Reading Mediations: Modeling Online Critical Literacy Strategies

The Real "Fake News"

News satire is a type of parody or imitation of mainstream journalism, and called  satire when its content takes a critical perspective on its topic.  Satirical journalism has been around almost as long as journalism itself; the web has dramatically increased opportunities for creation, widened its distribution, and expanded its readership. News satire relies heavily on irony and deadpan humor.

Readers often share interesting stories to friends and followers in email or through social media, and these pieces can quickly become separated from their context and point of origin. Because of this, satirical stories are frequently taken for legitimate news stories, not only by readers but by the media.  Google News accepts news satire sources, which helps contribute to the confusion. Although Google News usually marks  such stories with a "satire" tag, not all readers notice the tag, and sometimes this tag may be missing. In addition to satirical news websites, satirical social media accounts also broadcast what is truly "fake news." Furthermore, Facebook and Twitter accounts belonging to satirical news sites are often mistaken for legitimate sources. 1
 


Analyzing satire

Look through the following examples, in various formats, found on the web. They are all different: some of them are satirical tweets or articles, and some of them address the interpretation of satire. One may not  be "fake news."

What ideas, behavior, or trends, or issues are being critiqued?

In the cases where satire was mistaken for fact, why do you think that may have happened?

Which example do you think is not "fake news"?


1Excerpted and adapted from "News satire." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_satire.
  

List of satirical news websites

This page has paths:

Contents of this path:

Contents of this tag:

This page references: