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The Onion

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The Onion is a parody newspaper published weekly in print and on the Internet. It contains satirical articles as well as a general entertainment section. As of 2006 its print editions are distributed in Madison, Milwaukee, New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver/Boulder, San Francisco, the United Kingdom (From Borders Bookshops), and also available by mail through paid subscription. A Los Angeles, California edition will be premiering in August, 2006.

The Onion's articles comment on current events, both real and imagined. It parodies traditional newspaper features and styles. The paper often reports on everyday events in a sensationalist manner. Obsession with fame and celebrity are frequently satirized, as well as the general credulousness of the public.

The second half of the newspaper is a non-satirical — but still humorous — 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 weekly sex advice column Savage Love), A.V. Club blogs and reader forums, and presents itself as a separate entity from The Onion itself.

Contents

Regular features

Regular features of The Onion include: The website was redesigned in 2005 by designer Khoi Vinh and his firm Behavior Design. 
The Onion is distinguished by its witty headlines, for instance "Bush Won’t Stop Asking Cheney If We Can Invade Yet" and "ACLU Defends Nazis' Right to Burn Down ACLU Headquarters". The headlines are written separately from the articles, and many are written by freelancers.
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), 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, 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 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 publishes several columns by (fictional) regular and guest writers. The regular contributors include:

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. The Onion's success was limited to the Madison and Milwaukee areas until it began its website in 1996. 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. The editorial staff wanted to capitalize on their fame and further their careers in New York City. In a compromise motivated to keep the company alive, in early 2001 the company relocated its offices to New York City.

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.

Film

In 2004, 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.

September 11, 2001 Coverage

The Onions graphic for its coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The Onion's graphic for its coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The Onion reported on the September 11, 2001 attacks less than two weeks following the attacks in one of the earliest satirical reactions to the attacks. One headline published at the time was Hijackers Surprised To Find Selves In Hell, followed by a story containing the September 11th hijackers' reactions to waking up in Hell rather than in Paradise surrounded by virgins. Another humorous headline read Angry God Clarifies 'Don't Kill' Rule.

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.

Influences

In 1978 National Lampoon released the book National Lampoon's Sunday Newspaper Parody which was edited by P.J. O'Rourke and John Hughes. The book was an issue of the fictional "Dacron (Ohio) Republican-Democrat," a tabloid style newspaper. The paper contained all the usual sections found in most major newspapers (classified ads, Sunday magazines, sports, local news, comics) satirized with the anarchistic Lampoon sense of humor. While it is unknown if this book directly inspired/influenced The Onion's founders, it certainly shares similarities. Also, the National Lampoon crew has had a lasting influence on most American humorists, so it is not unlikely that The Onion's founders and staff had been influenced by them (considering that National Lampoon grew out of the college humor publication Harvard Lampoon and that The Onion also began as a college humor magazine.) Another popular send-up of the news that pre-dates The Onion is the "Weekend Update" segment on Saturday Night Live.

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. 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.

References to The Onion in other media

Frank Rich has made several references to The Onion in his column in The New York Times. 

Christopher Hitchens has referred to The Onion in Slate. 


MAD Magazine ran a [parody of The Onion] called "The Bunion" in one issue.


Brooklyn Technical High School publishes a newspaper called The Radish which is a parody of the onion.


An article from The Onion appeared on the 2005 Advanced Placement English Language and Composition test, in which students were asked to write an essay analyzing its use of satire. [link]



Books



See also



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