The Onion brings its irreverent satire to MySpace

NB: The original title of this post, "Google To Acquire Controlling Stake in Microsoft," never made it past the draft stages.

Expect an onslaught of emo jokes: Satire publication The Onion will be providing audio, video, and print content to social-networking site MySpace through a partnership announced on Tuesday night. There is now a branded Onion page on MySpace, with article and blog content as well as audio podcasts; additionally, content from the publication's online video hub, the Onion News Network, is now available on the MySpaceTV portal.

The press release issued by the New York-based Onion (a full version is posted at the Silicon Alley Insider) is naturally tongue-in-cheek. "The news business is like the tobacco business: you want to reach new readers at as young and impressionable an age as possible," Sean Mills, president of The Onion, is quoted as saying. "MySpace was, of course, a natural partner in that regard."

"The Wall Street Journal is all well and good, but the Onion News Network represents the best in hard-hitting investigative journalism (at least on MySpace)," Jeff Berman, general manager of MySpace TV, added facetiously. "Also, we lost a bet."

The press release also gave some statistics that presumably are not a joke: The Onion boasts 4 million online readers and 3 million print readers per month. It's not yet clear how much of the Onion content on MySpace will be exclusive to the new branded page other than a new "Staff Blog," but we have pinged MySpace representatives and will provide more detail on Wednesday.