News satire, also called fake news, is a type of parody presented in a format typical of mainstream journalism, and called a satire because of its content. News satire has been around almost as long as journalism itself, but it is particularly popular on the web, where it is relatively easy to mimic a credible news source and stories may achieve wide distribution from nearly any site. News satire relies heavily on irony and deadpan humor.

Richard A. Locke successfully increased sales of The Sun newspaper in 1835 by publishing a series of six articles, now known as the Great Moon Hoax, under the name of a contemporary astronomer.

Author Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was employed as a newspaper reporter before becoming famous as a novelist and in this position he published many hoax articles. He left two separate journalism positions, Nevada (1864) fleeing a challenge to duel and San Francisco fleeing outraged police officials, because his satire and fiction were often taken for the truthful accounts they were presented as. Of this experience he said, "a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." Ironically, the accuracy of many newspaper and autobiographical accounts used to follow the early life of Samuel Clemens are in doubt.

Charlton "Charlie" Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is a British journalist, screenwriter and broadcaster. His style of humour is savage and profane, with surreal elements and a consistent satirical pessimism. He presents TV shows Screenwipe, Gameswipe and Newswipe, wrote a review column for The Guardian newspaper and currently writes a comment piece each Monday for The Guardian supplement G2, and is one of four creative directors of comedy production company Zeppotron. His five-part horror drama Dead Set for E4 earned him a nomination for a BAFTA. Brooker won Columnist of the Year at the 2009 British Press Awards for his column, and the Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards 2009. He is co-presenter of 10 O'Clock Live on Channel 4. He has also presented the documentary series How TV Ruined Your Life on BBC Two and created the Channel 4 satirical drama trilogy Black Mirror (writing and co-writing Episodes 1 and 2 respectively).

Brooker was born in Reading, Berkshire , growing up in the village of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire. He first worked as a writer and cartoonist for Oink!, a comic produced in the late-1980s.

Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Texas's 14th congressional district, which includes Galveston, since 1997, and a three-time candidate for President of the United States, as a Libertarian in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008 and currently 2012. He is an outspoken critic of American foreign and monetary policies, including the Military–industrial complex and the Federal Reserve, and is known for his libertarian-leaning views, often differing from his own party on certain issues.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Paul is a graduate of Gettysburg College and Duke University School of Medicine, where he earned his medical degree. He served as a medical officer in the United States Air Force from 1963 until 1968. He worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist from the 1960s to the 1980s, delivering more than 4,000 babies. He became the first Representative in history to serve concurrently with a child in the Senate when his son Rand Paul was elected to the United States Senate for Kentucky in 2010.

Ravi Teja (born Bhupatiraju Ravi Shankar Raju on 26 January 1968) is an Indian Telugu film actor. He won the Nandi Award for Best Actor for the film Neninthe in 2008. He has acted in other films including Avunu Valliddaru Ista Paddaru, Idiot, Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi, Venky, Bhadra, Vikramarkudu, Krishna, Kick, and Mirapakaay. These successful films have established him within a short period of time as one of the leading actors in Tollywood.

Ravi Teja was born as Bhupatiraju Ravishankar Raju to father Bhupatiraju Rajgopal Raju and mother Rajya Lakshmi Bhupatiraju on 26 January 1968 in the Indian village of Jaggampeta, Andhra Pradesh, India. Ravi Teja's father was a pharmacist and mother was a homemaker. He is the eldest of three sons and the other two Bharath and Raghu are also actors. Ravi Teja spent most of his childhood in Northern India because his father used to move very often due to his work. Due to that, his schooling was done in Jaipur, Delhi, Mumbai and Bhopal. Ravi Teja completed his schooling at N.S.M. public school. Later on he moved to Vijayawada along with his family and completed his Bachelors in Arts at Siddhartha Degree College. From early child hood Ravi Teja had dreamt of acting in films. As a result, in 1988 he went to Chennai to start his career in films.

Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall (born 7 March 1958) is an English comedian, writer and actor. He is known for his comedy partnership with Ade Edmondson, his over-the-top, energetic portrayal of characters, and as a pioneer of alternative comedy in the early 1980s. Such notability has led him to appear in sitcoms such as The Young Ones, Blackadder, The New Statesman, and Bottom and even onto the big screen in comedy films such as Drop Dead Fred and Guest House Paradiso.

Mayall, the second of four children, was born in Harlow, Essex to John and Gillian Mayall. He has an older brother, Anthony, and two younger sisters, Libby and Kate. When he was three years old, Mayall and his parents — who taught drama — moved to Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, where he spent the rest of his childhood and performed in his parents' plays. After attending the King's School, Worcester, Mayall went to the Victoria University of Manchester in 1976 to study drama, where he befriended his future comedy partner Ade Edmondson. He also met Ben Elton and Lise Mayer, with whom he later co-wrote The Young Ones.