Misplaced Pages

#903096

26-699: The Los Angeles View , also known as the Village View and Los Angeles Village View , was a weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles that was published from 1986 to 1996. Based in West Los Angeles , The Los Angeles Times called the View an "eccentric tabloid that specialized in politics and culture." Danny Feingold, the managing editor of the View , described the paper as having "a real spirit of independence and eclecticism and radicalism." The View merged with

52-458: A California newspaper is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Alternative newspaper Most metropolitan areas of the United States and Canada are home to at least one alternative paper. These papers are generally found in such urban areas, although a few publish in smaller cities, in rural areas or exurban areas where they may be referred to as an alt monthly due to

78-550: A childish Calvin-like figure and Trump alter-ego John Barron as Trump's "imaginary publicist" in place of Hobbes. He was awarded a prize for best cartoon in the 2018 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and in 2019 and 2021 he was a finalist in the Editorial Cartooning category for the Pulitzer Prize . His "mordant wit, superior artwork and inventive delivery" won him the 2021 Berryman Award for Editorial Cartoons from

104-492: A competitor to Village Voice Media's LA Weekly , and Village Voice Media ceased publishing Cleveland Free Times , a competitor to New Times Media's Cleveland Scene . The US Justice Department launched an antitrust investigation into the agreement. The case was settled out of court with the two companies agreeing to make available the publishing assets and titles of their defunct papers to potential competitors. The Cleveland Free Times recommenced publication in 2003 under

130-458: A full-time cartoonist; instead he studied economics as an undergraduate at Tufts University and later attended Harvard Law School (graduating in 1987). It was at Harvard in the mid-1980s that Fisher came up with the idea for "Tom the Dancing Bug" and his pseudonym, Ruben Bolling (which is a melding of the names of two favorite old-time baseball players, Ruben Amaro and Frank Bolling ). Tom

156-565: A non-daily publication. Fisher won numerous awards for his satirical criticism of the Donald Trump presidency. He was the winner of the 2017 Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning based on a selection of 15 Trump-themed Tom the Dancing Bug cartoons. In 2017, he won a 2017 Silver Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society for "Donald and John," a series in the style of Calvin and Hobbes that cast Donald Trump as

182-616: Is a contingent of conservative and libertarian alt-weeklies. Styles vary sharply among alternative newspapers; some affect a satirical, ironic tone, while others embrace a more straightforward approach to reporting. Columns commonly syndicated to alternative weeklies include " The Straight Dope ", Dan Savage 's " Savage Love ", Rob Breszny's " Free Will Astrology ", and Ben Tausig 's crossword puzzle "Ink Well." Quirky, non-mainstream comics , such as Matt Groening 's Life in Hell , Lynda Barry 's Ernie Pook's Comeek , Ruben Bolling 's Tom

208-456: Is now published almost entirely online. In 2012, Fisher launched a subscription service, the Inner Hive, which he credits with keeping the comic going amid declines in print newspapers . A Super Fun-Pak Comix installment from 2014, entitled The Comic Strip That Has A Finale Every Day , parodied farewell installments from long-running comic strips. This then became an ongoing feature on

234-901: The Aquarian Weekly in North Jersey , the Colorado Springs Independent , the Good Times in Santa Cruz , California, New Times in San Luis Obispo and the Sun in Northern Santa Barbara County , California. Canadian examples of owner-operated, non-chain owned alternative papers include Vancouver's The Georgia Straight , Toronto's NOW Magazine , Edmonton's Vue Weekly and Halifax's The Coast . Examples outside

260-743: The Hartford Advocate and New Haven Advocate . Creative Loafing , originally only an Atlanta -based alternative weekly, grew into Creative Loafing, Inc. which owned papers in three other southern U.S. cities , as well as the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper . Village Voice Media and New Times Media merged in 2006; before that, they were the two largest chains. The pre-merger Village Voice Media, an outgrowth of New York City's Village Voice , included LA Weekly , OC Weekly , Seattle Weekly , Minneapolis City Pages , and Nashville Scene . New Times Media included at

286-533: The Los Angeles Reader to form New Times LA in 1996. The View had a print circulation of 75,000 at the time of the merger. The Los Angeles Times described New Times' purchase of the View as its "newest weapon" in Los Angeles' alternative weekly "newspaper war," observing that the purchase showed that New Times had "upped the ante in its battle for newspaper readers." This article about

SECTION 10

#1732927050904

312-1148: The Pacific Sun , the Bohemian in California's Sonoma and Napa counties, the San Diego Reader , Isthmus in Madison, Wisconsin , Flagpole Magazine in Athens, Georgia , the Boulder Weekly , Willamette Week in Portland, Oregon , Independent Weekly , Yes! Weekly , Creative Loafing , and Triad City Beat in North Carolina , the Austin Chronicle in Texas , The Stranger in Seattle, Washington , Artvoice in Buffalo, New York ,

