The Onion will cease printing this year, the company announced today. The satirical newspaper, which was founded 25 years ago by two University of Wisconsin students in Madison, had been gradually withdrawing from print over the last few years as it expanded online operations. At its peak, it published in 17 markets, but by this fall it was down to just three, in Chicago, Rhode Island and here in Milwaukee. Those final three will stop publishing on Dec. 12.
The announcement has particularly sad ramifications for Milwaukee, the last Onion market to publish local A.V. Club content. That local content will disappear along with the print edition. "Milwaukee has long been one of the only cities in the country to carry a print edition of The Onion, and A.V. Club Milwaukee has been the only local A.V. Club site for well over a year," A.V. Club Milwaukee editor Matt Wild wrote today. "In an increasingly digital and consolidated world, having just one city publishing a paper and posting local content simply doesn’t make sense."
