"May the ox of journalism always be yoked to the cart of commerce."

May 3, 2015 12:08 PM

The Onion Is Not a Joke [The Atlantic] How a fake newspaper is turning into a real media empire.
posted by Fizz (16 comments total)

Related.
posted by Fizz at 12:17 PM on May 3, 2015

I say with no shame that I spend the majority of my Internet-free-time on Onion, Inc. websites. AvClub for life.
posted by chainlinkspiral at 12:34 PM on May 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

AV Club for life.

Indeed, their TV Club reviews are worth following if you enjoy humorous/intellectual insight and commentary.
posted by Fizz at 12:43 PM on May 3, 2015 [3 favorites]

I wish The Onion success. ClickHole is a wonderful thing that makes the Internet a little more bearable, and their reporting come election season (which is often darkly humorous and gothic) is a singular bright spot in a singularity of otherwise naked terribleness.

I have to say I haven't noticed sponsored content if I've been reading it. I think that if they launched their own streaming service, or partnered with an existing one, and started creating original programming I would be tempted to subscribe to whatever. Sex House and Lake Dredge Appraisal were hilarious.
posted by codacorolla at 1:05 PM on May 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

The Clickhole Clickventures are the best damn thing, best things they've done since Sex House and Lake Dredge Appraisal.

My favorites:
You’ve Been Elected To Congress! Can You Pass Even One Goddamn Bill?
Fight for the Glory of Rome
Can You Find The Mole In This Spy Organization?
Death Attends the Matinee
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 2:03 PM on May 3, 2015 [5 favorites]

i have to say, i think the onion has completely and totally ruined the AV Club in the last three years or so. every single writer who made that site what it is has left, some still do freelance there, but it's rare. they've filled the staff with young guns and the quality of criticism and analysis has gone way down, while clickbaity articles and lists have gone way up. it's a fucking shame, the AV Club shaped my teenage years and pop culture knowledge in immeasurable ways, and it feels like that site is gone now and there's some heinous doppleganger in its place.
posted by JimBennett at 4:43 PM on May 3, 2015 [7 favorites]

The Onion is not a fake newspaper. It delivers humor (the newspaper bit is a transparent conceit), and quite well. The Washington Times, for example, is a fake newspaper. It delivers supposed news that is often bullshit. This makes it fake.

Along the same lines, The Daily Show is not a fake news show, it delivers comedy, and a lot of truth. Fox News is a fake news show.
posted by tommyD at 4:54 PM on May 3, 2015 [4 favorites]

You can always trust The Atlantic to spell "linchpin" correctly.
posted by goatdog at 5:41 PM on May 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

I didn't know The Onion had redesigned their website. I just went there and it looks exactly the same but now the images don't load. Satire!
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:22 PM on May 3, 2015

oh holy god Clickventures are the best thing on the internet *plays Clickventures forever*
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:45 PM on May 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

I thought AVClub had separated from the Onion somehow.
posted by infinitewindow at 9:05 PM on May 3, 2015

i have to say, i think the onion has completely and totally ruined the AV Club in the last three years or so. every single writer who made that site what it is has left, some still do freelance there, but it's rare.

Sean O'Neal is still there producing great work but it's true, beyond him it's a sad shadow of what it used to be.
posted by crazy with stars at 1:05 AM on May 4, 2015

I do like their redesign except jesus, yes, wtf happened to the images? You'd think someone would have caught this in beta.
posted by caution live frogs at 12:34 PM on May 4, 2015

A lot of the people who left the AVClub can be found at the "The Dissolve".
posted by Ipsifendus at 8:58 AM on May 5, 2015

Dissolve just let Nathan Rabin go, apparently.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:50 AM on May 5, 2015

Why?! He was the heart and soul of it! Baffling.
posted by jcruelty at 2:23 PM on May 5, 2015