Maybe they should consider resuming the “pink pages” of classified M4M ads in the center. ;-)

Thank you!

With is bi-weekly publication schedule, the news published in The Advocate was already stale — having previously been published in local weekly LGBT newspapers such as The Washington Blade, the Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco), Bay Windows (Boston) and even its hometown rivals in Los Angeles, Frontiers and Update.

Converting The Advocate into a monthly was an acknowledgement that it simply could no longer compete with the local LGBT weeklies for hard news.

Of course, with the rise of online publishing, even the local LGBT weeklies — particularly the Blade — are now finding themselves competing against their own Web sites, even though most of the LGBT local weeklies are free-circulation — unlike the paid-circulation Advocate. By now, more people read the LGBT weeklies online than their print editions.

Then there is unmistakable demographic: YOUNG PEOPLE ARE NO LONGER WILLING TO PAY FOR NEWS IN A PRINTED PUBLICATION THAT WAS POSTED HOURS EARLIER ONLINE THAT THEY CAN READ WITHOUT CHARGE.

THAT’S the bottom line. And that applies to ALL printed publications.

When I was coming out in the 70s, The Advocate was a real lifeline for those of us who weren’t living on the coasts. I devoured every issue because it was basically the only NEWS magazine we had, whatever flaws there were. It let us all know there was hope for better times, and it was a true groundbreaker in its day.

I can understand why it may be going out of business. The print industry itself is hurting terribly. But it’s like watching a good friend gasping for breath on his deathbed. You can’t stand watching him go, but you know it’s pretty much inevitable.

Since you had asked about Dallas, here is the latest “news” published by one of our GLBT publications there in that city. Actually, I could hardly call it quality journalism but since Mark Reed is a part of this thread as well and also a star on the video, perhaps he can explain to everyone why Dallas is such a corrupt place for GLBT news and politics. Way to go guys, you are making our media look just dandy !! …………….

http://www.dallasvoice.com/ins...../#comments

Oklahoma is supposedly going to join them and establish a Christian nation, a refuge for bigots and . There are about a dozen (give or take) state officals elected here that openly endorse the notion of sucession.

“publishers should do what cable and satellite TV networks have done for years — charge Internet service providers for carrying their Web sites. The ISPs would then pass the cost on to their subscribers.”

What you propose there is to defeat net neutrality and let the ISPs decide who gets what. This is hardly a good idea. The great thing about the Internet is that anyone can say whatever they want and its also the biggest problem with the Internet. But the solution is not to put the ISPs in charge of who gets to be seen online. When you think about it, there are a handful of really big ISPs that control most of the nation’s access to the Internet (in most cases, telephone companies and cable companies). And yes, there are many small “indie” ISPs but you can bet that wont be the case if net neutrality is defeated. Just like the phone companies squeezed out the CLEC (competing local exchange carrier) they will squeeze out the mom and pop ISP. In the end, that means no real choice and everything will be reduced to a dozen or so mainstream “packages” just like Cable TV service (which I still don’t subscribe to). Ever called your cable company and said I *just* want LOGO and nothing else? What did they say when they got done laughing?

And the Internet isn’t free now – it never has been. Everyone pays for a connection. You, me and every other data center and host.

I suppose that depends on how you describe thriving. Free papers and alternative news weeklies do well in some areas. But the problem is, how do you qualify just how well they are doing. What defines well? When the company makes money, or the reach and/or significance of its publications? Many free newspapers are not audited by ABC (Audit Bureaus of Circulation – google it) so as an advertiser, all you know is how many papers they PRINT, not how many are actually read.

Here we have a weekly called The Oklahoma Gazette (OG), which is read pretty widely and paid attention to a little bit. But The Daily Bigot (aka The Oklahoman) is still far more established and far more relied upon. Not saying that OG is unreliable or bad because its free, I am just saying that when it comes down to it, they don’t really have alot of influence. No one really pays attention to who they endorse for elections, etc. Every once in a while they get a major story first (usually investigative in nature) and the establishment media follows them. I chock that up to everyone gets their 15 minutes at some point.

They still, in general, are followers and not leaders. If you want good entertainment coverage (celebrities, theatre, arts, dining, etc) then by all means pick up a free paper. They usually have far better coverage in those areas. But as far as covering whats really going on, legislative updates, government, elections, politics, who the mayor has his dick stuck in, etc., then you pretty much are stuck with establishment media.

My worry is once the big shake out happens, what are we going to be left with? I am hoping the vacuum isn’t filled with blogs. Blogs like Queerty and Daily KOS and Urban Conservative do have a place, but if that’s all there was, we’d be in serious trouble.

—

Whats really sad about this whole mess is when Regent got rid of Freshmen. I honestly used to love that magazine. I’d anxiously await every new issue in the mailbox. Some of the boys in there were so hawt and the photography was top notch, imho.

What information do you have to support such a statement? Which are “thriving” exactly?

The largest chain of the largest alt-weeklies in the nation, Creative Loafing, Inc. was just recently handed to its creditors by a bankruptcy judge. For the rest, their readerships continue to experience slight declines, as they have since 2000.

