Off on a Tangent: Alternative Weeklies

[D.D.Degg]

The Columbia Journalism Review presents an article
about the seeming impending doom of alternative weeklies.

"The alternative weekly never failed to do what it
was supposed to do—cover Baltimore in a muckraking
way and refuse to cave to popular opinion."

Former Baltimore City Paper editor Baynard Woods
on the role of the Alternatives as an antagonist
to, not just the Establishment, but of the Press
Lords who have their own agendas.

"We’ve always been pretty sure that every flack
behind a podium is lying, and wonder why everyone
else is just starting to realize that."
https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/baltimore-city-paper-alts-close.php

Like most alternative weeklies, and newspapers in general,
cost cutting is taking a toll on cartoonists.

The Baltimore City Paper comics section is two.
http://www.citypaper.com/news/comics/

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

On Thursday, July 27, 2017

> The Columbia Journalism Review presents an article
> about the seeming impending doom of alternative weeklies.

> https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/baltimore-city-paper-alts-close.php

VILLAGE VOICE CEASES PRINT PUBLICATION

Today comes word that The Village Voice,
recognized as the first alternative newsweekly,
is going online-only.
It will no longer print the publication.
http://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2017/08/22/19260106/the-village-voice-will-not-make-any-more-physical-newspapers

Don't know if the current (August 16-22, 2017) edition
is the last, or if a final date has been decided.

It first appeared on October 26, 1955
and, for this group, most famously debuted the
Feiffer strip (originally titled Sick, Sick, Sick)
a year later on October 24, 1956. Feiffer got a
Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for Editorial Cartooning.
Feiffer's first few strips from 1956 can be read
by way of Amazon's preview of Fantagraphics collection:
https://www.amazon.com/Explainers-Complete-Village-Strips-1956-1966/dp/156097835X

According to Wikipedia: The [Village Voice] has also been
a host to underground cartoonists. In addition to mainstay
Jules Feiffer, whose cartoon ran for decades in the paper
until its cancellation in 1996, well-known cartoonists
featured in the paper have included R. Crumb, Matt Groening,
Lynda Barry, Stan Mack, Mark Alan Stamaty, Ted Rall,
Tom Tomorrow, Ward Sutton, Ruben Bolling and M. Wartella.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Village_Voice

For old-timers that Wikipedia history brings up another
familiar name: "Another regular from that [early] period was the
cartoonist Kin Platt, who did weekly theatrical caricatures."

Kin Platt was active doing comic books and comic strips.

[D.D.Degg]

In 2009, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia
had 135 alt-weeklies in its membership.

In 2015, that group had 117 members.

This year, it has 108.

Storied alt-weeklies like Philadelphia City Paper,
the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the Boston Phoenix,
Knoxville, Tennessee's Metro Pulse have shut down.

But Local Independent Online News Publishers reported
that it added 19 new members in 15 states. LION now
has 160 local news publishers as members in 39 states.

Are alt-weeklies dying or just moving online?
http://www.poynter.org/2017/are-alt-weeklies-dying-or-just-changing-and-moving-online2/471185/

Of course the marketplace for alternative cartoonists,
like their syndicated big brothers' outlets, is shriveling.

D.D.Degg

[Ted Goldblatt]

Of course, a number of what remains of the alt-weeklies aren't actually
independent. Here in south Florida, there are still Miami and
Broward/Palm Beach New Times papers (with joint editorial, and both
owned by Village Media Group). The former City Link (owned by the Fort
Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel) folded about 5 years ago. I'm embarrassed to
say that I haven't looked at them in paper form in years (they do have
major online presences, which I do), so I don't know if they still carry
any comics (or comix) or not.

[Joe Morris]

Not so long ago, D.D.Degg wrote:
> In 2009, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia
> had 135 alt-weeklies in its membership.

> In 2015, that group had 117 members.

> This year, it has 108.

> Storied alt-weeklies like Philadelphia City Paper,
> the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the Boston Phoenix,
> Knoxville, Tennessee's Metro Pulse have shut down.

> But Local Independent Online News Publishers reported
> that it added 19 new members in 15 states. LION now
> has 160 local news publishers as members in 39 states.

