There’s been a rumour floating around for awhile now that the New Times newspaper organization was going to be taking over the L.A. Weekly (plus the Village Voice and a smattering of others). L.A. Observed is reporting this morning that the rumours are true. If you have any experience with the sameyness of the New Times papers, or it’s more top-down Libertarian editorial stance, this is a might bit unsettling. Also of note, the new conglomerate of Villiage Voice Media and New Times will be called, strangely, Villiage Voice Media. Can you say “capitalizing on your smaller, better competition’s superior reputation?”
4 Replies to “New Times Swallows LA Weekly”
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Ever since the L.A. Weekly and Village Voice consipired to bring about the doom of the L.A. New Times product a few years back I have to say that there’s some sweetness to be found in New Times coming back with such a knockout punch.
At the same time, it’s a tangled situation. New Times was responsible for the death of the beloved L.A. Reader so I’m by no means a cheerleader for them either.
Considering that New Times was at the same time conspiring to bring about the doom of the Weekly-owned Cleveland Reader, I don’t think either of them was really at the losing end of that deal. The DOJ felt the same way. It’s also interesting to note that the New Time’s initial plan, at launch, was to kill off the Weekly:
http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2005/10/sigman_on_weekly_takeover.html#more
I used to read the Miami New Times and liked it. It will be sad if there are too many changes to the Village Voice but the LA weekly could use some sprucing up, I think. Life goes on…
In truth VVM and the New Times allegedly worked together to kill off New Times L.A. in exchange for VVM shuttering its Cleveland paper, so there’s no sweet revenge here. If anything, the NT finally dominates the L.A. market.
But here’s an aside. LA CityBeat was a direct result of the DOJ’s unhappiness with the original VVM-NT deal to kill the New Times L.A. So, if you’re into real alternative media, especially when it comes to music coverage, support LA CityBeat.