(Editor’s note: below is a copy of a letter sent by Style Weekly Editor Jason Roop to Editor & Publisher in response to a recent news item.)

To the editor,

In your story about the Richmond Times-Dispatch-s faux alt weekly, Brick (“‘Richmond Times-Dispatch’ Launches Weekly Tabloid,” Sept. 7), I’m scratching my head over a notion attributed to Tom Silvestri, publisher of the T-D, that “most of the alternative weeklies in Richmond have gone to the Web.”

Maybe by “most” he means “one,” because I can only point to the Richmond Music Journal as an example of a local alt that publishes an online magazine with no print counterpart.

The other local alt weeklies and/or targeted publications that have ceased publishing are just out of business here. Those include The Richmond State, Chew On This, Inside Business and Punchline (which Brick Editor Pete Humes used to edit), along with a number of other former pubs. They have not “moved to the Web.” They’re just gone.

As for print publications in Richmond, I serve as the editor of Style Weekly, a member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. We continue to publish a print publication, and have done so for nearly 25 years. Also on local stands: Wadi, Richmond Parents Magazine, V for women and a long list of community newspapers and magazines. And then there’s RVA Magazine: Not only has it not “moved to the Web,” but it’s also publishing a high-quality, glossy, full-color free magazine that hasn’t been seen in this market before.

Jason Roop
Editor
Style Weekly