Peeling back the layers of parody in news

Why is satirical, fake news more entertaining then regular old everyday news? Simple; because it’s humorous and appeals to a larger audience, myself included.

I will admit I am one of those parody news addicts; it is my secret guilty pleasure, something that I really don’t tell people in regular everyday conversation. Of course parodies are more fun to watch then the news! They make the things that are “supposed” to be true but convey it in a way that either makes a lot of people laugh, or a lot of people mad.

Most of the shows that you see on the television are parodies of something that was once “real hard hitting news,” and they are usually the ones with a bigger audience. I believe, out of everything that I have read in my Mass Communications class, author Chuck Klosterman says it best: “People get nervous when they read stories in newspapers, because they always think they are being lied to or manipulated…they always think they are not getting the whole story.” (Klosterman, pg 207) With satirical, fake news there is none of that nervousness, because you know for a fact that you are not getting the full story, just the part that has been twisted to get the most laughs.

I am not saying that this should be considered a right and true form of media, but as a consumer I really enjoy it. I don’t personally see the harm in producing some forms of this kind of “propaganda” or so it has been labeled. I mean, there are times where something is completely out of line and inappropriate, but for the most part it is really harmless fun that everyone can take part in. I have included a few favorites of mine by the hit online site: The Onion, courtesy of YouTube.



Works Cited

Klosterman, Chuck. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto. New York: Scribner, 2004.