The Onion, the satirical news outlet, launched its newspaper here in Washington, DC today. Finally, the nation’s capital has journalistic integrity!

When I received a copy last evening (today’s news yesterday – I love it!) a front page headline caught my attention. It is:”‘Most E-Mailed’ List Tearing New York Times‘ Newsroom Apart,” which of this posting I could not find on the parody site.

The gist of this silly missive is that Times staffers vie for a spot on their site’s most e-mailed list since it connotes popularity of their work if people invite others to read their articles. In the farce story, columnist Maureen Dowd allegedly makes up “cutesy names” for government officials all day and nearly two dozen staffers — including John Burns, a Pulitzer Prize winning Baghdad correspondent — want to work at the Home & Garden and Travel desks since such topics are inherently full of “click and send” qualities.

This funny piece provides interesting commentary applicable for blogging whether it is for personal, political, journalistic, or business purposes. Web surfers tend to peruse quickly and skim most of the content they come across, and that requires anyone writing content to creatively attract and keep their attention.

Thus, on-line content that attracts people’s attention must serve a purpose and somehow apply to a site’s audience. When appropriate wittiness and humor are useful, but commitment to accuracy should never wane. Even if all Ms. Dowd did throughout her work day was sitting around nicknaming politicos, she still must adhere to standards. Anyone or organization that blogs must also follow standards, or their credibility is at peril. Yes, I know that this sounds elementary, but these facts are important.

If bloggers decide to attract readers through creative and amusing writing, success typically requires commitment to this tone. I don’t know about you, but that’s tough. However, flippantly covering serious topics like DC politics successfully is possible — just look at Wonkette. Wallstrip is an excellent example of a blog that injects pop culture into typically staid business news. What are other blogs like these do you read?