Satirical News Sites
With so much going on in the world, we tend to take the news very seriously. People who publish satirical news sites know this, and love to play with your head. Judging by how easily people buy into conspiracy theories, it’s no surprise that some folks, even traditional news reporters, fall for the satire hoax. Don’t be that person. Before you respond with righteous indignation to an outrageous news story, check this list of satirical news sites.
1. The Borowitz Report
The New Yorker hosts the satirical humor of Andy Borowitz, who delivers his “news stories” with a “straight face.” His career as a political satirist began during the 1990’s, when he started emailing fake news pieces to his friends. His work is so convincing that China’s Xinhua news agency reported that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos explained his acquisition of the Washington Post” as an unintentional mouse click.” They thought that it hat to be true, since they found the story on The New Yorker.
2. The National Report
During the government shut-down, Anna Kooiman of Fox and friends reported that President Obama was using his own funds to keep a Muslim Museum open. The article on The National Report stated that
The Muslim community deserves our full acceptance and respect. We have killed millions of Muslims overseas since the September 11th attacks. They are not all bad. In fact most of them are good. So during this shutdown, now is a great time to learn about the faith of Islam. I encourage all of you to celebrate the Muslim community, the ‘Sunnah’ and the magic of the ‘Quran’. All of this can be found at the newly re-opened International Museum of Muslim Cultures.
Kooiman apologized on her Twitter site when she realized that she had posted information from a satirical article on the National Report.
3. Super Tuesday News
An enraged Sarah Palin supposedly told her buddy Sean Hannity that pop star Christina Aguilera should be deported for botching a portion of The Star-Spangled Banner during her performance at Super Bowl XLV. Both Time Magazine and US News reported the incident, based on a story they discovered on Super Tuesday News.
4. The Daily Currant
Washington Post reporter Suzi Parker thought she had reached the high point of her career, when she reported that
Late last week Al Jazeera America announced the former vice-presidential candidate would be joining their news network
Unfortunately for Suzi, she scooped the story from the Daily Currant, which had published a faux Sarah Palin interview. OOPS!
5. El Deforma
Following Apple’s win in the mutual patent infringement case against Samsung, the jury assessed one billion dollars in damages. Yahoo News was quick to report that Samsung paid Apple its $1bn fine by sending more than 30 trucks to Apple’s headquarters loaded with nickels. Unfortunately, Yahoo got the story from El Deforma, a Mexican news parody site. The Yahoo reporter failed to notice the tip of the day on the El Deforma site, which reads “Si vas a plagiar noticias, no uses un sitio de noticias falsas como fuente.” Or In English: “If you’re going to steal news, make sure not to use a fake news site as a source.”
6. The Hummus News
In December, 2013, three Muslim guys from Silicon Valley founded the satirical site called The Hummus News. The founders, who wish to remain anonymous, describe their site as “satire for Muslims.” A satirical article about the Sochi Olympics, titled Radical Imam Tears It Up On The Half-pipe, describes the accomplishments of underdog Imam Faisal Sawany:
Sawany’s latest accomplishment has the snowboarding world raving, with some fellow aficionados calling him “the most radical imam out there” and “the baller to-Islam caller.” Despite the praise, Sawany is humbled by his success. “I’m totally stoked, praise be to God. But I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Shaykh Sami ‘preach-so-hard’ Madressi, who tirelessly trained me between sunnah prayers.” Sawany was been described by contemporaries as “an extremist when it comes to perfection” and “a fundamentalist in the pipe.”
7. World News Daily Report
The following story is triggering Jurassic Park nightmares throughout social media. 200 million year old dinosaur egg hatched in Berlin due to a malfunctioning heating unit. The egg was supposedly fossilized. It is reported to be the first dinosaur in 100 million years. Relax people. It’s a hoax!
8. The Duffel Blog
The Duffel Blog features military satire. Those with a military background recognize it as such. Those without military training are easily duped. A story on the site explained how
The Pentagon is replacing the classic stabbing bayonet on rifles with a tomahawk “designed for quick chopping motions” complete with a twist-off head providing room for storage. And, the Department of Defense is ordering troops to stop wearing the popular TapouT MMA T-shirts because of security concerns.
Gizmodo and Yell magazines published the story as real news.
9. ChristWire
ChristWire describes itself as a website that features conservative values for an unsaved world. When they featured an article calling for Sarah Palin to lead a US invasion into Egypt, Rachel Maddow of MSNBC took them to task. After discovering that she had been duped, she did the walk of shame and apologized for her gullibility.
10. The Onion
Last, but certainly not least, comes the king of satirical sites, The Onion. When they posted a story naming Kim Jong Un, leader of North Korea as the “Sexiest Man Alive for 2012,” the People’s Daily Online, the Chinese state government newspaper, took the word as gospel, and wrote that his
devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman’s dream come true.
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