Crosswinds’ closure puts spotlight on print
media By Sue Vorenberg, Tribune Reporter
“People are reading less and relying less on daily newspapers for news and
information,” [Steve Lawrence] said.
“I think that’s a tragedy. It’s bad for the country. It means we have a
less informed citizenry, and that means we have a less informed democracy.”
When I
wrote last week to argue with Steve Lawrence, editor of Crosswinds Weekly, about his dismal take on blogs, I had no idea he would shut down within days. I never got to see my letter in print! The
lengths people will go to to avoid acknowledging criticism.
And damn! if he wasn’t unrepentant to the bitter end. “Bad
for the country.” Under BushCo, we have no idea how many articles that have appeared in print in respected publications were actually
just ads paid for by Duhbya and Friends. THAT’S bad for the country. Reporters and memoir-writers who casually admit, ‘sure I made that
up’ — THAT’S bad for the country. Media giants buying up and unifying channels of communication — THAT’S bad for the country.
Alternative weeklies folding because advertisers oppose their liberalism — THAT’S bad for the country. Blogs? Blogging makes me read
more than ever, from a wider variety of sources than ever. As a blogger, I’m working hard to be informed and to help others connect to
information (and opinions, it is true).
I will actually miss Crosswinds, as I miss NuCity and others. Crosswinds was often
unabashedly liberal and alternative while, at the same time, a booster of local business — some of which stabbed it in the back. We are
a poorer community without it.
Of course, given Lawrence’s disdain for blogs, I don’t expect it to occur to him that he has an
existing Website (www.crosswindsweekly.com) that needs little advertising to support it. Like Arthur Alpert after Prime Time, Lawrence, Sharon Kayne, Hal Rhodes, et. al., could continue to
write and interact with the community. Surely he doesn’t want his last hurrah to be his silly poke at the blogosphere. What could be
more ironic than to be reborn as one of us! But he has his TV show to play with now (as for me, I couldn’t stay in the same room that
long with Dimdahl without flipping him off; every time Dimdahl spewed “socialist” I would respond with “fascist.”). mjh
PS: Thanks to Lori for the tip. And to Sophie for the link.
Crosswinds’ closure puts spotlight on print
media By Sue Vorenberg, Tribune Reporter
Crosswinds Weekly was a forum for alternative viewpoints around Albuquerque, readers
said, and now it’s gone.
The free alternative paper has closed because it didn’t have enough advertising income to continue,
said Steve Lawrence, Crosswinds editor and publisher.
“There just wasn’t enough support from the business community,” Lawrence
said today. “That’s really the bottom line.”
Crosswinds Weekly hits financial turbulence, ceases
publication Paul Krza, NMBW Staff
[Lawrence] did admit, however, to recently alienating one advertiser with his opinions. In
January, he took restaurateurs Jennifer James and Michael Chesley to task when he expressed support for a hike in the state’s minimum
wage. He noted that in 2004, the paper, in a cover article, had “raved” about James’ food-preparation talent, but when he and other
columnists backed fair-wage campaigns, James’ and Chesley’s Graze restaurant pulled its Crosswinds’ ads.
“I’ve been a journalist for forty years here and in New York City and always believed that journalism should be watchdogs of
government and business,” he says.
In an ironic twist, the demise of Crosswinds was announced in at least three
Albuquerque-connected “blogs,” none with any attribution or words from Lawrence, only days after he had launched an attack on blogging in
what turned out to be his final column for the newspaper.
Sharon Kayne commenting on the DukeCityFix: In fact, our support of the city�s living wage initiative cost us business. Lost revenue did not change our
editorial policy even though we clearly needed the revenue. Occasionally local businesses told us they wouldn�t advertise with us
because we were �too liberal.�
PPS: a note about how news travels. I heard about this via
email from my wife who heard about this in face-time from a co-worker who read about it in, gasp, the paper — the Trib, that is.
Granted, the blogs scooped the papers, as you can see with DukeCityFix on Wed acknowledging the Alibi’s blog from Tues. Poor old MSM caught up 48 hours after the Alibi. But, wait, even a constant blogger like me still
got it second hand via the old dinosaur, paper.
Unlike paper, the blogs give us a place to post our condolences (or cheers), as
you will see at TheFix. Interesting times. mjh