Satire Sites Growing Like a Metastasized Cancer

Satire Sites Growing Like a Metastasized Cancer

Al Ritter 

I don’t know about you, but I have surely been taken in by my share of satire site articles in the last 4 or 5 years. I’ve always been amused at sites like The Onion, because the articles are so outlandish you can’t help but to know they are satire, and you get a good laugh. When you go to one of these sites and search for a disclaimer about the writing being satire and can’t find one, this is where my furious side rears its ugly head. Why is it that you should have to search for this disclaimer? 

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your view, satire should be funny. The problem arises when the article isn’t funny and appears to be on the borderline of believability. Obviously the writer gets the same kick when he or she passes the article off as news and not satire. I personally view these people to occupy the same space in life as the person who writes a computer virus, or the “Nigerian Banker” who constantly emails me telling me that a long lost Uncle has died and I have inherited $37 million dollars. 

I’m sure they get their biggest kick when the article finds its way into a REAL news organization, and they feel as though they have suckered in a REALLY big mark. 

As with many things in our country, this gutter journalism is protected under the first amendment. The thin line required for a successful law suit for “libel” or “slander” is that the person pressing the suit has to prove that the average person couldn’t distinguish this as a farce from a real article. Obviously that is such a subjective thing to prove that not one suit has come against one of these so called satire sites.  

As a result this cancer grows on a daily basis, and one can actually see these sites on social media sites as Facebook and Twitter masquerading as true news organizations. If President Obama was serious about limiting speech on the internet, he should certainly lay down the law as to putting disclaimers on home pages of ALL satire sites in plain view, and/or each individual article at the end so you can get a chuckle from a non-humorous article.

What do these sites actually get out of these articles? Well the articles are usually the hook to get your to their site to pummel you with popup ads (usually the first sign you have arrived at one.) It has been reported that the Daily Currant is amassing advertising income along the lines of $130,000 per day! There is your answer…MONEY! Below is a list of the most common satire sites feel free to add to the list, as they are compounding daily!

 Partial List!

Americannews.com

Nationalreport.com

Empirenews.net

Theonion.com

Private-eye.co.uk

Newsbiscuit.com

Thespoof.com

Unconfirmedsources.com

Cap-news.com

Enduringvision.com

Derfmagazine.com

Newsmutiny.com

Dailycurrant.com

Thenewsnerd.com

Mogul.ws

Huzlers.com

Adobochronicals.com

Mediamass.net

Lightlybraizedturnips.com

Vox.com

Witscience.org

Weeklyworldnews.com

Rockcitytimes.com

Bigamericanews.com

Christwire.org

Civictribune.com

Creambmp.com

Modernwomandigest.com

Rilenews.com