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The Onion

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The Onion
TypeParody newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
(also radio, video and websites)
Owner(s)Onion, Inc.
EditorScott Dikkers
Founded1988
Headquarters536 Broadway
10th Floor
New York, NY 10012
United States
Circulation599,000
Websitetheonion.com

The Onion is an award-winning, US-based, parody newspaper published weekly in print and daily online. It features satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news as well as an entertainment newspaper and website known as The A.V. Club. It claims a national print circulation of 599,000 and says 67 percent of its Web site viewers are between 18 and 44 years old.[1]

The Onion's articles comment on current events, both real and imagined. It parodies traditional newspaper features, such as editorials, man-on-the-street interviews, and stock quotes, as well as traditional newspaper layout and AP-style editorial voice.

A second part of the newspaper is a non-satirical entertainment section called The A.V. Club that features interviews and reviews of various newly-released media, and other weekly features. The print edition also contains previews of upcoming live entertainment specific to cities where a print edition is published. The online incarnation of The A.V. Club has its own domain, includes its own regular features (including the syndicated weekly sex advice column Savage Love), A.V. Club blogs and reader forums, and presents itself as a separate entity from The Onion itself.

History

The Onion was founded in 1988 and originally published in Madison, Wisconsin by two juniors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson; they sold it to colleagues the following year. Prior to founding, The Onion was a four page spread of satirical news first printed in 1986 by undergraduate students in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's dormitory Tripp Hall. The paper's name was influenced by the nickname for the University's Memorial union student center, about which students would say, "See you at the 'un-yun'!" Cessation of this early version of The Onion was reported at the time to be due to the University Administration's objection to a business venture being operated from the dormitory. The Onion was at first only a success in a limited number of cities and towns, notably those with major universities (e.g. Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, Boulder). The creation of its website in 1996 allowed it to receive national attention. In 2000 as the publication had broken through to the mass market, The Onion was approached by Comedy Central for a buyout that would broaden the scope and reach of The Onion's brand of satire into other forms of media. While the editorial staff was enthusiastic about the move, the deal was ultimately scuttled by then-owner Peter Haise when his negotiations with Comedy Central fell flat and alienated Comedy Central's management. Despondent over the botched deal, the editorial staff threatened to leave en masse for New York City with or without The Onion affiliation. In a compromise motivated to keep the company alive, in early 2001 the company relocated its offices to New York City. Nevertheless, the paper continues to make occasional Madison references, placing odd stories in surrounding towns or running photographs of local landmarks to illustrate stories set elsewhere.

The paper's founders went on to become publishers of other alternative weeklies: Keck of the Seattle weekly The Stranger and Johnson of Albuquerque's Weekly Alibi.

Distribution

The Onion's printed edition is distributed free in Madison, Milwaukee, New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver/Boulder, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin,and Washington, D.C.[1][2]. It is also sold in bookstores worldwide, including the United Kingdom, and is available by mail through paid subscription.

Regular features

Regular features of The Onion include:

  • "STATshot", an illustrated statistical snapshot which parodies "USA Today Snapshots"
  • The "Infograph" (a.k.a. "Infographic"), with a bulleted list of items on a theme.
  • Point-Counterpoint
  • Guest opinion pieces and regular columnists
  • Bizarre horoscopes
  • "The ONION in History": a front page produced in the look of newspapers of an earlier era, from the book "Our Dumb Century"
  • "In the News" photograph and caption with no accompanying story (such as "Frederick's of Anchorage Debuts Crotchless Long Underwear", "National Association Advances Colored Person", and "Owls are Assholes")
  • "American Voices" (formerly called "What Do You Think?"), a mock vox populi survey on a topical current event. There are six respondents for each topic who seem to have been chosen intentionally to represent a diverse selection of ages, races, and socio-economic classes. Although their names and professions change every week, photos of the same six people are always used. One of them is often described as a systems analyst.
  • An editorial cartoon drawn by "Kelly". The comic is drawn in a sarcastic style which parodies right-wing cartoons. "Kelly" is a pseudonym of Ward Sutton[3].

