The Onion’s Collins ’10 on buying Infowars: Boston Globe
Ben Collins ’10, CEO of The Onion and former “dystopia beat” reporter for NBC News, talked to the Boston Globe about his Massachusetts roots, his dedication to humor and journalism, and the impetus behind The Onion‘s purchase of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s bankrupt Infowars.
“I think the best satire rips off the facade and reveals the wiring underneath,” Collins said. “And that’s what we’re going to do with it.”
But rest assured, the humor isn’t going anywhere.
“We’re The Onion. It’s going to be like 99 percent stupid . . . jokes,” Collins said.
The Globe also talks to former Journalism professor Mark Leccese, and Collins’s Emerson classmate, Chris Hurst ’09. Hurst, a former Virginia legislator and current reporter at WTSP-TV in St. Petersburg, Florida, lost his girlfriend, reporter Alison Parker, to gun violence in 2015; the online lies that ensued helped steer Collins to focus his reporting on misinformation.
“It’s only fitting for Ben that he returned to his roots, so to speak, by leading a humor website, but he hasn’t stopped fighting against injustice, using his power at The Onion to ironically and yet also appropriately buying Infowars,” Hurst said.
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