DCist reports that City Paper's parent company Creative Loafing needs to cut the paper's budget by $170,000. The belt-tightening could lead to additional layoffs at the alt-weekly (some production and editorial staffers were laid off after CL purchased City Paper and the Chicago Reader last year). "Like a lot of media companies, we are going through an exceptionally rough period, and indeed we are discussing how to cut expenses," editor Erik Wemple tells DCist. "I don't want to cite any figures at this point because we are trying our best as a company to minimize the impact. But yes, layoffs are part of the discussion."
"Books coverage at American daily newspapers is asphyxiating. That's the bad news," writes Washington City Paper's Mark Athitakis. "Here's more bad news: The situation is just as dire at alternative weeklies." He goes on to cite the cost-cutting that occurred when Creative Loafing purchased City Paper last year as an example. But he says there are reasons to be optimistic about alt-weeklies. "We've taken one hell of a beating, but our basic mandate -- to give people informed and lively coverage of subjects that often fall outside the larger media's radar -- remains intact," Athitakis writes. "And books are still part of that mandate." He wraps up his post by listing some tips for any critics hoping to contribute to alt-weeklies.
A driver who delivers copies of the alt-weekly to street boxes around D.C. was held up today, City Paper is reporting. The blog post, written about a half hour ago, has few details, other than that the "driver lost his vehicle, cell phone, and wallet in the incident." Editor Erik Wemple says City Paper "will be aggressively updating this story."
Former Rocky Mountain Chronicle and Colorado Springs Independent editor Vanessa Martinez was eating lunch on Monday in Denver when a thief made off with her bag, which included cash, credit cards and her ID, which she needed to get into DNC events. After she called her credit card company and found out the guy was already on a spending spree nearby, she headed to the Virgin Megastore where he'd just bought some items. Before she got there, though, she ran into him on the street. "The poor guy couldn't have seen it coming," Westword's Joel Warner writes. "Biff! Bam! Kapow! Martinez punched him in the face, walloped him with his own shopping bag and tore at his shirt. He pulled out her stolen credit cards in surrender, but that didn't stop the fury." The pickpocket was taken into custody, and Martinez got her stuff back shortly after the scuffle. In other DNC-related news, check out this blog post, in which Westword writer Jason Sheehan's takes New York Post columnist Cindy Adams to task for her boneheaded comments about Denver.
Chris Ferrell, whose SouthComm Communications bought the Louisville alt-weekly in May, tells the 'Ville Voice that they are busy working on a redesign of LEO's website, and that there will be a lot of emphasis on the web when the new site debuts in late September. He also says that he's added one staff writer and has been working on the design of the print product. "The paper looks better now that (sic) it did three months ago," Ferrell says. "We've created a larger news hole, and we wanted to make sure we have the kind of content people expect, even when the ad/edit mix doesn't justify it."
With the exception of one person, the entire editorial staff will no longer have jobs at the paper tomorrow when the sale to Holden Landmark Corp. closes, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports. Three non-editorial staffers also will not be offered jobs with the new company, and one full-time position will be made part-time. "As we merge the Holden Landmark Corp. and Worcester Magazine, we are retaining 88 percent of the combined company's employment base," the paper's new publisher Gareth Charter says in a staff memo explaining the changes. Jim Keogh, current editor-in-chief of the Holden Landmark newspaper group, will take the reins as editor of Worcester Magazine, and Doreen Manning will be the paper's arts & entertainment editor. Outgoing editor-in-chief Noah Bombard tells the Telegram & Gazette that while he expected to lose his job as a result of the sale, he was "stunned" by the depth of the changes. "Cuts were expected, but nobody expected them at this level," he says. MORE: Read Bombard's farewell email.
The JFP has "resurrected the alt-weekly tradition of maverick investigations and cultural provocation," Casey Sanchez writes in Next American City magazine. In doing so, "it has cultivated an audience uncommon in the South and practically nonexistent among alt-weeklies -- young, white conservatives and black professionals, many of whom are lifelong Jacksonians." Editor Donna Ladd says the paper's dogged coverage of City Hall has helped build a loyal following. "Any cover with the mayor on it doesn't stay on the stands more than a day," she says.
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