Onion Writer Speaks Truth

When Onion staff writer Seth Reiss came to campus last night, I expected a talk on "creativity in the journalism world as well as the ever changing realm of technology and media." That's what the e-mail announcements purported he would speak about.

Wrong.

I should have known better. It is, after all, The Onion. Jokes are its specialty.

Reiss's presentation was far more stand-up comedy than journalistic lecture. He clicked through choice Onion headlines and elaborated on their conception, all the while keeping the audience in endless fits of laughter.

But hidden among the wise cracks, there were morsels of journalistic wisdom to be gleaned. Comparing The Onion's work to that of mainstream media, Reiss pointed out similarities and differences. The Onion, of course, always came out on top.

Traditional newspaper reporters crank out stories and craft a headline as the finishing touch. At The Onion, writers pitch headlines first, and once approved, write the corresponding story. Reiss claimed this makes Onion writers active producers of news rather than passive recipients: "We make the news," he said. "We don't just sit around for the news to be made."

At first glance, headlines such as "Chipotle employer just gave guy ahead of you more rice" don't seem to carry much journalistic value. But Reiss argued that The Onion aspires to the highest of journalistic goals: "The point of journalism is to uncover what is unfair and unjust in the world," he said.

While The Onion supports itself through advertising, it has no qualms about mocking its advertisers. "There's no advertiser we bow down to. We're never at the whim of an advertiser," Reiss said.

Ever mindful of the media's job as watchdog, Reiss praised The Onion's temerity: "I like it when the paper takes on the role of idiot."

Happy to invent fictitious news, The Onion has at times duped unsuspecting folks. When a Beijing paper took an Onion story about remodeling the Capitol seriously, an indignant Chinese official remarked, "Only in America could someone get paid to tell lies." By failing to report important stories due to corporate loyalties, mainstream media are often just as deceptive as The Onion. The Onion, at least, is transparent about its fibbery.