What's the Deal With The Onion?

When going through The Onion’s website for the first time, I became extremely intrigued. I wondered why anyone would start a fake news source and maintain it to the standards of any other prestigious online news source. So….. I did some searching! 

After reading many articles, it became apparent that the most important aspect in regard to maintaining a “fake news source” is that it needs to be up to date with real news. In addition to that, it needs to parody real headlines and news, mimicking the same format. The Onion has been pumping out satirical news stories since the late ‘80s, and its odd name comes from a simple story: when the paper’s founders were reportedly so poor, they were forced to eat onion sandwiches. 

I found that The Onion’s head writer Chad Nackers had some very interesting interviews, speaking about the purpose and reason behind The Onion. Nackers stated that a large “aspect of things that [they] satirize, [is] how the media handles things”. While they post “news”, a large facet of The Onion’s publications are reacting to genuine media, and are a parody that satirizes what they’re reporting on. However, The Onion’s research isn’t limited to major news sites. Nackers says that their writers often pull their inspiration from observing what’s directly around them. He also stated that in addition to some simply comedic pieces, most of what is published on their website has a “sharp satirical edge with a larger point behind it”. Even though some of the stories on the website can be a little out of the box, Chad Nackers responds that “[while] they seem like a totally silly concept, there’s something behind them”. The main purpose of The Onion’s crazy headlines are to emphasize and satirize the absurdity and flaws with both societal and governmental issues in today’s media sources. Although, Nackers spoke about the fact that there is almost a  necessity to balance the commentary on societal flaws with simple ironic and lighthearted comedy. 

Regarding other outlets for satire, Nackers stated that “satire can be done in so many ways, and I think people limit it to journalism a lot. I think there’s so much stuff you can do”, encouraging many other types of satire to be shared to the same extent as The Onion.