The Village Voice
{{short description|American weekly newspaper}}
{{about|the New York newspaper|the Ottawa Hills, Ohio magazine|The Village Voice of Ottawa Hills}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2013}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name = The Village Voice
| image = 200px
| type = Alternative weekly
| format = Tabloid
| owners = Brian Calle{{Cite news |last=Robertson |first=Katie |date=December 22, 2020 |title=The Village Voice Rises From the Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/business/media/village-voice-new-owner.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424225902/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/business/media/village-voice-new-owner.html |archive-date=April 24, 2021 |access-date=April 24, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times}}
| chiefeditor =
| foundation = October 26, 1955
| founders = {{ubl|Ed Fancher|Dan Wolf|John Wilcock|Norman Mailer}}
| headquarters = 36 Cooper Square
New York City 10003
U.S.{{cite web|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/about/index/|title=About Us|publisher=Villagevoice.com|access-date=November 24, 2013 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127162939/http://www.villagevoice.com/about/index/|archive-date=November 27, 2013|df=mdy-all}}
| political =
| language =
| ceased publication = {{end date|2017|08|22}}
| relaunched = {{start date|2021|04|17}}
| publishing_city =
| publishing_country =
| circulation_date = 2017
| readership =
| sister newspapers =
| eISSN =
| oclc =
| RNI =
| website = {{URL|https://www.villagevoice.com/}}
| free =
| circulation = 105,000
| ISSN = 0042-6180
}}
File:Village Voice (48072654421).jpg
The Village Voice is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, The Voice began as a platform for the creative community of New York City. It ceased publication in 2017, although its online archives remained accessible. After an ownership change, The Voice reappeared in print as a quarterly in April 2021.
The Village Voice has received three Pulitzer Prizes, the National Press Foundation Award, and the George Polk Award. The Village Voice hosted a variety of writers and artists, including writer Ezra Pound, cartoonist Lynda Barry, artist Greg Tate, music critic Robert Christgau, and film critics Andrew Sarris, Jonas Mekas, and J. Hoberman.
In October 2015, The Village Voice changed ownership and severed all ties with former parent company Voice Media Group (VMG).Pompeo, Joe (October 12, 2015), [http://www.politico.com/media/story/2015/10/village-voice-sold-to-new-owner-004344 "Village Voice sold to new owner"], Politico. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801194902/http://www.politico.com/media/story/2015/10/village-voice-sold-to-new-owner-004344 |date=August 1, 2017}}. The Voice announced on August 22, 2017, that it would cease publication of its print edition and convert to a fully digital venture, on a date to be announced.Leland, John, and Sarah Maslin Nir (August 22, 2017), [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/nyregion/village-voice-to-end-print-publication.html?mcubz=1 "After 62 Years and Many Battles, Village Voice Will End Print Publication"], The New York Times. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823215238/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/nyregion/village-voice-to-end-print-publication.html?mcubz=1 |date=August 23, 2017}}. The final printed edition, featuring a 1965 photo of Bob Dylan on the cover, was distributed on September 21, 2017.{{cite news |last1=Helmore |first1=Edward |title=The Village Voice prints its final edition – with Bob Dylan on the cover |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/sep/21/village-voice-final-edition-new-york-bob-dylan |access-date=September 21, 2017 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=September 21, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922013933/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/sep/21/village-voice-final-edition-new-york-bob-dylan |archive-date=September 22, 2017 |df=mdy-all}} After halting print publication in 2017, The Voice provided daily coverage through its website until August 31, 2018, when it announced it was ceasing production of new editorial content.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/business/media/the-village-voice-closes.html |title=The Village Voice, a New York Icon, Closes |last1=Pager |first1=Tyler |date=August 31, 2018 |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 5, 2018 |first2=Jaclyn |last2=Peiserr}} On December 23, 2020, editor R. C. Baker announced that the paper would resume publishing new articles both online and in a quarterly print edition.{{Cite web|last=Baker|first=R. C.|date=December 23, 2020 |title=65 Years and Counting|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2020/12/23/65-years-and-counting/|access-date=September 22, 2021 |website=villagevoice.com}} In January 2021, new original stories began being published again on the website.{{Cite web|title=Dispatches From the Divide: Michigan's No-Shows |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2021/01/18/dispatches-from-the-divide-michigans-no-shows/|first=Will|last=Sennott|access-date=January 19, 2021 |website=villagevoice.com|date=January 18, 2021}} A spring print edition was released in April 2021.{{cite web|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2021/04/17/nomadland-judas-minari-whos-getting-the-oscar-and-why-it-still-matters/|first=Michael|last=Musto|author-link=Michael Musto|title=Nomadland! Judas! Minari! Who's Getting the Oscar and Why It Still Matters|website=villagevoice.com|date=April 17, 2021}} The Voice{{'s}} website continues to feature archival material related to current events.
