"Although traditional media seems to be irrelevant to the lifestyles of the young, one segment of newsprint is connecting: the alternative weeklies," says Clay Felker, writing for The Deal.com, a publication for the M&A crowd. Felker, who invented the city magazine format and once owned and edited The Village Voice, says alt-weeklies that succeed have done so by appealing to a "smaller psychographic audience" than the city dailies. He also quotes an editor who says the Red Eyes of the world "will never work until the Tribune prints the word 'fuck' on the front page."

The Weekly Planet brings in a new editor, bears down on its most experienced writers, and fires its three news staffers, Publisher Ben Eason announced in a letter published in late January. Eason refuted a St. Petersburg Times' claim that the paper had abandoned news coverage. "Even as we reduce the staff, we have strengthened the leadership of our paper and will have more writing from our most experienced journalists," he wrote. Eason's letter was followed by one from Susan Edwards, who resigned the editorship to return to cultural coverage. "I'm not here to put a good face on the loss of our news staff," Edwards wrote. "What I do want you to know is that there are still people here who believe in the power and responsibility of the alternative press."

There is a "philosophical disconnect" between LA Weekly's corporate owner, Village Voice Media, and its own avowedly liberal publications, Erin Aubry Kaplan writes. "There are other things writers cannot say about the places they work that I am going to say here, too, because the Weekly is still a place where you can say them." She writes that the company has "been sharpening its nose into that of a corporate shark," with its controversial deal with New Times to close papers in competing markets and its opposition to unionization attempts in L.A. "I wish VVM had taken the ironies of its position more seriously," she concludes.