New Times' purchase of Village Voice Media earlier this year is certainly proof of the growing viability of alternative weeklies since the entire category shifted to a free-distribution/ad-based business model.
But it's also triggered concern that alternative weeklies may be shedding their traditional progressive muckraking role.
Bruce Brugman, editor and publisher of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, says, "It's a terrible sign when the local alternative paper becomes part of a chain because it's a very cookie-cutter philosophy of journalism."
Business success, ...