Fake News

Satire is "a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn:  trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Political satire is particularly common in today's society. The usual forms are editorial cartoons, comedic news shows, or websites. 

Often the characters in these outlets might say the opposite of what the author believes. Here they are attempting to point out the ridiculousness of the people they disagree with. For example, in the cartoon on the left, the author points out that he believes people are overly sensitive. If the audience isn't in on the joke, then it can be confusing.

Several popular comedic news shows now, including the Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Week Tonight with John Oliver, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, often use jokes that are satirical or sarcastic. For example, they might say, "the President is doing such a "great" job," as they roll their eyes. The implication is the president is actually not doing well, in their opinion. However, the best example of political news satire would be the Colbert Report previously hosted by Stephen Colbert. In that show, the liberal Colbert pretended to report on the news as a conservative hyper-American pundit resembling Bill O'Reilly. His character was over the top and always said the opposite of what Colbert actually believed for comic effect. This doesn't mean that comedians are not reporting on real news stories; often, they do, but you need to be able to identify satire and sarcasm when watching their shows. 

During the research, the most common form of satire you will come across is websites. The most popular satirical news site is The Onion. The Onion looks like a real news site, but its joke articles are always fake news. For example, a recent headline was "NASA Launches First Cordless Satellite." 

Satire is great for a laugh and pointing out many of society's problems, especially in places where there are shaky freedom of speech laws, but you should always be mindful not to take jokes literally.