Friday, May 18, 2007
New Times/VVM Sells East Bay Express
A former employee tipped me to this article:

The change could benefit readers by marginally increasing competition in a Bay Area print marketplace that has seen much recent ownership consolidation. Last year, the Denver-based MediaNews Group purchased the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times from the McClatchy Co., giving the conglomerate control of virtually every Bay Area daily newspaper other than The Chronicle.

Village Voice Media, which was purchased by New Times Media in 2005, owns SF Weekly and controls roughly a quarter of the circulation among the nation's alternative weeklies. Other than using some of the same Village Voice Media movie reviewers and twice using the same cover story, the San Francisco and East Bay corporate siblings generally stuck to their respective sides of the bay.

Now, there will be no ties.

"This is a wonderful thing," said Tracy Rosenberg, interim operations director of Media Alliance, a Bay Area media watchdog organization. "The potential for self-ownership and for journalists to enter ownership is terrific and exciting. It almost never happens."

But, "A lot of questions remain unanswered," said Yumi Wilson, assistant professor of journalism at San Francisco State University. While it is potentially exciting to have independent media ownership, "You want to see what new owners are going to do."


Does this signal that New Times/VVM is interested in downsizing by selling off properties? Or is this a way for them to better compete in the Bay Area by minimizing their costs and focusing on the more lucrative SF Weekly? Will independent journalism benefit from a three-way competition in the Bay Area? It's too early to tell.

One thing that's almost certain--alt-journalist wages aren't going up any time soon.

posted by Zentronix @ 9:00 AM   1 comments

1 Comments:

At 6/4/07, 9:26 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm hoping New Times keeps selling off, though I tend to doubt the Nashville Scene would be one of them. As far as the music pages are concerned the damage is done and irreversible, methinks.

 

Post a Comment

 

Previous posts
Thank You Warriors
Eric Arnold On Why S.F. Rap Still Hasn't Blown Up
Air Baron
Marian Liu :: Is Hyphy Over?
La Cucaracha & The Boondocks Vs. Don Imus!
Jeff Yang on Angry Asian Men
Hip-Hop Generation Protests Sarkozy Election in Fr...
To Play In The Town You Gotta Have Heart
Wisdom From Dr. Leon Litwack
May Day On The Frontline (2007 Mix)


select * from pages where handle = "BlogLinks" #content#

Archives
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
 

Email list

Add me to the Can't Stop Won't Stop email list, an irregular update of what's new in our world:

Submit