A thirteen-year-old girl posing as a record executive on MySpace has lured several bands to Los Angeles with promises of a record contract. — BBspot
The concept is good, but the writing doesn’t sustain the joke. The reason The Onion is so good is that the articles not only make the joke, but they do it completely within the form of good journalism.
A good journalist would know that the (fake) news is that a Fonix Cat bassist has accused a teen of luring the band to Los Angeles; or, that the teen was charged with a fraud or kidnapping. Instead, the article just states that the teen did it. There are no quotes from imaginary police officers, no indication of what charges have been filed, and no statement from the defendant’s laywer.
It’s that kind of attention to detail that makes me print out an Onion article and hang it on my office door.