While it’s true they are faring better than dailies, they’ve shed massive numbers of staff, shrunk physically, and generally struggled to keep their marrow (distribution and sales) protected, while losing the flesh and bone of their value to readers, i.e. editorial. The results of that risky surgery were seen at the Boulder News–highest readership gain for any alt weekly in the nation in 2Q…abruptly folded a week after the CVC numbers came out.

“publishers should do what cable and satellite TV networks have done for years — charge Internet service providers for carrying their Web sites. The ISPs would then pass the cost on to their subscribers.”

This is absurd and unworkable. Publishers have no contract with ISPs that would allow them to do anything more than send a bill, and listen to the ISPs laugh. Publishers PAY the ISPs, not the other way around. They are customers for the ‘Net connection just like your house or mine. What in your mind would magically force a change to that?

“I wonder when people are going to realize that ALL print media is a dying industry. Newspapers, magazines, books (I have owned two small publishing companies – shuttered both as I could see the writing on the wall) and the list goes on. The future is in new media, the printing press is obsolete.”

* * *

WRONG, Keith! Only PAID-CIRCULATION print media is dying. FREE-CIRCULATION print media — particularly weekly newspapers — are still very much alive and many are even thriving.

The REAL reason the Internet is killing daily newspapers and other paid-circulation print publications is a simple matter of economics — and logistics: Why bother to pay to read the very same stories that were printed hours after you’ve read them for free online?

More than three times as many people now read the Internet edition of The New York Times than the print edition. But
the Times (and other print media) have yet to come up with a new economic model to make their Internet editions profitable.

The problem is that there is now an entire generation that has grown up with the Internet — and has grown accustomed to getting their information from the Internet without having to directly pay for it. With the execption of The Wall Street Journal — which, after all, is a business publication — every attempt by newspapers and magazines to get their Internet readers to pay for reading their stories online has been met with fierce public resistance.

There is really only one solution. Instead of charging readers directly, publishers should do what cable and satellite TV networks have done for years — charge Internet service providers for carrying their Web sites. The ISPs would then pass the cost on to their subscribers.

For the notion of a totally-free-of-charge Internet is really an illusion. You’re paying to access the Internet when your ISP — be it dial-up, DSL, cable or satellite — sends you your monthly bill. More than 90 percent of U.S. households now pay for what they watch on TV, including their local stations, via cable and satellite through their monthly bills.

Print is far from dead, as the publisher of any free-circulation publication can attest. Rather it’s the paid-circulation dinosaurs that are doomed to extinction.

Yes, like all those esteemed reporters who overwhelmingly failed as we slid towards war in Iraq. And the others that did the pep rally reporting as embeds. And those esteemed business reporters who treated CEOs with fawning praise, not much different from celebrities, as the bubble got larger, and larger. And the ones for whom the biggest challenge in America for a solid two years was a president’s sex; I believe James Carville termed it “like crack cocaine for you reporters, you love it and you can’t get enough.” Or the reporters who ignored the health care crisis for 16 years.

Yeah, I, like, know what you’re talking about.

My 5 year old interviewed our dog and she is reporting that he shat in the backyard. Is that editorial? Funny. I thought you had to, like, study how to be a journalist, do fact checks, things like that…

Sure, I guess in it’s broadest sense, what Queerty did was editorial. It was reporting, I suppose. But not with any journalistic integrity. Blogs have their place. Love ‘em. And the internet has opened up a whole slew of positive consequences in the field of journalism in general — voices like ours being heard, for example. I am grateful for blogs as they allow gay news and stories get heard like never before.

But if we reach a point where we count on blogs for our reporting, we’re going to a bad place.

It’s always Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!

I hate Larry Kramer on Curb Your Enthusiasm but what has that got to do with GAY?

And I thought Texas was going to secede. So, what’s all this fuss about Dallas?

Step out of your million dollar ivory towers in the Hamptons (or wherever the hell you A-list rich gays live) and spend some time visiting life in the disenfranchised gay communities across America. Perhaps then you will whistle a different tune from the usual ” Look how WONDERFUL and SPECIAL we are in the GLBT media, we DESERVE glory and people kissing our asses due to our wealth and palm greasing talents”.

You make me ashamed to call you members of the GLBT community.

Oops, I forgot, the word “community” is a “socialist” term.

Interesting perspective Charles, but I don’t buy it.

The very undertone of your above comment combined with the extravagant, elitist and blatant exclusivity of your above link to your website clearly shows that you are so out of touch with what is really going on in GLBT media and culture these days.

“Self-made Millionaire”, “Marxism”, “Socialist Movement”, “Dallas Principles” Hmm…. These sound like terms coming straight from the wealthy conservative Republican party, and Lord forbid that as a gay “millionaire” you would call yourself a Republican……….Give me a break !!

Let’s look at the Dallas Principles for what it really is. A bunch of elitist, wealthy and privileged GLBT “activist” figures who secretly sent invitations to other elitists to have this cafe latte summit in a city which supports this type of elitist republican ideology. You created some plan that you somehow think will get you all the next gay nobel prize for world peace (gee, that would look great on your wealthy portfolios…….)

