Congratulations go out to The Daily Currant, whose “Paul Krugman Declares Personal Bankruptcy” piece on March 6 has found its way across the world to net one hell of a big, clueless fish.
They’re not the only one to fall for it, but Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald, one of the country’s top business publications, should have known better. We just hope, for its sake, that the reporters and editors involved at least cited their source so they can claim ignorance.
As brought to us by SCMP’s Ernest Kao:
The Herald’s article has also been removed, but SCMP.com was able to salvage a post on the newspaper’s official Weibo account:
[Krugman’s] own deficit reached more than US$7 million from Manhattan apartment mortgages, credit card debts and jewellery from Tiffany. His biggest investment failure was the acquisition of real estate in 2007, which saw its value drop 40 per cent. Krugman’s lawyer said although he is going through a debt crisis, he still supports Keynesian policies.
In the Chinese paper’s defense, The Daily Currant looks nothing like The Onion, and Kim Jong-un wasn’t even involved.
Also, quite a few English-language readers got hoaxed, too. This is as good a time as any to show you The Daily Currant’s mission, as clearly laid out in its about page:
The Daily Currant is an English language online satirical newspaper that covers global politics, business, technology, entertainment, science, health and media. It is accessible from over 190 countries worldwide – now including South Sudan.
Our mission is to ridicule the timid ignorance which obstructs our progress, and promote intelligence – which presses forward.
Also see: Outrage Mounts Over Girls Gone Wild North Korea Video. Who’ll bite first, do you reckon, a Chinese or Korean editor?
Another Chinese news outlet falls victim to satire, fooled on fake Krugman report (SCMP)
Bravo Daily Currant – this is stunningly hilarious.! They and all the others who reprinted the story without fact checking deserve the slings and arrows hurled towards them.
“There’s a sucker born every minute” certainly holds true among many in the Chinese media.
Hopefully, you planted a seed in the brains of the editors to be more judicious in what they print and hold a true.