An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns , investigations into edgy topics and magazine -style feature stories highlighting local people and culture. Its news coverage is more locally focused, and their target audiences are younger than those of daily newspapers. Typically, alternative newspapers are published in tabloid format and printed on newsprint . Other names for such publications include alternative weekly , alternative newsweekly , and alt weekly , as the majority circulate on a weekly schedule.
22-513: The Seattle Weekly is an alternative biweekly distributed newspaper in Seattle , Washington , United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as The Weekly. Its first issue was published on March 31, 1976, and it became a web-only publication on March 1, 2019. Since January 2013, it has been owned by Sound Publishing, Inc., a subsidiary of the Canadian company Black Press and
44-492: 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
66-1085: 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 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
88-542: Is The Stranger , an alternative biweekly paper published in Seattle . Alternative weekly 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 the less frequent publication schedule. Alternative papers have usually operated under
110-616: 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
132-552: Is called the op-ed page and frequently contains opinion pieces (hence the name think pieces ) by writers not directly affiliated with the publication. However, a newspaper may choose to publish an editorial on the front page. In the English-language press, this occurs rarely and only on topics considered especially important; it is more common, however, in some European countries such as Denmark , Spain , Italy , and France . Many newspapers publish their editorials without
154-901: 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
176-743: 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
198-1099: 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 ,
220-769: The Seattle Weekly from Voice Media Group in January 2013. In July 2006, longtime editor-in-chief Knute Berger announced he would be leaving the paper. Mark Baumgarten, former City Arts editor-in-chief and author of Love Rock Revolution , became editor-in-chief on March 12, 2013, replacing Mike Seely who resigned January of the same year. In January 2018, Seth Sommerfeld became editor-in-chief and Mark Baumgarten transitioned to editorial director for King County . In June 2018, Andy Hobbs replaced Baumgarten as editorial director, and in August 2018, he became editor-in-chief. Eric LaFontaine
242-644: 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
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#1732852045460264-529: 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
286-507: The United States and Canada include Barcelona's BCN Mes . Editorial An editorial , or leading article (UK) or leader (UK), is an article or any other written document, often unsigned, written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper or magazine , that expresses the author(s)'s opinion about a particular topic or issue. Australian and major United States newspapers, such as The New York Times and The Boston Globe , often classify editorials under
308-515: The best of their type in 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
330-696: 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 ,
352-424: The heading " opinion ". Illustrated editorials may appear in the form of editorial cartoons . Typically, a newspaper's editorial board evaluates which issues are important for their readership to know the newspaper's opinion on. Editorials are typically published on a dedicated page, called the editorial page, which often features letters to the editor from members of the public; the page opposite this page
374-636: The largest community news publisher in Washington State. It is published each Wednesday. Former owners of the Seattle Weekly include Sasquatch Publishing/Quickfish Media, Seattle from 1976 to 1997; Stern Publishing, New York, from 1997 to 2000; Village Voice Media , New York, from 2000 to 2012; and Voice Media Group from September 2012 to January 2013. Village Voice Media executives Scott Tobias, Christine Brennan and Jeff Mars bought Village Voice Media's papers and associated web properties from its founders to form Voice Media Group. Sound Publishing purchased
396-414: The name of the leader writer. Tom Clark, leader-writer for The Guardian , says that it ensures readers discuss the issue at hand rather than the author. On the other hand, an editorial does reflect the position of a newspaper and the head of the newspaper, the editor, is known by name. Whilst the editor will often not write the editorial themselves, they maintain oversight and retain responsibility. In
418-508: 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
440-448: 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 ,
462-632: 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
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#1732852045460484-545: Was named publisher in May 2018 and was put in change of all digital and print operations. On February 25, 2019, Sound Publishing announced that the paper would transition to web-only content in a move similar to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer a decade earlier. The final print edition was published on February 27, 2019, and the web-only portal was launched two days later. The Seattle Weekly ' s principal competitor
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