From the “Little Aussie Bleeder” to Newstopia: (Really) Fake News in Australia

Abstract

This article offers an overview of the key characteristics of “fake” news in the Australian national context. Focusing on two television shows, The Norman Gunston Show and Newstopia, it historicizes “fake” news within Australian television culture, situating it as part of a broader tradition of what Turner (1989) calls “Transgressive TV.” After analyzing the core comedic themes, styles, and intertextual relationships of both shows, the article concludes that, although news parody in Australia has tended to be highly fictionalized, it may nevertheless play a vital role in helping viewers better understand generic devices that frame and govern “real” television news.

Notes

¹Although The Late Show was a fairly generic sketch comedy/variety show, it did feature a weekly news segment in which Tom Gleisner (playing the role of news “anchor”) mocked or parodied recent news footage. This segment also commonly featured “fake” interviews with Rob Sitch, who would impersonate celebrities or newsworthy figures.

²As noted later in this article, Gunston described himself as “sort of Australia's Johnny Carson” (ABC, 1992) when interviewing film star Warren Beatty.

³Although it is a mere coincidence, this exchange is eerily similar to Jon Stewart (in September 2006) offering Pervez Musharraf a cup of jasmine green tea and a Twinkie, and then asking him “Where's Osama Bin Laden?”

⁴A euphemism for sexual intercourse.

⁵The show's title was normally capitalized as NEWStopia, but has been left here in standard form.

⁶The first in this series, for example, teased an episode on “Hitler's Poodle.”