History
=Early history=
File:1955 October cover The Village Voice.jpg
The Village Voice was launched by Ed Fancher, Dan Wolf, and Norman MailerLawrence van Gelder, [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE4DF1E39F931A25757C0A960958260 Dan Wolf, 80, a Village Voice Founder, Dies] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214075340/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE4DF1E39F931A25757C0A960958260 |date=February 14, 2009}}, The New York Times, April 12, 1996. Accessed online June 2, 2008. on October 26, 1955, from a two-bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village; that was its initial coverage area, which expanded to other parts of the city by the 1960s. In 1960, it moved from 22 Greenwich Avenue to 61 Christopher Street in a landmark triangular corner building adjoining Sheridan Square, and a few feet west of the Stonewall Inn;{{cite web |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2008/10/13/the-voice-makes-a-move-in-1960/ |title=The Voice Makes a Move in 1960 |website=villagevoice.com |date=October 13, 2008 |access-date=April 27, 2018 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301164357/https://www.villagevoice.com/2008/10/13/the-voice-makes-a-move-in-1960/ |archive-date=March 1, 2018 |df=mdy-all}} then, from the 1970s through 1980, at 11th Street and University Place; and then Broadway and 13th Street. It moved to Cooper Square in the East Village in 1991, and in 2013, to the Financial District.[http://bedfordandbowery.com/2013/09/ladies-and-gentlemen-the-village-voice-has-left-the-village/ Ladies and Gentlemen, The Village Voice Has Left The Village] {{webarchive|url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20130917222926/http://bedfordandbowery.com/2013/09/ladies-and-gentlemen-the-village-voice-has-left-the-village/ |date=September 17, 2013}}, Bedford + Bowery. Accessed online September 16, 2013.
Early columnists of the 1950s and 1960s included Jonas Mekas, who explored the underground film movement in his "Film Journal" column; Linda Solomon, who reviewed the Village club scene in the "Riffs" column; and Sam Julty, who wrote a popular column on car ownership and maintenance. John Wilcock wrote a column every week for the paper's first ten years. Another regular from that period was the cartoonist Kin Platt, who did weekly theatrical caricatures. Other prominent regulars have included Peter Schjeldahl, Ellen Willis, Jill Johnston, Tom Carson, and Richard Goldstein. Staff of The Voice joined a union, the Distributive Workers of America, in 1977.{{Cite news| issn = 0362-4331| title = Village Voice Employees Vote To Join a Local of District 65|work=The New York Times| access-date = 2021-09-12| date = 1977-07-01| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/01/archives/village-voice-employees-vote-to-join-a-local-of-district-65.html}}
For more than 40 years, Wayne Barrett was the newspaper's muckraker, covering New York real estate developers and politicians, including Donald Trump. The material continued to be a valuable resource for reporters covering the Trump presidency.
