Report: Village Voice Nixes Weekly Print Edition After More than 60 Years
Billboard above the Bowery, 2008
Say goodbye to those Village Voice newspaper boxes. After more than sixty years serving up news to downtown New York City, current ownership decided to terminate the print format of the alt-weekly newspaper. The publication will remain online only as it struggles with success and relevance.
“For more than 60 years, The Village Voice brand has played an outsized role in American journalism, politics, and culture,” Peter Barbey, who purchased the Voice in 2015, reflected in a prepared statement. “It has been a beacon for progress and a literal voice for thousands of people whose identities, opinions, and ideas might otherwise have been unheard. I expect it to continue to be that and much, much more.”
An excerpt from the Hollywood Reporter:
The Village Voice, like most historically print-focused publications, has struggled with the shift to less-remunerative digital advertising. The paper was once reliant largely on classified advertising.
The company’s announcement, made Tuesday afternoon, came as a surprise, a shock and a disappointment to the larger media industry on Twitter. But Barbey said it shouldn’t. “The most powerful thing about the Voice wasn’t that it was printed on newsprint or that it came out every week,” he said. “It was that The Village Voice was alive, and that it changed in step with and reflected the times and the ever-evolving world around it. I want The Village Voice brand to represent that for a new generation of people—and for generations to come.”
The Village Voice left Cooper Square, headquarters since 1991, four years ago for the Financial District. However, its name still appears on the building. At least for now.
[h/t EV Grieve]
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