Via Queerty, news today that Window Media, the entity that published six LGBT newspapers and magazines, shut its doors this weekend leading to the death of six publications: Southern Voice, Washington Blade, South Florida Blade, 411 Magazine, Houston Voice and David Magazine.
This is just another casualty in the journalism meltdown we are experiencing, but it's particularly sad to see a company take down these LGBT publications. Often times those magazines and newspapers are really important for folks in the queer community, to connect, find events and read about the world from an LGBT perspective.
According to the AP, Window Media was the largest publisher of LGBT newspapers in the country. From Queerty:
So many LGBT Americans turned to Window's publications -- often before they were absorbed into the publisher's umbrella -- for the latest digest on local gay news, events, and attacks on the community. These papers were, unarguably, invaluable and this website and its readers have benefited directly from them. When it comes to hyper-local reporting, the various Blade titles were the biggest game in town.
It's so unfortunate to see these media conglomerates, which bought up numerous titles that were successfully running on their own, lead to the death of these publications. My only hope is that other entrepreneurial folks can step in to create new websites and publications to fill the void.
UPDATE: The Washington City Paper has more on the last day at the Washington Blade, including employees plans for a new publication:
The staff began forming plans to start a new publication within "about five minutes," Naff says. More information will be announced tomorrow. It won't be called the Blade.
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All of the Window Media publications were always top-heavy and disproportionately comprised of ad content at the expense of stories. As time progressed, this became even more so.
I still think shifting to a purely electronic issue would be the best alternative, particularly as print media loses more and more of its audience.