This month Atlanta's Creative Loafing switched from weekly to monthly and
they published a true 52 issues a year for almost 50 years

> Are alt-weeklies dying or just moving online?
> http://www.poynter.org/2017/are-alt-weeklies-dying-or-just-changing-and-moving-online2/471185/

> Of course the marketplace for alternative cartoonists,
> like their syndicated big brothers' outlets, is shriveling.

--
Joe Morris Atlanta history blog
jol...@gmail.com http://atlhistory.com

[Chrysi Cat]

Do we know if this will affect all of Village Voice Media, or just the
flagship?

In particular, is *Westword* going to go the online-only route as well?

--
Chrysi Cat
1/2 anthrocat, nearly 1/2 anthrofox, all magical
Transgoddess, quick to anger
Call me Chrysi or call me Kat, I'll respond to either!

[D.D.Degg]

Chrysi Cat wrote:
> Do we know if this will affect all of Village Voice Media,

> or just thr flagship?

>
> In particular, is *Westword* going to go the online-only route as well?

According to the New York Times article,
"[Peter d.] Barbey, whose family has owned The Reading Eagle
newspaper in Pennsylvania for generations, purchased the
[Village Voice] from Voice Media Group in October 2015."
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/nyregion/village-voice-to-end-print-publication.html?mcubz=1

So Westworld, at least for now, seems safe.

The push to online format newspapers is not
exclusive to alternative weeklies though.

Joining a growing number of dailies is
The Fort Wayne (Ind) News-Sentinel.
http://www.news-sentinel.com/news/news-sentinel_announces_transition_to_digital_format_20170824&profile=1008

But they will keep a toe in print by editing and inserting
a few pages in their crosstown rival's newspaper:
"While this move means discontinuing the afternoon
print edition, subscribers will be offered News-Sentinel
content in print within the morning edition of The Journal Gazette"
I guess a sort of Las Vegas Sun/Las Vegas Review-Journal situation.

A commenter asks, "what's going to happen to the comics page?"

D.D.Degg

[Ted Goldblatt]

On 8/27/2017 9:10 PM, Chrysi Cat wrote:
> Do we know if this will affect all of Village Voice Media, or just the
> flagship?
>
> In particular, is *Westword* going to go the online-only route as well?

I don't think there *is* a VVM anymore. They sold all the newspapers to
Village Media Group about 5 years ago and sold the remaining(?) assets
more recently. And then the Village Voice itself was bought from VMG,
so it is now a standalone - meaning nothing it does should affect any of
the other VMG/former VVM properties.

[D.D.Degg]

> VILLAGE VOICE CEASES PRINT PUBLICATION

The Village Voice (print edition)
October 26, 1955 - September 20, 2017
https://www.cjr.org/criticism/village-voice-final-issue.php

For the last hard copy they supposedly gathered
many previous contributors who pitched in with
reminisces of the good ol' days - including cartoonists.
(Doubt they got anything from Jules Feiffer.)
Here's Drew Friedman:
http://drewfriedman.blogspot.com/2017/09/gilbert-gottfried-drawn-for-final.html

for more on the final Voice also see:
https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/09/20/youre-probably-reading-this-on-an-electronic-device/

D.D.Degg

[mopoleum]

The Baltimore City Paper ( http://citypaper.com ) is closing soon. It
was the first home of the comics of Emily Flake, now a regular for The
New Yorker and The Nib ( https://thenib.com/emily-flake ). It was also
home for the weekly strip of Tim Kreider, who writes features semi-
regularly for the New York Times, and it still hosts (for now) Ben
Claasen's Dirt Farm. Claasen illustrated Wil Wheaten's first book and
does regular illustrations for the Washington Post.

The City Paper was also home to the early 2000s feature Funny Paper by
Joe Macleod and Tom Scocca which commented on the Baltimore Sun's comics
section.

[Cryptoengineer]

"D.D.Degg" <ddde...@comcast.net> wrote in
news:260e5d03-5fa1-4ea1...@googlegroups.com:

(sigh)

I used to get it every week when I lived in Manhattan (78-88). Back then
it was $1 - $1.50; it later became free. Good writing, great reviews,
info on what's going on, and a huge classifield section at the back - it
was Craigslist before the Internet.

It was light on cartoons, but I remember Feiffer, Groening, and a few
others.

Sad to see it go.

pt

[D.D.Degg]

Interdimensional Time Travel?

