http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/othercities/tampabay/stories/2009/02/02/daily52.html

The City Paper has been on a decline ever since David Carr left, and Erik Wemple was given the keys to the editor's office to just "let it rip"

No surprise here that Erik is now whoring for his new boss. This blog post of his is like a p.r. release for his new bosses.

Just a reorganization and not a bad thing? Huh!

Many left on their own accord, convinced that Ben was trimming up the company so that he could sell the papers to another Alt Weekly chain.

As the next couple of years went by, staff suffered many indignities and smack-downs - there was no company loyalty, as the staff realized that the days of a happy and respectful work environment were over.
Ben even sold the company beach house in Tybee Island - Savannah, Georgia. This was the founder, Debby Eason's, way of showing how much she respected and loved her company and staff. The house could be used whenever staff members felt they needed a break. Nope, Ben took that away, too - as well as trimming salaries multiple times.
One colleague of mine had her pay rate change 3 times in one year! How fucked up is that?

As Ben trimmed staff salaries, he spent those savings on unnecessary salaries - friends of his who knew nothing of publishing. These friends were/are not respected by the staff - as the general consensus is that they are soul-sucking, self-serving, ass-kissing demon spawn created by Ben's fucked up business ideas.

Then came the hubris driven purchase of the Chicago Reader and the Washington City Paper.
With money the company didn't have - and the staff worried yet again.
The Chicago Reader, a fine example of an alternative weekly, was reduced to a shadow of its former self - and again, staff cuts at the CReader has its staff nervous and scared for a while.
Reading the posts on their site indicated their lack of respect for the new owner - as his ego-driven personality trumped his false friendly front.

I believe there was a dictionary of Ben-isms created by both CL staff and CReader staff. I forget most of them - but damn, it was funny, accurate and very unforgiving:)

Those of us who no longer work at the Loaf (and even some of those who do) knew this would happen.

I quote a colleague, still employed with CL, "Oh, my god - he's (Ben)ruined us!"

Bankruptcy? Not at ALL a surprise - in the Greak tragedies we learned that HUBRIS was always rewarded with a god-driven smack-down.

I laugh a little, but feel badly for my friends still working in that hell-hole.

Again, I quote another ex-Loafer,"What goes around, comes around"

And yes, it sure has.

Desperate times call for desperate measures: What if you quit posting content online, for free, and instead sold copies at newsstands for a low price? If people couldn't get it for free online, I bet they'd pay at least 2-3 bucks for it. Don't get me wrong--I love reading stuff online, but I'd rather read it in print than not at all. There's a real demand for DC-oriented news, and I think you could even get subscribers if you played it right. Maybe you could, gasp, partner with the Post and offer WCP subscriptions for $10 a year when people subscribe to the Post.

Or maybe paper costs are eating up what you make on ads. In that case, you could go with a model like that of Consumers' Checkbook--online subscripions with password-limited online access. And then ditch the paper versions.

Either way, I think you gotta start charging us.