Pursuits
From Around the World, Your Fake News
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This week, Bloomberg Businessweek profiles Bassem Youssef, the surgeon-turned-comedian taking potshots at Egypt’s new establishment with his weekly program modeled after The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. Below are examples of other fake news shows—from Italy to South Africa—that have kept the political elite on their toes and tested the limits of free expression.
Italy
Former Prime Minister and media baron Silvio Berlusconi is famously fond of young Moroccan dancing girls, hair implants, and televised jokes—so long as he’s not the butt of them. Italian comedienne Sabina Guzzanti mimicked Berlusconi sensationally in her 2003 satirical broadcast RaiOt.