The Strange Case of The Newspaper Box:

"...residents of Chicago’s Lawrence Avenue were surprised when,
just a few weeks ago, a Chicago Reader newspaper box arrived on
their street, next to a public garden. They were even more
surprised by what it held: decidedly out-of-date copies of the
Reader, including the first ever issue, which was published in 1971."

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/chicago-reader-time-machine-mystery

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

The on-line only Village Voice continues to run comic strips
(at least Lauren R. Wienstein's Normel Person).
https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/10/24/the-artist-2/

The path of the Seattle Weekly consists of "at least a
dozen major twists in the four decades that the paper has
served this city. The edition of the Weekly that hit the
streets today represents yet another one of those twists."

"After some consideration, we made some decisive shifts...
Gone are the illustrative covers, the comics, the weekly
long-form features...
It wasn’t easy. I loved those covers and comics"
http://www.seattleweekly.com/opinion/the-next-chapter-for-seattle-weekly/

Not really alternative - it's student newspaper.
But the story is getting attention.
The Univ. of California Berkeley Daily California
took some heat for an anti-Semetic cartoon:
http://freebeacon.com/culture/uc-berkeley-student-paper-retracts-anti-semitic-alan-dershowitz-cartoon/

The editor apologized
http://www.dailycal.org/2017/10/18/behind-the-scenes/

Alan Dershowitz Praises UC Berkeley Chancellor
for Condemnation of Anti-Semitic Cartoon
http://freebeacon.com/culture/alan-dershowitz-praises-uc-berkeley-chancellor-condemnation-anti-semitic-cartoon/

Bears for Israel gives a brief history of graphic
anti-Semitism and appreciates the DailyCal apology;
"although [they] would like an apology from the artist as well."
http://www.dailycal.org/2017/10/27/editorial-cartoon-reflects-need-recognize-anti-semitic-imagery/

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

LA Weekly’s staff was gutted Wednesday as Voice Media Group
completed its sale of the alternative newsweekly to a newly
created company, Semanal Media.
Nine of the 13 members of the editorial staff lost their jobs,
including all the top editors and all but one of the staff writers.
The L. A. Times reports:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-la-weekly-20171129-story.html

And the Baltimore City Paper is Dead
http://www.citypaper.com/news/features/bcpnews-14-digressions-about-city-paper-20171101-story.html

With the closure of alternative weeklies in Baltimore and
Philadelphia—and the Village Voice’s decision to end print
publication after 62 years—the past few years have been grim
for the once-essential element of the urban media landscape.
But like other newspaper publications, alt weeklies around
the country are finding new ways to be profitable, including
nonprofit funding, specialty publications, and new advertising markets.
Editor and Publisher looked at the state of
Alternatives Weeklies earlier this month:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/feature/in-search-of-a-healthy-future-alt-weeklies-experiment-with-stories-and-revenue-strategies/

Imagine there's no paper,
It isn't hard to do.
Over in the world of dailies:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/a-section/minnesota-newspapers-participate-in-whiteout-campaign/

D.D.Degg

[mopoleum]

"D.D.Degg" <ddde...@comcast.net> wrote

> And the Baltimore City Paper is Dead
> http://www.citypaper.com/news/features/bcpnews-14-digressions-about-
city-paper-20171101-story.html

There is another alternative paper arising in Baltimore from the ashes:

https://www.washingtonian.com/2017/11/02/baltimore-beat-new-alt-weekly/

Also, Emily Flake, who was first syndicated in the Baltimore City Paper,
has a two page spread in The New Yorker:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/04/young-and-dumb-inside

Also, the Washington City Paper may be sold to Armstrong Williams:

http://www.motherjones.com/media/2017/11/armstrong-williams-washington-
city-paper-ben-carson/

Williams has settled at least two suits for sexual harrasment, and as a
radio host was found to have violated a federal ban on covert propaganda
for taking money from the Department of Education to promote the No
Child Left Behind act.

[D.D.Degg]

mopoleum added:

> > And the Baltimore City Paper is Dead
>

> There is another alternative paper arising in Baltimore from the ashes:
> https://www.washingtonian.com/2017/11/02/baltimore-beat-new-alt-weekly/

Good News! http://baltimorebeat.com/
Not finding any illustrations there,
or anything about comics
( http://www.citypaper.com/news/comics/ ).
Hoping they will be added soon.

