The Babylon Bee
 | |
| Type | Satirical magazine |
|---|---|
| Format | Website |
| Owner(s) | Seth Dillon |
| Founder(s) | Adam Ford |
| Editor | Kyle Mann |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Website | babylonbee |
The Babylon Bee is a satirical evangelical Christian website. The site publishes satirical stories focusing on well- known pastors, celebrities, and politicians.
History
The Babylon Bee was created by Adam Ford[1][2][3] and was launched on March 1, 2016.[4] In 2018, Ford sold the website to Seth Dillon. As part of the deal, Kyle Mann, who had been head writer since September 2016, became editor in chief.[5]
Content
The Babylon Bee copies the style of The Onion.[6] It has published a spin-off book satirizing the Christian self-help industry: How to Be a Perfect Christian: Your Comprehensive Guide to Flawless Spiritual Living.[3]
Controversies
The Babylon Bee has been fact checked by Snopes dozens of times, despite its status as a satirical website. Snopes has also fact check other satirical sites such as The Onion.[7] This has caused public statements from its founder and opinion pieces published in the Washington Post, The Christian Post and the National Review criticizing Snopes’ decision to fact check The Babylon Bee and/or the wording of their fact checks.[8][9][10] In an article about the Babylon Bee and Snopes, Daniel Funke of Poynter stated that "Even if a story’s intention is to entertain, the effect could still be misinformation if the headline is believable enough.”[7]
References
- ^ Smietana, Bob (4 April 2016). "Fake news that's good for the soul". Washington Post. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
- ^ Darling, Daniel. "The Babylon Bee's Adam Ford Says the Church Needs Laughter". Christianity Today. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
- ^ a b Hemingway, Mark (4 May 2018). "The Sharp Sting of the 'Babylon Bee'". The Weekly Standard. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
- ^ "Christian News Satire Site Launches". The Babylon Bee. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
- ^ Ford, Adam. "I sold The Babylon Bee and am no longer running it". Adam4d.com. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- ^ "Christian parody site catches hellfire for mocking death of TBN founder". Fox News. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
- ^ a b https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2018/should-satire-be-flagged-on-facebook-a-snopes-debunk-sparks-controversy/
- ^ Gryboski, Michael. "Babylon Bee founder hits back at Snopes over fact-checking satirical stories". The Christian Post. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ Wemple, Erik (5 March 2018). "Facebook working on approach to classifying satirical news pieces". Washington Post. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
- ^ French, David (30 July 2019). "Hands Off the Babylon Bee". National Review. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
Further reading
- How to Be a Perfect Christian: Your Comprehensive Guide to Flawless Spiritual Living. New York: Multnomah. 2018. ISBN 978-0-7352-9152-2.