Parody: BBC News Vs. The Onion

In the article” The mock Press Release: By the Onion”, products are marketed to consumers by elaborating humor and mocking diction in order to expose the methods used by companies to sell their product even if the claims were false. Companies will try to do anything to get the buyers money. In causation of that the customers see it as the companies being desperate yet they still purchase the product. The Onion, uses satire to grab the attention of the most gullible customer. Not only do they use satire they also implement scientific words most humans don't understand which makes the product sound amazing.

They use humor to represent the local new station and what they report on. The creators used the actual footage on a story about bears roaming a neighborhood, but used their own reporter to report on “bullshit happening” as if it was a normal thing to happen. The fake newscaster goes on to report that the “resident in this neighborhood was shocked to see this fairly common thing happening” (bullshit happening). The Onion, the creator’s of the video, is basically pointing out how the news is limiting the news on real news that can benefit the local population instead of bullshit news that is irrelevant to the

Two narratives that Waisanen portrays within his article are two video clips from Onion News Network in which he uses to elaborate and discuss further his main idea. The first narrative that Waisanen portrays is about “… the presidential race heats up, a new survey finds that again, this year, the number one issue among voters, bullshit” (512). He further describes how the news is being illustrated with a news anchor that speaks in a schematized tone similar to the news anchor on public news that is usually broadcasted. The reason why Waisanen uses this narrative is to support his point of the Onion News Network who mocks and deprives the practices of what the “real” news normally portrays and broadcasts. Moreover, another narrative that Waisanen portrays is another video clip from Onion News Network about a morning show similar to Good Morning America where two news anchors discuss about a dog mascot known as “Liberty” who is on a mission to “ …psyched up troops suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)” (513). Primarily the news is to “lament the death of the American army mascot” (513). However, Waisanen uses this video clip as an example to show how the Onion News Network videos illustrate and broadcast videos to viewers that may somewhat have some truth; for instance, the unfortunate battle that soldiers go through with PTSD, but at the same time they never portray or say the real or “whole picture” (523) of what is being broadcasted. In addition, Waisanen

When comparing both articles’ online webpage, you can see the four main principles of design being followed: contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. The contrast can be seen in both articles with their black wording against a white background. The repetition is evident in the fact that the same fonts and colors are used throughout the website and all of its articles, respectively. Alignment can be seen from both articles having their main article on the left, advertisements at the bottom, and latest news on the right. Finally, proximity can be seen in both articles when they group similar topics together and have links to different topics. Along with the webpage being formatted identically, the article itself is also formatted in a similar method. Both articles have a big, bolded headline that attracts the attention of the reader, use quotes from people involved, and present pictures as proof. In the Associated Press article, the author included quotes from the vice president of flight reliability for SpaceX and included a picture of the SpaceX rocket (Dunn). In the article from The Onion, the author included quotes from the president of Planned Parenthood and a picture of the “abortionplex” along with it’s floor plan. The Onion’s article obviously fabricated the quotes and pictures. One thing that sets the two articles apart, however, is that The Onion included the volume and issue of paper to create a greater sense of reliability. This explains why people mistake the article as a legitimate piece of journalism. The next step is to explain how the author uses the genre of journalism to incorporate the genre of satire.

Have you ever witnessed something that was so absurd yet convincingly real? If you have, the Onion, a satirical news organization, may help recreate that feeling with some of their videos and articles. Published in 2011 on the Onion’s website and on YouTube, the video “College Basketball Star Heroically Overcomes Tragic Rape He Committed” satirizes how lightly people who commit rape are punished, and their crime even forgotten about. The video, employs the use of clever satire to convince the audience unfamiliar with the Onion that the report is real, while having implicit meanings and messages about rape culture in the United States. While the video still speaks

Throughout history things have changed in society, especially in the past fifty years. Society has allowed the creators to either cater to the consumers wants or to do as they please. By allowing the creators to have this power, the society that is known today has both people pleasers and people that like to be in control. Newspapers have went from trying to cater to their audience to choosing to provide the information the way that they believe will attract more views. Cell phone creators were able to change how contacting someone over the phone from only a specific place into being able to do so at anytime and anywhere. Newspaper creators of The Onion take a different approach than the makers of cell phones on how they attract their consumers but they have both changed to adhere to the time period.

