Nation's Snowmen March Against Global Warming/Massachusetts Supreme Court Orders All Citizens To Gay Marry/Gore Reprimanded For Failure To Look Busy

These articles range from 2006, to 2004, to 1998.

They exemplify three ways in which the news is portrayed on The Onion.

The most recent one, Nation's Snowmen March Against Global Warming, presents it in an over-the-top, overly dramatic sort of way. While the discussion of global warming has long been going on, it is improbable that snowmen should ever join in. The article's tone, however, remains entirely serious. Like in the real news, various snowmen give stirring speaches about the trouble they face, injuries to specific snowmen are listed, and even statistics are used. The result? The same message is conveyed as it would be on the actual news, but it is done in a humorous way, that people might perhaps be more willing to read.

In the second article, Massachusetts Supreme Court Orders All Citizens To Gay Marry, the news is presented in direct contrast to what some actual news stations report. Instead of citing the evils of gay marriage and demanding that it be made unconstitutional, Massachusetts Supreme Court denounces heterosexual marriage and states that it needs to be eliminated, as "it's simply not possible for gay marriage and heterosexual marriage to co-exist." With this sort of contrast, the ridiculousness of the original news is really brought forth.

In the final article, Gore Reprimanded For Failure To Look Busy, attention is brought to something that everyone suspects - that government officials are always busy, but in reality never do anything - but never hears of in the news. The article is very matter-of-fact as it describes the reactions of various parts of government to the situation. Various personalities testify to the importance of "looking busy" as if it were a trifle that has to be dealt with every day. This is a direct satire of the news.