New Times, old games
LA used to have two alternate newspapers, the LA Weekly and New Times, both owned by chains. Recently, in a cynical deal, each agreed to exit a particular market, leaving it for the other. Now the feds are investigating.
Phoenix-based New Times Media agreed to shut down its 6-year-old Los Angeles paper in exchange for more than $8 million, ceding its Southern California niche to the L.A. Weekly, which is owned by New York-based Village Voice Media. The latter also agreed to close its Cleveland Free Times in return for a much smaller cash payment from New Times, which continues to publish its Cleveland Scene.
A friend observes:
It’s so obvious why Ashcroft is bringing suit against the parent companies fo the LA Weekly and the New Times — if they are found guilty of rackateering, the fines according to the LA Times will be astronomical. What the LA Times didn’t say is they are so high as to bankrupt both companies. And there goes the major advertising media for the sex trade, and the alternative voice of reporting. Both gone, and the government financially richer. A win-win-win situation, it seems to me.