Blade Staff to Launch New Publication
Tomorrow morning, the staff of the defunct Washington Blade will meet to launch a new publication that does pretty much what the Blade has done/did since 1969---cover gay Washington.
It just won't be called the Blade anymore.
"The staff is united," says current/former Blade editor Kevin Naff. "We’re all together. Our first meeting for our new venture is tomorrow morning."
The staffers don't yet have a name for the newspaper.
Not a dumb move at all: The Blade as a standalone publication runs a profit; however, not enough of a profit to keep its debt-troubled parent company, Window Media, in the black. According to Naff, Window is filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protections, which means that it's ceasing operations. Naff said that he was expecting Chapter 11, which would have allowed the company to restructure.
So what Naff and Blade Publisher Lynne Brown are trying to do is essentially replicate the Blade without the debt load.
The staffers sure won't be wasting any time finishing up old Blade business: They were given till 3 pm today to pack up. When asked if the company was handling the shutdown in a professional manner, Naff responded, "I should probably not comment."
Photo by Darrow Montgomery
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Linked From: November 16th, 2009The Final Hours of the Washington Blade - The Sexist - Washington City Paper
2:41 pm[...] the Blade learned that its parent company, Window Media, had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, that the Blade was closed effective immediately, and that the paper’s two dozen employees were all out of [...]
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Linked From: November 16th, 2009UPDATE: Southern Voice, David shut down | Fresh Loaf
2:55 pm[...] Erik Wemple of the Washington City Paper, CL’s sister publication, reports that Washington Blade staffers will launch a new publication, minus the debt load of its former [...]
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Linked From: November 16th, 2009It’s Monday… - Beyond the Books Blog - The GW Hatchet
3:50 pm[...] that their parent company, Window Media, had filed for bankruptcy, according to reports from the Washington City Paper and Politico. The new publication does not yet have a name. National Gallery of Art Sculpture [...]
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Linked From: November 16th, 2009UPDATED: Is the Washington Blade Closing? Employees Plan New Paper « Borderstan
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Linked From: November 16th, 2009The New York Times of gay publications closed today
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Linked From: November 17th, 2009Box Turtle Bulletin » DC Publisher Says He Won Bid to Buy The Blade Before Shutdown
11:53 am[...] Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff has said that he and other staffers plan to investigate starting a new paper. The Blade ran a profit as a standalone publication within Window Media, but not a large enough [...]
1:49 pm
Well, with Naff as editor I wish them well, he has the depth of a mud puddle. Didn't they see this coming? This new spin has a certain "Let's put on a show" quality to it that only works in Hollywood movies.
1:49 pm
Blade website is till up at 1:49
2:16 pm
I hope Lynne Brown is okay. She is the best!
3:06 pm
I'm delighted by the news. And there's a model for this. In Chicago, staff members of the Windy City News defected en masse to start the Chicago Free Press -- perhaps the best Gay newspaper in Chicago. So, I wish them well.
3:29 pm
Good Bye!, and Good Riddens! This paper has never been socially responsible to our community and here's why.
Example, During the height of AIDS crisis in the 80's when we still had little knowledge of how and why the AIDS virus spreads, the Blade still posted commercial $$$$$ ads for male escorts. In the past number of years they posted a $$$$$ ads for the 'Men's Parties', knowing that this place was unsafe from a health and safety stand point(remember the 2004 fire). When it came time to report on the death there this past October they buried the story on page 39, because 'Men's Parties' took out a half page $$$$$ ad every week, we wouldn't want to piss off our advertisers.
Back in 1991 Craig Dean and Pat Gill took on the DC Government and tried to get married. The Blade buried that story as well back then, and never even mention this as background in recent reporting on the current council hearings. All because the Blade and Lisa Keen at that time were kissing the ass of then Mayor Sharon Pratt, Dixon, Kelly....what ever!
This city has the hightest rate of HIV in the United States and all we get from the Blade is stories like 'what's it like to be gay in Iraq', who cares!
When you throw out journalistic integrity for the all mighty dollar and go against the community that you are serving then, you deserive to go out of business.
8:26 pm
Well, please go ahead and leave your bitches about Lesbian Tipping Habits at the new specialized blog on that subject.
12:28 am
Rick, darling!! The proper phrase is good riddance! Too bad your rant just took on the uneducated quality of your alter ego Ms. MaryQuiteContrary. Hmmmm sour grapes, dearie?
7:10 am
A gay white rag. I suppose the politically correct thing to do is to give them stimulus dollars so they can continue their gay white discriminatory publication. They failed because they are a bad business. They won't be the first and they won't be the last.
11:16 am
Does anybody really care? I mean, really? Face it, the ones who are starting this new newspaper are the ones who are/were there when the ship was going down. If you think for one minute that you can blame it all on the "corporation" and these poor folks were just carrying out their day to day activities as best they could, then: a) their best wasn't good enough and they should have been canned before now or b) they were, in fact, the so-called leaders of the now defunct paper and were in over their head(s). Wake up, smell the coffee and stop making excuses. Hold those accountable who are accountable and move on.
2:00 pm
A reply to (Rick's Conscience #7) or should I say Miss / Professor Henry Higgins. Since you seem to be versed in the english language so well then you should know what a lemming is, I would say that fits you nicely. As far as my education and sour grapes, you do not know me nor my backgroud, so go follow blindly the other mindless queens over the cliff!
2:12 pm
Rickie dear... now stop flattering me !!! You and lil MQC OBVIOUSLY haven't looked into the FACTS-- the Washington Blade was solvent --it kept Windows afloat for a number of years. oh and the queen that is rantin' is obviously a cretin!! ;^)-
3:07 am
oMG!! Great post!!