The Voice has published investigations of New York City politics, as well as reporting on national politics, with arts, culture, music, dance, film, and theater reviews. Writers and cartoonists for The Voice have received three Pulitzer Prizes: in 1981 (Teresa Carpenter, for feature writing),[http://www.pulitzer.org/cgi-bin/year.pl?1409,27 The Pulitzer Prize Winners, 1981] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223410/http://www.pulitzer.org/cgi-bin/year.pl?1409,27 |date=March 3, 2016}}, official Pulitzer Prize site. Accessed online June 5, 2008. 1986 (Jules Feiffer, for editorial cartooning)[http://www.pulitzer.org/cgi-bin/year.pl?1517,31 The Pulitzer Prize Winners, 1986] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165350/http://www.pulitzer.org/cgi-bin/year.pl?1517,31 |date=March 3, 2016}}, official Pulitzer Prize site. Accessed online June 5, 2008. and 2000 (Mark Schoofs, for international reporting).[http://www.pulitzer.org/cgi-bin/year.pl?1819,28 The Pulitzer Prize Winners, 2000] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191359/http://www.pulitzer.org/cgi-bin/year.pl?1819,28 |date=March 3, 2016}}, official Pulitzer Prize site. Accessed online June 5, 2008. The paper has, almost since its inception, recognized alternative theater in New York through its Obie Awards.[http://www.villagevoice.com/obies/index.php?page=about] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071209152059/http://www.villagevoice.com/obies/index.php?page=about|date=December 9, 2007}} The paper's "Pazz & Jop" music poll, started by Robert Christgau in the early 1970s, is released annually and remains an influential survey of the nation's music critics. In 1999, film critic J. Hoberman and film section editor Dennis Lim began a similar Village Voice Film Poll for the year in film. In 2001, The Voice sponsored its first music festival, the Siren Music Festival, a free annual event every summer held at Coney Island. The event moved to the lower tip of Manhattan in 2011, and was re-christened the "4knots Music Festival", a reference to the speed of the East River's current.{{cite web |last=Johnston |first=Maura |author-link=Maura Johnston |url=http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2011/04/4knots_music_festival_announcement_july_16_2011.php |title=Maura Johnston, "Announcing The 4Knots Music Festival, Taking Place This July 16", The Village Voice Blogs, April 14, 2011 |publisher=Blogs.villagevoice.com |date=April 14, 2011 |access-date=November 24, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202231805/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2011/04/4knots_music_festival_announcement_july_16_2011.php |archive-date=December 2, 2013 |df=mdy-all}}
During the 1980s and onward, The Voice was known for its staunch support for gay rights, and it published an annual Gay Pride issue every June. However, early in its history, the newspaper had a reputation as having a homophobic slant. While reporting on the Stonewall riots of 1969, the newspaper referred to the riots as "The Great Faggot Rebellion".{{cite web |first1=Walter Troy|last1=Spencer |title=Too Much My Dear |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1299&dat=19690710&id=u-wjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=K4wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1707,293555&hl=en |newspaper=The Village Voice |date=July 10, 1969|access-date=August 18, 2015|via=Google News}} Two reporters, Howard Smith and Lucian Truscott IV, both used the words "faggot" and "dyke" in their articles about the riots. (These words were not commonly used by homosexuals to refer to each other at this time.) Smith and Truscott retrieved their press cards from The Voice offices, which were very close to the bar, as the trouble began; they were among the first journalists to record the event, Smith being trapped inside the bar with the police, and Truscott reporting from the street.{{cite web |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2009/06/24/stonewall-at-40-the-voice-articles-that-sparked-a-final-night-of-rioting/ |title=Stonewall at 40: The Voice Articles That Sparked a Final Night of Rioting |website=villagevoice.com |date=June 24, 2009 |access-date=April 27, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424034403/https://www.villagevoice.com/2009/06/24/stonewall-at-40-the-voice-articles-that-sparked-a-final-night-of-rioting/ |archive-date=April 24, 2018 |df=mdy-all}} After the riot, the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) attempted to promote dances for gays and lesbians in The Voice, but were not allowed to use the words "gay" or "homosexual", which the newspaper considered derogatory. The newspaper changed its policy after the GLF petitioned it to do so.