AT HOME HE’S A TOURIST (7/8/07) – By Jason Pancake
“The Business of Free Newspapers”
Almost everyone that has lived in LA has read the LA Weekly, just as anyone in New York has read the Village Voice, in Boston the Phoenix, and so on. These weekly newspapers are packed with extensive information on restaurants, music, art, and local events and best of all, they are free. If you think about it though, you have to wonder how such a publication can be free yet, somehow get printed each week and end up in piles on every other block and in all the stores and venues that you or I go to. These aren’t some little DIY zines that you press in your basement and hand out at backyard punk shows. I guess it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that as with any product that reaches so many people, these “alternative weekly” papers are also a big business.
Unlike standard newspapers that rely more on subscriptions and sales from machines and newsstands, these free alternative weekly magazines make their money from the sale of advertisements. This is why at least a third of the LA Weekly consists of ads for things like plastic surgeons, “escorts”, and female “college” students offering massages.
In 2005, like with other big businesses, there was a corporate takeover/merger involving the LA Weekly as the New Times Media bought the LA Weekly (along with five other alternative papers including the Village Voice) from the Village Voice Media. Even though the New Times was run by a conservative businessman from Phoenix, Arizona, at the time, it looked like just another merger and didn’t make big waves. Here is an article on it describing how it was viewed at the time. Like all shrewd businesses, the New Times Media eventually took the name Village Voice Media so that it would sound more respectable even though it had bought it out.
From general appearances, the Weekly still looks pretty much like the Weekly. I could still count on the basics like being able to find an awesome cartoon by Tom Tomorrow, food reviews from Jonathan Gold, Weekly Rock Picks, and recently, the funny/informative syndicated columns “Ask a Mexican” and “Savage Love.”
However, there does seem to be something different. Here is an interesting article by a Weekly contributor Jon Wiener about how the newspaper is changing and things like reporting and national coverage on issues like the war in Iraq have pretty much disappeared from the Weekly. According to the author, the LA Weekly “has been truly great among alternative weeklies, with news coverage and political writing that towered above its counterparts--including the Village Voice and the eleven metro weeklies owned by the Phoenix-based New Times chain.” However, “the changes at the LA Weekly in the past six months have been dramatic: virtually no more writing about the war in Iraq or other international or national news topics, no more endorsements of candidates in elections and no more stories about the forces trying to make LA a more egalitarian and less polarized city.”
Sadly, the new style of the Weekly appears to be shifting from hard-hitting journalism to sensationalist tabloid-like pieces or pop entertainment-related stories. The article describes how: "There was a time not all that long ago," said Tim Rutten of the LA Times, "when we felt like we had to read the Weekly as soon as it came out, because they were competing with us. I don't think people at the Times feel that way any more. That's a loss to the city." The Weekly's star writers are increasingly turning out New Times-style hit pieces. In February [noted writer David] Zahniser blasted away at a school-board member whose offense consisted of remodeling his house without a building permit.” Next thing you know, they will start doing a story on some councilmember who doesn’t leave a tip at a restaurant.
Indeed, if you look at this week’s LA Weekly and consider all of the news that’s happening in the world (um, Scooter Libby anyone?), why is the main story about Christian Bale and the Art of Extreme Acting ? He’s a good actor and all, but when should an article about his new movie be a cover story of the LA Weekly?
The Weekly is still more respectable than cable or TV news, but it is still a major loss if it moves on to mainly only covering things like bad-behaving entertainment celebrities or local politicians. These free alternative papers are among the few places where reporters can report on important, investigative stories yet still actually make a living. That type of journalism just isn’t tolerated at large corporate news companies that need to protect their business/political interests. It is sad that pretty much the only hard-hitting mainstream investigative journalism source is “60 Minutes” or “Dateline” (when it isn’t spending all its time doing “to catch a predator”). If papers like the Weekly and Village Voice go down the path of your local TV news, it will be a sad day.
