New York Press
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| New York Press | |
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 The June 7, 2006 front page of the New York Press |
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| Type | Alternative weekly |
| Format | Tabloid |
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| Owner | Manhattan Media |
| Publisher | Nick Thomas |
| Editor-in-Chief | David Blum |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Headquarters | 79 Madison Ave., 16th Floor New York, NY 10016  United States |
| Circulation | 105,005[1] |
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| Website: nypress.com | |
New York Press is a free alternative weekly in New York City. It is the main competitor to the Village Voice. It was founded in 1988, and originally conceived and published as a conservative voice in traditionally liberal New York. The paper developed an impressive following over its first decade, and by 1996 had forced the Village Voice to become a free paper to compete.
The rivalry with the Village Voice has expressed itself in other ways. Emulating New York Press's own popular "Best of Manhattan" annual feature, the Village Voice later began publishing its own annual "Best of New York" issue. Press editors have written about hiring away writer Nat Hentoff from the Voice.[2] Liz Trotta of The Washington Post compared the rivalry to a similar sniping between certain publications in the eighteenth-century British press, such as the Analytical Review and its self-styled nemesis the Anti-Jacobin Review.[3]
The paper's weekly circulation in 2006 was around 110,000,[4] in comparison with around 250,000 for the Village Voice.[5] The Press touts a Manhattan focussed, controlled distribution system while a good portion of the Village Voice's circulation is outside of the NYC metro area.
Contents |
[edit] An independent weekly, 1988-2002
The paper was founded by Russ Smith, who published it until he sold it in late 2002. Although Smith was nominally editor-in-chief, the actual editor throughout this period was John Strausbaugh. Smith wrote a column starting with the first issue, which was published under the pseudonym "MUGGER"; it mostly focused on media coverage of politics, as well as restaurant reviews and personal anecdotes. Smith still contributes this column, which is now simply called "Mugger" and published under his real name.
Under Smith, the often voluminous paper was a money-losing operation, rumored to function as a tax shelter for Smith's wealthy family.
During Strausbaugh's editorship, the Press ran regular columns by the radical Alexander Cockburn, the patrician Taki Theodoracopolous, the future Weekly Standard editor Christopher Caldwell, Soul Coughing lead singer M. Doughty (both under his own name and under the pseudonym "Dirty Sanchez"), Adam Mazmanian, Todd Seavey, Paul Lukas, Alan Cabal, and Daniel Radosh. Many New York Press writers and editorial staff from this time have gone on to achieve some renown. Examples include the author and screenwriter William Monahan, author Dave Eggers, future Weekly Standard and Humanities magazine editor David Skinner, author and raconteur Toby Young, New York magazine contributing editor and author Amy Sohn, author Jonathan Ames, faux-memoirist "JT LeRoy", American Conservative magazine editor Scott McConnell, writer Kevin R. Kosar, future New York Times editor Sam Sifton, and Mother Jones Washington Bureau Chief and novelist David Corn, among others.
In the tradition of earlier NY underground papers like East Village Other, New York Press also regularly published cutting-edge comic art, including early work by founding art director Michael Gentile, Kaz, Ben Katchor, Charles Burns, Mark Beyer, Mark Newgarden, Ward Sutton, M. Wartella, Gary Panter, Danny Hellman, Tony Millionaire and others.
[edit] Post-acquisition, 2003-present
| "There’s NYP 1988-2002, and then there’s whatever it’s been since. And that’s not just me gassing about the good old days. [...] [T]he pretense that there’s an unbroken timeline connecting the original New York Press to the current version is misleading and disingenuous at best." John Strausbaugh, a week after the 20th anniversary issue, in April 2008.[6] |
Smith sold the paper in late 2002 to investment group Avalon Equity Partners for around US$3 million.[7] Publishers Chuck Colletti and Doug Meadow became the president and C.O.O., respectively. Immediately after the sale, Strausbaugh was fired and replaced by former production editor Jeff Koyen. The paper began to run significantly less pages than it did beforehand, in an attempt to cut down on costs (it is rumored to finally be breaking even).
From April 2003 to July 2004, the Press had a sister publication, New York Sports Express, that was a free weekly devoted to sports. The publishers discontinued it due to insufficient circulation.
New York Press earned reprobation in March 2005 for a cover story entitled "The 52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope," written by Matt Taibbi. [8] The cover prompted outraged comments from a variety of New York politicians,[9] and within a few weeks led to the resignation of its then-editor, Jeff Koyen. He was replaced by "interim editor" Alexander Zaitchik.
During Koyen's and Zaitchik's editorship, the paper ran regular columns by Paul Krassner, Michelangelo Signorile, and Matt Taibbi, and regularly featured writing by gadfly Christopher X. Brodeur, among others. Many of the writers from this time period, including Zaitchik himself, went on to work at The eXile.
Harry Siegel became the paper's editor in August 2005, bringing along with him three editors and writers (Tim Marchman, Jonathan Leaf and Azi Paybarah), and giving the Press a greater focus on local politics. In February 2006 all four resigned from the paper, after the publisher rejected a planned cover story that would have shown the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons.[10] Siegel was replaced for a short time by Steve Weinstein, former editor of the New York Blade. In 2006, Adario Strange, former editor of The Source, became the new editor. A year later, in 2007, Strange left the paper to return to film directing. Upon his promotion to publisher, Nick Thomas named former arts and entertainment editor Jerry Portwood to editor of the publication.
On July 31, 2007, the paper was acquired by Manhattan Media, the owner of Avenue Magazine and a small stable of New York community weekly newspapers. One of those weeklies, “Our Town Downtown,” will be merged with the New York Press.
In September, 2007, David Blum was named editor-in-chief of the New York Press. A former contributing editor of New York Magazine and Esquire, Blum had previously been editor-in-chief of The Village Voice.
Currently the Press runs regular columns by Amy Goodman and Ed Koch (former Mayor of New York City), among others.
[edit] Other noted contributors
Noted memoirist and longtime staff writer, occasional arts and entertainment critic, and author of the nearly two decade old "Slackjaw" column, Jim Knipfel was one of the paper's only mainstays for more than thirteen years. "Slackjaw" ran in the Philadelphia Welcomat for five years before it was picked up by the Press in 1993. Later, Knipfel worked as the Press' receptionist before moving into a staff writer position. In June, 2006, his column was discontinued. Film critic Armond White is another of the paper's mainstays.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ New York Press. Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
- ^ http://www.nypress.com/18/52/news&columns/NewYearGuide.cfm
- ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_15_15/ai_54451088
- ^ http://aan.org/gyrobase/Aan/viewCompany?oid=oid%3A60
- ^ http://aan.org/gyrobase/Aan/ViewCompany?oid=oid%3A94
- ^ http://nypress.com/21/18/news&columns/mailbox.cfm
- ^ http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0303,cotts,41193,6.html
- ^ http://nypress.com/18/9/news&columns/taibbi.cfm
- ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/03-04-2005/front/story/286529p-245325c.html
- ^ http://thepoliticker.observer.com/2006/02/ny-press-kills-cartoons-staff-walks-out.html
