List of satirical news websites

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This is a list of notable satirical news websites which have a satirical bent, are parodies of news, or consist of fake news stories for mainly humorous purposes. For magazines published on paper, see List of satirical magazines.

Contents

Definition

The best-known example is The Onion , the online version of which started in 1996. [1] These sites are not to be confused with fake news websites, which deliberately publish hoaxes in an attempt to profit from gullible readers. [2] [3] News satire is a type of parody presented in a format typical of mainstream journalism, and called a satire because of its content. News satire is not to be confused with fake news that has the intent to mislead. News satire is 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.

List

List of satirical news websites
NameDomainCountryFounded
Adequacy.org adequacy.org United States 2001
Al-Hudood alhudood.net Jordan 2013
Awaze Tribune awazetribune.com Eritrea 2016
The Babylon Bee babylonbee.com United States 2016
Bbspot bbspot.com United States 2000
The Beaverton thebeaverton.com Canada 2010
The Betoota Advocate betootaadvocate.com Australia 2014
Borowitz Report borowitzreport.com United States 2001
The Burrard Street Journal burrardstreetjournal.com Canada 2015
The Chaser chaser.com.au Australia 1999
El Chigüire Bipolar elchiguirebipolar.net Venezuela 2008
The Civilian thecivilian.co.nz New Zealand 2013
ClickHole clickhole.com United States 2014
Cracked cracked.com United States 2007
Christwire christwire.org United States 2008
The Daily Bonnet dailybonnet.com Canada 2016
ungerreview.com
The Daily Mash thedailymash.co.uk United Kingdom 2007
The Daily Squib dailysquib.co.uk United Kingdom 2007
The Daily WTF thedailywtf.com United States 2004
The DailyER thedailyer.com United States 2008
De Speld speld.nl Netherlands 2007
The eXile exiledonline.com Russia 1998
Der Postillon der-postillon.com Germany 2008
Die Tagespresse[ de]dietagespresse.com Austria 2013
Duffel Blog duffelblog.com United States 2012
El Koshary Today elkoshary.com Egypt 2008
Fognews fognews.ru Russia 2012
The Framley Examiner framleyexaminer.com United Kingdom 2001
Free Wood Post freewoodpost.com United States 2011
Hard Drive hard-drive.net United States 2017
The Hard Times thehardtimes.net United States 2014
Humor Times humortimes.com United States 1991
Huzlers huzlers.com United States 2014
Islamica News islamicanews.com United States 1999
Internet Chronicle chronicle.su United States
Le Journal de Mourréal  [ fr ]journaldemourreal.com Canada (Québec)2012
Khabaristan Times khabaristantimes.com Pakistan 2014
Kyoko Shimbun  [ ja ]kyoko-np.net Japan 2004
Landover Baptist Church landoverbaptist.org United States 1998
Le Gorafi legorafi.fr France 2012
Lark News larknews.com United States 2003
The Lemon Press thelemonpress.co.uk United Kingdom 2009
Lercio lercio.it Italy 2012
El Mundo Today elmundotoday.com Spain 2009
National Report nationalreport.net United States 2013
NewsBiscuit newsbiscuit.com United Kingdom 2006
NewsThump newsthump.com United Kingdom 2009
Njuz.net  [ sr ]njuz.net Serbia 2010
Nordpresse  [ fr ]nordpresse.be Belgium 2014
The Onion theonion.com United States 1996
The Oxymoron theoxymoron.co.uk United Kingdom 2007
The Poke thepoke.com United Kingdom 2002
Panorama panorama.pub Russia 2017
Private Eye private-eye.co.uk United Kingdom 1997 [a]
Il Quotidiano Pazzo dailycrazy.com Italy 2007
Reductress reductress.com United States 2013
The Rochdale Herald rochdaleherald.co.uk United Kingdom 2016
SatireWire satirewire.com United States 2010
ScrappleFace scrappleface.com United States 2002
Sensacionalista  [ pt ]sensacionalista.com.br Brazil 2009
The Fauxy thefauxy.com India 2018
Topeka News topekasnews.com United States 2008
The True North Times truenorthtimes.ca Canada 2014
The UnReal Times theunrealtimes.com India 2011
Timesnewroman.ro  [ ro ]timesnewroman.ro Romania 2009
Walking Eagle News walkingeaglenews.com Canada 2017
Waterford Whispers News waterfordwhispersnews.com Ireland 2009
Weekly World News weeklyworldnews.com United States 2009
World News Daily Report worldnewsdailyreport.com Canada 2013
Zaytung zaytung.com Turkey 2010

Defunct

NameDomain
The Daily Currant currantdaily.com
Faking News fakingnews.com
Southend News Network southendnewsnetwork.net

See also

Notes

  1. Private Eye in printed magazine format existed before the website, and was founded in 1961.

Related Research Articles

<i>The Onion</i> American satire news organization

The Onion is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is currently based in Chicago, but originated as a weekly print publication on August 29, 1988, in Madison, Wisconsin. The Onion began publishing online in early 1996. In 2007, they began publishing satirical news audio and video online as the Onion News Network. In 2013, The Onion stopped publishing its print edition and launched Onion Labs, an advertising agency. The Onion was then acquired three times, first by Univision in 2016, which later merged The Onion and its several other publications into those of Gizmodo Media Group. This unit was sold in 2019 to Great Hill Partners, forming a new company named G/O Media. Then, in April 2024, G/O Media sold The Onion to Global Tetrahedron, a firm newly created by former Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson, which revived the print edition in August that year.

From 1999 to 2002, and restarted in 2010 SatireWire is a news satire website. Based in Connecticut and founded by Andrew Marlatt, the site aimed its satire at politics, business, the media, and current events, and spawned Marlatt's 2002 book Economy of Errors, which was a parody of the rise and fall of the Internet economy and the stock market.