The fact is, many have never heard of any of you on that author list prior to this venture, unless of course you are well known in the posh gay Conde Naste / Airline “society” in which case that would explain how you all chose Dallas for your summit…….

Rest assured, this comment isn’t coming from one of the other “activist” organizations because I think they are all a bunch of elitist blowhards as well. However, if you are going to voice your opinion about the gay media, perhaps you should refer to everyday people in the community and not your celebrity “rags to riches” people and your first class travel publications, both of which have contributed largely to this divide in the GLBT community and of the exclusive nature of GLBT reporting.

Perhaps you should paint some scenes of GLBT ghetto life. At least that would be more in touch with the modern plight of GLBT culture, not grandiose Venetian backdrops from a five star cafe……

While the newspapers slept, TPM exposed the scandal that brought down Atty. Gen. Gonzales: the political firings of US Attys. across the nation, and the political machinations here in DC in engineering those firings.

Or, perhaps you missed the news stream on the latest Iranian near-counterrevolution, brought by Tweet, YouTube, Andrew Sullivan, and others? It was that ‘Net stream that lured traditional media to the hotspot. Many were kept away by the authorities, and when everyone was kicked out, the ‘Net news stream was our only source, and a powerful one at that.

Or, maybe you missed some years ago the LGBT news about “ex-gay” Newsweek coverboy John Paulk being confronted in a gay bar? It ran ‘Net-only before being published in print, and mostly circulated widely online nationwide, moreso than in print.

Reading news on the ‘Net may hurt your eyes, but it has often been a pleasure to mine.

(LaPoint: the Dallas Morning News ran a puff piece; Queerty asked questions and found a very different picture, indeed. That’s called reporting. That’s called editorial content. And in this instance, it’s called a clear win for Queerty over a 124-year-old daily newspaper.)

Agreed…book is much better now…one of the dopes bashing Jon’s editorial referred to the cover story about the straight Irag vet (and other straight military members) who are currently leading the fight to kill Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. “Wendy” slams this as moronic and stupid, having CLEARLY not read the piece. She’s the moron.

And another thing…people here claiming that Queerty and Towleroad and superior…THEY DON’T CREATE ANY EDIT, YOU IDIOTS…they just aggregate it. Support Towleroad while ignoring the producers of the content and eventually Towleroad (which I love) goes away. GET A CLUE.

The Dallas Principles were fine, but not enough. A list of goals is a good start, but Equality Across America will take it from there. We have attracted the young generation of activists and our March For Equality has already delivered the Hates Crime Laws.

Get involved. ENDA, DADT and DOMA go down next. We’ll March and demand again and a again – if we need to. It’s time to act up and demand all of our rights – now.

…why’d Regent buy them?

And why does your mastery of the obvious not address the folly in trying to contort dying brands into the new hip thing? That was the bottom line of my post above, which you’ve completely dodged.

Or hell, reading a news paper or the huffington post since it is not exactly obscure news. You had people joking a few months ago about a bail out for print mags. You have multiple mags not just down sizing but going under.

If you are going to post comments, you should at least try not to do so with something so easily verifiable as the state of the print and media industries right now.

Hell, they are calling for the death of indie film right now because most of those companies are facing similar pressures. Get out of your bubble. It is embarrassing to read these comments here.

That’s because it’s GM Stephan Macias’ job to be the fawning mouthpiece for “Mr. Colichman.” Macias doesn’t have a business bone in his body, and is the antithesis of contributing to collaborative work environment (he’s too busy managing up).

But goodness, don’t tell HIM he’s not senior management!

Yes, some large media corporations have experienced layoffs as well, but the adjective is important. Their size allows them to experience attrition without risk to the company as a going concern. And some, like NBC, have major parent corps. backing them up. If GE is about to go under, *then* you can equate them with small and mightily-challenged niche corps.

The other factor your “reality check” ignores is what most daily newspaper corps. and other traditional media have ignored: we’re not just dealing with competing businesses here, but competing lifestyle assumptions. Traditional media are engaging in convulsions, sometimes death throws, to recast themselves as products for people who are simply looking elsewhere for their news, entertainment, and other electronic content.

Your “reality check” seems to be saying: “everyone’s suffering, so you cannot say any one company is in terrible shape.” I’ve heard that before, from people who worked for major newspapers that simply no longer exist.

Most print media is down sizing right now, and several key players are shifting to online media. Actually, they were headed this way before the economic collapse of the last year. So, when people post comments to suggest that somehow these shifts are proof that The Advocate or Here is having problems, I am not exactly certain what planet you are living on. The company may or may not be having problems, but the proof given thus far is let’s just say light in the current media landscape. Based on the evidence used here, one could conclude that every media company in the U.S. is about to go under considering companies like NBC, CBS and others are cutting staff. Hell, even Yahoo has cut its staff. Again, Queerty may turn out to have been right, but not based on this evidence.

I think giving Queerty a shout is the best idea I’ve heard to date. :)

SO this is our final thought on today’s Advocate: Good Riddance to Bad rubbish!

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNlKdY3LzEA