The Onion for Ann Arbor

continued

Satire, however, has its limits. “I don’t make fun of the vulnerable, the poor, or the homeless,” Meisler says. “And I make the effort not to be mean. I’ve not done a few because I think they might be mean.” Asked for an example, he laughs and says, “I can’t tell you. It would be mean.”

Despite or because of that merciful impulse, the town has yet to embrace the News of Ann Arbor. “The most I’ve ever gotten was 3000 hits in a single month,” Meisler says, checking his iPhone. “I got 16,000 hits altogether, and I’ve got 200 followers on Twitter and Facebook.”

None of which has yet brought him a dime. “I’ve made $50 off of Google ads,” Meisler says, “but they don’t pay until it gets to $100.”   

[Originally published in July, 2012.]