The website was redesigned in 2005:

  • All archives were made free, and Onion Premium, a failed attempt at a paid-subscriber model section of the site, was discontinued.
  • "What Do You Think?" became "American Voices," with the question updated daily, and only three responders for each question
  • "In the News" was retitled "From the Print Edition"
  • The Onion began publishing web-only content on a daily basis, such as a daily fictional stock market analysis titled "Stock Watch" (one of which appears in the print edition every week), a web opinion poll titled "QuickPoll" (since discontinued), "National News Highlights" of three regional stories, The Onion Weekender (a parody of PARADE magazine) and The Onion Magazine (a parody of The New York Times Magazine), and The President's Weekly Radio Address.
  • The nationally syndicated Onion Radio News, a brief audio clip read by anchor Doyle Redland, became a daily feature. In early 2006, Onion Radio News podcast was launched, and quickly shot to #1 on the iTunes list of top podcasts.
  • A sports section was introduced, having archival material from old issues in addition to new articles (such as "Matt Leinart Wins Beauty Portion of 2006 NFL Draft") and rotating headlines such as "New York Rangers Honor Proud Madison Square Garden Tradition by Losing".

The Onion website is updated every day, most significantly on Tuesday afternoons, and The Onion newspaper is distributed on Wednesdays.

Reporters and editors

The Onion's fictional editor is T. Herman Zweibel (Zwiebel is German for onion, and also close to the name Zweifel, a family closely associated with the Madison newspaper The Capital Times), who has "held the position since 1901" and is rather insane; the real editor is currently Scott Dikkers, the managing editor is Peter Koechley, and the current writing staff comprises Dan Guterman, Megan Ganz, Mike DiCenzo, Todd Hanson, Maria Schneider, John Krewson, Joe Garden, and Chris Karwowski, as well as the graphics work of Mike Loew and Chad Nackers. Past writers have included Mark Banker, Max Cannon, Tom Scharpling, Amie Barrodale, Rich Dahm, Tim Harrod, Janet Ginsburg, David Javerbaum, Ben Karlin, Carol Kolb, Robert Siegel and Jack Szwergold. The Onion does not accept unsolicited freelance contributions.

The Onion publishes several columns by (fictional) regular and guest writers. The regular contributors include:

Film

In 2003, Fox Searchlight Pictures was onboard to release a movie written by The Onion staff. Tentatively titled The Untitled Onion Movie, it was to be directed by music video directors Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire and written by then Onion editor Robert Siegel and writer Todd Hanson. After delays and middling previews to test audiences, the film was shelved and eventually dropped by Fox. At some point in the process, directors Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire and writer Robert Siegel walked away from the project.

In 2006, New Regency Productions took over the production of the troubled project. As of 2006 the film's fate is still in limbo with studio heads still at odds with current Onion management as to what to do with the film. No new director has been named to helm the project and Mr. Show star Scott Aukerman has been recruited to help rescue the project. Reportedly the studio would like to keep one hour of already completed footage in the final film and film new material to flesh it out, while current Onion management is rumored to be leaning towards scrapping all shot footage and starting from scratch.

In a March 15, 2007 interview Scott Aukerman was quoted as saying “Do people still use the term 'dead standstill'?” in response to the question, “Scott, how is the Onion movie coming along?” Sometime in March 2007 after that interview was printed, the listing for The Onion at IMDb mysteriously disappeared.[4] Additionally, Onion, Inc. President Sean Mills has indicated The Onion is no longer associated with the film project.[5][6]

In March 2007, The Onion launched The Onion News Network, a daily web video broadcast that had been in production since sometime in mid-2006 with a story about an illegal immigrant taking an executive's $800,000 a year job for $600,000 a year. The Onion has reportedly invested about $1 million in the production and has hired 15 new staffers to focus on the production of this video broadcast.[7]

The Onion taken seriously

Upon occasion the straight-faced manner in which The Onion reports non-existent happenings has resulted in outside parties mistakenly citing Onion stories as real news.

  • An article on Harry Potter inciting kids to practice witchcraft was believed by many to be real and was forwarded by many "concerned Christians." [2] Columnist Ellen Makkai and others who believe the Harry Potter books "recruit" children to Satanism have also been taken in by the article, using quotes from it as "evidence" for their claims. [3]
  • The Monthly Call to Life blog, a pro-life site, denounced the article "I'm Totally Psyched About This Abortion!" for the author's supposed enthusiasm for getting an abortion. The post (which contains a graphic image at the top of the page) has remained for several months without an acknowledgement that the article cited is actually satire.

