Village Voice Media being acquired by New Times very soon

I wonder if McAnus will get a promotion. Failing upwards, etc.

Fin:

Last week, top editors at the Village Voice resigned in protest when they learned that management wanted them to lay off several members of their already-decimated staff. This morning, those layoffs came down. They're not pretty.

We hear that executives from the Voice's parent company flew in for today's massacre. Michael Musto, the Voice's nightlife columnist and most high profile remaining staffer, has been let go, as was rumored last week. (There had apparently been some talk of Musto's column hanging on in some form, but that does not seem to have worked out.) Also let go, sources tell us, was Robert Sietsema, the Voice's longtime food critic, and Michael Feingold, the paper's theater critic. Feingold was scheduled to host the Obie Awards for the Voice next week.

Should be polled: http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-06-22/columns/why-i-hate-being-gay/

those are the last 3 columnists I read, btw, and obv the last 3 longtimers.

tho Zacharek on film I will still look at

man, gutted. they're done huh.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/18/business/media/michael-musto-and-robert-sietsema-leave-village-voice.html?_r=0

more reaction to firing of Musto, Sietsema, & Feingold

http://nypost.com/2013/10/23/spinmedia-to-slash-staff-again/

lol @ owning "absolutepunk.net"

Break For Killer Kennedy Cuz!

Forks, there is discussion of that on the Pitchfork thread:

pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

gotcha. I've stuck my nose in that thread lately; the discussion seems pretty good.

Is there gonna be a Pazz & Jop poll?

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/12/28/how-the-village-voiceandotheraltweeklieslosttheirvoicein2013.html

Long think piece on the decline of American alt-weeklies and New Times

how many interviews does a reporter have to do before his piece can be called something other than a "thinkpiece"

call it a feature if you like... whatev

Yes, he interviewed many people for this piece

is there gonna be a Pazz & Jop poll? Yep:

All ballots are due by Tuesday, December 24th; results will be published in print and online the week of January 8th.

Also: the return of longform journalism? (Pitchfork's even gonna do a print edition, I heard; prob fairly expensive, but hey return of vinyl)http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/why-long-form-journalism-everywhere-these-days

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-ae-1229-jones-20131228,0,1284205.column

The future of arts journalism? by Chris Jones

the Chicago Symphony Orchestra are creating their own online media magazine to preview music events because they think there are not enough previews of their events and those of others

is

TAKE THE POWER BACK

Seriously, Chicago may have the right idea.

Despite possible conflict of interest issues, I guess it has to be better than this:

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2013/07/most_bangable_members_ny_philharmonic.php

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/news/we-broke-the-internet
this feels right on

This opens here next week--hadn't heard anything about it until yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp-D_ga6UHg

heh, my friend regina is in that trailer.
yeah, i wanna see that for sure.

what was the video? gone now

It was a trailer for this:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2312616/

Not sure why that would come down just as the film's opening.

Oh, Nat Hentoff. I see his recent writing can be found at this rightwing site:

http://www.wnd.com/author/nhentoff/

well he did engage in clinton conspiracies w/ the best of them

Today on Twitter:

@villagevoice: Nigerian Independence Day Parade 2014: Cloudy With a Chance of Ebola?

dear lord

SHUT IT DOWN

Ok, looks like it's not what it sounds like:
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2014/10/nigerian_independence_day_parade_2014_cloudy_with_a_chance_of_ebola.php?utm_content=buffer346a8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

there oughta be a law that all writers have the right to title their own pieces; that's clickbait of the worst kind there

HEYYYyyyyyy it's our SHITTIEST COVER EVER!

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ4rJBB-pozEYTIIS6jaNr9ZLQGXzpf8rLNDD_OvK7LGdiKJQlp

ha, that really is egregious

it kind of looks like this magazine I used to see in central jersey that was mostly reviews of bars and strip clubs

is that cover intentionally hideous?

My money is on either angry art director or incompetent intern

It does have a slightly "break every design rule" quality to it, but not quite enough so to be "anti-aesthetic." It's weird to think someone actually went to the trouble to make that Statue of Liberty illustration -- wonder if it's modified clip art or something.

http://media.villagevoice.com/10081112.128.jpg

http://media.villagevoice.com/10081114.75.jpg

the sandwich one...

is it a drag SOL doing the Heisman?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/nyregion/village-voice-sold-to-peter-barbey-owner-of-a-pennsylvania-newspaper.html

Peter D. Barbey, through his investment company Black Walnut Holdings L.L.C., bought the paper from Voice Media Group, which owns a string of weeklies around the country.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and Mr. Barbey declined to discuss the details.

However, in an interview, he vowed to invest in the paper and once again make it relevant in the cultural life of New York City.

“I realize that The Voice has had a unique journalistic role in New York and the country as a whole,” Mr. Barbey, 58, said. “That deserves to survive and prosper.”

The paper, he said, was once an essential “voice of the arts and cultural community in New York.” While he will not take over full control of the paper until February, Mr. Barbey said he would focus first on bolstering its arts coverage — mainly by attracting top writers.

“Over the years it’s been known as a place that made writers’ reputations,” Mr. Barbey said. “If you were a good writer, you wanted to write for The Voice.”

“One of the biggest problems in media today is lack of attention to content,” he said. “Many publications have stripped their content.”

That will not happen under his watch, he said.

When asked about the financial resources he would devote to the paper, Mr. Barbey would not be specific but noted that his family’s wealth could be ascertained quickly through a Google search.

The Barbeys rank 48th on the Forbes list of America’s wealthiest families.

hm
anybody got some perspective on this?

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2015/10/8579442/meet-peter-barbey-latest-owner-take-village-voice

Skeptics will abound, including some of those very Voice vets.

"You mean the Voice still exists?" Hoberman sniffed when asked for his thoughts on the sale. Seriously though: "Even if the new owners are inclined to spend money, they'll have a near impossible time restoring any credibility."

"Weeklies, accustomed to big reports without much of a time peg, seem to have had a particularly difficult transition to a mixed digital/print publishing model," Poynter Institute media analyst Rick Edmonds wrote on Monday. "Best case — Barbey will also infuse some money and editorial vitality into the Village Voice. But I wouldn’t look for a turnaround ... given how much the business base for the Voice and similar publications has deteriorated."

i feel like you'd have to be very VERY rich to actually sink enough money into the VV to turn it around and not worry about the losses. is he that rich?

yes
http://nypost.com/2015/10/12/pennsylvania-family-set-to-own-the-village-voice/

The Barbey family, the 48th richest in America, according to Forbes — with a net worth of $6.1 billion — derives most of its fortune from a 20 percent stake in apparel maker VF Corp., maker of Lee, Wrangler and North Face apparel.

welp http://fusion.kinja.com/the-village-voices-liberal-savior-owner-is-trying-to-cr-1796054657

The Village Voice is ending its weekly print edition. End of a journalism era in New York City.

— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) August 22, 2017