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Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

nytimes.com

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Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#41

Post by roughly »

This is great news. Jim Spanfeller and G/O media are pretty well known as a chop shop for media properties - there's not a single part of the former Gawker empire that's done even half-decently under their control.

> In an email to G/O Media staff that was obtained by The New York Times, Jim Spanfeller, the chief executive, said the company was “undergoing an extensive review of our portfolio with the intention of coring down to our leading sites in terms of audience and revenues.”

Gawker put a bunch of famous sites together, but The Onion is the only one that I'd expect anyone who wasn't terminally online to recognize. I'm not sure how that didn't make their list of "leading sites", but I'm grateful.

(Also, Jim Spanfeller is a herb.)

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#42

Post by gedy »

Anyone aware of an archive for each of their stories? Not the entire website/home page archive. Would love this in markdown format for an eInk story-a-day, etc.

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#43

Post by jenny91 »

modeless wrote: post #10
atleastoptimal wrote: post #8

The Onion was great back when their Youtube channel created real videos. Now it's a mild chuckle every few months

They had amazingly high production values on classics like "Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA and "Sony Releases Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyVh1_vWYQ I wonder why they stopped.

~1:40 of the Apple video has this amazing headline scroll through the bottom:

> Congress approves intellectual stimulus package giving every American a graduate degree

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#44

Post by swyx »

dontupvoteme wrote: post #17
atleastoptimal wrote: post #8

The Onion was great back when their Youtube channel created real videos. Now it's a mild chuckle every few months

They were great when they weren't shackled 'Little Boy Heroically Shoots, Mutilates Burglar' 'Black Man given Nation's worst job' (After Obama won) I've never laughed so hard at headlines

did you misremember the second one? https://www.theonion.com/black-guy-asks-nation-for-change-18...

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#47

Post by tverbeure »

pants2 wrote: post #22

This is the best birthday present I could have asked for. The Onion News Network has the funniest, most prescient videos online and I love going back to watch them. Even if the Onion comes back half as funny as they were it's going to be fabulous. Here are a few of my lesser-known favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJdP1zK15bE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRgRz3nSG7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUT8ec2…

The scrollbar at the bottom always warrants a second viewing.

"Rescue St. Bernard eats avalanche victim"

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#49

Post by ddingus »

mangosteenjuice wrote: post #23
dontupvoteme wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were great when they weren't shackled 'Little Boy Heroically Shoots, Mutilates Burglar' 'Black Man given Nation's worst job' (After Obama won) I've never laughed so hard at headlines

The Onion had two events that resulted in a huge drop in writing quality and edginess: OG writers refusing to relocate from NYC to Chicago in 2012 when the HQ was moved, choosing to part ways instead. Then, the remaining writers being called out for the following tweet, somewhat rightly, but being neutered forever after: https://crasstalk.com/2013/02/sorry-former-onion-staffers-ca...

Yes, both sad days for what was razor sharp satire.
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