Two newspapers in Bangladesh printed public apologies after running an article using fake news organization, The Onion, as the source for news implying that the moon landing was a hoax. The two newspapers ran the news articles indicating that Neil Armstrong shocked everyone at a news conference by revealing that the moon landing was actually an “elaborate hoax.”

According to BBC News, The Daily Manab Zamin was the first newspaper to pick up the story from The Onion and run it as a true story. The story first appeared on The Onion this past Monday and it described a press conference in where Neil Armstrong addressed the attendees to reveal that the moon landing was entirely fabricated.

Interestingly enough, the story was then picked up by a neighboring Bangladesh newspaper the New Nation. Neither newspaper realized that The Onion is a fake news organization which often parodies real news.

From the fake article in The Onion, quoting Armstrong:

“It has become painfully clear to me that on July 20, 1969, the Lunar Module under the control of my crew did not in fact travel 250,000 miles over eight days, touch down on the moon, and perform various experiments, ushering in a new era for humanity. Instead, the entire thing was filmed on a soundstage, most likely in New Mexico.”

“This is the only logical interpretation of the numerous inconsistencies in the grainy, 40-year-old footage,” Armstrong added.

The conspiracy theory that the moon landing was a hoax is something that is not new and often joked about in movies. The popular theory is that the moon landing was filmed on a soundstage in New Mexico somewhere near the vicinity of the alien crash landing in Roswell and Area 51.

The Onion is a widely known parody news site in the west and has become an Internet meme of sorts as well. Although, this may not be as clear to a visitor from another country that speaks a different language. This could just be chalked up as another case of cultural differences and misunderstandings over the Web.

The writers for The Daily Manab Zamin and the New Nation shouldn’t feel too bad as other news outlets such as Reuters and MSNBC have taken The Onion seriously in the past as well. However, next time they may want to check to see if other sources are reporting on news of this magnitude first.

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Entry was posted on Saturday, September 5th, 2009 at 10:19 pm under Amusing, Internet, Science and technology.

Read more entries by Mike Ferro.
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