Hail and Farewell: Village Voice, 1955 — 2018

Last print cover, 9/20/17. The digital edition ended on 8/31/18. 1965 photo by Fred McDarrah.

New York’s Village Voice, regarded as America’s first alternative newsweekly, ended its digital edition on August 31st. The last paper edition was printed last year. The Voice was awarded three Pulitzer Prizes, the National Press Foundation Award, and the George Polk Award. Writers included Henry Miller, Barbara Garson, Katherine Anne Porter, James Baldwin, E.E. Cummings, Jonas Mekas, Andrew Sarris, Nelson George, Greg Tate, Tom Stoppard, Lorraine Hansberry, Lester Bangs, Robert Christgau, and Allen Ginsberg.

More:

“The Village Voice, a New York Icon, Closes,” By Tyler Pager and Jaclyn Peiser, New York Times

“The Village Voice has been shut down,” Alissa Wilkinson, Vox

“Iconic NYC Weekly ‘Village Voice’ Shutters After 63 Years,” Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone

“It Took a Village: How the Voice changed journalism,” Louis Menand, The New Yorker

“Billionaire Village Voice owner tells staff he’s closing the paper because it doesn’t earn enough,” Emily Q. Hazzard, ThinkProgress

“The Village Voice’s Magic Mirror,” Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker

“Last Rites for the Village Voice, a Bohemian Who Stayed On Too Long,” Tricia Romano, New York Times

Update:

“What the ‘Village Voice’ Understood About the Power of Photography,”Tamar Carroll and Joshua Meltzer, CityLab

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Editorial Endorsements

Not that anybody reads newspapers* anymore, but almost all major U.S. newspapers have endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, even the Arizona Republic, which had never endorsed a Democrat in its 120-year history. The Miami Herald editorial is just 5 words long:

“Her. Not him. Enough said.”

Only 2 major papers endorsed Donald Trump: Jacksonville’s Florida Times-Union and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Okay, 3 newspapers if you count the National Enquirer.

Conservative moneybags Sheldon Adelson bought the Review Journal back in December, so it’s unsurprising the paper backs Trump.

More:

“The very cozy relationship between Donald Trump and the National Enquirer,” Callum Borchers, Washington Post

*Kids: “Newspapers” are kinda like blogs printed on paper. What do you mean “What are blogs?”

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Charnice Milton

Washington DC journalist Charnice Milton was fatally shot on May 27th while waiting for a bus. A graduate of Ball State University with a Masters Degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, she is missed by the members of her profession and the community she covered. Her killers, a group of illegal dirt bike riders who have roared through several DC neighborhoods over the past few years, have not been apprehended.

More:

“Charnice Milton Was Killed in Community She Loved,” Richard Prince, The Root

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Alt-Weaklies

The Association of Alternative Media (formerly the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies) will meet in San Francisco January 23rd to 25th. AAM represents 117 publications, most of them owned by a few corporations.

Wall Street Journal Health Care Expert: Suzanne Somers

“As a writer of 24 books mostly on health and wellness and by using my celebrity to get to the best and brightest doctors, scientists and medical professionals in the alternative and integrative health-care world, I have come to the following conclusions:

 First of all, let’s call affordable health care what it really is: It’s socialized medicine.”

 — “The Affordable Care Act Is a Socialist Ponzi Scheme,” Suzanne Somers, Wall Street Journal blog

“You might expect the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal to pit its own expert against the Obama administration, seizing on this opportunity to argue for the dismantling of the program. And it did: Its blog The Experts delivered a blistering guest post by an ‘expert’ on health care: Suzanne Somers, the developer of the Suzanne Somers Toning System with ThighMaster Gold and ButtMaster, and the former Chrissy Snow of the sitcom Three’s Company.”

“The Somers commentary is appalling. But that’s not our concern.

 The issue is that a distinguished news organization has risked its reputation by calling this the work of an expert. With the publication of this piece, the Journal is a little less distinguished than it was the day before.”

“Wall Street Journal features the actress Suzanne Somers as an “expert” on health care,” -Paul Raeburn, Knight Science Journalism Tracker (MIT)

Newspaper Boxes

Q: How many newspaper vending boxes are on DC sidewalks?

A: No one knows. They spring up like toadstools.

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has published a proposed rulemaking which will regulate the placement and maintenance of publisher boxes on public space. Among other things it requires registration of boxes, imposes a registration fee for them, requires their maintenance, and mandates removal of abandoned newspaper boxes.

There are no existing DC regulations for these streetscape features, and problems have been resolved by a complaint-driven ad hoc process. DDOT Public Space staffers hear about abandoned boxes from angry neighbors, and wheelchair users file ADA complaints when new boxes block the sidewalk. The proposed regs aim at creating a more pro-active situation and a better pedestrian environment. And we’ll even find out how many news vending boxes there are out there.

Washington Post — Now With Special Offers!

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is buying the Washington Post. Responses to the surprise deal are noted by Jim Romenesko (here and here) and Ed Kilgore; journo tweets Storified by Mallary Tenore.  Reactions by Hamilton Nolan, Lydia DePillis, Neil Irwin, Andy Borowitz, Ezra Klein, Post publisher Donald Graham and Jeff Bezos. Paul Farhi wrote the story for WaPo.

British Newspaper Issues Apology

Following last week’s publication of an article by Paul Sims reporting that flying saucers were seen to hover over British Scientology headquarters, The Sun newspaper issued this apology:

“In an article on Saturday headlined ‘Flying saucers over British Scientology HQ’, we stated ‘two flat silver discs’ were seen ‘above the Church of Scientology HQ’.

Following a letter from lawyers for the Church, we apologise to any alien lifeforms for linking them to Scientologists.”

— “Aliens: An Apology,” The Sun

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Maybe You Shouldn’t Read the Paper on Your iPad

Thinking of cancelling newspaper delivery? Think again:

“Newspaper deliveryman spots fire, wakes up family in St. Charles,” Kim Bell, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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Dan Snyder’s Favorite Sport

Anyone familiar with professional sports in the Nation’s Capital knows that Dan Snyder, millionaire owner of that losing NFL team with the racist name, obviously cares nothing for football.  So what does he like?  Suing the bejesus out of anyone who prints anything justifiably critical of his actions, even a little local weekly with a newstand price of zero.

Mr. Snyder has announced that he is re-filing his lawsuit:

“Why I am suing Washington City Paper,” Dan Snyder, Washington Post