The Onion Will End Publication In Madison, Wisc.—The City Where It Started

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 13, 2013 2:10PM

Capital Newspapers in Madison, Wisc. announced they were ending their agreement to print, distribute and sell advertising for The Onion, the satirical newspaper founded in 1988 by University of Wisconsin-Madison students Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson. And that's not an Onion headline.

Capital Newspapers general manager Todd Sears said advertising support wasn't as strong as expected, a common problem in the modern media era for most, if not all, newspapers. “We love The Onion, but the advertiser support was just not there. We tried several things to make it work, but it just didn’t make financial sense to continue.”

The Onion achieved early success in college towns like Madison, Milwaukee, and Urbana-Champaign. The launch of its website in 1996 allowed The Onion to reach a national audience where it earned a reputation for smart, incisive and often devastating sendups on current events, while mainstream media outlets would pick up the paper's fake stories and promote them as real.

The Onion eventually grew to the size where they were able print a national edition that ceased publication last November. It still has contracts for print editions in Chicago, Austin Milwaukee, and Providence, R.I. The Onion consolidated its headquarters in Chicago, last year, as well. The company also runs its pop culture sister site, The A.V. Club, and has been focusing more on the digital side of its business.

Mike McAvoy, president of Onion Inc., said the Madison version of the paper could remain "if we found another partner." The final edition of The Onion will be July 25.