Following the decidedly unceremonious demise of the Washington Blade earlier this week, some former staffers have voluntarily worked together to start a new publication called D.C. Agenda. The first issues were hand-delivered this morning.
On its website, D.C. Agenda, says, "The former staff of the Washington Blade remains united, and DC Agenda represents our effort at continuing the important mission and work of the Blade. It will grow and evolve to include a much larger and more diverse group of voices. But the core of the Washington Blade’s work remains unchanged. We will cover Congress, the White House, the LGBT rights movement, the D.C. marriage fight, local hate crimes and other political issues important to the LGBT residents of the city".
The pioneering, 40-year-old Washington Blade was considered The New York Times of LGBT news. The sudden revelation that parent company Window Media was shuttering and liquidating its entire stable of newspapers came as a complete shock to the staff, who were told the company was being sold. Some of them had devoted their entire careers to the paper, which had become an institution.
"We were ushered out the doors of our offices with no severance, canceled paychecks and more questions than answers about why this was allowed to happen," said a spokesperson in the wake of the bloodbath. Workers at Atlanta's Southern Voice were actually locked out of the building.
The staff is asking supporters to visit savetheblade.com for informational updates, and to make donations to D.C. Agenda.
On the site, the group says, "The Blade's importance to our area cannot be overstated. From the HIV/AIDS epidemic to hate crimes to the drive for marriage equality, the paper reported stories that the mainstream press initially didn't or wouldn't cover. And in the quest for fairness, it held people accountable -- gay and straight, elected officials and community leaders. Because of that, the Washington Blade, with more than 250,000 unique visitors to its Web site each month and a circulation of 23,000, was considered the paper of record by gays and lesbians across the country. Control of its archive of papers and photographs at its offices in the National Press Club is now in the hands of a bankruptcy trustee. Every effort should be made to keep the archive accessible to researchers and historians."
Don't let quality gay media die because of Window Media's mismanagement!
For more information:
- Make a donation at Buy a Brick
- Check out D.C Agenda
- Visit Window Media (if you can get through)
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Comments
The Windows Media debacle started years ago.. all the gold badge wearing gays thought that it was a good idea to have all the gay papers owned by one company and not one journalist thought to question if this was a good idea..... how long did that last? Five years? Maybe someone will wake up before Regent Media does the same thing to Out/Advocate/Unzipped/Here/Alyson. Closing down LGBT media does more damage to our community than any right wing religious group ever could. When you silence respectable journalism, we end up with (barf) blogs written by amateurs with zero integrity.
I should add here, Kevin, I'm not referring to you, you actually are one of the few online good news sources.
Rick,
Thank you for the compliment! I agree, it's a bad idea to monopolize gay media. The same thing that happened with Window Media is happening with Regent. The Advocate has been reduced to a tiny little insert in glam fashion magazine Out. These people have absolutely no respect for the properties they hold. It's all about share price and marketing, forget quality. This is a dangerous trend for LGBT media in the US.
Beyond Windows Media mismanagement or monopoly issues, I think this sudden collapse is also related to the combined factors of tanked economy plus the ongoing demise of print media in general. Circulation figures are generally mediocre to bad for print publications right now. I agree the Washington Blade has (had) a remarkable record of important reporting and coverage. Will the community support the DC Agenda in its place? Are they going to remain print-centric, or will they tackle new media markets and marketing aggressively? I hope the later, or a happy combination of the two. It's hard for print media to find the right formula for success these days. I wish them well.
The link to the new website is incorrect.
It has an extra 'http\\' in it.
Marty - the links are all working correctly now. Thanks for bringing that to my attention!
Teramis - I agree, print has been dying as the Internet and new media have kept growing. But Window Media knew this was coming, and should have treated their (former) employees with respect. Their determination is inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time.
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