"Being ahead was a lot less complicated than being alone," Andy Newman, editor of Pittsburgh City Paper, tells the Pittsburgh Business Times. The staff plans to meet this week to redesign and remake City Paper after its parent company bought rival newsweekly In Pittsburgh last month and closed it. City Paper has since then absorbed a number of former In Pittsburgh employees. Newman says he would rather "drive carpet staples" into his gums than conduct a focus group, but admits he's asked some other journalists for input on the new design.
Pittsburgh City Paper has hired at least five former In Pittsburgh employees since its parent company bought the rival alternative newsweekly last month. It is also looking at picking up some of the closed paper's regular contributors and syndicated material.
Amber Barton, head of the mailroom at Steel City Media, says weird mail coming to the Pittsburgh City Paper and its sister radio station is nothing new. After an anthrax scare last week, though, she handles the mail with latex gloves.
Pittsburgh City Paper and its sister radio station were under brief lockdown after radio host Jim Quinn received a suspicious letter. "We sat around, telling jokes we laughed a little too hard at," while a hazmat crew with disposable clothing searched the trash, Managing Editor Chris Potter writes.
"I feel horrible about this, really," says Scott Mervis, who joined In Pittsburgh in its early days and now edits the weekly "Mag" pull-out at the local daily. "In Pittsburgh was an institution that got built up over 17 years and for it to disappear overnight is an incredible loss, I think." Several other former IP staffers agree, including Pittsburgh City Paper Editor Andy Newman, who pays his respects to the paper that introduced alternative journalism to Pittsburgh.
In what he calls his final duty as editor of In Pittsburgh, Stephen Segal says farewell to readers in a column published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I still can't get over how lucky, how tremendously privileged I've been to be part of the team" at In Pittsburgh, he writes. The paper was sold last week to cross-town rival Pittsburgh City Paper.
Pittsburgh City Paper jumped on the chance to buy rival In Pittsburgh, says Publisher Michael Frischling. He promises City Paper will grow and improve now that the cross-town rival is gone. Meanwhile, few In Pittsburgh staffers have taken up City Paper's offer to interview.
The deal between Steel City Media and Review Publishing was announced to both staffs at 2 p.m. yesterday, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In a press release, Review calls the deal an asset sale, and President Anthony Clifton praises the In Pittsburgh staff but says he was forced to sell "because the paper has not become economically self-supporting." City Paper Editor Andy Newman, who previously edited his former crosstown rival, tells the Post-Gazette, "I have to say I felt very somber about it. There are people over there that we like and respect ... We know this is a contact sport but it is not good news when the other guy hits the mat."
As part of the unprecedented daily news coverage In Pittsburgh Newsweekly is now running on its Web site, an expert from Carnegie Mellon University says Tuesday's terrorist attack may have been targeting U.S. defense and financial communications centers. If they weren't this time, they could attack our critical information systems next time, says Jeffrey Hunker, dean of Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz School.
