Iran's news agency portrays satirical Onion story as its own

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.

articles.cnn.com...

I think this is a great example of something that we all suspected in the first place. This is absolute manipulation of non-news, refurbished as propaganda for the Iranian public. I can't help but wonder how many people over there actually believe in this hooey.

For those of you who consider Iran to be the honest party in these recent rows - maybe this is food for thought?

Obviously, Iranian state media isn't much for fact checking!

An Iranian news agency issued a bizarre apology on Monday for citing a spoof story about President Barack Obama from satirical newspaper, The Onion, as fact.

Fars, the state-backed news source linked to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), admitted mistakenly republishing an article that claimed rural Americans preferred Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Obama.

worldnews.nbcnews.com...

Nothing to see here!

reply to post by CombatBoots

Add it to the list (Wikipedia). Not the first time a 'news agency' has mistaken The Onion for a legitimate news article. I'm sure Fars spins their stories to suit their needs... you know, kind of like what they ALL do.

reply to post by CombatBoots


Actually they should get a little respect for this..

Notice how they apologized and admitted their mistake?

That's how it should be right?

in other news: I've been fooled by the onion before.

course this:

"Although it does not justify our mistake, we do believe that if a free opinion poll is conducted in the US, a majority of Americans would prefer anyone outside the US political system to President Barack Obama and American statesmen," it quoted its own un-named editor-in-chief as saying.

hahahhaha Yes I am sure.. Makes Iran look a little nutty. Could have just said "a lot" or "many" but anyone outside?? No Iran, just no..

reply to post by Dustytoad


I completely agree with you! When is the last time Iranian State News had a 'corrections' section?

I just thought it was funny how anyone could publish this as news int he first place. Ahmadinejad beats Obama in the polls? lol