When watching TV, it is almost certain that an infomercial will cross paths with an innocent bystander. Some people ignore the enticing “deals” on their television, but others cannot help the classic “but wait there’s more” call. Today in America and around the world, consumers are being subliminally advertised to whether it is by a billboard, an online article, promotion by a celebrity, or even a commercial on TV. Many in the advertising and market industries use strong rhetoric to lure people into buying a product or service. The MagnaSoles article from “The Onion” however , exposes the loopholes in a satirical manner for those who may not be aware of the constant marketing battle.

Now a days people run to media for answers on current events and expect information to be accurate, but yet do the people know that almost all media news reports are bias. Often times people run to news channels that give out information they want to hear based off the media’s beliefs. The media has always been bias, but it wasn’t until certain events occurred that opened society’s eyes. There are six powerhouse news sources that all have their own type of bias which points out their own perspective on current events. When it comes to current events, different media platforms represent the story from different perspectives. Viewers want their views to be validated rather than challenged and don’t give ideas of what people should do. Although

Media corporations have been merging into fewer (and larger) entities which are better able to control the flow of information to the public. Because of their size and power, they can prevent unfavorable coverage of their activities in the media outlets they own. In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the U.S. In 1992, fewer than two dozen of these corporations owned and operated 90% of the mass media; controlling almost all of America's newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, books, records, movies, videos, wire services and photo agencies. Now only 5 huge corporations - Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch's News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom (formerly CBS) - now control most of the media industry in the U.S. General Electric's NBC is a close sixth. Democracy can't exist without an informed public. We rely on unbiased news from independent

People automatically assume that a news organization’s bias is strictly a bad thing, while this does seem like a bad thing, the bias is negated by the sheer quantity of news sites that you can easily visit, this may take some additional time, but it doesn’t have to take a long time, while you’re stuck in traffic you can just pull out your smartphone and look at some news sites. If you find that one site has too much of a bias that doesn’t mean that you should just ignore that site completely, instead you should look for the same news story on a different site that has a different perspective, instead of just looking at the media from one point of view, look at both the left and right point of view. This bias allows for a look into how both sides see an argument, while one side may see something as a good thing, another side may see it as a bad thing. This allows you to get into the mind of the news stations and their reporters. While you're watching the news always maintain a level of skepticism about what the news station is saying. Skepticism is key to watching the news in any environment, without any level of skepticism you quickly become a mindless zombies that just believe something because it was said on Fox NEWS or MSNBC. You should take into account all the things said by the different news stations in order to formulate

Newspapers and other forms of news are very vital communication methods in the world today. The goal of news is to sell us their ideas by being biased and talking about how their idea is best. News can give us biased information although, the viewer could do further research on the

In addition CNN ran a story on Vietnam that was proven inaccurate. The radio waves and television sets are flooded with sensationalized shows featuring beautiful young women and handsome men. The news watched today is sensationalized with one catastrophe after another. Is excitement what the market wants, or is the excitement expected because of a precedent set by the corporate owned media? Even in the reporting of sports, sensationalism rules. Channels like ESPN, owned by Disney , report homeruns, slam-dunks, and touchdowns with a dramatic twist. What effect does sensationalism have on the media¡¦s market? A survey done by the American Society of Newspaper Editors reports that ¡§spelling errors, bias, and sensationalism are corroding the credibility of newspapers.¡¨ The survey shows:

Companies have varied motives for creating fake news. Satirical news sites such as The Onion are often meant to serve as humorous jabs at the current news cycle while one-sided sources seek to persuade the reader of a philosophical idea or political agenda by excluding facts and cherry picking data. Deliberately deceitful news sources are often meant to influence readers to buy into a product, mindset, or even to gain “hits” for a website by telling an outlandish story, allowing that site to receive advertising money after a story reaches a certain amount

So while traditional media’s old channels – print and broadcast – are floundering, their online properties are thriving.  In fact, I’d argue that the influence of traditional media outlets like theNew York Times and CNN are greater than ever.

When it comes to finding about the news of what’s going on in our world, we want details and facts. We want the juice of what’s actually going on. The debate between the efficiency of newspapers and TV news, TV news is a lot more effective.