On one fake newscast, Mr. Stewart asked a correspondent in the field for his opinion on the Swift Boat veterans claims against Senator John Kerry.

By using the fake newscast, Mr. Salmore said, "the Zimmer campaign was saying, 'If we're not going to get more coverage of this stuff from the news media, then we'll cover it ourselves.' "

But I will be delivering a fake newscast, so what I really need are jokey/satirical news items.

Given the response by Iraqis, the channel's fake newscast seems to have eclipsed others in its genre in popularity.

It's a fake newscast, but a fake with clout: "The Daily Show" has been invited onto the Boston convention floor to make and break stories along with the rest of the media.

Like SNL, each week Fridays featured music acts and, in the second season, celebrity guest hosts, as well as fake newscasts and spoofs of television shows and commercials.

What if they criticize you for trying to fool people with a fake newscast?

Yves Thiran, the station's information and ethics director, said the fake newscast showed the "importance of a topical political debate, the debate about the future of Belgium."

When we got to the fake newscasts: 'Torricelli scandal.'

The final fake newscast with Sigmund Jähn features a rousing crescendo of the GDR national anthem, Auferstanden aus Ruinen.