Longtime Editor Departs L.A. Weekly
(UPDATED) After eight years as editor in chief, Laurie Ochoa is leaving LA Weekly as Village Voice Media severs more of its own legacy.
Xgau in Interest Conflict Conflag
This week's award for most amusing disclosure goes to former Village Voice music critic and section editor (and DEAN OF AMERICAN ROCK CRITICS) Robert Christgau, reviewing a novel by former Ed Park. "I VOLUNTEERED TO REVIEW THIS novel by my former Village Voice co-worker Ed Park because I assumed the conflicts of…
Massacred Film Critics Have a Friend in Scott Rudin
The film-critic deathwatch we launched here way back in January (and continued yesterday) hit The New York Times this morning, when part-time Oscar gadfly and inveterate media observer David Carr surveyed the carnage from the sidelines. It's not a story we haven't been hearing for years, but Carr's essential access to…
Prosecutor Fired In New Times Case; All Charges Dropped
All charges against Village Voice Media executives Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin were dropped over the weekend, and the special prosecutor running the case against their paper, the Phoenix New Times, has been fired. (The paper was exploring misconduct by a local law official.) The Arizona State Bar is now investigating…
'Village Voice' Getting Whiter, Maler By The Minute
Village Voice Managing Editor Deborah Kolben has been let go; Ward Harkavy will be taking over the number two spot at the paper. With the recent resignation of Deputy Managing Editor Adamma Ince and the earlier dismissal of Executive Editor Laura Conaway, this means that the top of the Voice masthead now consists of…
'Voice' Editor Tony Ortega Writes A Harsh Rejection Letter
Recently Village Voice editor Tony Ortega was pitched a relationship/dating/sex column by someone who'd pitched him when he was an editor at one of New Times' papers in Florida and had received an encouraging response. And this writer probably thought that since one sex column at the Voice is about cybersex (what is…
The New Times papers... "are edited as though their accountants had already set the date of the final edition, perhaps a decade from now. They are wringing the last dollars out of what they regard as a dying medium, even as they slowly murder it." Jeez, serious! [The Nation]
Remainders: Tina And Graydon Seem To Have Kissed, Made Up
- Tina Brown's new book on Princess Diana will be excerpted in Vanity Fair. Perhaps this means her book party will be at the Waverly Inn. [ETP]
- Former Seattle Weekly writer Philip Dawdy responds to his credibility-questioners. [Furious Seasons]
- A middle-school principal in Bethlehem, PA was found naked in his office…
Village Voice Media Hates, Creates Victim Stories
This week's Boston Phoenix has a must-read piece on the fallout from the New Times-Village Voice merger. We've seen some of the effects locally, but the Phoenix's Adam Reilly takes the pulse throughout the country and, guess what? The news is not so good. Again, you should really read the whole thing, but here are a…
In Order to Save the 'Voice' They Must Destroy It?
Heterodox thought on the Voice massacres: Messy and dispiriting and disrespectful to longtimers and legends though this period may be, perhaps all the messiness will make the paper once again something actually, you know, interesting and worth reading?
Read the 'Voice'? Be the Editor!
From the Village Voice letters page:
Village Voice: Today Is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life
After months of breathless anticipation and editorial wrist-cutting, the Village Voice merger with alt-weekly juggernaut New Times has resulted in the "new" Village Voice Media (owned by the New Times, natch), effective today. What does it mean for nervous staffers? Writes New Times CEO Jim Larkin:
Miszner Out, Cohen In at the 'Village Voice'
Late yesterday evening, the New Times (the alt-weekly megaplex that now owns the Village Voice) gave Voice publisher Judy Miszner her pink slip. Miszner had spent the past seven years at the paper but, given the New Times "merger," she probably saw this coming. (Editor Don Forst likely saw the same fate for himself,…
Forst Steps Down From 'Village Voice'
As Village Voice staffers fearfully pray for stability during their forthcoming "merger" with the New Times, Voice EIC and current harassment complaint recipient Don Forst has just sent out the following memo:
Lift Ev'ry 'Voice.' Please.
Alas, alack, and so on. We all have this ideal in the back of our minds, some general conception that once upon a time the Voice was something interesting and vital and, well, worth the mild irritation of walking to the box on the corner to pick up. (It is now none of these things.) We know that it allegedly has a…
Remainders: Justin Timberlake Protects Britney's Honor
• Justin Timberlake comes to ex-girlfriend Britney Spears's defense: "It's, like, leave the girl alone." Powerful words there, homeskillet. [Yahoo!]
• Paris Hilton faces a $10M lawsuit from model Zeta Graff, who claims the heiress planted lies about Graff in the venerable pages of Page Six. [CourtTV]
• When pressed…
Village Voice Sells Its Soul to New Times
Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of the grandaddy of alternative weeklies, the Village Voice — and what better way to celebrate than with a big, fat corporate merger?
