News satire

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News satire, also called fake news or mock news, is a type of parody presented in a format typical of mainstream journalism, and called a satire because of its content. News satire has been around almost as long as journalism itself, 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

Richard A. Locke successfully increased sales of the New York Sun newspaper in 1835 by publishing a series of six articles, now known as the Great Moon Hoax, under the name of a contemporary astronomer.[1]

Author Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was employed as a newspaper reporter before becoming famous as a novelist and in this position he published many hoax articles. He left two separate journalism positions, Nevada (1864) fleeing a challenge to duel[2] and San Francisco fleeing outraged police officials, because his satire and fiction were often taken for the truthful accounts they were presented as. Of this experience he said, "a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." Perhaps it's fitting, then, that the accuracy of many newspaper and autobiographical accounts used to follow the early life of Samuel Clemens are in doubt.[3]

Newspapers still print occasional news satire features, in particular on April Fool's Day. This news is specifically identified somewhere in the paper or in the next day as a joke.

In 1934, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a series of ten one-reel theatrical shorts called Goofy Movies, which included "Wotaphony Newsreel," a newsreel parody that paired actual footage with a mocking, deadpan narration.

Also in 1934, halfway through a Kraft Music Hall radio show, Dean Taylor ("Others collect the news, Dean makes it!) narrated a fake newsreel which began with a report on the New York Giants and Philadelphia Phillies being cancelled due to bad weather, and baseball season being rescheduled to when farmers need rain.

[edit] Television news satire

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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. Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report are currently very popular in the United States. 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. However, a study published in the Journal of Communication suggests that entertainment news shows such as The Daily Show or The Colbert Report may not be as influential in teaching voters about political issues and candidates as was previously thought. Researchers from Ohio State University have found reasons to discount how effective these shows are in informing the general public. People watching television news learned more about a candidate’s position on issues and about political procedures compared to those watching the fake news shows, while fake news shows primarily taught viewers about a candidate’s personal background.[4]

Comedy Central has also announced that in 2007 they will be launching another spin-off of The Daily Show starring popular Daily Show correspondent and comedian Lewis Black traveling the red states of America called The Red State Diaries.

Fox News launched a news satire program in February 2007 with the title of The Half Hour News Hour. Its creator describes it as "The Daily Show for conservatives", but it was cancelled within a few months. Fox News has since launched the more successful Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld.

In Britain, several news satires have been created, most famously the works of Chris Morris. Show such as the radio series On the Hour and its television version The Day Today parodied news programs very accurately, so they were almost believable and could have been confused with actual news programs, if it was not for the fake stories reported. Morris went on to continue this and several other themes in Brass Eye, one of the most controversial series on British television, especially after one episode broadcast mocked the way the news covered stories about pedophilia.

Currently, British news satire is similar to shows such as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. The Late Edition with Marcus Brigstocke, on digital station BBC Four, is heavily influenced by The Daily Show. News Knight with Sir Trevor McDonald parodied news differently, by using an actual newsreader as the host. Other news satires include Broken News, which featured several sketches of different news channels blending into each other.

In Canada, This Hour Has 22 Minutes is an ensemble fake news show with four anchors on CBC. The Rick Mercer Report is a spin-off of 22 Minutes with former anchor Rick Mercer, and is also shown on CBC.

[edit] News satire on the web

News satire has been posted on the web almost since its inception, but few would contest that The Onion is foremost among recognized news satire site due to its enduring and profitable business model.[citation needed] 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. Today there are literally hundreds of news satire sites online. Sometimes people publish news satire articles in blogs such as Faking News blogsite of India. Sites such as News Groper contain fake blogs written by humorists in first person, taking on the identity of notable famous people. Other satire sites attempt to emulate a genuine news source of some sort (however, these sites now take a variety of forms).

“ If other fake news sources, like Fox News, are going after it then we have to respond. It’s just the responsibility we have. ”

—Sean Mills, President of The Onion, on news parody of tragedies., [5]

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. Additionally, a parody post on Al Sharpton's parody News Groper blog was quoted as if real by MSNBC. And, most recently, a new satire publication, The Giant Napkin, published an article about a man literally fighting his house fire with more fire, a story taken seriously by several social networking sites. 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. At least one site, thespoof.com, relies on user-generated content in a Web 2.0 manner.

Several sites 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.

In July 2009, a satire piece about Kanye West published on the website ScrapeTV was picked up by numerous media outlets and reported as factual,[6][7][8] despite disclaimers on the site.[9]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Great Moon Hoax of 1835
  2. ^ Samuel Clemens
  3. ^ Myth # 2 - Mark Twain Flees Nevada by Guy Rocha, Nevada State Archivist and Dennis Myers, Journalist
  4. ^ 'Fake' News Shows Less Important in Learning about Politics Newswise, Retrieved on September 8, 2008.
  5. ^ An interview with The Onion, David Shankbone, Wikinews, November 25, 2007.
  6. ^ MSNBC report
  7. ^ NY Times ArtsBeat
  8. ^ / Rolling Stone Rock Daily
  9. ^ Kanye West declares himself King of Pop
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[edit] External links

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