The Washington Post’s fact checker clarified Wednesday afternoon that he had not been fooled by a parody Twitter account, and added that he is well aware that the fake newswire he re-tweeted is indeed a gag.
“[N]o one seems to have a sense of humor on Internet anymore,” the Post’s Glenn Kessler told the Washington Examiner’s media desk.
The parody newswire, DPRK News Service (@dprk_news), is meant to mock the style of North Korea’s state-run media. It was started by the members of a libertarian-leaning blog, popehat.com, and dedicates most of its time to heaping outlandish praise on Kim Jong-un, and attacking United States officials.
“Respected scholar Donald Trump states U.S. Senator Ted Cruise was born a wretched slave in Canada,” the fake account tweeted Tuesday evening.
Kessler re-tweeted the message, adding in a note of his own, “Even North Korea is following [Donald Trump’s] every word…”
Social media users were quick to suggest that Kessler had been fooled by the infamous parody account. But the Post fact checker maintains that he is in on the joke, and said he was merely having a little fun.
“I wasn’t particularly original. Danielle Pletka, at the American Enterprise Institute, did a similar tongue-in-cheek tweet, which is where I got the idea,” he told the Examiner.
“I had covered North Korea (and the first two nuclear tests) for many years as diplomatic correspondent. But I guess I should have added a smiley face or something like that,” he added. “Or better yet, lesson learned. No humor on Twitter! Too many people don’t get it.”
Thought DPRK News Service was started originally as a simple joke, it gained notoriety early on for its ability to fool members of the American press.
“We’ve been quoted in the Washington Post, Forbes, Buzzfeed (multiple times), on MSNBC and by Fox News. Also a number of smaller media outlets,” popehat.com contributor, Patrick, told the Examiner last year.
The account has also fooled high profile media figures, including Bloomberg News’ Mark Halperin, who reported incorrectly last year that the North Korean government had voiced support for 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
CNN, Fox News and Newsweek have also been tricked by the account, as each outlet has at some point reported the tweets as if they were authentic notes from North Korea.
To be fair to the American press, however, DPRK News Service churns out what can look like real North Korean headlines. Examples of authentic headlines from the Hermit Kingdom include, “Kim Il Sung, Great Man Always Living in Hearts of World Progressives,” “Exploits of Peerlessly Great Persons Highly Praised” and “Pyongyang in Ecstasy of Joy at Asian Games News.”
