http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/01/09/confirmed-seattle-weekly-sold Comments On: Confirmed: <em>Seattle Weekly</em> Sold by Dominic Holden en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Sun, 26 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sun, 26 May 2013 02:15:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
Would be interesting to know whether the damage award from the Guardian case was the death knell for Voice newspapers, the proverbial straw that forced the prior owners to give up journalism in favor of mega-profitable online sex ads aka backpage. If so, that's a tragedy. You can say a lot about Village Voice, and plenty of folks have, but the papers, including Seattle Weekly, did some outstanding journalism in their day. No longer. With just two staff writers left and all the best ones (Rick Anderson being Exhibit A) getting laid off because they became unaffordable, SW's best days are likely long gone, and no one should be happy about that.

We've seen this many, many times before: Business on the brink of bankruptcy sheds costs to balance the books to attract a new owner, who then cuts costs even more to squeeze out more profit, and when there is no profit left to be squeezed, the business shuts down and the owner walks away richer than before. That, I suspect, is what will happen to SW now. Either that or it will become a shopper, entirely irrelevant in terms of public discourse.

Finally, Seattle should consider itself extremely fortunate to have a weekly and a daily that are locally owned and privately held. Corporations and journalism do not mix well, as anyone who lives in a town where the likes of Gannett owns the daily paper can testify.

Posted by justwatching]]> Fri, 11 Jan 2013 07:54:06 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Beth Sellars]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 22:43:35 -0800 The Stranger Posted by hitchcock]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 22:20:10 -0800 The Stranger Eastside Weekly we had for a short time back in the 90's?
Posted by Lack Thereof]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:09:01 -0800 The Stranger Posted by I work there.]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:49:13 -0800 The Stranger "delivering unique and relevant content." Blech. Someone who refers to journalism as such doesn't give me much confidence in the likelihood of her newspaper moving in a positive direction.

See also: FSF: words to avoid: content
Posted by Phil M]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:30:37 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Wedgwood99]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:08:31 -0800 The Stranger
Want to help? Donate to Crosscut.

Crosscut was started by the same guy who started the Weekly (which actually used to be respected as a news source), David Brewster. Crosscut is non-profit, so it's not beholden to corporate interests. It's also not prone to posting salacious headlines and gleeful bias that drive controversy and pageviews.

The online, non-profit model is our best hope to save journalism. Crosscut isn't great, but it's all we've really got.
Posted by kitschnsync]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:57:27 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Casual_Observer]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:55:01 -0800 The Stranger

Posted by Porter Melmoth]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:44:37 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Porter Melmoth]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:40:09 -0800 The Stranger
If Ms. Fletcher has her wherewithal about her, she'll reverse the extensive damage done by "VVM" when they purchased the Weekly in 2005-6, and dispense with Mike "I like cat shows and Cosby sweaters as cover stories" Seely.

It's probably far too late to recover the good reporters and editors they lost in the original buyout, but I'm sure there's some hungry and astute young talent out there that could turn the Weekly around from the sham it was reformatted into.
Posted by treacle]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:23:18 -0800 The Stranger
Posted by bigyaz]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:17:21 -0800 The Stranger Posted by MsBoyer]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:17:02 -0800 The Stranger Posted by sarah70]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:38:56 -0800 The Stranger
Also, as a reporter for one of the Eastside Sound Publishing newspapers, I can confidently tell you that covering hard news is top priority. Before you base your opinion off of the Sound Publishing newspapers, look at more than just one for more than one week and I believe you will be pleasantly surprised. Green editions are available on all of the newspaper's websites.
Posted by SPreporter]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:34:13 -0800 The Stranger Posted by SPreporter]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:33:39 -0800 The Stranger Posted by ian]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:31:54 -0800 The Stranger "Sound Publishing, the state's largest community news organization...."

I just love it when they emphasize the size and scope of these owning corporations. I don't know about the rest of you, but I think it's great when media gets consolidated under a single company, and seeing big numbers and huge adjectives- the lartest! The mostest! The spendiest!- gets me all excited.
Posted by Zebes]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:22:11 -0800 The Stranger Our local paper on Vashon (the Beachcomber) is a solid source of local news, much more than an advertising vehicle. The fine editor says Sound Publishing supports her in doing real reporting, as long as the paper makes a profit. The Beachcomber is a far better paper than the Seattle Weekly has been in recent years.

This sale could lead to the Weekly getting better, giving the Stranger some competition. That would be a good thing, since Seattle no longer has an effective daily paper. No guarantee, natch: Sound Publishing has a lot of papers and some of then are thin, but with a good editor it could go the other way.
Posted by MsBoyer]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:17:38 -0800 The Stranger Posted by deadrose]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:08:22 -0800 The Stranger
Who will publish helpful dating advice from a quirky up-beat serially-monogamous lady? What will John Rodderick do now for his mad-money?
Posted by six shooter]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:07:40 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Will in Seattle]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 10:44:37 -0800 The Stranger