For years now, every week the Onion has run a “man-on-the-street” feature, where six or so people are asked a current-events question. Each week, the names change…but the pictures are always the same. Hence, my question: who are these people? Are they Onion employees? Were they people who licensed the use of their images to the Onion? Or were they just taken from stock photos on a CD-ROM somewhere? Has this ever come to light?
This is from a friend of a friend of a guy who knew a guy who was friends with a guy who worked for the Onion, so, you know, FWIW:
They’re friends and family members of people who work there.
I Had No Idea They Were Going To Use My Photo For That
(Note: The above looks like an Onion article, but it’s actually from The Olive, which is – get this – a parody of The Onion.)
Didn’t they change out the pictures a few years ago? Originally I thought they had a different set of pictures…
They’re people from Madison–mostly friends and family of Onion staffers, like Smeghead said. The photos were taken around the capitol square (I can recognize some of the buildings). At least, that’s what Scott Dikkers told me when he visited my dorm a couple years ago. His session was the one attended by the most people that year, until Russ Feingold (one of the WI senators) came. Scott vs. Russ was pretty close, but Russ stayed for dinner (the poor man).
They changed the pictures when they went from black-and-white to colour a couple years ago.
The Onion is an American newspaper. They don’t do anything in “colour”. 
Some of the names are made up, but some are real. One time they put names there that were from old newscasters, spotscasters and weather persons from Milwaukee tv from when I was a kid. Howard Gernette anyone? Inside humor like that.