{{cite book|first=David|last=Carter|title=Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked The Gay Revolution|date=May 25, 2010|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York City|isbn=978-0312671938|page=226}} Over time, The Voice changed its stance, and, in 1982, became the second organization in the US known to have extended domestic partner benefits. Jeff Weinstein, an employee of the paper and shop steward for the publishing local of District 65 UAW, negotiated and won agreement in the union contract to extend health, life insurance, and disability benefits to the "spouse equivalents" of its union members.{{cite web |url=http://www.culturevulture.net/ArthurLazere-Journalist/Journalism-OntheJob/DomesticPartners.htm |title=DomesticPartners |date=February 12, 2009 |access-date=June 25, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212223047/http://www.culturevulture.net/ArthurLazere-Journalist/Journalism-OntheJob/DomesticPartners.htm |archive-date=February 12, 2012}}
The Voice{{'}}s competitors in New York City include The New York Observer and Time Out New York. Seventeen alternative weeklies around the United States are owned by The Voice's former parent company Village Voice Media. The film section writers and editors also produced a weekly Voice Film Club podcast.{{cite web |url=https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/voice-film-club/id686641853?mt=2 |title=iTunes – Podcasts – Voice Film Club by The Village Voice |publisher=iTunes |access-date=June 25, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626113431/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/voice-film-club/id686641853?mt=2 |archive-date=June 26, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}
In 1996, after decades of carrying a cover price, The Voice switched from a paid weekly to a free, alternative weekly. The Voice website was a recipient of the National Press Foundation's Online Journalism Award in 2001[http://www.nationalpress.org/info-url3520/info-url_show.htm?doc_id=263665 Excellence in Online Journalism Award: Past Winners 2000–2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212132950/http://www.nationalpress.org/info-url3520/info-url_show.htm?doc_id=263665 |date=February 12, 2009 }}, NPF Awards, National Press Foundation. Accessed online June 2, 2008. and the Editor & Publisher EPpy Award for Best Overall U.S. Newspaper Online Service – Weekly, Community, Alternative & Free in 2003.{{cite web |url=http://royal.reliaserve.com/eppy/winners2003.html |title=royal.reliaserve.com |publisher=Royal.reliaserve.com |access-date=June 25, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629221816/http://royal.reliaserve.com/eppy/winners2003.html |archive-date=June 29, 2017 |df=mdy-all }}
In 2005, the Phoenix alternative weekly chain New Times Media purchased the company and took the Village Voice Media name. Previous owners of The Village Voice or of Village Voice Media have included co-founders Fancher{{cite web|title=Edwin Fancher Oral History – On founding the Voice|url=http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/resources/oral_his.htm#EF|publisher=Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation|access-date=June 1, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627040922/http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/resources/oral_his.htm#EF|archive-date=June 27, 2015|df=mdy-all}} and Wolf, New York City Councilman Carter Burden, New York magazine founder Clay Felker, Rupert Murdoch, and Leonard Stern of the Hartz Mountain empire.
=Acquisition by New Times Media=
After The Village Voice was acquired by New Times Media in 2005, the publication's key personnel changed. The Voice was then managed by two journalists from Phoenix, Arizona.
In April 2006, The Voice dismissed music editor Chuck Eddy.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/arts/music/30idol.html |title=Idolator and Pazz & Jop Polls - Report |last=Sisario |first=Ben |date=November 30, 2006 |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 2, 2018}} Four months later, the newspaper sacked longtime music critic Robert Christgau. In January 2007, the newspaper fired sex columnist and erotica author Rachel Kramer Bussel; long-term creative director Ted Keller, art director Minh Oung, fashion columnist Lynn Yaeger and Deputy Art Director LD Beghtol were laid off or fired soon afterward. Editor in chief Donald Forst resigned in December 2005. Doug Simmons, his replacement, was sacked in March 2006 after it was discovered that a reporter had fabricated portions of an article. Simmons' successor, Erik Wemple, resigned after two weeks. His replacement, David Blum, was fired in March 2007. Tony Ortega then held the position of editor in chief from 2007 to 2012.
