The dangers of satire

There are a lot of lessons in the New Yorker cover flap. I'd suggest going to Jim Romenesko's roundup of links to start looking at what people are saying. But the lesson that applies most, I think, is the problem of using satire. Satire is defined as "trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly," which means that it is oblique humor -- depending on the reader/listerner to "get the point." Frankly, any message will be wrongly receive by some people, whether it's obvious or not.

That some people won’t “get it” doesn’t mean that publications should never use satire or sarcasm, it means that media must be very careful in using those devices.