Iran's news agency PWNT by the paper of prophesy: The Onion

[NeoTheranthrope]

"Add Iran's news agency to the long list of those hoodwinked by the satire of The Onion.

Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency published a story Friday claiming that a Gallup poll found that rural white Americans prefer Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over President Barack Obama.

Such a poll would indeed be big news in Iran (and the United States) -- if it were true."

[snip]

"The Onion responded by stating that 'Fars is a subsidiary and has been our Middle Eastern bureau since the mid 1980s.'"

Onion Editor Will Tracy wrote in an e-mail that Fars is a subsidiary and has been 'our Middle Eastern bureau since the mid 1980s, when the Onion's publisher, T. Herman Zweibel, founded Fars with the government approval of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

The Onion freely shares content with Fars and commends the journalists at Iran's Finest News Source on their superb reportage,' Tracy wrote in his statement." -CNN

 

[evil wasabi]

yeah I caught this yesterday, and was surprised they yanked the article so fast. I should have taken a screen shot.

 

[WoodyXP]

I LOL'd.

 

[aria]

Nice response by The Onion.

 

[NeoTheranthrope]

Oh, you wacky Persians...

 

[SNKorSWM]

They should rename the news agency to "Farce" instead.

 

[SSS]

Oh, you wacky Persians...

Are you and megaschlock_330 in a race or something?

 

[Cylotron]

i think we all know what the world really needs ....

 

[SouthtownKid]

yeah I caught this yesterday, and was surprised they yanked the article so fast.

The publisher probably came in and told his asshole staff that he didn't actually feel like being targeted for death today.

 

[qube]

There's probably validity to the Onion's original claim. They should have left the story and let it run

 

[PleaseKillMeNow]

This has happened before, where a foriegn news agency cites the Onion. With its dry humor, I can understand a non-English speaker not getting the joke. However, it's when Americans get fooled that it gets ridiculous. Check out the Literally Unbelievable blog. It's enough to make you want to be a monk.

 

[evil wasabi]

That's the thing. When Ahmadinejad was getting interviewed by Piers Morgan, all the Iranians on my news feed were saying how republicans would love Ahmadinejad if it wasn't for Israel, and its true. The guy is a homophobe who has done nothing for the poor in his country except allow poverty to flourish.

 

[Lagduf]

Check out the Literally Unbelievable blog. It's enough to make you want to be a monk.

Yes, yes it is.

 

[Lagduf]

Yes, yes it is.

Ahaha, ok...my faith in humanity restored:

http://literallyunbelievable.org/post/30314326469/rip-bill-nye

Last comment on this one is gold. "Y'all dumb niggas"

 

[Darklighterx]

Ahaha, ok...my faith in humanity restored:

http://literallyunbelievable.org/post/30314326469/rip-bill-nye

Last comment on this one is gold. "Y'all dumb niggas"

 

[aria]

This has happened before, where a foriegn news agency cites the Onion. With its dry humor, I can understand a non-English speaker not getting the joke. However, it's when Americans get fooled that it gets ridiculous. Check out the Literally Unbelievable blog. It's enough to make you want to be a monk.

Oh yeah, the most famous was some podunk Chinese newspaper running with The Onion's satire of professional sports team owners where the US Congress demanded a new capital with "retractable dome", complete with copying the fake rendering. They were actually defensive about it at first and said that they couldn't confirm that the story wasn't true.