The sacking of Nat Hentoff, who worked for the paper from 1958 to 2008, led to further criticism of the management by some of its current writers, Hentoff himself, and by The Voice{{-'}}s ideological rival paper National Review, which referred to Hentoff as a "treasure"."[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/business/media/31voice.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss Village Voice Lays Off Nat Hentoff and 2 Others] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116153645/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/business/media/31voice.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss |date=January 16, 2017}}". The New York Times, December 30, 2008.Kathryn Jean Lopez, "[http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjJlNDY4YTFhZmRhMDhlMzZkNzE3YjkyNmZmMjUwYjg= The Village Voice] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090102001354/http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjJlNDY4YTFhZmRhMDhlMzZkNzE3YjkyNmZmMjUwYjg= |date=January 2, 2009}}". National Review, December 31, 2008. At the end of 2011, Wayne Barrett, who had written for the paper since 1973, was laid off. Fellow muckraking investigative reporter Tom Robbins then resigned in solidarity.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/nyregion/05voice.html |title=2 Veterans Leave Village Voice |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 5, 2011 |access-date=February 23, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202200606/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/nyregion/05voice.html |archive-date=February 2, 2017 |df=mdy-all|last=Peters |first=Jeremy W. }}
=Voice Media Group=
Following a scandal concerning The Village Voice
In May 2013, The Village Voice editor Will Bourne and deputy editor Jessica Lustig told The New York Times that they were quitting the paper rather than executing further staff layoffs.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/business/media/top-editors-abruptly-leave-village-voice.html?_r=0 |title=Top Editors Abruptly Leave Village Voice Over Staff Cuts |last=Carr |first=David |date=May 10, 2013 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=May 11, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608004216/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/business/media/top-editors-abruptly-leave-village-voice.html?_r=0 |archive-date=June 8, 2013 |url-status=live |author-link=David Carr (journalist) |df=mdy-all}} Both had been recent appointments. By then, The Voice had employed five editors since 2005. Following Bourne's and Lustig's departure, Village Media Group management fired three of The Voice{{-'}}s longest-serving contributors: gossip and nightlife columnist Michael Musto, restaurant critic Robert Sietsema, and theater critic Michael Feingold, all of whom had been writing for the paper for decades.{{cite news |last=Hallock |first=Betty |title=Village Voice 'bloodbath' sends restaurant critic Robert Sietsema packing |url=https://latimes.com/features/food/dailydish/la-dd-village-voice-cuts-longtime-restaurant-critic-robert-sietsema-20130517,0,7776071.story |newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=May 17, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524072552/http://www.latimes.com/features/food/dailydish/la-dd-village-voice-cuts-longtime-restaurant-critic-robert-sietsema-20130517,0,7776071.story |archive-date=May 24, 2013 |df=mdy-all}}{{cite news |last1=Kassel |first1=Matthew |last2=Bloomgarden-Smoke |first2=Kara |title=Longtime writers out at The Village Voice |url=http://observer.com/2013/05/longtime-writers-out-at-the-village-voice/ |newspaper=New York Observer |date=May 17, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615182044/http://observer.com/2013/05/longtime-writers-out-at-the-village-voice/ |archive-date=June 15, 2013 |df=mdy-all}}{{cite news|author-link1=Robert Simonson |last=Simonson |first=Robert |title=Michael Feingold, longtime critic, let go from Village Voice |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/178166-Michael-Feingold-Longtime-Critic-Let-Go-from-Village-Voice |newspaper=Playbill |date=May 20, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607193943/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/178166-Michael-Feingold-Longtime-Critic-Let-Go-from-Village-Voice |archive-date=June 7, 2013 |df=mdy-all}} Feingold was rehired as a writer for The Village Voice in January 2016.{{cite news|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2016/01/12/my-second-fifteen-minutes-michael-feingold-returns-to-the-village-voice/|title='My Second Fifteen Minutes': Michael Feingold Returns to the Village Voice|last=Feingold|first=Michael|date=January 12, 2016|newspaper=The Village Voice|access-date=March 30, 2019}} Michael Musto was also rehired in 2016 and wrote cover stories regarding subjects like Oscar scandals and Madonna's body of work. Musto returned again to write features in 2021 under new publisher Brian Calle.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}
