In a move that was widely expected, SF Weekly and Village Voice Media have announced they will appeal San Francisco Superior Court Judge Marla Miller's ruling in favor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian in the predatory-pricing case. Miller rejected arguments last week to overturn or modify the jury's March verdict. Calling the suit "economic terrorism," VVM CEO Jim Larkin claims "mom-and-pop advertisers in San Francisco will suffer from [Judge Miller's] handiwork, as will any aggressive new business in the city that attempts to challenge a larger, established competitor."

Continue ReadingSF Weekly Will Appeal Ruling in Bay Guardian Case

The Voice's annual indie rock festival, which celebrated its 8th installment this weekend, may have to find a new location if the redevelopment of Coney Island breaks ground next year as some expect, the New York Times reports. "Siren isn't the most comfortable of rock festivals. The sound systems are mediocre and the pedestrian routes between the stages are irrational," the Times notes. "But Siren does place the tattooed-nerd fashion sense of indie rock in the diverting context of Coney Island's other freaks and sideshows." However, the redevelopment would eliminate these freaks and sideshows and the entire old amusement area, which could mean an end to Siren at Coney Island. "It's my first time here," Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew said as the band ended its set this weekend. "I don't want it to be the last."

Continue ReadingWill The Village Voice’s Siren Festival Have to Relocate?

The Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist spoke with Brian Heater from the Daily Cross Hatch blog after a recent event celebrating the release of Explainers, a hardbound volume of the early Village Voice strips that first put Feiffer on the map. He talked about how hard it was to get his work published in the 1950s. "The political times were essentially not friendly to satire. This was just after Joe McCarthy, and there was still a very oppressive atmosphere, particularly in terms of what the media was and wasn't willing to print," Feiffer says. "The Voice, as it appeared, was the one independent newspaper that was likely to run me, if anyone was going to run me. If The Voice wasn't going to run me, I would have run out of choices and would have had to do something else with my life."

Continue ReadingJules Feiffer: ‘I Wouldn’t Have Been a Cartoonist’ Without the Voice

The two papers were in San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday to argue the Weekly's motion for a new trial and its request that the judge overturn a jury verdict in the predatory-pricing suit. Judge Marla Miller has until July 18 to rule on the motions; if she rules against the Weekly, it will take the case to the California Court of Appeals. In dueling blog posts, the Weekly lays out the four chief arguments put forth by its lawyers and pokes a little fun at the Guardian's lawyers, while the Guardian details the Weekly's "at times highly technical" arguments, which "hinged on the finer points of the definitions of words."

Continue ReadingSF Weekly and Bay Guardian Argue Weekly’s Motion for New Trial

CL's publications in Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Charlotte and Sarasota have joined the company's Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper as members of Ruxton, according to a press release issued this afternoon by Village Voice Media's national advertising firm. Under the arrangement, Ruxton will serve as Creative Loafing's exclusive representative for national print advertising and also will provide non-exclusive representation for online advertising.

Continue ReadingCreative Loafing’s Southern Papers Join Ruxton Media Group

The unionized Voice employees averted a strike early this morning, forging an agreement with Village Voice Media for a new three-year contract, the New York Press reports. "We got a deal. 3 o'clock this morning," Voice staff writer and shop steward Tom Robbins tells the Press. "We won a good victory for unions." Under the new contract, which was unanimously ratified this morning, union members will not be expected to pay any portion of the premium of their health care, and Robbins says the new contract calls for a raise.

Continue ReadingVillage Voice Employees Sign Contract, Avoid Walkout

Felker, 82, died in his home this morning. Felker founded New York magazine and exerted a seminal influence in new journalism. He owned and edited The Village Voice from 1974-1977, and also founded California-based alternative magazine New West. But as the Voice points out, Felker "proved to be an unpopular editor" at the paper. "Felker did found New York magazine, and he had some great writers there," Nat Hentoff says. "He had one of the most distinguished staffs in magazine history. He started that vogue for weekly city magazines around the country. But his tenure at the Voice was very unpleasant -- because he tried to turn it into New York magazine."

Continue ReadingFormer Village Voice Editor Clay Felker Dies

The San Francisco Bay Guardian executive editor offers his take on the deal announced last week that will merge the Cleveland Free Times and Cleveland Scene under new owners Times Shamrock. He wonders why "VVM couldn't create a monopoly, [but] another newspaper outfit apparently can." He's referring to when the Justice Department nixed a similar 2002 deal between New Times and Village Voice Media (then two separate companies) that shuttered the Free Times. Justice forced the sale of Free Times to a group of investors, and the paper reopened in May 2003. "I'll leave it to you to speculate on why we couldn't do this deal, but Times Shamrock could," VVM executive editor Andy Van De Voorde says. Redmond says the Justice Department has yet to respond to his request for comment.

Continue ReadingTim Redmond: Cleveland Merger Marks a ‘Curious New Chapter’