A Whole Bunch of Gay Newspapers Go Out Of Business

[the4thpip]

Gay newspapers in several United States cities, including The Washington Blade, shut down on Monday, as the company that owned them, Window Media, abruptly went out of business. Window Media had been in serious financial trouble, but employees said they had expected a reorganization or sale — not a liquidation.

“We found out when two of the corporate officers were waiting for us when we got to work this morning,” said Kevin Naff, editor of The Blade, a 40-year-old paper that was one of the most important publications written for a gay audience. “It’s not a complete surprise. The abruptness of it was what was surprising.”

The paper’s roughly 20 employees “are determined to come back and make of a go of it as an independent entity,” he said. “Our first meeting is tomorrow.”

Employees at Southern Voice, an Atlanta-based gay paper owned by Window Media, found their offices locked on Monday and a note posted on the door saying that the company had ceased operation. It told the workers to return Wednesday with boxes to collect their belongings.

Other publications owned by the company included The Houston Voice, The South Florida Blade, David Atlanta magazine and 411 Magazine.


http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/washington-blade-and-several-other-gay-newspapers-go-out-of-business/

Dangit. I used to read the Southern Voice web site all the time!

[Kevinroc]

The newspaper industry as a whole is going under. It's actually pretty sad. I'm sorry that papers you used to read are gone now.

(The parent company really could have handled this situation better.)

[Vakanai]

Of course they're gone, they're papers.
Don't you know print it dead?

Now, if gay websites or blogs went belly up, that'd be news.

Er, sorry if that came out wrong. It sounded funny/cool in my head, and then looked mean in print, but I didn't want to change it and think of something else.
But yeah, newspapers are pretty dead.

[kid_mash]

Sad, but not all that surprising.

[AllisterH]

Is there ANY newspaper that's doing well?

[Kevinroc]

Is there ANY newspaper that's doing well?

The Daily Planet! I hear they have an alien helping them out, though. :wink:

[the4thpip]

Is there ANY newspaper that's doing well?

Tabloids, at least in Germany:


Axel Springer AG (SPR.XE), publisher of Bild, Europe's largest daily by circulation, said Wednesday third-quarter net profit improved due to cost cutting, higher digital sales and stable revenue from German print sales, and said it is more optimistic for 2010.

[Charles RB]

Is there ANY newspaper that's doing well?

The Daily Bugle has been doing badly for years and yet still exists, so it must have an ace up its sleeve. (Maybe all these "Spider-Man: Threat or Menace?" editorials RAISE sales, and that's why Jonah keeps writing them...)

[Aspield]

Wow. I knew that the printing presses were, overall, drying up but this hits home since I just moved out of DC and picked up the Blade regularly.

[Sabrinaset]

The Daily Bugle has been doing badly for years and yet still exists, so it must have an ace up its sleeve. (Maybe all these "Spider-Man: Threat or Menace?" editorials RAISE sales, and that's why Jonah keeps writing them...)

Actually, the DB just got a government bailout!

[Charles RB]

See? Jonah's no longer running it, so its fortunes have fallen!

(How can it have got a bailout? The US government isn't bailing out newspapers)

[Sabrinaset]

See? Jonah's no longer running it, so its fortunes have fallen!

(How can it have got a bailout? The US government isn't bailing out newspapers)

Look, all I know is this:

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/sabrinaset/Misc%20Comic%20Book%20Art/DB1.jpg

... and a few pages later, indeed JJJ gloats over the fact that Dexter Bennet ran the DB into the ground.

[Charles RB]

I can suspend my disbelief and accept a man can be given superpowers by a radioactive spider, but not that the US government can be convinced to bailout a tabloid.




... and a few pages later, indeed JJJ gloats over the fact that Dexter Bennet ran the DB into the ground.

:biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:

[Adam C]

I can suspend my disbelief and accept a man can be given superpowers by a radioactive spider, but not that the US government can be convinced to bailout a tabloid.

Well Betty didn't say which branch of government and said to Peter "You don't work for the Mayor's office do you?" This indicates that it's not the U.S. government doing the bailout, but the NYC government of which JJJ is Mayor.