In July 2013, Voice Media Group executives named Tom Finkel as editor.{{cite web |url=http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/07/tom_finkel_village_voice_editor.php |title=Tom Finkel Named as Editor of the Village Voice |publisher=Blogs.villagevoice.com |date=July 8, 2013 |access-date=November 24, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131116002029/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/07/tom_finkel_village_voice_editor.php |archive-date=November 16, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}
=Peter Barbey ownership and construction=
Peter Barbey, through the privately owned investment company Black Walnut Holdings LLC, purchased The Village Voice from Voice Media Group in October 2015.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/nyregion/village-voice-sold-to-peter-barbey-owner-of-a-pennsylvania-newspaper.html |title=Village Voice Sold to Peter Barbey, Owner of a Pennsylvania Newspaper |date=October 12, 2015 |access-date=October 18, 2015 |last=Santora |first=Marc |newspaper=The New York Times |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016004736/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/nyregion/village-voice-sold-to-peter-barbey-owner-of-a-pennsylvania-newspaper.html |archive-date=October 16, 2015 |df=mdy-all }} Barbey is a member of one of America's wealthiest families.{{cite journal |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/barbey/?list=families |title=America's Richest Families #48 Barbey family |last1=Dolan |first1=Karen A. |last2=Kroll |first2=Luisa |date=July 1, 2015 |access-date=October 18, 2015 |journal=Forbes |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018001044/http://www.forbes.com/profile/barbey/?list=families |archive-date=October 18, 2015 |df=mdy-all}} The family has had ownership interest in the Reading Eagle, a daily newspaper serving the city of Reading, Pennsylvania and the surrounding region, for many years. Barbey serves as president and CEO of the Reading Eagle Company, and holds the same roles at The Village Voice. After taking over ownership of The Voice, Barbey named Joe Levy, formerly of Rolling Stone, as interim editor in chief,{{cite web |url=http://www.adweek.com/fishbowlny/village-voice-joe-levy-interim-eic/384026 |title=Village Voice Taps Joe Levy as Interim EIC |website=www.adweek.com |date=August 26, 2016 |language=en-US |access-date=January 18, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116235929/http://www.adweek.com/fishbowlny/village-voice-joe-levy-interim-eic/384026 |archive-date=November 16, 2016 |df=mdy-all}} and Suzan Gursoy, formerly of Ad Week, as publisher.{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/05/village-voice-hires-new-publisher-ahead-of-extensive-relaunch-004532|title=Village Voice hires new publisher ahead of 'extensive relaunch'|newspaper=Politico Media|access-date=January 18, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131184340/http://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/05/village-voice-hires-new-publisher-ahead-of-extensive-relaunch-004532 |archive-date=January 31, 2017 |df=mdy-all}} In December 2016, Barbey named Stephen Mooallem, formerly of Harper's Bazaar, as editor in chief.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/business/media/the-village-voice-names-a-new-top-editor-again.html |title=The Village Voice Names a New Top Editor, Again |last=Ember |first=Sydney |date=2016-12-05 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=January 18, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161217002639/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/business/media/the-village-voice-names-a-new-top-editor-again.html |archive-date=December 17, 2016 |df=mdy-all}} Mooallem resigned in May 2018, and was not replaced before the publication's shutdown.
Under the Barbey ownership, advertisements for escort agencies and phone sex services came to an end.
On August 31, 2018, it was announced that the Village Voice would cease production and lay off half of its staff. The remaining staff would be kept on for a limited period for archival projects.{{cite news |url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/31/media/the-village-voice-shuts-down/index.html |title=The Village Voice folds after more than 60 years |last=Darcy |first=Oliver |work=CNN Business |access-date=September 2, 2018}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/national-international/Village-Voice-New-York-City-Newspaper-Alt-Weekly-Ends-Publication-NYC-492190311.html |title=Groundbreaking Alternative Paper Village Voice Shuts Down |date=August 31, 2018 |work=NBC 10 Philadelphia |access-date=September 2, 2018}}{{cite news |url=https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/village-voice-news-layoff.php |title=The Village Voice ends editorial production, lays off half of staff |last=Neason |first=Alexandria |date=August 31, 2018 |work=Columbia Journalism Review |access-date=September 2, 2018}} An August 31 piece by freelancer Steven Wishnia was hailed as the last article to be published on the website. Two weeks after the Village Voice ceased operations on September 13, co-founder John Wilcock died in California at the age of 91.
