
YU NEWS SERVICE
Setting the Standard for Parody Journalism, the Arts and Other Targeted Professions.
YU News Service was founded in 1980 as a counterpoint to Reaganism. It has since established several publishing imprints dedicated to varied works of social and political satire. It has a particular interest in the influence of religion, politics and popular culture on daily social life. These imprints include, among others: Poor Souls Press / Scaramouche Books, Little City Press, Johnny Get Angry, First the News Press, News From Outer Space, as well as collaborations with other independent presses, including Greydog Press, Wagon Train Books, Smakface, Poems For All Press and Mondo Editions.
Its first imprint, Poor Souls Press / Scaramouche Books (formerly Scarecrow Books) was established in 1976 by poet and satirist Paul Fericano. It was consolidated under YU News Service (Yossarian Universal News Service / YU) and co-founded in 1980 by Fericano and fellow poet and satirist Elio Ligi. Its effort were in direct response to Ronald Reagan's presidency. In 1984, promoting the fundamental beliefs in freedom of, with, and from the press, it registered with Editor & Publisher's Syndicated Services as a legitimate publishing enterprise. Offering full disclosure and complete transparency, it openly defined itself as "a professional parody news and information syndicate". Since then, YU News Service has been credentialed by agencies and organizations involved in government, law enforcement, education, religion, the arts and sports. Go figure.
Predating The Onion and The Daily Show by several years, YU launched a series of satiric news stories as a counterpoint to an aggressive and reactionary Republican agenda. In 1982 it began offering its own press card for sale to anyone who applied for one. Throughout the eighties, YU's dispatches were published as bound "Briefbooks" and distributed to hundreds of diverse media subscribers in the U.S. and abroad, including The Los Angeles Times, Inside Joke, The Nation, Soho Arts Weekly, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, The Realist, Mother Jones, The Progressive, National Public Radio, Saturday Night Live, Punch (London), El Pais (Spain), La Prensa (Mexico), El Diario (Nicaragua) and Krokodil (Moscow). From mainstream publications to college newspapers to small press journals to throwaway shoppers, YU's unbylined syndicated stories appeared in hundreds of publications from San Francisco to Berlin, from Tokyo to Bueno Aires, and often with with no other explanation to readers other than a notice identifying them as subscribing members of YU News Service.
In 1984, The One Minute President, a Candide-inspired satire on the policies of the Reagan administration, was first published by YU News Service / Poor Souls Press in Germany with a U.S. edition of the book following two years later. In January, 1987, YU News became the first publishing and news organization to coin the term "Nancygate" to describe the Iran/Contra Affair, holding the First Lady accountable for allowing the President to sleep through both his terms.
In the nineties under Presidents George H. Bush and Bill Clinton, YU News continued to report on the growing conservative takeover, publishing a series of investigative reports on such luminaries and lunatics as Jerry Falwell, Charlton Heston, Newt Gingrich, Clint Eastwood, Rush Limbaugh, Pope John Paul II, Frank Sinatra, and the brain of former CIA Director William Casey.
After the theft of the 2000 presidential election, YU News Service issued regular weekly dispatches chronicling George W. Bush's first year in office. Three days after 9/11, YU was the first news organization in the country to identify Bush's crusade against terrorism as his re-election campaign war. Our weekly stories were received by thousands of email subscribers all over the world and posted online at ZNet Interactive. A collection of these stories, I, Terrorist: Dispatches from the Front, and published by YU News in 2004, was initially rejected by over twenty U.S. publishers at the height of Bush's popularity in 2002 - 2003.
From 2008 to 2016, YU News Service kept Barack Obama's feet to the fire but also had his back, issuing blistering satires on Republican efforts to de-legitimize his presidency and make themselves inconsequential. Our infamous interviews with Mitch McConnell, Orrin Hatch, John Bohner, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and others, will be fully archived and available for access in the future at Universal Times: Interviews with the Departed.
In 2017, as Trump and the GOP colluded with alternative reality, Yossarian Universal doubled down. Beginning with Fericano's Bulitzer Prize-winning satire, Things That Go Trump in the Night, continuing with Ligi's Portland Pataphysical Outpatient Clinic Lounge & Laundromat, and culminating with The Suicide Notes (2020 - 2021), speaking truth to power had rightfully morphed into speaking crazy to crazy.
Today, in a disturbing political climate that many refer to as the dark and cynical days of American democracy, those who deny truth, hide from it, and are uncomfortable in its presence, will always be offended by satire. But if satire doesn't offend, particularly those who are offensive, then it's not doing its job. YU continues to do its job and do what it does best: to make us laugh and question why we are laughing.