“The Business of Free Newspapers”
Almost everyone that has lived in LA has read the LA Weekly, just as anyone in New York has read the Village Voice, in Boston the Phoenix, and so on. These weekly newspapers are packed with extensive information on restaurants, music, art, and local events and best of all, they are free. If you think about it though, you have to wonder how such a publication can be free yet, somehow get printed each week and end up in piles on every other block and in all the stores and venues that you or I go to. These aren’t some little DIY zines that you press in your basement and hand out at backyard punk shows. I guess it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that as with any product that reaches so many people, these “alternative weekly” papers are also a big business.
Unlike standard newspapers that rely more on subscriptions and sales from machines and newsstands, these free alternative weekly magazines make their money from the sale of advertisements. This is why at least a third of the LA Weekly consists of ads for things like plastic surgeons, “escorts”, and female “college” students offering massages.
In 2005, like with other big businesses, there was a corporate takeover/merger involving the LA Weekly as the New Times Media bought the LA Weekly (along with five other alternative papers including the Village Voice) from the Village Voice Media. Even though the New Times was run by a conservative businessman from Phoenix, Arizona, at the time, it looked like just another merger and didn’t make big waves. Here is an article on it describing how it was viewed at the time. Like all shrewd businesses, the New Times Media eventually took the name Village Voice Media so that it would sound more respectable even though it had bought it out.
From general appearances, the Weekly still looks pretty much like the Weekly. I could still count on the basics like being able to find an awesome cartoon by Tom Tomorrow, food reviews from Jonathan Gold, Weekly Rock Picks, and recently, the funny/informative syndicated columns “Ask a Mexican” and “Savage Love.”
However, there does seem to be something different. Here is an interesting article by a Weekly contributor Jon Wiener about how the newspaper is changing and things like reporting and national coverage on issues like the war in Iraq have pretty much disappeared from the Weekly. According to the author, the LA Weekly “has been truly great among alternative weeklies, with news coverage and political writing that towered above its counterparts--including the Village Voice and the eleven metro weeklies owned by the Phoenix-based New Times chain.” However, “the changes at the LA Weekly in the past six months have been dramatic: virtually no more writing about the war in Iraq or other international or national news topics, no more endorsements of candidates in elections and no more stories about the forces trying to make LA a more egalitarian and less polarized city.”
Sadly, the new style of the Weekly appears to be shifting from hard-hitting journalism to sensationalist tabloid-like pieces or pop entertainment-related stories. The article describes how: "There was a time not all that long ago," said Tim Rutten of the LA Times, "when we felt like we had to read the Weekly as soon as it came out, because they were competing with us. I don't think people at the Times feel that way any more. That's a loss to the city." The Weekly's star writers are increasingly turning out New Times-style hit pieces. In February [noted writer David] Zahniser blasted away at a school-board member whose offense consisted of remodeling his house without a building permit.” Next thing you know, they will start doing a story on some councilmember who doesn’t leave a tip at a restaurant.
Indeed, if you look at this week’s LA Weekly and consider all of the news that’s happening in the world (um, Scooter Libby anyone?), why is the main story about Christian Bale and the Art of Extreme Acting ? He’s a good actor and all, but when should an article about his new movie be a cover story of the LA Weekly?
The Weekly is still more respectable than cable or TV news, but it is still a major loss if it moves on to mainly only covering things like bad-behaving entertainment celebrities or local politicians. These free alternative papers are among the few places where reporters can report on important, investigative stories yet still actually make a living. That type of journalism just isn’t tolerated at large corporate news companies that need to protect their business/political interests. It is sad that pretty much the only hard-hitting mainstream investigative journalism source is “60 Minutes” or “Dateline” (when it isn’t spending all its time doing “to catch a predator”). If papers like the Weekly and Village Voice go down the path of your local TV news, it will be a sad day.
No comments:
Post a Comment