>
> Also, the Washington City Paper may be sold to Armstrong Williams:
> http://www.motherjones.com/media/2017/11/armstrong-williams-washington-
> city-paper-ben-carson/

This is just strange.
Conservatives also taking over Time magazine
(with the help of The Koch Bros.)

And the right-wing Sinclair Broadcasting
taking over local tv broadcast stations.

Add Fox News and talk radio
and the WSJ, the NYPost,
and more local dailies than most realize
(plus the National Enquirer),
and it looks like the MainStream Media will not
be a whipping boy much longer.

[mopoleum]

"D.D.Degg" <ddde...@comcast.net> wrote :

> mopoleum added:

>> Also, the Washington City Paper may be sold to Armstrong Williams:
>> http://www.motherjones.com/media/2017/11/armstrong-williams-
washington-city-paper-ben-carson/
>
> This is just strange.
> Conservatives also taking over Time magazine
> (with the help of The Koch Bros.)
>
> And the right-wing Sinclair Broadcasting
> taking over local tv broadcast stations.
>
> Add Fox News and talk radio
> and the WSJ, the NYPost,
> and more local dailies than most realize
> (plus the National Enquirer),
> and it looks like the MainStream Media will not
> be a whipping boy much longer.

Jared Kushner ran the NY Observer into the ground (it still lingers as a
website).

Guys like him find that conservative papers are generally money pits,
and it takes deep pockets like the Moonies had to keep a paper like the
Washington Times alive despite the red ink.

Rupert Murdoch is probably the one current conservative newspaper baron
with a genuine sense of how to run a successful paper, and even then the
NY Post is a deep well of red ink. And unlike Hearst and other past
conservative press barons, Murdoch doesn't seem to have any appreciation
for comics.

[D.D.Degg]

> LA Weekly’s staff was gutted Wednesday as Voice Media Group
> completed its sale of the alternative newsweekly to a newly
> created company, Semanal Media.

LA Weekly's neighbor, the OC Weekly, reports on the sale:
"...the Semanal LLC debacle, easily the most inept hostile
takeover in the history of alt-journalism...

"By getting rid of its employees, the paper (which may soon
no longer even be a print publication) is eliminating both its
overhead and its previously established editorial perspective."

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/making-la-weekly-great-again-oc-weekly-cartoon-8621522

[D.D.Degg]

Requiem for an Alt-Weekly
The strange and sudden demise of the Houston Press.

On November 3, 2017 Stuart Folb, the publisher,
announced to the staff that the Houston Press
would be ceasing print publication immediately.

Fold then informed the staff that everyone in the room
other than himself and [editor Margaret] Downing — a total
of eight full-time and two part-time editorial employees —
was being laid off. This would be their final day of work.

It will live on as a web-only publication, with Downing as the
sole editorial employee managing a team of freelance writers.

RIP - The (print) Houston Press 1989 - 2017
https://www.texasobserver.org/requiem-alt-weekly-houston-press/

Michael (Over The Hedge) Fry got his start at the Houston Press.
His editorial cartoon "No Bull" began there,
as did his "Committed" panel before UFS began syndicating it.

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

A Eulogy for the Alt-Weekly

"The obituarists issued last rites for Baltimore’s alternative
weekly, City Paper, last month not long after they penned the
same for the 62-year-old Village Voice. In 2015, they gave the
Philadelphia City Paper its death notices, and before that the
San Francisco Bay Guardian (2014) and the Boston Phoenix (2013).
Today, reporters are sharpening their quills should they be
assigned to bury the Washington City Paper or one of the other
financially frazzled alt-weeklies."
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/20/a-eulogy-for-the-alt-weekly-216124

“It is a newspaper’s duty to print the news and raise hell.”

D.D.Degg
hat tip http://www.comicsreporter.com/

[D.D.Degg]

Alternative weeklies are vital (and dying)

ALT-WEEKLIES SIGNIFY MUCH MORE than the ability to say
“fuck” in print. They’re an extra set of eyes on legislators,
local officials, and law enforcement. They’re often the ombudsman
for the local media, monitoring daily newspapers and airwaves
the same way government environmental agencies track water
and air quality. And, in many cases, they’re an all-too-rare
source of original investigative—or, at least, in-depth—reporting
on a range of topics.
https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/alt-weeklies-elegy.php