The UK TV network ITV recently unleashed a frightening documentary program about terrorism, including a bit where the IRA use equipment supplied by Libyan dictator Gadaffi to blow up a helicopter. The problem is the equipment, the helicopter, and the terrorists all came from a video game. The network is currently under investigation because in Britain, unlike the United States, networks can’t just make up any damn thing and run it as the truth. MSNBC has the story, with video.
The Onion Threshold is when some news network or other clueless pack of uncultured jerks picks up an article from The Onion and runs it as a serious, for-real piece. The Onion is satire, a fake newspaper full of fake news and the occasional act of prophecy. Of late, The Onion has also been more accurate to the news and the world as a whole than the actual news networks, which makes it incredibly depressing to read.