Laugh
Satire & Fake News
Satirical newsrooms and parody publications. Occasionally more accurate than the thing they are parodying, which is the joke.
15 sites
Viral-content parody taken well past the point of sense, including quizzes that insult you for finishing them.
- 10 min
German satirical news delivered with a completely straight face, plus a weekly video bulletin, running since 2008.
- 10 min
French satire named by scrambling Le Figaro, and taken seriously by French social media with depressing regularity.
- 10 min
UK spoof news updated several times a day, best read as running commentary on whatever is currently going wrong.
Britain's satirical fortnightly, half jokes and half genuine investigative reporting, in print since 1961.
- 10 min
Women's magazine parody with headlines observed so precisely that they read as criticism rather than jokes.
- 10 min
Satire from a conservative and Christian angle, useful mainly as a read on what the other newsroom finds absurd.
- 10 min
Canadian satire that assumes you follow Canadian politics, and rewards you handsomely if you happen to.
- 10 min
Australia's oldest newspaper, filed from a town with no remaining population, covering the nation with dead-eyed accuracy.
- 10 min
The Australian team that built a career on television stunts, still publishing headlines that get them into trouble.
- 10 min
British satire in short bitter columns, mostly concerning the middle classes and the people who irritate them.
Punk and hardcore scene satire, written by people who clearly still go to shows and still resent everyone there.
- 10 min
The original fake newspaper, whose headlines get quoted as fact often enough to sustain a small correction industry.
- 10 min
Australian satire in short sharp headlines, which is roughly the national attention span for domestic politics.
Irish satire with no interest in restraint, regularly mistaken for real reporting by people who should know better.
- 10 min
How we picked these
Every entry in Detour is hand-sorted rather than scraped: filed under one category, given one to three moods, and placed in a time band for how quickly it pays off. The practical facts — cost, sign-up, sound, device and whether it is safe at a desk — are recorded per site and shown on every card, so you can rule things out before you click.
Satire & Fake News: questions
How many sites are in Satire & Fake News?
15 sites, each hand-sorted by category, mood and how long it takes to pay off.
Which of these sites are free with no sign-up?
15 of the 15 are free and need no account. None of them are paid.
Do these sites work on a phone, and are they safe for work?
15 of 15 work on a phone; the rest are desktop only. 15 are safe for work and 15 work with the sound off.