A World of Speculation

Joe Strupp at Editor & Publisher relates how The Onion almost won a Pulitzer for its 9-11 coverage:

The longtime editor of The Philadelphia Daily News was on the committee choosing finalists in the commentary category in 2002 when a submission from The Onion, the irreverent humor newspaper, came before the group.

“As it went around the table, you could see that people were blown away by this work,” Stalberg said about the entry, which included the paper’s mock Sept. 11 coverage. “But it was a little too different, a little too risky. I voted to make it a finalist, but nobody else did.”

I’ve got two reactions to this wonderful piece of news.

First, this may explain why so many “mainstream news” stories seem to have come from The Onion. See for example this piece from The Scotsman, and here’s another picked amost at random from today’s news: “Journalist’s Arrest Sparks Cage Protest.”

The other thing is that this may give hope to our collecting a Pulitzer for our coverage at The Onion Dome, where our Intrepid Editor will likely post this week’s in-depth and hard-biting news coverage this evening sometime. Miss it at your peril.

If we do get nominated for a Pulitzer, I’ll be sure you let you know.

I picked this up from Maud Newton.