Alternative newsweeklies are feeling the one-two punch of war and recession. National advertising is down across the board, but classifieds are providing a cushion. While several papers have had to lay off employees, others are taking the opportunity to add sales staff.
The brother of a Philadelphia City Paper employee was twice barred from boarding a United Airlines flight for Phoenix recently. The reason apparently was his choice of reading material: the first time he carried Hayduke Lives! by Edward Abbey, which had a picture of explosives of the cover. The second time it was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Two former New Times employees write in the Daily Business Review about staff unrest at New Times Broward-Palm Beach. According to Julie Kay and Harris Meyer, the NTB-PB staff wrote a "manifesto" to Editor Chuck Strouse asking for greater editorial independence, among other things.
Eric Celeste muses in the Dallas Observer on the departure of Lee Newquist from New Times and the future of Fort Worth Weekly in the post-John Forsyth era.
