News & Criticism

American Print Journalism Really is Dying

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RIP, Weekly World News.

NEXT: Is Living Longer Worth It?

Brian Doherty is a senior editor at Reason and author of Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired (Broadside Books).

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  1. de stijl

    I got my best friend a subscription for his wedding present – and he loved it. His German wife, OTOH, that I was an utter moron.

    This sad announcement makes me pig-bitin’ mad, in the words of the late, lamented Ed Anger.

  2. thoreau

    Weekly World News is not dead! It’s just gone underground, and will be sighted at various 7/11 stores around the country.

    Until the aliens come and take them, and then return them to earth.

  3. VM

    “His German wife, OTOH, that I was an utter moron.”

    why on earth would she think that???

  4. Warren

    meh. I for one could live without anything on display at the checkout stand. I’d like to think I could live much happier without any of the people who read anything on display at the checkout stand, but they’re mostly women and I’m not sure how many of the ‘good ones’ would get caught in the net.

  5. MP

    Bat Boy rulz.

  6. mediageek

    Oh man.

    WWN was like The Onion, but for poor people.

    🙁

  7. The $50 is the new $20

    American Print Journalism isn’t dying

    it’s supposed to smell that way

  8. This is a sad day. My dream of one day writing for the Weekly World News will never come true.

  9. JLM

    My highlight of any trip to the grocery store is reading the headlines on those things, and the WWN is usually the best. I’ve often found myself laughing out loud (with the person in front of me looking at me like I’ve lost it). It will be missed.

  10. virchull

    don’t waste my time on the comings and goings of comic books – whatever their format.

  11. thoreau

    Jennifer, I always pictured you as Onion caliber.

    That’s meant as a compliment.

  12. Matt J

    I always got sucked into buying one issue every couple of years just because the headline was to good to pass up. The last one I got had “photos” of Saddam’s and Osama’s Secret Gay Affair. The “picture” of them riding the Tea Cups at Disney World was absurdly sublime.

    I actually had a whole wall in my dorm dedicated to TWWN clippings. Bat Boy, The Worlds Fattest Baby, Space Alien endorses Clinton. Great headlines and even better shitty Photoshop jobs.

    This is a sad day for me.

    I guess I’ll have to go home and curl up with my copy of Bat Boy Lives: Best of the Weekly World News.

  13. de stijl

    mediageek,

    WWN was the Onion for cool people!

    “Man shoots himself after his canary drowns in glass of wine!”

  14. Bee

    NOOOOOOOO! We always buy a copy for family road trips. Laugh till the tears come.

    Pestilence, one of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocolypse, wins the Kentucky Derby.

    Ed Anger. The Angriest Man in America!

    Are your neighbors or co-workers aliens? 10 telltale clues.

    Ahh, so many memories…..

  15. isildur

    I hate to be That Guy, but: the WWN had really fallen pretty far in quality lately. My boss had a subscription and would bring in issues as bathroom reading material here at the office, so I’ve read a whole lot of WWN recently.

    There was a time when the writers could keep a straight face through the whole article, whatever the topic. All the issues I’ve read for the past year or so, though, have always ended each article with a half-assed pun or other lame joke.

  16. JANIS JOPLIN AND MAMA CASS LIVING TOGETHER IN LESBIAN LOVE NEST

    See? See? I would have made a GREAT Weekly World News writer!

  17. thoreau

    But Jennifer, who says that Weekly World News is actually dead? Huh?

    You should write an article about how it’s just in hiding, and submit it to the Onion.

  18. ChrisO

    I’m really sad to hear this. Everything has its time, I guess.

  19. Pro Libertate

    How much for the trademark?

  20. You should write an article about how it’s just in hiding, and submit it to the Onion.

    They don’t accept freelance stuff. Besides, I’m still supposed to finish this OTHER freelance piece that is quickly becoming the bane of my existence. It would be easier if I were writing for WWN, because then I could just make shit up instead of having to do actual research.

    SCIENTISTS SAY MERMAID SKELETON MISSING LINK BETWEEN MAN AND FISH

  21. aabalon

    Before they go out of business, I hope that they tell us who the Space Alien is endorsing for president, otherwise I won’t have a clue who to vote for.

  22. robc

    The Onion has been all down hill since they replaced “man with hat” in the “What do you think?” photos. And when did it start getting called “American Voices”?

    In my mind they’ve never topped the “Smells Like Splattered Brains” tagline from the week after Cobain’s suicide.

    Also, The Onion should be read in print form and get off my lawn.

  23. Terry

    You know, it won’t die, it will be transformed.

    Have you ever noticed that the Drudgereport is like, half headlines from the National Star and WWN?
    See.

  24. Terry

    I bet you the trademark for it is already sold.
    I mean, I would buy it right away if it wasn’t.

  25. Max

    This is the greatest injustice in the history of the world.

  26. Son of a!

    isildur:

    I recently acquired a copy of WWN after not reading it for well over a decade. The change in tone reminded me of when professional wrestling stopped pretending to be real.

    robc:

    “What Do You Think” became “American Voices” when it switched from six people’s opinions once a week to three opinions daily (online, at least; I haven’t had a print subscription in years).

    In other news, I’m a colossal dork.

  27. Joe Garden

    Man, as an Onion writer, this saddens me to no end. I learned satire from Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller and Ed Anger. Actually, put Ed Anger first in that list.

    Fortunately, Ed Anger’s words can be purchased used for pennies.

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553066854/reasonmagazinea-20/

    Buy it. Teach the children well.

    Now, to drown my WWN-less sorrows.

  28. Weekly World News was still the best, most hilarious piece of reading material out there. I’m a long-time fan/reader. But, about a year (or more) ago, it was re-tooled and really is only a shadow of what it used to be. I noticed that it has very few advertisers any more (either classified or display). So, a while back someone fixed something that wasn’t broken and sales dropped, leading to its demise. Seen THAT story before!

    Adios, WWN!

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