I found this article at the Orange County Register’s website [via OCBlog].
Will Swaim, the editor of OC Weekly since its inception in 1995, resigned today.
Swaim, reached at home in Irvine, said “philosophical differences” with the Weekly’s new parent company, which was formed when Village Voice Media merged with New Times Newspapers in 2006, led to his departure.“I hate to sound vague, but it just really is, broadly speaking, philosophical differences about how the papers should be run,” he said. “They know how to run their papers and I’m sure they’ll be wildly successful with ours, but I’m just not the right guy for the job.”
The Village Voice Media/New Times merge could be bad news for our precious, unique alternative weekly. It’s easy for me to forget that newspapers are a business…I, all too often, overlook the pages of adverts and absorb the wonderful–and in the case of The Weekly, FREE–content.
I’ve been hearing rumors of the New Times management coming in and shaking things up at the OC Weekly–and I think that Swaim’s resignation is the first of many changes we’ll see.
If these rumors are true, expect some more staff changes, and a change in the look of the paper so it closer resembles that of other New Times pubs. I hope that the Weekly doesn’t loose it’s heavy local focus.
Long Live Commie Girl!
Shouldn’t you guys be writing (or at least thinking) about a way to fix the turnout problem in the 1st Supervisorial?
Seems like a silly subject to post about when numbers are showing Umberg being pushed against the ropes…
Three things, SGL:
1. How do you know that none of us are thinking about the turnout in Feb?
2. Swaim ran the weekly since it’s inception 11 years ago. This is the paper that is responsible for appropriate attention getting shone on the Haidl gang rape trial, the Mike Carona scandals, OC Catholic Priest molestation charges, and a dozen more stories that the Register wouldn’t report on.
Only an out-of-towner would call it “silly.”
3. I invite you to join our team. Lose the pseudonym, and write a little something here about your thoughts on fixing the turnout problem in the 1st Sups district. It’s an open, friendly invitation. Email me: MikeLawson@gmail.com
Mike:
1. I hope you’re thinking about it, you’re sure not talking much about it though.
2. No offense but I don’t consider the OC Weekly a credible newspaper. Stripper ads & uninformed rants hardly helps it.
Oh and you’re right. I’m an out of towner for the most part.
3. Thank you but I’m ok using my initials. 🙂
I’ve complained plenty about their holier-than-thou attitude that conflicts with the pages of hooker ads. But business is business.
You shouldn’t discount some of the good reporting that is getting done there because it’s a free weekly that is using advertisements to survive.
So SGL, what type of GOTV efforts should happen before Feb. 6th?
SGL. Take a look at the ads in the OC Register’s sports section. It is usually fraught with dozens of ads for massage parlors.
I’m sure all those companies are all about relaxing muscle tension.
Turnout problem? Are you talking about the early numbers of absentee returns? Not a problem a all. Conservative and Vietnamese voters tend to return their ballots early. Liberals and Latino voters tend to return theirs closer to the election.
And a low turnout election is actually better for the campaign that has the strongest Get Out The Vote program. Each voter that your program turns out is incrementally more valuable.
See Correa/Daucher results.
The Register has ads for strip clubs and massage parlors too; there’s also the “adult services” section in the classifieds. Dan Savage has a great column in the weekly but you have to wade through the adult ads to get to it.
Mike: I have no interest in helping your turnout effort, just curious if you’re thinking about it. Couldn’t agree with you more about the OCWeekly’s attitude.
Publius: I may live to eat my words on this but if you count on what happened in the General to happen in this Special I believe you’ll be very disappointed.
The Weekly staff is throwing a bash for Will next Friday night. I will leave it to others to report the when and where. But I got an invite via email…..