=Return to print =
In January 2021, a new original story — the first one in two-and-a-half years — was published on the website of The Village Voice.{{Cite web|date=January 18, 2021|title=Dispatches From the Divide: Michigan's No-Shows {{!}} The Village Voice|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2021/01/18/dispatches-from-the-divide-michigans-no-shows/|access-date=January 19, 2021|website=www.villagevoice.com}} On April 17, 2021, the Spring 2021 issue of The Village Voice appeared in news boxes and on newsstands for the first time since 2018. At the time, The Village Voice was a quarterly publication.{{Cite news |last=Robertson |first=Katie |date=April 19, 2021 |title=The Village Voice Returns, and It's 'Very Village Voice-y' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/business/media/the-village-voice-returns.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423220130/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/business/media/the-village-voice-returns.html |archive-date=April 23, 2021 |access-date=2021-04-23 |newspaper=The New York Times}}
As of July 2024, many articles on The Village Voice
Contributors
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2019}}
The Voice has published columns and works by writers such as Ezra Pound, Henry Miller, Barbara Garson, Katherine Anne Porter, James Baldwin, E.E. Cummings, Nat Hentoff, staff writer and author Ted Hoagland, Colson Whitehead, Tom Stoppard, Paul Lukas, Lorraine Hansberry, Lester Bangs, Allen Ginsberg and Joshua Clover. Former editors have included Clay Felker.
The newspaper has also been a host to underground cartoonists. In addition to mainstay Jules Feiffer, whose cartoon ran for decades in the paper until its cancellation in 1996, well-known cartoonists featured in the paper have included R. Crumb, Matt Groening, Lynda Barry, Stan Mack, Mark Alan Stamaty, Ted Rall, Tom Tomorrow, Ward Sutton, Ruben Bolling and M. Wartella.
Publisher and editor of the newspaper David Schneiderman died in January 2025.{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/business/media/david-schneiderman-dead.html | title=David Schneiderman, Village Voice Editor and Publisher, Dies at 77 | work=The New York Times | last1=Gabriel | first1=Trip }}
Backpage sex trafficking
{{Main|Backpage}}
Backpage was a classified advertisement website owned by the same parent company as The Village Voice. In 2012, Nicholas Kristof wrote an article in The New York Times detailing a young woman's account of being sold on Backpage.{{cite news |last1=Kristof |first1=Nick |title=Where Pimps Peddle Their Goods |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/kristof-where-pimps-peddle-their-goods.html |access-date=May 18, 2019 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 17, 2012}} The Village Voice released an article entitled "What Nick Kristof Got Wrong" accusing Kristof of fabricating the story and ignoring journalistic standards.{{citation |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2012-03-21/news/kristof/ |title=What Nick Kristof Got Wrong: Village Voice Media Responds |date=November 18, 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115082042/https://www.villagevoice.com/2012/03/21/what-nick-kristof-got-wrong-village-voice-media-responds/ |archive-date=November 15, 2017 |access-date=May 17, 2019}} Kristof responded, noting that The Voice did not dispute the column, but rather tried to show how the timeline in Kristof's original piece was inaccurate. In this rebuttal, he not only justified his original timeline, but expressed sadness "to see Village Voice Media become a major player in sex trafficking, and to see it use its journalists as attack dogs for those who threaten its corporate interests", noting another instance of The Village Voice attacking journalists reporting on Backpage's role in sex trafficking.{{cite news |last1=Kristof |first1=Nick |title=Responding to Village Voice on Sex Trafficking [Opinion] |url=https://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/responding-to-village-voice-on-sex-trafficking/ |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=May 18, 2019 |date=March 21, 2012}}
After repeated calls for a boycott of The Village Voice, the company was sold to Voice Media Group.{{cite web |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/19/boycott-village-voice-senators-push-for-action-on-backpage-com |title=Boycott Village Voice? Senators Push for Action on Backpage.com |first=Kirsten |last=Powers |date=April 19, 2012 |via=The Daily Beast}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
{{refbegin}}
=Books=
- {{cite book|last=Frankfort|first=Ellen|url=https://archive.org/details/voicelifeatv00fran|title=The Voice: Life at the Village Voice, an Unauthorized Account|location= New York|publisher=William Morrow and Company|year=1976|isbn=978-0-688-03044-5 }}
- {{cite book|last=McAuliffe|first=Kevin Michael|url=https://archive.org/details/voicelifeatv00fran|title=The Great American Newspaper: The Rise and Fall of the Village Voice|location= New York|publisher= Charles Scribner's Sons|isbn=978-0684156026|year=1978}}
- {{cite book|author-link=Devon Powers|last=Powers|first= Devon|url=https://archive.org/details/writingrecordvil0000powe|title=Writing the Record: The Village Voice and the Birth of Rock Criticism|location=Amherst, Massachusetts|publisher= University of Massachusetts Press|date=2013}}
- {{cite book|last=Romano|first= Tricia|title=The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of The Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture|publisher= PublicAffairs|isbn=978-1541736399|date=2024}}
- {{cite book|editor-link=Geoffrey Stokes|editor-last=Stokes|editor-first= Geoffrey|url=https://archive.org/details/villagevoiceanth0000stok|title=The Village Voice Anthology (1956-1980): Twenty-five Years of Writing from the Village Voice|location=New York|publisher=William Morrow|date=1982}}
=Articles=
- Carson, Tom. [https://web.archive.org/web/20180912155956/https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-voice-and-its-village-carson "The Voice and Its Village."] The Baffler, September 7, 2018.
