That's his take after picking up a copy this week, though he says he has "hurt feelings" about City Pages "running the Twin Cities Reader [a now-defunct AAN paper he used to edit] out of business." Carr, who also served as editor of Washington City Paper and is now a reporter for the New York Times, tells the Minnesota Monitor: "I share newspaper approaches with [Village Voice Media]. I've always been equal opportunity in terms of choosing opponents and choosing targets." He adds that VVM papers "in general are far superior to most weeklies, and they fund great journalism, pay a living wage, pay healthcare."

Continue ReadingDavid Carr: City Pages is ‘A Great Paper’

Houston Press picked up three first-place awards, for Best Feature Article, Best Public Service Series or Article, and Best Cover. Two other VVM papers took home first place awards: Phoenix New Times for Best Series of Articles and SF Weekly for Tabloids/Consumer, which is the category for best overall publication. The Maggies, given out by the Western Publications Association, "recognize the hard work, dedication and creative talents working in the publishing industry today."

Continue ReadingVillage Voice Media Papers Win Five Maggie Awards

Former South Florida Sun-Sentinel writer Buddy Nevins has sued the New Times Broward-Palm Beach writer and VVM for defamation and invasion of privacy/false light, the Sun-Sentinel reports. Nevins claims that Norman falsely stated that he was forced out from the daily paper over a story that later had to be corrected. Nevins also alleges that Norman falsely claimed he had an "unholy alliance" with lobbyist Ali Waldman that "ruined" him as a reporter. "This may get interesting, but there is no joy in Pulpville tonight," Norman writes on his blog, the Daily Pulp. "I like Buddy and believe he's done awesome work in his career ... but I stand by my work and wish Buddy the best."

Continue ReadingBob Norman & Village Voice Media Hit With Lawsuit

The VVM "channel," which includes all of the paper's sites, was the 27th most popular online newspaper destination in February, according to a Nielsen/NetRatings report. VVM's sites had 5,205,000 pageviews; a unique audience of 1,377,000; and the average user visit lasted four minutes, seven seconds.

Continue ReadingVillage Voice Media Cracks Top 30 Newspaper Websites

An unnamed industry source tells the Weekly's Steve Volk that a group led by Richard L. Connor is among the bidders for his paper. Connor, the editor and publisher of the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., led a group of investors last year in the purchase of that paper from the McClatchy Co. "Another company frequently mentioned among industry insiders as a potential bidder is Times-Shamrock Communications," Volk says, but the company says it has "no involvement." Times-Shamrock owns AAN members Baltimore City Paper, Detroit's Metro Times, Orlando Weekly, and the San Antonio Current, among other publications. Village Voice Media and Philadelphia Media Holdings have also been named as companies interested in purchasing the Weekly.

Continue ReadingMore Potential Buyers for Philadelphia Weekly Named

Unnamed "insiders" tell the Philadelphia Inquirer that Review Publishing LP, the Weekly's parent company, wants to package its three other publications with the alt-weekly in a sale, but VVM only wants the Weekly. Rumors of the paper's sale first appeared last week, and it has been reported that Philadelphia Media Holdings, the parent company of the city's two dailies, is also interested.

Continue ReadingVillage Voice Media ‘Most Active Prospect’ in Philadelphia Weekly Sale

In a conversation with the New York Times' David Carr, Village Voice Media's executive editor addresses the editorial merry-go-round at the chain's flagship paper. "We didn't expect things to happen overnight," Lacey says. He also tells Carr that a move to New York might be in the cards once his kids leave for college. "I'm not going to edit the paper hands-on," he says, "but I will be close enough to make whoever is editing the paper more miserable than they already are."

Continue ReadingVVM’s Michael Lacey: ‘We Didn’t Expect Things to Go Smoothly’

"My job as editor in chief of The Village Voice was not all spent putting out the newspaper, but also keeping people happy thousands of miles away," Blum tells the New York Observer. Blum says he received frequent calls and e-mails from VVM headquarters about running the paper. An unnamed Voice staffer tells the Observer it wasn't clear the j-school adjunct was "comfortable in the editor role," noting he was more at ease with recent hires from Columbia Univ. than with longtime Voice staffers.

Continue ReadingDavid Blum Says He Never Had VVM’s Confidence as Voice Editor