News Parody in Global Perspective: Politics, Power, and Resistance

As scholarly examinations of the US news parody programs The Daily Show and The Colbert Report multiply, we must recognize that American satirists claim no monopoly on the genre. Upon closer inspection, news parody appears as a truly universal phenomenon; in any culture where television is used as a means of disseminating authoritative information about the real, parody-what some have labeled, or mislabeled "fake news"-plays an increasingly important discursive function. In this article, we provide an overview of international forms of news parody and political satire as they take shape across continents and cultures. We consider the global flow of parody formats, and the multiple ways in which news parody adapts to differing political, economic, and regulatory contexts. Further, we explore the semiotic labor that parody performs in deconstructing broadcast news and wider discourses of authority. Finally, we discuss the political significance of global news parody and the role the genre plays as a popular response to power.