This is no laughing matter.
Satirical news site "The Onion" is sure to make some readers cry after it announced this week that it will halt production on its print edition starting Dec. 12 - 25 years after it first started publishing witty takes on the day's top stories.
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Derek Cuculich, a spokesman for the Chicago-based media company, told the Daily News that the process of cutting out printing operations has been going on for years.
"On the employment front, we had to let go three full-time employees in Milwaukee," Cuculich said via email on Saturday.
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"The new focus (which isn't really new) is our online readership, as well as our creative agency, Onion Labs."
The Onion president Mike McAvoy said in a statement that printing would stop in the final three cities — Milwaukee, Providence, and Chicago — by 2013 to become "a 100% digital company."
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"This year, The Onion celebrated its 25th year satirizing news media and we believe our move to an all-digital brand, alongside our content will position us for continued success the next 25 years."
The website, known for its tongue-in-cheek commentary and blithe disregard for appropriateness, has published such stories as "Taylor Swift Now Dating Watertown Boat," "Suburban Mom Wows Family with Most Androgynous Look Yet," and perhaps most tellingly, "Print Dead at 1,803."
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The latter article, published on July 25, proclaimed the sad, literal death of the medium, saying, "Print…reportedly succumbed to its long battle with ill health, leaving behind legions of readers who had for years benefited from the dissemination of ideas made possible by the advent of printed materials."
Most of the company's print writers and editors have been shifted to the website, TheOnion.com.
bstebner@nydailynews.com
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