Results tagged “altweekly”

Slamming SF Weekly/VVM as a "deadbeat dad," SFBG Executive Editor Tim Redmond responded to Mike Lacey's rant about questions regarding today's story about how VVM has avoided payment in last year's alt-weekly lawsuit showdown. (Whew.) Redmond, in between attacking Lacey as an "asshole" and poking fun at his use of Dire Straits, claims that "VVM owes us $20 million and doesn't want to pay." He also calls out SF Weekly as "the greatest deadbeat in the history of the alternative press" and questions Lacey's accusation of SFBG suffering from "class bitterness." (Oh, neither one of you know the searing pain of class bitterness until you've lived in a dilapidated Victorian on Third Street next to an overpass while the Ritz-Carlton sits a few blocks down the street, riddled with vacancies. Just look at this gorgeous shit. It is stunning. Can you imagine being holed up in a sun-drenched 1 BR at the Ritz, complete with a few tasteful accents from Limn, a medicine cabinet full of Valium, and a giant HD TV? Because we sure can.) In the end, though, it makes for an interesting read into what's become of the SF alt-weekly scene. If you're looking SFBG's side of the story, go here and here.

SF Weekly (Village Voice Media) returned to court yesterday in an attempt to overturn the anti-competitive verdict ruled against the alt-weekly in March. (For all the courtroom drama, read SF Weekly's take here and SFBG's here.) According to SFBG, yesterday's "argument was aimed at severing VVM – a company with $190 million in sales and $11 million in profits – from the verdict. That way the only guilty party would be the Weekly – which VVM admits has no assets and would be unable to pay the Guardian anywhere near $16 million." Yikes. And rumors among certain local media types – sick, twisted, beer-infused, and totally untrue rumors, mind you – have been circulating that SF Weekly might shutdown come December '08. (Which would blow since we do enjoy both alt-weeklies... to certain degrees.) So: conjecture time, folks! Is VVM trying to separate itself from the Weekly so tat they can close it and not pay the debt? What do you think? All presumptuous lawyer types, amateur and pro, are encouraged to gossip in the comments.

As local, national, and worldwide print publishing continues to take a brutal, Christ-like thrashing -- take, for example, the San Jose Mercury News' recent layoffs and a 30% drop in the San Francisco Chronicle's daily circulation -- the time-honored watering hole for "crusty but benign" journos, it seems, has also taken a beating.