Iranian news agency picks up Onion article as fact

CHICAGO -- A joke by the satirical newspaper The Onion appears to have gotten lost in translation.

An Iranian news agency picked up -- as fact -- a story from the paper about a supposed survey showing an overwhelming majority of rural white Americans would rather vote for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than President Barack Obama. But it was made up, like everything in the just-for-laughs newspaper, which is based in Chicago.

The English-language service of Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency republished the story Friday.

Calls to Fars representatives were not answered Friday. Onion editor Will Tracy put out a tongue-in-cheek statement that referred to Fars as "a subsidiary of The Onion."

"The Onion freely shares content with Fars and commends the journalists at Iran's Finest News Source on their superb reportage," Tracy said in jest.

It's not the first time a foreign news outlet has been duped by The Onion. In 2002, the Beijing Evening News, one of the Chinese capital's biggest newspapers, picked up a story from The Onion that claimed members of Congress were threatening to leave Washington unless the building underwent a makeover that included more bathrooms and a retractable dome.