Beijing Newspaper Spoofed by The Onion

mattsucks writes "Reuters is reporting a story about the Beijing Evening News. Apparently, they too believe that everything they read on the internet is true, republishing a story from The Onion. Or at least one of their freelance writers believes it...." This is absolutely great.

It could be worse...

[magicsquid]

At least they weren't fooled by stories like "This Just In: Bill Gates Buys Evil From Satan" or "Death Star Opens Day Care Center."

I can imagine them running through the streets of Beijing saying "Look at the size of that thing!" and "That's no moon!"

I heard This

[Budgreen]

On the radio lastnight as I was driving home.and almost crashed...

but anyways I guess this just shows that you have to choose a source carefully.. I mean who really needs a new capital with a retracting dome and stadium seating?

Best Onion Headline...

[dontod]

Mr T to pity fool. Don.

I can see it now...

[gambit3]

In my high school...

Teacher: Gambit, you didn't write this!

Gambit: uh, well...

Teacher: You COPIED this, didn't you?

Gambit: Well, maybe a little...

Teacher: That's PLAGIARISM! Where do you think you're going to end up if you just copy other people's article??

Gambit: Hopefully on Slashdot?

Microsoft are bad.

[Big Dogs Cock]

I said Microsoft are bad. Mod me up. The proof is here [theonion.com].

Beijing Evening News

[Gatesninny.net]

In breaking news, Beijing Evening News reporting early election results from elections in the United States of America:

CowboyNeal, Q.E.D. 20%
a^2+b^2=c^2 17%
algore 0.41%

(source:slashdot.org)

Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. The Onion.

[An Onerous Coward]

I remember a hilarious letter to Readers Digest, complaining that they shouldn't be giving any publicity to avowed Satanist J.K. Rowling. The woman's source for her numerous quotes? You guessed it. [theonion.com] She gave the URL of the story to anyone looking for further information.

The staff of Readers Digest was kind enough to point out the woman's error.

Re: Poll results

[distributed.karma]

> algore 0.41%

After all, the poll was about the most popular mathematical al-gore-rithm.

Even funnier...

[SuperCal]

I what I find even more funny, is that (according to FOX news) the paper countinues to claim that it properly followed up and checked the sources and when Fox reporters questioned them about it, they simply replied (I'm paraphrasing) "How do you know our reporters didn't make calls to confirm this story?"

They Fell For That Old Sham?

[bgs006]

Dear Chinese Reporter,

In case you were looking for more news to reprint about the stupidness that is America, here are some other leads you might want to follow:
1) America is stupid
2) No, seriously. Just put that up as your headline and your readers will believe it. Though you might get letters berating you for not being mean enough.
3) And despite that win the other day, we still suck at soccer.
4) And we're all very, very gay.
5) And completely against education, sewer systems, organized government and hygiene.
6) And we find Jay Leno to be absolutely hilarious.

If only number six weren't true.
-Brandon

I don't know why they picked up the Onion story. This one's [lostbrain.com] more believable.

Funny Thing is...

[Knoxvill3]

I wonder how many Members of the Chinese government now have dreams of a Retractable Dome of their own. The Onion may have unwittingly kicked of a international contest between our governments.

"Nyah! Nyah! My Domes Bigger than Yooourrrs!"

Or Not.

Re:Funny Thing is...

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe a dome in Beijing will attract some of our "top talent" away, leaving room for rookies and semi-retired politicians in their wake?
God..
One can only hope.

This makes me wonder....

[phillymjs]

...about China's space program and their wish to land on the moon by 2010 [slashdot.org]:

Are they actually doing their own R&D, or just feverishly combing the Internet trying to find out how to make Cavorite? [pagebypagebooks.com]

~Philly

Irony

[SocialWorm]

I'm surprised no one has pointed out how ironic this story is on /.

We're reading a story on a niche news site about a story on a popular news site about a story in a major newspaper (albeit in China) taken from a site that lampoons the news.

Not as stupid as you may think..

[rehabdoll]

Because the rest of the world would not be surprised if it were true!

Re:Slashdot has done this before as well

[Rogerborg]

• More than once Slashdot has published stories from questionable sources which turned out to be completely false

Yeah, but this is completely different! The Beijing evening news is a for-profit publication with a staff of paid professional editors, whereas Slashdot is... no, wait... what was I saying again?

If you think the Chinese are gullible, the US is..

[Easy2RememberNick]

Well if you think the Chinese are gullible then you should watch "Talking With Americans" by Rick Mercer. Rick is a Canadian comedian who interviews Americans in the US posing as a Canadian journalist (which is he is). He interviews regular people, politicians, anyone. He'll stun them with facts like we just got indoor plumbing, paved roads, tv, the 24 hour clock...lmao and the people believe it! It's so stupid how could anyone believe it!!!

here [radio.cbc.ca]

and here [cbc.ca]

One of the Onion's greatest stories...

[minesweeper]

...was published right after the 2000 elections when we didn't know who the next president would be.

Within days of election night, The Onion came out with one of its greatest stories ever: Bush Or Gore: 'A New Era Dawns' [theonion.com], accurately satirizing just how similar the two candidates were.

Re:If you think the Chinese are gullible, the US i

[Hydro-X]

I loved the hour-long special. The best part is the Jean Poutine prank linked in the parent. Of course, Bush's reply isn't much more intelligible.

"He understands I want to make sure our relationship with our most important neighbour to the north of us is strong and we'll work closely together,"

Emphasis mine.

Congratulations Canada on preserving your national igloo!

Re:Slashdot has done this before as well

[liquidsin]

No, no, you were right...this IS completely different. As you said, the Beijing news is run by professional editors...

Do you actually believe that crap?

[RelliK]

Here is a better link [theonion.com]:

Bush Sr. Apologizes To Son For Funding Bin Laden In '80s MIDLAND, TX-- Former president George Bush issued an apology to his son Monday for advocating the CIA's mid-'80s funding of Osama bin Laden, who at the time was resisting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. "I'm sorry, son," Bush told President George W. Bush. "We thought it was a good idea at the time because he was part of a group fighting communism in Central Asia. We called them 'freedom fighters' back then. I know it sounds weird. You sort of had to be there." Bush is still deliberating over whether to tell his son about the whole supporting-Saddam Hussein-against-Iran thing.

Re:Plagarism through translation

[jrp2]

After all, you've learned all the nasty little icons on your desktop and productivity applications.

Speak for yourself, dude. I got this key on my keyboard (actually 2 of them right next to the "alt" keys) that have an icon I think is supposed to be a landscaping truck turned into a "just married" limo dragging a bunch of cans driven by some drunk swerving a bit. Never have been able to figure out what they are for. Press either one, nothing happens. ;)