A Rumor for a Day

The count of reporters and snoops calling or emailing me in the past year about rumors of a New Times/Village Voice Media merger has now reached north of 45. I have no idea whether such a deal will be consummated, and although my friendship with NT principals Jim Larkin and Mike Lacey dates back to a 1980 alternative newspaper convention (with a few spats between then and now), there's no inside information to report from these quarters. That's what's called being out of the loop.

But I do have opinions on the rampant speculation (at least in the very small universe of weekly newspapers) that's traditionally instigated by a NT competitor in San Francisco, The Bay Guardian, then posted on Jim Romenesko's website and finally filtered down to the bottom feeders at Gawker and the New York Post's crummy business section. (For the record, I also know VVM CEO David Schneiderman, and though we competed in Manhattan for many years, consider him a real gentleman, who probably should've stuck to the editorial side of the journalism profession.)

In the event that NT overcomes the antitrust hurdles that plagued both companies when they closed competing papers a few years ago (NT's Los Angeles New Times bit the dust in favor of VVM's L.A. Weekly; the latter's Cleveland paper shut down so that NT's paper there had an open market), and then ditches the toothless unions at the Voice and L.A. Weekly, a deal might fall into place some time next year.

If the transaction does occur-and, according to documents obtained by the Bay Guardian in the last two weeks, the veracity of which is questionable (they "appear to be valid"), it won't be a "merger" as much as a NT takeover, since that company would name five of the nine board members and control 62 percent of the equity-I'm guessing there would be immediate benefits to Voice readers.

Which means, by my reckoning: Sayonara to Robert Christgau, who could then be reached at either an upstate retirement community or the publicity department of a record label. Political endorsements, a longtime Voice (and Bay Guardian) fetish, will be eliminated. One would imagine Michael Musto, the ubiquitous gossip at the weekly-and about 100 other publications; like Christopher Hitchens, the man is nothing if not prolific-stays on, but longtime contributor James Ridgeway's D.C. dispatches will probably disappear as quickly as Eddie Cox's GOP primary challenge to Jeanine Pirro. The latest "Press Clips" columnist, ex-Times man Sydney Schanberg, will look for a post at yet another newspaper.

A loud chorus of recreational dissenters who still believe, in 2005, that anything with a "corporate" patina spells corruption, will dominate the immediate news of the takeover, probably accompanied by pickets and byline strikes at the Voice by staffers who'll be out of work anyway.

By the way, you wonder what percentage of rabble-rousers hold true to their beliefs and refuse to patronize Starbucks, Burger King, Barnes & Noble or Whole Foods. New Times, because it owns 11 weekly newspapers, is routinely described by detractors who don't understand the company's philosophy as an evil purveyor of "McNewspapers," a mini-Gannett or Knight Ridder. Their papers do have a relatively uniform design, but the content is tailored to each city, and in general is a lot more enterprising than the vast majority of nearly identical (in political leanings and rote cultural criticism) "indies" that make up most members of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN).

Mind you, I believe such a "merger" is unlikely-too many legal difficulties, dueling lawyers and investment bankers, and way too many egos involved-but should it occur, what impact would it have on New York Press?

Almost none.

New York is so crowded with print and online publications that after the requisite doom and gloom from nostalgists who really do remember when that paper was genuinely iconoclastic (more than a generation ago) a change of ownership at the Voice will soon be forgotten.

Any newspaper or magazine tries to occupy some of a consumer's limited reading time, whether that's 20 hours a week or just one; in order to make the cut, a publication has to carve out a unique niche, and should New York Press follow through on its promise of diverse content, the paper won't be adversely affected, but rather invigorated by a new challenge.

She is That Dumb

Sara Nelson, editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly, proved in the Aug. 15 issue why magazine editors ought to skip the traditionally gratuitous introductions to the content they've assembled in a given issue. Her short piece, "Misery Loves Publishing," was one more example of how the book industry has gone to the dogs, and not just because the lack of fact-checkers that means typos routinely slip into store-ready tomes, a sin that once upon a time would have been call for a pink slip.

Recalling two recent speeches she gave to nervous audiences in California about the state of her industry, Nelson says, with a bouquet of elitism, "[M]aybe there's just something characterological about us book types, something embedded in our DNA, that makes us suspicious and negative and worried? Maybe life just imitates the literature we love, the stories of willing figures engaged in dire struggles. Job, of course, or Sisyphus. Joseph Heller's Yossarian knew a thing or two about Catch 22s [now that's clever!]. And then, of course, there's Eeyore, perhaps the most lovable naysayer in literary history. Whine, anyone?"

Buchanan's Folly

It could be that Pitchfork Pat Buchanan, one of America's leading isolationists, protectionists and bigots, is simply bitter that his 1996 GOP primary campaign, which for about a week led to glorious headlines, ultimately went nowhere. One of his pet causes, sadly echoed by the estimable National Review, is that immigration is a hobgoblin that will eventually cause the United States to have a minority Caucasian population.

Bolstered by the politically-motivated immigrant-bashing of Democratic governors Bill Richardson and Janet Napolitano, Buchanan used his Aug. 29 syndicated column to suggest that the only way George W. Bush will come around to Pat's desire to roll back the decades is for some "courageous Republican" to introduce a bill of impeachment against the president. The Buke says that Bush has twice taken the oath of office to protect each state "against invasion."

He concludes: "[Impeachment] may be the only way left to get his attention, before the border vanishes and our beloved country dissolves into MexAmerica, what T.R. called a 'polyglot' boarding house for the world."

Unfortunately, this appalling nativism could, in the next year, catch on with a confused public and demolish Republican control of Congress. More than Iraq or oil prices, this is an emotional issue that a well-financed demagogue could use to wipe every other news story off the front pages. I agree that Bush, taking too much political advice, has been lax on explaining his inclusive vision for the country. He must finally-and forcefully-explain to the electorate that crazies like Buchanan must be stopped. Bush can give nervous Republicans cover; although you wouldn't know it from Democratic rhetoric, he isn't running for reelection.