Comments on VVM Chain Sells Money-Losing Cleveland Paper

I know this is totally off-topic, but I wanted to point out that Ellen Goodman had a kick-ass column in the Times today.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008007216_goodman20.html

Take a minute and read it. It's good stuff.

How the hell is the Weakly not losing money?

@2

They have other methods of receiving it.

@2, do tell.

DDD:

Again with the schadenfreude. Try some other colors in your palette, Erica.

Erica, are you impying that Cleveland's alternative weekly ad market is the same as Seattle? I would say that, and not the woes of the VVM had a lot to do with that paper losing money.

I wouldn't ecpect you to include that bit of unbiased reporting though.

Keeping digging on the Weekly. The Stranger is cooler, no doubt, but the weekly has a staff of talented writers that aren't tasting their own toes every time they open their mouth.

Oh honey EVERY newspaper is bleeding. Why do you think I left the biz? Any journalist worth their snuff bookmarks Romenesko - there isn't a day that goes by without a layoff or closure story. You DO know who Romenesko is, right? Um, you see, there's this thing called the Poynter Institute and it's for serious journalists and well, you, uh never mind, you wouldn't get it...

@8: Maybe you really left the news business because you're a shitty writer.

@9 I'm not being paid to write or edit when I post on the Slog, bitch. Do you copy-edit your mom's emails? Nice.

Hey, your name changed between posts!
Maybe you should spend less time reading Poynter and figure out how a blog works, genius.

Wow, way to up the discourse J.R. What's next? Pointing out that the socks don't match the pants?

Really, ground breaking stuff there kid.

Oh, now your name is Jeff. At least you didn't call me a bitch or talk about my mom this time. I do like your use of the phrase "up the discourse," though.

I used to read the seattle weekly, but I can't stand it anymore. Not a scientific study, but it seems like they have more advertisements than the Stranger. So they seem to be better at selling ad space than writing. I'm willing to bet they are doing surprisingly well for a bad paper.

J.R. not everyone who comments is the same person. Hyper paranoid much?

As for the Seattle Weekly, I am sure they are doing fine. They sell tons of ads and have plenty of talented writers.

Stranger staffer's are just pissed and bitter because, while they may work at the hipper local alternative weekly, they still make less.

See? That stings.

We're all waiting, J.R. Are you going to tell us how a blog works? Apparently none of us are as enlightened as you are. Genius.

I have lived in Seattle for 20 years. I can't name a single writer at the Seattle Weekly (besides Uptight S., who doesn't actually exist). I can name a few that used to write there, but they are all at Crosscut now.

The Weekly is over and it's dead and the Stranger, the superior paper, killed it. The Weekly's corpse shambles along, sadly, animated by out by out of town money and a staff of writers who are apparently very bitter about the fact that no one reads them.

And no one reads their blogs either, which is why you find the Weekly's staff lurking here, paying themselves compliments and suggesting that Seattle's larger weekly newspaper somehow takes in less ad sales revenue than Seattle's smaller weekly newspaper.

Remember the scene is Anchorman when all the rival news stations did a big rumble? I'd pay to see that between the Stranger, the Weekly, the Times and the P-I.

Erica. Are you really going to make the rest of us endure this witch hunt? How many times a day do you google "New Times + bankruptcy"?

Even if the New Times started bankruptcy proceedings on Monday, they would be around for years. And the Seattle Weekly is one of the most successful alt-weekly papers in the chain, so they aren't going anywhere soon.

I just checked, they're still there.

Speaking of greedy overlords rolling in piles of cash, I bet Tim and Dan are laughing all the way to the bank.

Yes, anyone critical of the Stranger must work for the Weekly.

Again, it's that kind of investigative journalism that allows Stranger writers to earn less than their rivals.