January
8
Obit: LA Weekly
Times are tough for newspapers and alternative weeklies are no exception. Here's ex-LA Weekly columnist Marc Cooper's exhaustive anatomy of a newspaper going down: the LA Weekly. It's a sad tale.
Like many L.A. writers, I cut my teeth at the Weekly. I put in a seven-year stretch there when I came to L.A. as Film Comment's west coast editor, writing the first iteration of my weekly Risky Business column, which I revived later (after working at EW and Premiere) for Filmmaker Magazine and then The Hollywood Reporter (which insisted on keeping the name when I left for Variety). Editor Jay Levin, and then Kit Rachlis, supported my meandering investigations into the burgeoning indie scene and Hollywood. When I got into trouble, they backed me all the way--as did the fact-checkers, who the paper no longer support.
It was a terrific ride, and I worked with great people through the years, from Harold Meyerson, Helen Knode, John Powers, Michael Ventura, Michael Kurcfeld, Tom Carson, Meredith Brody, Jonathan Gold, Eric Mankin, Judith Lewis, Tom Christie, Robert Lloyd, Bill Stern, Ginger Varney and Ella Taylor to my beloved long-time editor, Ron Stringer.
I still read LA Weekly's film coverage online, thanks to Taylor and Scott Foundas--and there's always Nikki Finke. But that's about it.
UPDATE: Here's Brian Lowry on yet another negative angle on hard times in journalism.
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Not surprising. Many newspapers, bookstores, companies (both corporate and locally owned), restaurants, websites, blogs, and everything else, are pretty much dying off.
This is America in 2009, with thanks due to Bush and Co.!!!!
Posted by: Ugly Deaf Muslim Punk Gurl! | January 08, 2009 at 12:40 PM
Has anyone figured out a way for newspapers to make money online ... enough money to keep them afloat like classified ads did for newspapers of yore? Until that time ... journalists are in for some really bad times.
Posted by: Christian Toto | January 08, 2009 at 01:06 PM
Having met Jill Stewart, she was a friend of the late Cathy Seipp, I find Marc Cooper's venom filled "autopsy" to be borderline useless and filled with the typical gossipy sour grapes one gets when a person has to work with someone they don't like. His criticisms as to substance might hold more weight if he would have left his personal vendetta out of the equation. One imagines he has no love for Sandra Tsing Loh either based on his screed regarding those pesky home-owning Valley Democrats.
He, in an earlier post, praised alt weeklies for their ideology -- when it was his own -- but criticizes them for ideology when he disagrees with it.
No mention of LYT or David Chute in your coverage "love" section? Too bad. I am quite fond of both men, as people, though I often disagree with both when it comes to filmic taste.
The LA Weekly has been the only LA paper I have read on a regular basis since moving to LA. It has always provided a view of LA different than that presented by the Times. I hope it continues to do so, regardless of whether I hold the ideology of it's editorial staff or not.
Posted by: Christian Lindke | January 08, 2009 at 02:32 PM
My name isn't Christian, but I wanted to comment too...
Posted by: Mr. Milich | January 08, 2009 at 03:24 PM
Print ads cost more than on-line ads, which are better the higher the traffic, but nothing like the print ads. It's dramatic. So the on-line journalism future is bleak: smaller shops with less expensive staffers.
BTW, I met David Chute at Film Comment long before I got to the Weekly--and he started writing for them after I left. (As did LYT.) Of course I am an ardent admirer. He lured me to L.A. to marry me, and is the father of Nora.
Posted by: Variety.com * | January 08, 2009 at 04:10 PM
"[Cooper], in an earlier post, praised alt weeklies for their ideology -- when it was his own -- but criticizes them for ideology when he disagrees with it."
Sir, this is a little bit too much like common sense.
Cooper will prpably hate this:
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/
Posted by: David C | January 08, 2009 at 05:39 PM
I appreciate the props, Christian -- not sure I'm in the Weekly enough to generate a following. Just enough to bother NY-based bloggers who dislike me.
Jill is a friend, Marc a cordial acquaintance, and I really enjoy reading both. Always liked the idea of a paper where both their bylines could coexist. It seems a shame no publication is ever big enough for the two of them.
Posted by: LYT | January 08, 2009 at 08:25 PM
LYT's comment is perfect, but perhaps a little too perfect for the world we actually live in. Very, very few people can empathisze beyond a tiny distance from the end of their own nose. And people who take it for granted that their party has a monopoly of idealism and generosity might see less reason than most of us to strive to overcome that limitation.
That has, at least, been my experience.
Posted by: David C | January 09, 2009 at 12:43 PM