The Poke
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The Poke is a British
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...
. It was launched in 2002 as a fanzine distributed at the
Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...
and independent
music store A music store or musical instrument store is a retail business that sells musical instruments and related equipment and accessories. Some music stores sell additional services, such as music lessons, music instrument or equipment rental, or re ...
s. The website is known for producing
viral videos A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...
, which are often
Auto-Tune Auto-Tune (or autotune) is an audio processor introduced in 1996 by American company Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a proprietary device to measure and alter pitch in vocal and instrumental music recording and performances. Auto-Tu ...
edits of British current affairs.


History

''The Poke'' began as a fanzine with a circulation of 50,000 that was sold in music shops across the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and at the annual Edinburgh Festival. Later becoming an Internet-only publication, the website gained some popularity when it was featured as an "Internet Pick Of The Week" on ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''s website, in which it was compared to "a British version of
The Onion ''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satire, satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on ...
crossed with Private Eye". The site was named 'Website of the day' by ''pocket-lint.com'' on 19 January 2012. The red-top look of the site means there have been cases of the site's fictional,
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
news stories being misinterpreted as real news items. In January 2012, a number of French news organisations including ''
Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; French for "The Parisian") is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH. Histor ...
'' and ''
L’Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...
'' reported on an August 2011 article by ''The Poke'' about a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
Sign language interpreter Interpreting is a translational activity in which one produces a first and final target-language output on the basis of a one-time exposure to an expression in a source language. The most common two modes of interpreting are simultaneous interp ...
being fired from her job for 'fabricating news' as a genuine story. French radio broadcasters RTL and
France Info France Info (stylised as franceinfo:) is a French Public broadcasting, public broadcasting service produced in collaboration with France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde and the Institut national de l'audiovisuel. The serv ...
also reported the story as real, and television broadcaster
Canal + Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow und ...
featuring the fictitious 'scandal' on an evening news programme. In December 2022, ''The Poke'' was acquired by Digitalbox plc for an undisclosed sum.


The Leveson Enquiry Musical

''The Poke'' created an
Auto-Tune Auto-Tune (or autotune) is an audio processor introduced in 1996 by American company Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a proprietary device to measure and alter pitch in vocal and instrumental music recording and performances. Auto-Tu ...
d version of the Leveson Inquiry featuring the sampled testimonies of
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
,
Rebekah Brooks Rebekah Mary Brooks (; born 27 May 1968) is a British media executive and former journalist and newspaper editor. She has been chief executive officer of News UK since 2015. She was previously CEO of News International from 2009 to 2011 and w ...
and Andy Coulson. The video was featured in The Guardian's Viral Video Chart.


Nick Clegg Apology Song

An
Auto-Tune Auto-Tune (or autotune) is an audio processor introduced in 1996 by American company Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a proprietary device to measure and alter pitch in vocal and instrumental music recording and performances. Auto-Tu ...
d remix uploaded in September 2012 to
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
of
Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicepr ...
's apology over going back on his promise to oppose a rise in
tuition fees Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spending (by governments and other public bo ...
saw the website rise to national publicity, with the video becoming an
Internet phenomenon An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
. Following a request by the website, Clegg allowed the song to be released as a
single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...
on
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
, provided that all proceeds were donated to the
Sheffield Children's Hospital The Sheffield Children's Hospital is a healthcare facility for children in Broomhill, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is managed by the Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital first opened on 15 November 1876 ...
. The track was released on Friday 21 September, and entered the weekly
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
at number 136 two days later.


Brown Windsor soup

A satirical can of Brown Windsor soup features a likeness of
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
and is part of the "
Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...
Collection," available for about £40 and made "directly from the sewage outflow of
Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...
."


Kern's Corner

In 2017 ''The Poke'' featured comedian Lee Kern as a guest columnist. His column Kern's Corner explored both silly and satirical issues such as his crippling addiction t
Chinese takeaway foodInternet clickbaitthe comment sections on porn websitesidentity politicsIslam and Chips (French Fries)
an
who is to blame for the state of the world


See also

*
List of satirical magazines This is a list of satirical magazines which have a satirical bent, and which may consist of fake news stories for mainly humorous purposes. List See also * List of satirists and satires * List of satirical news websites * List of satir ...
*
List of satirical news websites This is a list of satirical news websites which have a satirical bent, are parodies of news, which consist of fake news stories for mainly humorous purposes. Definition The best-known example is ''The Onion'', the online version of which started ...
*
List of satirical television news programs This is a list of satirical television news programs with a satirical bent, or parodies of news broadcasts, with either real or fake stories for mainly humorous purposes. The list does not include sitcoms or other programs set in a news-broadcast ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Poke, The British satirical websites Internet properties established in 2002 2002 establishments in the United Kingdom