Jonathan Chait, a smart and incisive political reporter for New York Magazine, writes often and well about the important issues of the day, including the fiscal cliff, gun control and unemployment.

Seeking, perhaps, a moment’s peace before plunging into a whole new year of Washington dysfunction, Chait today offers readers a detailed analysis of the journalistic shortcomings of the Hill Valley Telegraph, Marty McFly’s hometown newspaper. Drawing on front pages featured in the Back to the Future films, Chait provides a very funny, very dry assessment of what passes for news in Hill Valley.

For example, after questioning lead stories about a lightning strike and a farmer who claimed to have seen a zombie from space, Chait writes: “It is equally unclear why the Telegraph’s editors would devote such extensive space to Biff Tannen gambling coverage.”

I love this kind of pseudo-serious humor, and Chait proves himself a master of the form. Read it and laugh.