News satire

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News satire, sometimes alternately called fake news, is a type of satire presented in a format typical of mainstream journalism. News satire has been around almost as long as what we consider journalism, but it is particularly popular on the web, where it is relatively easy to mimic a credible news source and stories may achieve wide distribution from nearly any site. Generally, the goal of news satire is to make social commentary in a form that provides entertainment. Because news satire relies heavily on irony and deadpan humor, it is occasionally mistaken for real news.

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[edit] News satire in history

Over a hundred and forty years ago, a young newspaper reporter for the Virginia City (Nevada) Territorial Enterprise newspaper began earning a name for himself as a satirist by publishing occasional spoof articles. The reporter, Samuel Clemens (AKA Mark Twain), was eventually obliged to depart from his post in Nevada, and later from another newspaper in San Francisco, because his "hoaxes" were so successful. Then, as now, many readers failed to perceive the satire. It was because of these early experiences, no doubt, that he came to the conclusion that "a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

Newspapers still print occasional news satire features, in particular on April Fool's Day (April 1st). These news are specifically identified somewhere in the paper or in the next day as a joke.

[edit] Television news satire

News satire has been prevalent on television since the 1960s, when it enjoyed a renaissance in the UK with the Satire Boom, led by such luminaries as Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, David Frost, Eleanor Bron and Dudley Moore and the television programme That Was The Week That Was. In the United States, the NBC network adapted this program and also produced its own content, from the "news" segment of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, to the still-running Saturday Night Live mock newscast segment "Weekend Update". Cable television got into the act with Home Box Office's "Not Necessarily the News" in the mid 1980s. Currently, Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is considered one of the foremost satire news outlets in any medium. Ironically, a 2004 Annenberg survey found that Daily Show viewers were better informed than those who relied solely on conventional network news. Some have even compared the trust and influence Stewart enjoys today to that of CBS anchor Walter Cronkite in the 1970s.

Fox News has announced that it will launch a news satire program in January 2007 with the working title of This Just In. Its creator describes it as "The Daily Show for conservatives".

[edit] News satire on the web

People have been posting news satire on the web almost since its inception, but few would contest that The Onion is foremost among recognized news satire sites due to its enduring and profitable business model. The website, which started in 1996, has become virtually synonymous with online satire; its content is syndicated through mainstream media sites such as CNN and CNET. However, there have been several other highly successful sites, notably SatireWire. Today there are literally hundreds of news satire sites online. Sometimes people publish news satire articles in blogs; other satire sites attempt to emulate a genuine news source of some sort (however, these sites now take a variety of forms). Because interesting stories are often emailed and can quickly become separated from their point of origin, it is not uncommon for news satire stories to be picked up as real by the media. The fact that Google News accepts news satire sources helps contribute to this phenomenon; while Google News does mark such stories with a "satire" tag, not all readers notice the tag; moreover sometimes satirical sources may not carry the tag.

Several sites aggregate headlines from satire news sites, such as About.com. However, there is a community of selected news satire sites which runs its own satire news feed on HumorFeed. HumorFeed is notable for its relatively high standards of admission and active community involvement. At present, over 60 sites are contributing members, at least 8 of which have published books and 2 of which publish regular hard-copy periodicals. Several HumorFeed members also run Check Please!, an online journal devoted to the serious examination of online satire, ranging from its role in relation to actual journalism to practical considerations of producing an online satire site.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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