338-501: The September 11 attacks and Iraq war in the early 2000s. This trend strengthened with the Donald Trump presidency and right-wing populism from 2017-2020, his critiques of which earned him several cartooning awards. Fisher, who has no formal art training, read many comics when he was a child (his biggest influence being Garry Trudeau 's Doonesbury ), and sometimes features their styles in his work. However, he didn't aspire to be

364-590: The Dancing Bug , and Ted Rall 's political cartoons are also common. The Village Voice , based in New York City , was one of the first and best-known examples of the form. Since the Voice's demise in 2018, Marin County 's Pacific Sun , founded in 1963, is now the longest-running alternative weekly. The Association of Alternative Newsmedia is the alternative weeklies' trade association. The Alternative Weekly Network and

390-488: The Dancing Bug originally ran in the Harvard Law School Record . After graduation, Fisher practiced law for several years before resigning to pursue comics full-time. When that didn't work out, comic writing became a side interest and Fisher became a full-time employee at a financial services company. Tom the Dancing Bug was picked up for weekly syndication in 1997 by Universal Press Syndicate . Fisher

416-529: The Ruxton Group are national advertising sales representatives for alternative weeklies. Some alternative newspapers are independent. However, due in part to increasing concentration of media ownership , many have been bought or launched by larger media conglomerates . The Tribune Company , a multibillion-dollar company that owns the Chicago Tribune , owns four New England alternative weeklies, including

442-488: The United States and Canada include Barcelona's BCN Mes . Ruben Bolling Ruben Bolling (born c. 1963 in New Jersey ) is a pseudonym for Ken Fisher , an American cartoonist , the author of Tom the Dancing Bug . His work started out apolitical, instead featuring absurdist humor, parodying comic strip conventions, or critiquing celebrity culture . He came to increasingly satirize conservative politics after

468-489: The area. Often these papers send out certificates that the businesses hang on their wall or window. This further cements the paper's ties to local businesses. Alternative newspapers represent the more commercialized and mainstream evolution of the underground press associated with the 1960s counterculture . Their focus remains on arts and entertainment and social and political reportage. Editorial positions at alternative weeklies are predominantly left -leaning, though there

494-696: The creation of the Portland Phoenix . From 1992 through 2005, PM/GC owned and operated the Worcester Phoenix in Worcester, Massachusetts , but PM/GC folded that branch because of Worcester's dwindling art scene. Nonetheless, a number of owner-operated, non-chain owned alternative papers survive, among them Metro Silicon Valley in San Jose , Pittsburgh City Paper in Pittsburgh , Salt Lake City Weekly ,

520-541: The gocomics.com site under the pseudonym John "Scully" Scully, releasing the same comic every day. In 2015, Fisher published the first in a series of children's books, The EMU Club Adventures . Fisher is a five-time winner of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Award for Best Cartoon, for 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2010, he received the Society of Professional Journalists award for Editorial Cartooning for

546-781: The less frequent publication schedule. Alternative papers have usually operated under a different business model than daily papers. Most alternative papers, such as The Stranger , the Houston Press , SF Weekly , the Village Voice , the New York Press , the Metro Times , the LA Weekly , the Boise Weekly and the Long Island Press , have been free, earning revenue through

SECTION 20

#1732927050904

572-508: The publication group Kildysart LLC, while the assets of New Times LA were sold to Southland Publishing and relaunched as LA CityBeat . On October 24, 2005, New Times Media announced a deal to acquire Village Voice Media, creating a chain of 17 free weekly newspapers around the country with a combined circulation of 1.8 million and controlling a quarter of the weekly circulation of alternative weekly newspapers in North America. The deal

598-418: The sale of advertising space. They sometimes include ads for adult entertainment, such as adult bookstores and strip clubs , which are prohibited in many mainstream daily newspapers. They usually include comprehensive classified and personal ad sections and event listings as well. Many alternative papers feature an annual "best of" issue, profiling businesses that readers voted the best of their type in

624-448: The time of the merger Cleveland Scene , Dallas Observer , Westword , East Bay Express , New Times Broward-Palm Beach , Houston Press , The Pitch , Miami New Times , Phoenix New Times , SF Weekly and Riverfront Times . In 2003, the two companies entered into a non-competition agreement which stated that the two would not publish in the same market. Because of this, New Times Media eliminated New Times LA ,

650-632: Was approved by the Justice Department and, on January 31, 2006, the companies merged into one, taking the name Village Voice Media. Phoenix Media/Communications Group , owner of the popular Boston alternative weekly the Boston Phoenix , expanded to Providence, Rhode Island in 1988 with their purchase of NewPaper , which was renamed the Providence Phoenix . In 1999, PM/CG expanded further through New England to Portland, Maine with

676-441: Was working on building a full-time comics career, driven in part by a project, thus far never realized, with New Line Cinema to produce a movie about his character Harvey Richards, Esq., a "Lawyer for Children." Newspapers that have published Tom the Dancing Bug include The Washington Post , The Village Voice , and Los Angeles Times . At its peak, Tom the Dancing Bug was syndicated in print in over 100 newspapers, but

#903096