“Study: Dolphins are not so intelligent on land,” read the headline of a groundbreaking new finding, as featured in The Onion. This was just one of the nearly 20 clips the satirical newspaper’s Editor in Chief shared with a packed auditorium roaring with laughter Monday.
The lecture, which featured Editor in Chief Joe Garden and former Editor in Chief Carol Kolb, both UW-Madison alumni, concluded the student organized Distinguished Lecture Series for the fall semester.
After sharing false headlines published in their newspaper, including a story about a 500 foot Osama Bin Laden terrorizing New York City, Garden and Kolb gave some insight on how the nation’s most well-known satirical newspaper runs.
Although The Onion’s popular coverage of false news is responsible for drawing in approximately “100 trillion readers” every day, Garden said accurate research is involved while writing a story. Kolb added the newspaper has never been sued for writing false stories.
“If your joke isn’t accurate, it’s not going to be as funny,” Garden said.
Instead of writing “news” other publications deem most important, Garden said The Onion covers “whatever I happen to be obsessed with at any given time.” He added the staff writes some of the stories well in advance of publication.
Not restricting its humor just to print news, The Onion’s streams online broadcast news on The Onion News Network.
Kolb said although ONN’s news segments are not as elaborate as television satire, such as John Stewart’s “The Daily Show,” its online presence has helped increase the publication’s recognition.