News satire or news comedy 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, with websites like The Onion and The Babylon Bee, where it is relatively easy to mimic a legitimate news site. News satire relies heavily on irony and deadpan humor.

Faking News, originally started as a form of blog, was an Indian news satire website that published fake news reports containing satire on politics and society of India. It was a critique of mainstream news media in India. The website also published occasional serious articles related to television journalism in India. The website was launched on September 15, 2008.

The Daily Mash is a British satirical website providing parodic commentary on current affairs and other news stories. Neil Rafferty and Paul Stokes, created the website in 2007 and remain the lead writers. Both writers earn salaries from the enterprise and also employ freelance contributors. The publication has garnered praise for its absurd, scatological humour and insightful political satire. The current editor is comedy writer and former BBC journalist Tim Telling. The Daily Mash has often been compared to the US publication The Onion.

<i>The Michigan Every Three Weekly</i> Satirical newspaper in Ann Arbor, Michigan

The Michigan Every Three Weekly, also known simply as The Every Three Weekly, is a student publication at the University of Michigan modeled after the satirical news publication The Onion. Named as an homage to student newspaper The Michigan Daily, The Every Three Weekly contains fictional news articles that satirize local, national, and international events and public figures. The Every Three Weekly is funded by the University of Michigan's University Activities Center and began regular publication in 1999.

<i>Duffel Blog</i>

Duffel Blog is an American military news satire organization featuring satirical articles reporting on national security and US military topics. It is often described as "the military version of The Onion." It was founded in March 2012 by Marine veteran Paul Szoldra, originally as a way to drive web traffic to the now defunct website CollegeVeteran.com.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">El Koshary Today</span>

El Koshary Today is an Egyptian online news website that features satire and political parody. The website is named after a common Egyptian dish consisting of a spaghetti mixture that may also contain lentils, rice, and chickpeas. According to Zohny, "Koshary is sort of a very reflective meal of the country in the sense that it's a very chaotic kind of meal".

"The UnReal Times" was an Indian satire, spoof, parody and humour portal featuring satirical articles on politics, entertainment, cricket, media, international affairs and society. Founded in 2011, the portal publishes fake news reports, comic strips, mock transcripts, fake Facebook and Twitter conversations among other formats, combining irreverent humour with biting satire in its commentary on current events. The Unreal Times has been referred to as The Onion of India, most notably by tech blog makeuseof.com. The Unreal Times shut down in November, 2016 for unknown reasons.

<i>The Daily Currant</i>

The Daily Currant was an American satirical news blog that focused on politics, technology, and entertainment. A number of its satirical stories have been mistaken for true news reports by the media.

ClickHole is a satirical website that parodies clickbait websites such as BuzzFeed and Upworthy. It was launched on June 12, 2014 by The Onion, in conjunction with that publication's decision to stop its print edition and shift its focus exclusively to the internet. According to ClickHole's senior editor, Jermaine Affonso, the website is "The Onion's response to click-bait content" and serves as "a parody of online media". Critics noted that, on a deeper level, ClickHole illustrates the shallow nature of social media content and media sites' desperation to share such content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterford Whispers News</span> Irish satire news website

Waterford Whispers News (WWN) is an Irish satirical news website run by Colm Williamson and based in Tramore, County Waterford, Ireland. The site has been called Ireland's answer to U.S. satirical media company, The Onion, and has been the source of several satirical articles that gained international notability, including: North Korea Lands First Ever Man On The Sun, Confirms Central News Agency, and "Jesus Not Coming Back By The Looks Of It" Admits Vatican.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Le Gorafi</span> Satirical French website

Le Gorafi is a news satire website. It was created in May 2012 during the French presidential campaign in the style of The Onion, a satirical newspaper of fake information. It has also been compared with Infos du Monde and L'Examineur.

<i>The Babylon Bee</i> Satirical news website

The Babylon Bee is a conservative Christian news satire website that publishes satirical articles on topics including religion, politics, current events, and public figures. It has been referred to as a Christian or conservative version of The Onion.

<i>Reductress</i> American feminist satire website

Reductress is an American satire website that parodies the style, tone, and perspective of media targeted towards women, especially women's magazines. Founded in 2013 by comedians Beth Newell and Sarah Pappalardo, the site has received praise from reviewers for its satirical pieces including advice columns, news stories, and listicles.

The Beaverton is a Canadian news satire television comedy series, which premiered on The Comedy Network in 2016. Based on the satirical online publication of the same name, the series follows the format of a mock television newscast, parodying both the content and the form of contemporary television news.

<i>The Hard Times</i> Satirical news website

The Hard Times is a satirical website with a focus on punk, alt music, and millennial culture founded in 2014 by former SF Weekly music editor Matt Saincome, his brother Ed Saincome, and comedian Bill Conway. It has been compared to The Onion, ClickHole, and Reductress in style, and has received praise for its specificity and niche appeal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NewsThump</span> British news satire website

NewsThump is a British news satire website that publishes spoof articles about current events. It is similar to other British news satire sites such as The Daily Mash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lercio</span> Italian news satire website

Lercio is an Italian site of news satire providing humorous and grotesque articles, headlines, polls and other columns to satirize the tone and format of sensationalistic press, in the style of The Onion.

References

  1. Keighley, Geoff (2003-08-28). "The Onion: Funny site is no joke - August 29, 2003". CNN. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
  2. Abby Ohlheiser (2016-11-18). "This is how Facebook's fake-news writers make money". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  3. Joshua Gillin (2017-10-04). "The more outrageous, the better: How clickbait ads make money for fake news sites". Politifact. Retrieved 2018-08-08.