[Weetomuncher]

A lot of newspapers and magazines are really struggling with their circulations in the UK.

I read computer magazines regularly and many of those struggle to sell 20,000 copies a month, while in the 80s and 90s it wasn't unusual for some of the bigger computer magazines to sell 200,000+ issues and much more in the case of the Official Playstation Magazine and other official titles.

The sales figures of a lot of big name titles would have been cancellation levels a few years back.

The quality of many of the newspapers has went down.

My Dad bought the Daily Record for years but the quality of the paper kept dropping (it is a fairly low level tabloid but not as sleazy as the likes of The Sun) and we changed to buying the Daily Express (a mid market tabloid that is known for obsessive coverage of Princess Diana conspiracy theories and speculative stories about Madeline McCann, a British child who was abducted) and that has been downright awful recently as well.

I think newspaper publishers need to work on improving their papers, rather than printing dismal sensationalism that nobody actually wants to read.

I think the media market is way too overcrowded and needs a cull of weak, underperforming titles to allow the better titles more breathing room and exposure.

If I go to my local newsagent on a weekday, I can buy the Daily Record (Scottish tabloid, which is notoriously left biased), The Sun (high selling trashy tabloid, recently moved back to the right wing), Daily Express (mid market moderately right wing broadsheet), Daily Mail (mid market right wing broadsheet), The Times (famous London Broadsheet), Daily Telegraph (a competitor to The Times) Evening Times (Glasgow tabloid, which is available in the morning and then an updated evening edition), Paisley Daily Express (local newpaper covering Renfrewshire), Guardian (English left wing broadsheet), Scotsman (Scottish broadsheet which is actually smaller now and resembles a German style paper), Herald (Scottish broadsheet), The Independent (a moderately left wing English broadsheet), Daily Sport (very sleazy tabloid), Evening Star (socialist paper) and a few weekly papers like the Gazette (another local district paper) and the Weekly News (which is light news orientated and a sister paper of the Sunday Post, which is a famous Scottish Sunday paper) and that isn't delving into all the Sunday and financial papers. That seems too many to sustain.

[Charles RB]

This indicates that it's not the U.S. government doing the bailout, but the NYC government of which JJJ is Mayor.

Hmm. I'm trying to work out if it's in character for Jonah to bail out his nemesis (as a "HAHAHAHA YOU SUCKED THIS BAD" gesture) or if he'd let him sink.

Could go either way. He's a complicated man.

[Sabrinaset]

Well Betty didn't say which branch of government and said to Peter "You don't work for the Mayor's office do you?" This indicates that it's not the U.S. government doing the bailout, but the NYC government of which JJJ is Mayor.


Hmm. I'm trying to work out if it's in character for Jonah to bail out his nemesis (as a "HAHAHAHA YOU SUCKED THIS BAD" gesture) or if he'd let him sink.

Could go either way. He's a complicated man.

Well, there is this ...

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/sabrinaset/Misc%20Comic%20Book%20Art/db2.jpg

I really wasn't sure if the NYT meant "Governor" or "Government". CharlesRB could be right as it looks like JJJ was indeed having a moment of glee, but no mention of JJJ having a hand in the bailout

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/sabrinaset/Misc%20Comic%20Book%20Art/db3.jpg

[Charles RB]

Hmm. He's probably not behind the bailout then, since he doesn't seem to notice or care that people are pissed off about it (and he would if he'd done it).

So it was the government (or at least the state governer) who did it. I wonder why? Or was this Marvel trying to go "look, we're hip with the times, man!" and not thinking it through?

[Michael P]

Hmm. He's probably not behind the bailout then, since he doesn't seem to notice or care that people are pissed off about it (and he would if he'd done it).

So it was the government (or at least the state governer) who did it. I wonder why? Or was this Marvel trying to go "look, we're hip with the times, man!" and not thinking it through?

I think we have a winner.

Also, Jonah bailing out the Bugle with public funds, even if he didn't run it anymore, would look really bad.

(In real life, the NYC government would never bail out any newspaper, let alone the Post or the Daily News.)