COMING UP NEXT: “Islamic Hostage Barbie.” But will the media fall for it again?

Good thing they have editors and fact-checkers and stuff.

UPDATE: Photographic evidence of Osama bin Laden’s capture!

And there’s this exclusive report: “Zarqawi quits al Qaeda, joins C.O.B.R.A.”

Heh.

Reader Steve Smallshaw emails: “Is it just me, or does everyone find it both comical and reassuring that the terrorists have been reduced to ‘kidnapping’ action figures and pawning them off as the real thing?”

Yes. And I find it comical — but not reassuring — that so many big media organizations fell for it.

Unfortunately, as Power Line informs us, it’s worse than we thought!

I blame Evil Bert!

MORE: A big-media report on the hoax.

STILL MORE: Cool, Charles-Johnson-style animated graphic overlay here. [LATER: Jordan Golson emails that the image is originally from here.]

Heh. More press coverage here.

And reader Mark Dunn asks: “Any bets on whether Poynter picks it up?”

But Cody will be avenged. The action-figure-American community sticks together.

LAST UPDATE TO THIS POST: Behind the curve, The Guardian is sucked in, repeating the bogus story with a dateline of 2/2.