The daughter of Independent Weekly (Lafayette, La.) publishers Steve May and Cherry Fisher May was reportedly punched and knocked unconscious by a local developer who has been engaged in an ongoing dispute with the paper over its coverage of a state property tax loophole.
Longtime advertising leader James Fisher is leaving the Mountain Xpress. Since joining the paper in 1995, he has been an ad rep, sales manager, ad director and most recently, director of business development.
Press co-publisher Jed Morey told Newsday writer James T. Madore that Fisher has been released from her obligation as a columnist and has "moved on to bigger projects," although he would not specify what those projects are. Madore calls the former Long Island Lolita the Press' "most famous columnist," and quotes a media studies professor who speculates that the move will hurt the weekly's circulation. (Long Island Press famously exposed Newsday's inflated circulation figures last year.)
Journalist Maurice Possley claims that two of Fisher's columns about a Texas arson case were only slightly changed versions of articles he and Steve Mills wrote for the Chicago Tribune, according to New York Daily News gossip columnist Ben Widdicombe. The Long Island Press posted a response suggesting that Possley was seeking fame by exploiting Fisher's notoriety. The response concludes by thanking Possley "for creating the opportunity for us to document and remind ourselves about all the research Ms. Fisher puts into her columns."
Steve May and his wife Cherry Fisher May are picking a fight where other publishers might fear to tread, readying themselves for head- to-head competition with Gannett. Beginning this Friday, they will begin publishing an alternative newsweekly in Lafayette, La., where Gannett owns both the daily newspaper, The Daily Advertiser, and its 23-year-old weekly, The Times of Acadiana. The Mays used to own The Times, and their anger over what it has become is fueling their launch of a paper they have pointedly named The Independent. "Gannett has destroyed The Times," Steve May says. "These guys are Sears managers who have a one- size-fits-all approach to local publishing."