- Chonin, Neva. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/30/PKGM9DD1CB1.DTL "New Times."] San Francisco Chronicle, October 30, 2005, p. PK-16.
- Goodman, Amy, et al. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060803214428/http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06%2F04%2F13%2F145245 "Village Voice Shakeup: Top Investigative Journalist Fired, Prize-Winning Writers Resign Following Merger with New Times Media."] Democracy Now!, April 13, 2006.
- Jacobson, Mark. [https://web.archive.org/web/20051124185457/http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/media/features/14987/ "The Voice from Beyond the Grave: The legendary downtown paper has been a shell of its former self since it went free nearly a decade ago. But a potty-mouthed new owner—from Phoenix, no less—vows to make it relevant again"]. New York Magazine, November 14, 2005. Retrieved April 13, 2006.
- {{cite news |last1=Leland |first1=John |title=A Village Voice Reunion, and Nobody Got Punched |work=The New York Times |date=September 10, 2017 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/10/nyregion/village-voice-reunion.html |df=mdy-all }}
- Murphy, Jarrett. [http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0543,murphynews,69260,2.html "Village Voice Media, New Times Announce Merger: Deal to combine two largest alt-weekly chains would require Justice Department approval."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060220235636/http://villagevoice.com/news/0543,murphynews,69260,2.html |date=February 20, 2006 }} The Village Voice, October 24, 2005. Retrieved April 13, 2006.
- O'Neil, Luke. [https://archive.today/20210210123111/https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a57165/village-voice-oral-history/ "Generations of Village Voice Writers Reflect on the Paper Leaving the Honor Boxes."]Esquire, April 23, 2017. Archived from [https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a57165/village-voice-oral-history/ the original.]
- PR Newswire. [http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/take-three-the-third-annual-village-voice-film-critics-poll-75236222.html "TAKE THREE: The Third Annual Village Voice Film Critics' Poll."] The Village Voice, January 2, 2002.
- Sherman, Gabriel. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060426062525/http://www.nyobserver.com/20060424/20060424_Gabriel_Sherman_media_offtherecord.asp Can Village Voice Make It Without Its Lefty Zetz?] The New York Observer, April 24, 2006, p. 1. Retrieved April 20, 2006.
- Sisario, Ben. [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/arts/music/30idol.html?_r=1&oref=slogin "Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bloggy: An Online Poll Covets the Territory Once Owned by Pazz & Jop."] The New York Times, November 30, 2006.
- VanAirsdale, S. T. [http://www.thereeler.com/features/the_voice_in_the_wilderness.php "The Voice in the Wilderness: A look inside the Village Voice's troubled film section reveals acrimony, disappointment – and maybe even a future."] The Reeler, November 15, 2006. Retrieved November 16, 2006.
{{refend}}
External links
{{Commons category|The Village Voice}}
- {{Oweb|https://www.villagevoice.com/}}
- [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=KEtq3P1Vf8oC The Village Voice (digital archive)] at Google News
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|40.7283|-73.9911|region:US-NY_type:landmark|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Village Voice}}
Category:1955 establishments in New York City
Category:2018 disestablishments in New York (state)
Category:Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States
Category:Defunct newspapers published in New York City
Category:Newspapers established in 1955