TORONTO—Is this a case of 'funny because it's true'? Satirical news outlet The Onion has posted an obituary for print, calling the medium dead at the age of 1,803.

"Sources close to print, the method of applying ink to paper in order to convey information to a mass audience, have confirmed that the declining medium passed away early Thursday morning," reads the fake news article.


Bo Sacks having fun with The Onion's obit of the print medium

Print and publishing vet Bo Sacks, who recently told a Toronto audience to stop talking about the death of print, had some fun with PrintCAN discussing the story on Twitter. "I called @MrMagazine with condolences," he wrote, referencing the Twitter handle of Samir Husni, director of the Magazine Innovation Centre at the University of Mississippi. "He was in shock but doing OK. I believe his iPad has been a great comfort to him."

Print's reported cause of death should come as no surprise to those who work in related industries: "the medium was gradually slowing down its output, with both the quantity and quality of its work suffering as it struggled to keep up in a fast-paced landscape increasingly dominated by younger, more nimble channels such as the internet, email, and social media."

The story includes several tongue-in-cheek remembrances. “It did not go gentle into that good night,” media analyst Jeff Jarvis is quoted as saying. “It was tough. Tough as nails to the very end.”