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 (Random House), which was a parody of the rise and fall of the Internet economy and the stock market.
During its initial run, SatireWire, like its peer The Onion , was regularly nominated for the Webby Awards, and its stories were continuously emailed around the Internet, most notably a story entitled "China, Libya, Syria form Axis of Just as Evil" in response to President George W. Bush's "Axis of Evil" speech. This story was also included in Salman Rushdie's 2002 book Step Across This Line. Many SatireWire pieces were also published by magazines and newspapers such as the Washington Post , Fortune , and the National Post . While its subjects were wide-ranging, SatireWire is perhaps best remembered for its business humor, including the 2001 story "Sally Struthers Begs You to Save the Dot-Coms", written in response to the collapse of Internet stocks, "Remaining U.S. CEOs Make a Break for It", about a band of roving CEOs who plunder their way to the Mexican border, and "Religious Merger Creates 900 Million Hinjews".
Marlatt left SatireWire to write comedy for the BBC, among others. In January 2006, he served as a member of the judging panel for the HumorFeed Satire News Awards.
In 2010 Marlatt brought the site back and began writing new content.
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposing or shaming the perceived flaws of individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society.
The Onion is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is 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 ceased publishing its print edition and launched Onion Labs, an advertising agency.
The phrase "axis of evil" was first used by U.S. President George W. Bush and originally referred to Iran, Ba'athist Iraq, and North Korea. It was used in Bush's State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, less than five months after the September 11 attacks and almost a year before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and often repeated throughout his presidency. He used it to describe foreign governments that, during his administration, allegedly sponsored terrorism and sought weapons of mass destruction.
Wired is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, its editorial offices are in San Francisco, California, and its business office at Condé Nast headquarters in Liberty Tower in New York City. Wired has been in publication since its launch in January 1993. Several spin-offs have followed, including Wired UK, Wired Italia, Wired Japan, Wired Czech Republic and Slovakia and Wired Germany.
Snopes, formerly known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is a fact-checking website. It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet. The site has also been seen as a source for both validating and debunking urban legends and similar stories in American popular culture.
BBspot is a geek satire and humour web site founded in 2000. In 2003, the site was successful enough that webmaster Brian Briggs "quit his day job" and made the site his full-time vocation. BBspot is most notable for its technology news satire.
Suck.com was an online magazine, one of the earliest ad-supported content sites on the Internet. It featured daily editorial content on a great variety of topics, including politics and pop-culture. Launched in 1995 and geared towards a Generation X audience, the website's motto was "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun". Despite not publishing new content since 2001, the site remained online until December 2018.
Neal Pollack is an American satirist, novelist, short story writer, and journalist. He lives in Austin, Texas. Pollack has written 10 books: The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature, Never Mind the Pollacks, Beneath the Axis of Evil, Alternadad,Stretch,Jewball, Downward-Facing Death, Open Your Heart,Repeat, and Keep Mars Weird. He is also a three-time Jeopardy! champion.
Andy Borowitz is an American writer, comedian, satirist, and actor. Borowitz is a New York Times-bestselling author who won the first National Press Club award for humor. He is known for creating the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the satirical column The Borowitz Report.
Political satire is a type of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics. Political satire can also act as a tool for advancing political arguments in conditions where political speech and dissent are banned.
Anti-Barney humor is a form of humor that targets Barney the Dinosaur, the main character from the children's television series Barney & Friends, and singles out the show for criticism.
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.
Adequacy.org was a satirical web site. It featured articles on politics, religion, technology, history, and sociology, as well as the "Linux Zealot" cartoon series. The site shut down on September 11, 2002, but has since made its archives available.
ScrappleFace is a U.S. website run by Scott Ott that satirizes the news from a conservative perspective.
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.
Beck v. Eiland-Hall was a case filed in 2009 before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a United Nations agency. It was filed by political commentator Glenn Beck against Isaac Eiland-Hall, concerning the website "GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com". Eiland-Hall created the site as a parody to express the view that Beck's commentary style challenged his guests to prove a negative. The site's name was based on a joke first used by comedian Gilbert Gottfried at the 2008 Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget, in which Gottfried jokingly implored listeners to disregard the (non-existent) rumor that Saget had raped and murdered a girl in 1990. Online posters began an Internet meme comparing Gottfried's joke with Beck's style of debate, by requesting Beck disprove he had committed the act in question. Eiland-Hall launched his website on September 1, 2009.
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.
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.
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.
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.