Creative Loafing in Atlanta is reporting this morning that Window Media — the publisher of the Washington Blade, the Southern Voice and several other gay publications — shut down over the weekend. According to preliminary reports, staffers at Atlanta’s Southern Voice arrived at work today to find the locks changed and a notice on the doors to their offices. The shutdown apparently stems from the fact that a major shareholder in the publications’ parent company was forced into liquidation and faced federal receivership. In any case, it’s a sad day for the gay press everywhere. The Washington Blade has been the LGBT community’s newspaper of record for the last 40 years, and the Southern Voice has played a critical role in the Deep South for the last 20 years. But before anyone sounds the death knell of LGBT media in general, we should point out that this situation had relatively little to do with the the challenges we’re all facing in the newspaper industry or even the deep economic recession. Rather, the shutdown stems from Window Media’s longstanding financial troubles, which were largely a result of mismanagement. Also, despite the fact that some of them share the “Voice” name, none of these publications or companies is affiliated in any way with Dallas Voice, and as of 9:45 a.m. local time, the lights were still shining brightly at 4145 Travis St. Our hearts go out to our counterparts in other places who aren’t so fortunate. If these publications don’t quickly resurface under new names and/or ownership, it would be a huge loss to the LGBT community as a whole.
UPDATE: From the comments below, here’s DV Publisher Robert Moore’s take:
“The long sad saga of Window Media has come to end.
“Bad management and an acquisition strategy that relied on piling up massive amounts of debt during the good times plotted this story long ago. Once the economy tanked, there was no way to prop up the house of cards that Window had become. Finally, the chickens came home to roost.
“It is a very sad day to see such great titles silenced by greed.”
Robert Moore
Publisher
This is, indeed, sad news. Thanks, John, for reporting it.
The long sad saga of Window Media has come to end.
Bad management and an acquisition strategy that relied on piling up massive amounts of debt during the good times plotted this story long ago. Once the economy tanked, there was no way to prop up the house of cards that Window had become. Finally, the chickens came home to roost.
It is a very sad day to see such great titles silenced by greed.
Robert Moore
Publisher
If SoVo is truly shut down, I’ll feel very sad. I’ve got friends in Atlanta and used to read it to keep up with what was going on there, and had quite a bit of respect for their reporting.
When I read this I rushed to this site and was so relieved that you are not part of this group.
I have read the Washington Blade for some time and have been very disappointed in the way that they handled their “comments” section, allowing anti-gay voices to run or ruin the conversations repeatedly.
Thank you Dallas Voice for being such a quality publication and for indeed being the voice of the LGBT community.
This is a reflection of what has been happening in the publishing industry for the past 20 years. First it was consolidation. Most major cities now have only one daily newspaper. (Local example: the demise of the Dallas Times Herald in 1991). Now the industry is struggling with a paradigm shift: the population in general has shifted from printed news sources to online media. Publishing companies who have embraced technology (i. e. the Dallas Voice) have successfully maintained their readership demographics and advertising revenue base. Those who did not (i. e. This Week in Texas or TWT as it was commonly known) have folded. Having seen this phenomenon in mainstream media over the last 5-10 years, it comes as no surprise that it has finally hit our community niche. There will be more consolidations in the near future as publishing companies struggle with declining readership, declining advertising revenues and staggering debt loads. Furthermore, many smaller publishing companies have finally awakened to the fact that they really only have two available options: grow or die. My guess is, the administration of the Dallas Voice has already held a planning meeting to enter the Houston market. If they haven’t, I bet it happens before the day is out.
Actually I’m not sure ‘niche’ publications are doing that badly either here or nationally. Unless there’s something I’m not aware of, the Dallas Voice and the Observer are doing well. There are also about half a dozen African American weeklies and a number of spanish language publications doing well in Dallas. I’m not sure TWT really counts as a periodical, even in its heyday it was more of an advertising circular that got your attention with a salacious pinup on the cover.
It’s the traditional big city dailies that still haven’t figured out a way to make money off their product and as a consequence are shrinking their news bureaus with a corresponding negative effect on quality.
The demise of the Washington Blade really is sad – I remember it from the late 70s.
Robert
I would love to hear more about your thoughts on this.
Perhaps you could do an article on it.
I am not sure what you mean by silenced by greed.
Well how is the DallasVoice doing financially? Will it survive these terrible times?
You may want to do an UPDATE:
The City Paper and Politico are both reporting that the staff of the Washington Blade are starting up their own newspaper:
https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/11/16/blade-staff-to-launch-new-publication/
and
https://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/1109/Washington_Blade_folds_.html
Dallas Voice will survive. We have been impacted by the lousy economy just as every other company I know has been. But this company is debt free.
Luckily my original business partner drilled into me that you don’t run your business based on borrowed money. We control our destiny, not a cadre of lenders.
Robert Moore
Publisher
The acquisition strategy of Windows Media seems to be the problem. Seeing the Washington Blade and Southern Voice evaporate is truly a blow to the LGBT community but I feel pretty sure someone will step in to fill the void in a reasonable amount of time. Just wish I had the loot to fill the gap!
Well hang in there… after we all hit rock bottom, the only way is UP!!
Mr. Moore: what an enviable position to be in. If more folks would work on the philosophy of “if you can’t pay for it then don’t buy it” (including our national leaders, both present and past) perhaps our national economy wouldn’t have tanked quite so badly as it has. Using next month’s money to pay last month’s bills was never a very shrewd business philosophy. In the end, someone ends up not getting paid. These days, it appears to be the banks. (Source: http://www.fdic.gov) Too bad more people don’t follow your example.
We are fortunate because the wisdom and innovative ideas of Dallas’ Don Ritz and Robert Moore have had a long positive affect on our culture.