Satire in US becomes news in China

Boston Globe ^ | June 7, 2002 | Henry Chu

[Cincinatus' Wife]

BEIJING - An embarrassing gaffe by China's usually staid state-run media has left a popular newspaper here with onion on its face.

Readers of the Beijing Evening News, the capital's largest-circulation newspaper, learned this week that the US Congress had threatened to move out of Washington unless a fancy new Capitol was built.

[goldstategop]

I wonder if the Chinese caught onto the joke. ;-)

[piasa]

But a little checking showed that this story, too, was cribbed: It was a direct translation of a front-page article from Sunday's Washington Post.

Does this mean that the Chinese paper will be receiving a note from the Washington Post's lawyers?

Maybe the next Onion headline will be:

Red China Joins Jim Robinson's FreeRepublic in Defense Against L.A. Times and Washington Post Lawsuit

[goldstategop]

LOL!!! And they say politics makes for strange bedfellows. :-)

[TomGuy]

Goes to prove a point I've made before on how reporters "authenticate" their reporting:

Reporter for media A writes something conjectural with a lot of "mays, mights, coulds, shoulds, woulds, ifs, etc."
Reporter for media B writes something and references reporter for media A as the source.
Reporter for media C writes something and validates the source as "in published reports."

Bingo! Media has "authenticated" reporting without even getting up from their desks to validate any part of it. Then the nightly TV news picks up the story and runs with it too.

Considering some of the recent "real" headlines, thought, it can be easy to get confused with Onion's satire. Some days truth is stranger than fiction. How many headlines have we read recently and said, "This has to be a joke" or "Surely, this can't be true" only to find out it is no joke and it is true.

[PJ-Comix]

Now looky heah! Is Robert Higgings one of the American stringers for the Beijing Evening News? Remember Robert Higgins? He was the one talking live on the air to Peter Jennings and feeding him info about the OJ Bronco Chase.

"Ah see OJ...and he looks scared!"

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

But he adamantly ruled out a correction and grew slightly obstreperous when pressed to comment on the article's lack of truth.

At some time in the past the editor must have worked for Dan Rather.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Some days truth is stranger than fiction.

Bump!

[E Rocc]

Maybe The Onion should write a story about how leaders of free nations are more healthy (and virile) than those of totalitarian nations. >:)

-Eric

[KS Flyover]

Here's the Onion article:

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thanks!! A retractable roof, huh? I'd like to have my finger on the ejection button.

[dighton]

William Saletan: Death Warmed Over

[Cuttnhorse]

How funny! Great way to start a Friday!!

[toenail]

Reporter for media A writes something conjectural with a lot of "mays, mights, coulds, shoulds, woulds, ifs, etc."
Reporter for media B writes something and references reporter for media A as the source.
Reporter for media C writes something and validates the source as "in published reports."

Except that step 1 should read, "Reporter for media A gets a fax from some lobbying group, containing a lot of 'mays, mights, coulds, shoulds, woulds, ifs, etc.'"

[TomGuy]

Some days truth is stranger than fiction.

I rest my case:
Woman Keeps Dead Hubby in Passenger Seat of Her Car.

[Texaggie79]

ping

[tlrugit]

The Onion, it seems, has been recruited as an organ in the Department of Truth.

[steve-b]

"Man Blames Hangover on Everything But How Much He Drank"

That was satire? I thought it was a story about the latest lawsuit.

[Lazamataz]

It never would have made news in China if it had been posted on Free Republic first.

That's because -- since it was satire -- Admin Moderator would have deleted it.