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{{Other uses|Private eye (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name = Private Eye
| image = [[File:Private Eye Cover.jpg|centre|230px|alt=Magazine cover dominated by large colour photograph overlaid with cartoon-style speech bubbles, captioned with tabloid-style headline, below a yellow and green masthead. There is no prose on the cover.]]
| caption = Cover of ''Private Eye'' from July 2011
| type = Fortnightly [[satire|satirical]] <br /> news [[magazine]]
(contracted; show full)ok, ''Malice in Wonderland'', and a magazine, ''[[Not Private Eye]]'', published by Maxwell.<ref>[http://www.magforum.com/notprivateeye.htm ''Not Private Eye''], Tony Quinn, ''Magforum.com'',  6 March 2007</ref> Its defenders point out that it often carries news that the mainstream press will not use for fear of legal reprisals or because it is of minority interest.

===Unearthing scandals and breaking news===
Some 
of the contributors to ''Private Eye'' are media figures or specialists in their field who write anonymously, often under humorous pseudonyms. Stories sometimes originate from writers for more mainstream publications who cannot get their stories published by their main employers.

A financial column, at the back of the magazine ("In the City", written by Michael Gillard), has contributed to a wide city and business readership as a large number of financial scandals and unethical business practices and personalities were first exposed there.

===Recurring in-jokes===
{{Main|Recurring in-jokes in Private Eye}}
The magazine has a number of recurring [[in-joke]]s and convoluted references, often comprehensible only to those who have read the magazine for many years. Thesey include references to controversies or legal ambiguities in a subtle euphemistic code, such as replacing "drunk" with "[[tired and emotional]]", or using the phrase "Ugandan discussions" to denote illicit sexual exploits; and more obvious parodies utilising easily recognisable stereotypes, such as the lampooning as "Sir Bufton Tufton" of [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] MPs viewed to be particularly old-fashioned and bigoted. Such terms have sometimes fallen into disuse as their hidden meanings have become better known.

The first half of each issue of the magazine, which consists chiefly of reporting and investigative journalism, tends to include these in-jokes in a more subtle manner, so as to maintain journalistic integrity, while the second half, more geared around unrestrained parody and cutting humour, tends to present itself in a more confrontational way.

===Layout and style===
''Private Eye'' has lagged behind other magazines in adopting variousnew typesetting and printing technologies.  At the start it was laid out with scissors and paste and typed on three [[IBM Electric typewriter|IBM Executive]] typewriters – italics, pica and elite – lending an amateurish look to the pages. For some years after layout tools became available the magazine retained this technique to maintain its look, although the three older typewriters were replaced with an IBM composer.  Today the magazine is still predominantly in black and white (though the cover and some cartoons inside appear in colour) and there is more text and less white space than is typical for a modern magazine. The former "Colour Section" was printed in black and white like the rest of the magazine: only the content was colourful.

===Special editions===
The magazine has published a series of independent special editions dedicated solely to news reporting of particular current events, such as government inadequacy over the [[2001 UK foot and mouth crisis|2001 foot and mouth outbreak]], the conviction in January 2001 of [[Abdelbaset al-Megrahi]] for the 1988 [[Pan Am Flight 103|Lockerbie bombing]] (''Lockerbie: the flight from justice'', May/June 2001), and the [[MMR vaccine]] (''The MMR: A Special Report'', subtitled: "The story so far: a comprehensive review of the [[MMR vaccine controversy|MMR (contracted; show full)[[Category:British satirical magazines|Private Eye]]
[[Category:British magazines|Private Eye]]
[[Category:Criticism of journalism]]
[[Category:Publications established in 1961]]
[[Category:Biweekly magazines]]
[[Category:Investigative news sources]]
[[Category:British political magazines]]
[[Category:1961 establishments in the United Kingdom]]