Editor / Publisher
Paul Fericano
Managing Editors,
Joseph Anello, Lee Behnken, Vern Ferguson
Jo McBain, Bruce Pryor, S.M. Ognarud
Assistant Managing Editors
Thelma Brooks, Rosa Campolindo,
Luke Grady, Kate Kelly,
Kennedy MacDonald, Alice Nu
Managing Editor Emeritus
Elio Ligi
Associate Editors
Reina Carlson, Sondra Duvalier,
VJ Kuhl, Troy Nielsen, Nancy Stulberg,
Ron Weiss. Lance Withers, Bea Yu
Foreign Editors
Vasily Arkoff, Carla Danvers,
Brianna Gerhardt, Saul Hoffman,
Roberto Montenegro, Kurt Meisner,
Jules Napier, Paloma Napoli,
Tina Pryce, Patrick Rosemont,
Nadiya Shevchenko, John Wanjiku
Amy Yee. James Chen Zhou
Design Editor
Jaray Hasmani
Executive Literary Editors
Lorraine Flynt, Elsa Müller
Poetry Editors
Francesca Anello, Abby Burghar, Kent Curtis,
Constance Jones, Maddy Logan,
Angelina Parenti, Ann Pasquale
Creative Director
Charlene Pollack
Deputy Editors
Tiger Kile, Vince Meloni, Cindy Yee
Executive Digital Director
Ben Hogan
Director of Editorial Operations
Andrea Prime
Executive Editors
Shelley Howorth, Harry Lynch
Editor, The Broadsider
Berri Elder
Editor, Giuseppe Magazine
Joseph Anello
Editor, The Minderbinder Review of Books
Judy Vargas Lopez
Editor, Poetry Hotel
Bruce Pryor
Editor, The Refrigerator Door Review
Maria Cardinale
Executive Hollywood Editor
Will Giles
Director of Special Projects
Sonya Marks
Global Head of Talent
Mena Ward Frank
Senior West Coast Editor
Henna Hennemuth
Senior Editor
Sonny Calderone
Senior Hollywood Editor
Hazel Busis
Celebrity Editor
Magdalena Coughlan
Senior Editor
Josiah Weir
Entertainment Director
Adrianna Brody
E-Commerce Editor
Tricia M. Evans
Senior Media Correspondent
Paul Pompeo
National Correspondent
Micheala Jane Fox
Politics Correspondent
Brigit Levin
Senior Hollywood Correspondent
Rocco Breznican
Senior Swag Correspondent
Olivia Cai
Senior Awards Correspondent
Edwina Ford
National Political Reporter
Ulva Tracy
Chief Critic
Mickey Lawson
Senior Features Writer
Denise Miller
TV Correspondent
Jill Press
Senior Staff Writer
Missy Robinson
TV Critic
Lupe Saraiya
Art Columnist
Stone Freeman
Staff Writers
Luther Adler, Cub Bryant, Tim Canfield,
Manny da Costa, Honey Desta, Drake Klein,
Colin Murphy, Regina Vanderhoof
Staff Reporters
Silas Ecarma, Vernon Sabarz, M.R. Tewksbury,
Julia McNair, Cathy O'Connor,
Cindy Markowitz
Staff Reviewers
The Minderbinder Review of Books
John Abel, Anthony Altobelli,
Vicki Basenfelder, Anne Bensen,
Larry Bettencourt, Veronica Ruth Biggs ,
Rhonda Brewer, Donna Boyle,
Tammy Jessica Cantwell, Reina Carlson,
Christopher Cerf, Tony Cervelli,
Michel Choquette, Billy Collins, Sam Cooper,
Kat Daly, Walt Danneman, Andy Darlington,
Milo de Angelis, Alex DeFloria,
Simone Del Rosario, Maria di Olivia,
Sylvia Dombrink, Oliver Donaldi,
Sondra Duvalier, Peter Elbling, Ronald Elliott,
Carol Elzarian, Louis Farrell,
Vern Ferguson. Nancy Ferko,
Patricia Fanelli, Melinda Fong,
Calle Gale, Richard Grayson,
Mia Greenberg, George Guida,
Garth Hansen, Tony Hendra,
Cindy Higgins, Lacey Gable Howard,
Andrew i, Saanvi Khatoon, Viktor Kiely,
Dave Kimbell, Phyllis Klein,
Rick Kleinman, Monica Klimko,
klipschutz, Jack Kretch, VJ Kuhl,
Bill Lockhart, Brenda J. Leon,
Angelo Martinelli, H. L. Mencken,
Mark Montpass, Ariana Mohajeri Petersen,
Troy Nielsen, Mycroft Partner, Karla Pizzo,
Bruce Pryor, Bob Quintis, Mary Rainaldi,
Francesca Rogers, Clifford Shutes,
Don Skiles, Laura Spiro,
Nancy Stulberg, Rosemerry Trommer,
Amy Trousdale, Frank Walton,
Ron Weiss, James Whitehead,
Seth Woo, Leo Zeibak
Special Correspondents
Bob Bilton, Jeff Burrough, Irene Hagan, Mary Orth,
Alma Pressler, Davi Seal, Peebo Sherman
Writers-at-Large
Arthur Brenner, D. T. Frank,
Claudia Hansen, Robert Murphy,
Lisa Peterson, Thomas Pynchon,
Richard Reginato, Gregory Siliato
Web Producer
Thelma Archer
Associate Producer
Nagano Hasan
Assistant to the Editor / Publisher
Rosella Tijerina
Editorial Assistants
Fatima Diop, Maya Holliday, Marsha Walsh
Special Projects Manager
Mortimer Bergen
Special Projects Associate
Susan Oliver
Business Director
Sal Collins
Director of Product
Wendy Yuen
Legal Editors
Thelma Brooks, Francisco Cardenal,
Rosa Campolindo., Arthur Jefferson
Literary Representatives
Paula Duckett, Olympia Luciana,
Frank Piltchard, Richard Wren
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