Kim Jong-un — a heart-throb?

A GOOD journalist always double-checks the reliability his sources of information— especially the secondary sources on the Internet. While there’s a deluge of information available on the World Wide Web about everything under the sun, there’s no guarantee of its reliability. That’s why veterans in the field of writing and research strongly discourage people from consulting Wikipedia or online blogs for some quick information.

" Cited earnestly by the Chinese newspaper, these tongue-in-cheek descriptions referred to Kim Jong-un as a “Pyongyang-born heart-throb” who is “every woman’s dream come true”"

But it seems like journalists at Chinese Communist Party’s main paper were not given training in properly assessing the authenticity of their sources. Just recently, the People’s Daily was fooled by a news item on the satirical American website, The Onion, declaring North Korean leader Kim Jong-un the sexiest man alive. The Chinese newspaper published a 55-page photo spread on the 29-year-old ‘supreme leader’, with the facetious excerpts quoted from The Onion’ article. Cited earnestly by the Chinese newspaper, these tongue-in-cheek descriptions referred to Kim Jong-un as a “Pyongyang-born heart-throb” who is “every woman’s dream come true”.



The People’s Daily, however, was quick to figure out that the leader of the pariah state did not actually make The Onion’s editorial board “swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle and, of course, that famous smile”. The website has taken off the ‘news’ item. This quick realisation of error probably unceremoniously pulled down Kim Jong-un from cloud nine, who would have been rejoicing his newfound popularity!. But this is not the first time that the Onion has been quoted as fact by foreign media. Earlier this year, the Iranian semi-government news agency Fars had to apologise after citing an article by The Onion, which said that rural Americans preferred Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to US President Barack Obama. Two Bangladeshi newspapers published stories from The Onion in 2009 claiming the deceased astronaut Neil Armstrong had held a news conference claiming the moon landing was an elaborate hoax. Both papers had to retract the article and apologise to their readers.

So, a piece of advice for aspiring journalists: thoroughly scrutinise your sources, choose them wisely. But most importantly, just use your common sense. Just because an American website says that people are smitten by chubby cheeks, don’t take it for the truth!
Courtesy: Khaleej Times