Please Help! Explain at least THREE possible purposes for parody news programs in the modern era.

Abstract

Understanding forms of imitation and their purposes is an important aspect of postdigital media literacy. Parody is important because it is used not only to generate fake news but also as an antidote to it. For parody to work, it needs to be distinguishable from fake news, and for the author and the audience both to be in on the joke. Using illustrative examples, the paper considers the importance of context, the role of the Bakhtinian notion of double-voiced discourse in understanding parody, and the potential of generating parody as a resource for media literacy education. The concluding section considers parody in relation to the themes of the special issue, using parody relating to Brexit to draw out some final messages, which are disturbing but inconclusive. Parody has a significant shaping presence in our cultures; however, it will not necessarily be easy to harness this for our own ends, even though we should be aware of it.