumm, axle grease, battery acid, and/or pepperoni."
If still you don't get it, it is a fake recipe from the game Monkey's Island from like 20 years ago.
Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iYZy2xyR-g
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: You call that lack-of-fact-checking
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
i read the onion article last week. So funny that the Bangladeshi's picked up on it...
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Tabloid
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Arrogance
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Arrogance
....yeah, no. Lifelong student of world history with time spent in the region, mostly India. Though you missed the point I was making, which was that Bangladeshi papers have little to no frame of reference for relatively small, Chicago-based satirical periodicals that are only funny because of how plausible some of the stories appear on the surface.
But yeah, I'M the moron...
Oh, and I know that every Ethiopian isn't starving. After all, Marvin plumped up in South Park, didn't he?
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Arrogance
ROFLMAO
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Arrogance
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
well, every thing has its price
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Google News
I wanted to send Google a protest note asking that Onion be excluded from Google "News" but nowhere could I find a link for email feedback.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Add Your Comment
Add A Reply