Presidential Seal controversy

In September 2005, the assistant counsel to President George W. Bush, Grant M. Dixton, wrote a cease-and-desist letter to The Onion, asking the paper to stop using the presidential seal, which is used in an online segment poking fun at the President through parodies of his weekly radio address.[8] The law governing the Presidential Seal is contained in TITLE 18, 713 and contains the section:

Whoever knowingly displays any printed or other likeness of the great seal of the United States, or of the seals of the President or the Vice President of the United States, or the seal of the United States Senate, or the seal of the United States House of Representatives, or the seal of the United States Congress, or any facsimile thereof, in, or in connection with, any advertisement, poster, circular, book, pamphlet, or other publication, public meeting, play, motion picture, telecast, or other production, or on any building, monument, or stationery, for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States or by any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both. (emphasis added)

This section would seem to allow the use of the presidential seal by The Onion. However, by Executive Order, President Richard Nixon specifically enumerated the allowed uses of the Presidential Seal which is more restrictive than the above title (Ex. Ord. No. 11649), but which allows for exceptions to be granted upon formal request.

The Onion has responded with a letter asking for formal use of the Seal in accordance with the Executive Order, while still declaring that the use is legitimate under Title 18, 713.

The letter written by Rochelle H. Klaskin, The Onion's lawyer, is quoted in The New York Times as saying "It is inconceivable that anyone would think that, by using the seal, The Onion intends to 'convey... sponsorship or approval' by the president," referring to Title 18, 713, but then went on to ask that the letter be considered a formal application asking for permission to use the seal.

Fictional Chronology

  • 1756: Friedrich Siegfried Zweibel founded the Mercantile-Onion (Our Dumb Century)
  • 1850: F. Siegfreid's son took over the company.
  • 1892: Onion 24-Hour Television News Network (ONN) founded. It can now be seen in 811 countries around the world.
  • 1896: T. Herman Zweibel, F. Siegfreid's grandson, took over the company.
  • 1958: Zweibel was court-ordered to retire.
  • c. 1960: Onion Radio founded
  • 2000: Zweibel left Earth itself (The Final Frontier, T. Herman Zweibel).

Books

  • Our Dumb Century: The Onion Presents 100 Years of Headlines from America's Finest News Source (1999, ISBN 0-609-80461-8)
  • The Onion's Finest News Reporting, Volume 1 (2000, ISBN 0-609-80463-4)
  • Dispatches from the Tenth Circle: The Best of The Onion (2001, ISBN 0-609-80834-6)
  • The Onion Ad Nauseam: Complete News Archives Volume 13 (2002, ISBN 1-4000-4724-2)
  • "Relations Break Down Between U.S. and Them": The Onion Ad Nauseam: Complete News Archives Volume 14 (2003, ISBN 1-4000-4961-X)
  • "Fanfare for the Area Man": The Onion Ad Nauseam Complete News Archives Volume 15 (2004, ISBN 1-4000-5455-9)
  • "Embedded in America": The Onion Ad Nauseam Complete News Archives Volume 16 (2005, ISBN 1-4000-5456-7)
  • "Homeland Insecurity": The Onion Ad Nauseam Complete News Archives, Volume 17 (2006, ISBN 0-307-33984-X)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Ahrens, Frank (2007-01-18). "Area Readers Get the Joke". The Washington Post. p. D07. Retrieved 2007-01-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Onion Media Kit 2006". Retrieved 2007-01-18.
  3. ^ Hackwork hacked, Los Angeles Times, 29 March 2007, accessed 27 April 2007.
  4. ^ "The Fun Bunch: Do you believe in inevitabilities!?: 2007 That Other Paper Article". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  5. ^ "Onion launching video newscast: March 26, 2007 Variety Article". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  6. ^ "20 Movies Not Coming Soon to a Theater Near You". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  7. ^ "Press 'Play' for Satire: March 23, 2007 The Wall Street Journal Article". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  8. ^ http://www.randomperspective.com/page.asp?1news/3/008
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