Village Voice to buy L.A. Weekly; no immediate changes expected.Publishing industry insiders expect little, if any, immediate changes at the L.A. Weekly in the wake of its planned sale to the Village Voice of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . L.A. Weekly Publisher Michael Sigman said the publication will remain an autonomous newspaper and no staff changes are in the works. Other industry sources noted that, as the Village Voice and L.A. Weekly are two regional publications separated by thousands of miles of land, it's unlikely there will be a move to combine their editorial resources. "They are both such strongly regional publications. I can't image the Village Voice publishing many articles out of the L.A. Weekly, or the Weekly publishing much that comes from the Village Voice," said one local publishing industry source, who asked not to be identified. On Oct. 19, the owner of the Village Voice -- New York City's leading alternative newspaper -- announced that it had signed a letter of intent to acquire the Weekly. Terms of the deal, still being negotiated as of press time last week, were not released. The Voice -- founded in 1955 by novelist Norman Mailer Noun 1. Norman Mailer - United States writer (born in 1923) Mailer , Dan Wolf and Ed Fancher -- was bought by Leonard Stern Leonard Stern is the name of several people:
Coast to coast The L.A. Weekly, considered to be the preeminent alternative newspaper on the West Coast, was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who is still the paper's principal owner. Most recently, he has turned his sights toward starting an ecological television network dubbed dub 1 tr.v. dubbed, dub·bing, dubs 1. To tap lightly on the shoulder by way of conferring knighthood. 2. To honor with a new title or description. 3. Planet Central. Both the Weekly and Voice have a liberal point of view. The Voice has a paid weekly circulation of about 155,000. Combined with the Weekly's free circulation of 170,000, Stern said, the pairing will give the company a "powerful presence in the two most trendsetting markets in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. ." This combination will hopefully attract more national advertisers to both papers, Sigman said, noting that advertisers in the movie, liquor, travel, airline, book publishing book publishing. The term publishing means, in the broadest sense, making something publicly known. Usually it refers to the issuing of printed materials, such as books, magazines, periodicals, and the like. and financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. sectors could place ads in both papers. However, Weekly Publisher Sigman said, talk of combining some advertising efforts is only preliminary. There has also been little discussion regarding potential changes in the Weekly's editorial product, Sigman said. "We really haven't spent a lot of time talking about what we can do together," Sigman said. "The next step is getting to know each other" and addressing each publications' needs and goals. But, Sigman said, the acquisition could give the Weekly added access to capital. "The opportunity for expansion and growth are increased," he said. Media marriage What changes the sale will ultimately bring are yet to be seen. But, one publishing industry source noted, the highly regional nature of the two publications indicates that there will be little cross-pollination of stories, writers, features or editorial direction. For example, the source said, New York magazine founded New West magazine in 1976 in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, with an eye toward duplicating much of New York magazine's look, feel and content in the Southland south·land or South·land n. A region in the south of a country or an area. south  land·er n.Noun 1. . But that experiment was short lived. New West soon changed its content and its name -- it became California magazine -- and it was folded in 1991. "I don't think anything is going to happen at the Weekly quickly," the source said. James Vowell, publisher of the competing Los Angeles Reader Los Angeles Reader was a weekly paper established in 1978 and distributed in Los Angeles, USA. It followed the format of the (still active) Chicago Reader. The paper was known for having lengthy, thoughtful reviews of movies, plays and concerts in the LA area. weekly tabloid, also said he doesn't expect many changes at the Weekly soon. "We'll just wait and see what they do, if anything," Vowell said. "And I wouldn't be surprised if they don't do much of anything." However, the publishing industry source said, on some fronts the marriage between the Village Voice and L.A. Weekly could prove to be a smooth one. "The Village Voice is a company that understands what alternative publishing is," the source said. "So, in that sense, they're a good match." |
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