Showing posts with label satire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label satire. Show all posts

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Is Fake News Getting a Bad Rap? Four Benefits of Fake News.

People rarely say anything positive about fake news. Indeed, barely a day goes by without some politician or commentator bloviating about the horrors of fake news. They say fake news is disrupting our society, or fake news is destroying relationships, or it’s hard to tell the difference between fake news and real news anymore. In the interest of fairness, here’s a short list of some of the wonderful benefits of fake news.
  • Fake news helps people avoid reality. Reality can be very uncomfortable at times. In fact, many people have far more reality in their lives than they want. Fake news provides a means of escape.
  • Fake news confirms biases. Nobody really needs, or wants, to see things from the perspectives of others. In a world of chaos and confusion, what people need is confirmation that they are right about everything.
  • With fake news, if you don’t like hearing opinions you disagree with, you never have to be exposed to them. On the other hand, if you enjoy being angry and hateful, fake news can provide more ammunition than you’ll ever need. Either way, fake news is the solution, not the problem.
  • Fake News is more fun than real news. Fake news can bring laughter and joy into people’s lives. Or it can bring a sense of self-righteousness and moral indignation. Who doesn’t enjoy laughing and/or feeling superior to others once in a while?

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Nominees Announced for Second Annual Fakies - Fake News Awards

by Jack O'Lanterni, President of Fake News International

The Fakies/Fake News Awards
The Fakies - Fake News Awards
2017 was another tremendous year for fake news. Never before has so much fake news affected so many people in so many ways with such great consequences. Fake News International is pleased to announce the preliminary list of nominees for the Second Annual Fakies Awards.
The Fakies Awards are presented annually on April 1st in Macedonia to honor the best of fake news throughout the previous year. This year’s extravaganza will be held at the fabulous Taj Majal Resort in the heart of Macedonia City. P.T. Barnum, III, will be the Master of Ceremonies.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Letter to Florida Times-Union Editor about Fake News: Slow down and smell the satire.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Note: This is a letter to the editor of the Florida Times-Union which was published on November 30, 2017.
The recent tips offered by Times-Union Editorial Page Editor Mike Clark on how to spot fake news were helpful.
However, Clark neglected to address one very serious problem: The inability of Americans to comprehend satire, which is the most prevalent form of fake news.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Fake News 101: How to recognize fake news and avoid being fooled by it.

Fake stories have been passed off as news for a long time. Since the turn of the millennium, fake news has been evolving at an alarming pace.

Aside from disconnecting and finding a wireless cave to live in, there’s probably no way to avoid fake news completely. However, it is possible to avoid being fooled by fake news.

Fake News 101 will help readers to recognize various types of fake news including satire, alternative facts, propaganda, and more.

If you’re ready to join the battle against fake news and become a Fake News Warrior, Fake News 101 will be an indispensable resource.


Danny Murphy is an informative and entertaining public speaker. He is available to speak on topics related to Fake News at conferences, seminars, and other events. Send him an email to check into his availability.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Satire and Fake News

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” Abraham Lincoln
According to Wikipedia, satire is a genre of literature, and sometimes graphic and performing arts, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement. 
The United States has had a rich tradition of satire. Some of the country’s most notable satirists have been Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, and Will Rogers. The late Art Buchwald and P.J. O’Rourke are two of our more recent satirists. Television shows like Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, and many others present satire as well. Mad Magazine, Cracked, and National Lampoon have all put a great deal of satire into print. The Wittenburg Door, which published some of my satire, billed itself as “The world’s  pretty much only religious satire magazine.”

Friday, December 16, 2016

Facebook’s Plan to Fight Fake News

“We have a responsibility to reduce the spread of fake news on our platform,” Adam Mosseri, Facebook vice president of product development, told The Washington Post on Thursday.

Facebook is putting in a system for reporting potential fake news stories. Some of those stories will be checked out by Snopes, PolitiFact, and other fine organizations. If a story is fake, it will be labeled as such. So, essentially, there will be warning labels on fake news stories. It appears to be a step in the right direction but there are some serious questions that will need to be addressed.