"the sexiest man alive"

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Beneath or behind the unavoidable belly laughs, there is something serious about the Chinese newspaper that ran a fifty-five-page online photo spread based on the spoof-prone Onion's suggestion that North Korea's latest dictator, Kim Jong Un, was the "sexiest man alive."

The People's Daily quoted the American satire publication as saying:

With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman's dream come true.

Of course American media have increasingly divested themselves of the skepticism and research that used to be a stock-in-trade for news reporting, but the egregiousness of the Chinese paper's blunder takes your breath away. What sorts of minds are being allowed into Chinese news rooms? True, Chinese news media are primarily used to promote a state agenda, but this...? This seems to be dumber than dumb-and-dumber.

Snickering American news rooms might do well to tack this story on the office bulletin board ... and then take a long, hard look in the bathroom mirror.
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