Parody of News

Notable Print Parodies

National Lampoon's Sunday Newspaper Parody, first published in 1978 and re-released as a paperback book in 2004, was originally published in a traditional newspaper (broadsheet) format as The Dacron (Ohio) Republican-Democrat—proudly pro claiming itself “One of America's Newspapers!”—and extended the parody beyond article content into advertisements, the Sunday magazine section, comics, and movie listings. [Page 1044](“Living Play Things,” for example, sells “Ohio's Freshest Pets.” Their sale on Teacup Dobermans and Mexican Chili Dogs includes, free with any purchase, a mud-breathing Southern American Muck Puppy. The ad is a sidebar to the articles, but just as much a part of the joke.) The Sunday Newspaper Parody published only one issue, and can still be found in book format.

Perhaps the most famous of all parody newspapers is The Weekly World News, which at its zenith, enjoyed a circulation of over a million per issue. When the paper began in 1979, it maintained that the articles printed within were true and legitimate. By 2007, when it ceased production, no such pretense remained. The Weekly World News existed as a parody of supermarket tabloid newspapers, often printing articles concerning Loch Ness Monster sightings, alien encounters, giant mutant animals, and the mysterious “Bat Boy”—a half-human, half-bat creature that has engaged in a variety of offenses, including stealing an automobile, endorsing Al Gore during the 2000 presidential elections, and campaigning for a gubernatorial seat.

First published in 1988 at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, The Onion is a free newspaper which publishes wildly fictitious articles in a very traditional tabloid newspaper layout. The parody of conventional newspapers extends to nearly every section of the publication, from headlines to article content, polls to editorials, horoscopes to advice columns. The Onion's international website, launched in 1996, significantly increased the circulation and national attention of the publication. In 2008, The Onion boasted over five million unique page hits per month. The Onion also publishes compilations of its articles in compendium volumes including The Onion Ad Nauseam and Our Dumb World. On occasion, the traditional format of The Onion has led the unsuspecting to believe articles published by the paper are true. In 2002, the Beijing Evening News cited as factual an Onion article detailing Congress's threat to move to another city if Washington, D.C., failed to install a retractable dome on the Capitol building. In 2004, MSNBC commentator Deborah Norville cited an Onion article proclaiming that over half of American exercise is televised. The Onion has spawned numerous emulators including The Frumious Bandersnatch, http://TheSpoof.com, and The Wasted Times, and in 2007 launched The Onion News Network, a website dedicated to producing the same The Onion-style parody news stories in video format.

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