AAN News
Michael Lacey Discusses Impending Lawsuitnew
As we reported yesterday, Lacey's Phoenix New Times is charging Maricopa County officials with violating his and Jim Larkin's constitutional rights, and with malicious prosecution, racketeering and conspiracy in conjunction with their October arrest for publishing the contents of a grand jury subpoena. "The critical question is: How do they get to the point where they believe that they have the right to arrest journalists in the middle of the night and subpoena the identity of the people that read our newspaper? They didn't get there overnight," the New Times founder and Village Voice Media executive editor tells the Arizona Republic. "They began by abusing prisoners, and there was a staircase escalation where they were never stopped."
The Arizona Republic |
02-22-2008 10:05 am |
Industry News
Phoenix New Times Files Prelude to Lawsuit in Grand Jury Probe Fiasconew
The paper yesterday filed a formal Notice of Claim against the officials responsible for the October blowup which ended with the paper's founders in jail. The notice, which is required by Arizona law to be filed before government officials can be sued, accuses the defendants of violating Michael Lacey's and Jim Larkin's constitutional rights, with malicious prosecution, racketeering and conspiracy. The paper is asking for $15 million in damages if the matter is settled before April 15. "If New Times is required to pursue litigation, the settlement demand will increase," the notice warns. "This is not a decision undertaken lightly," says Lacey. "But I feel like if we don't do something, it's an invitation for this kind of behavior to continue." The County Attorney's office, which is named in the claim, dismisses the legal maneuver as "frivolous," with a spokesman telling the Arizona Republic: "We are confident that it will be exposed as the bunk it is."
Phoenix New Times | The Arizona Republic |
02-21-2008 8:20 am |
Industry News
VVM Witnesses Begin Taking the Stand in Bay Guardian Suit
On Friday, Village Voice Media executive editor Michael Lacey testified in the predatory pricing trial. The Guardian says Lacey "had some trouble answering some key questions" about SF Weekly's ad sales and a 1995 meeting where he met the Weekly staff shortly after purchasing the paper. The Weekly says Lacey's testimony illustrated that his and Bruce Brugmann's "editorial philosophies were worlds apart," and notes that Lacey's testimony showed he is not involved in the business side of VVM's affairs. This is key because of comments he made about being "the only game in town," which the Guardian is using as evidence he wanted to drive them out of business. Patricia Calhoun, editor of Denver's Westword, which New Times bought in 1983, also testified on Friday, and according to the Weekly, she "got on and off the stand in only about twenty minutes, a timely performance that drew appreciative nods from jurors." The trial resumes today.
San Francisco Bay Guardian | SF Weekly |
02-11-2008 12:21 pm |
Industry News
Bay Guardian/VVM Trial Scheduled to Begin Tomorrownew
The predatory pricing suit against SF Weekly and Village Voice Media asserts that the Weekly sold ads below cost to push the Guardian out of business. (The suit also names former VVM property East Bay Express as a defendant.) VVM executive editor Michael Lacey thinks Bay Guardian publisher/editor Bruce Brugmann is using the Weekly as a "scapegoat" for his own problems in dealing with new challenges in print media. "[The lawsuit] is how he's hoping to maintain his business in a really tough media market," Lacey tells The San Francisco Daily Journal, a local legal publication. But Brugmann disputes this notion. "From our point of view, the fact that the economy is not good and there are other problems in this business only makes this problem more acute," he says. Jury selection is set to begin tomorrow in San Francisco County Superior Court. Legal experts tell the Daily Journal that predatory-pricing cases face different odds depending on where they are filed, adding that California superior courts are generally seen as more friendly to plaintiffs than federal courts.
The San Francisco Daily Journal (Subscription Required) |
01-16-2008 8:58 am |
Legal News
Phoenix New Times Drops Challenge of Law on Publishing Addressesnew
The paper has dropped its lawsuit asking a federal judge to declare the law that makes it a crime to publish the addresses of certain people on the internet unconstitutional, the Arizona Business Gazette reports. The statute was the one that began the recent grand-jury investigation of New Times and the arrests and controversy that followed. Since the threat of prosecution against the paper had been dropped, "it made no sense to tilt at windmills," Village Voice Media executive editor Michael Lacey tells the Gazette. However, since the case was dismissed "without prejudice," the paper could reinstate its case if there is any subsequent investigation. Lacey says he would hope all the publicity surrounding the case would convince the county attorney not to try to enforce that law against New Times or any other publication.
The Arizona Business Gazette |
12-14-2007 8:29 am |
Legal News
All Charges in New Times Case Droppednew
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas announced this afternoon that he was dismissing the case against Village Voice Media executives Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey, who were arrested last night after publishing a story revealing that their Phoenix New Times was a target of a grand jury probe. Thomas said that the case had been grossly mishandled, according to the Arizona Republic.
"It has become clear to me the investigation has gone in a direction I would not have authorized," Thomas says. The grand jury had been convened to investigate charges that the New Times violated the law when it posted Sheriff Joe Arpaio's home address on its website in 2004.
Arizona Republic |
10-19-2007 7:32 pm |
Industry News
Village Voice Media Executives Arrested for Phoenix New Times Storynew
When New Times published a story yesterday revealing that it was the target of a grand jury probe, it acknowledged that it was exposing itself to potential criminal charges. It sure didn't take long for those charges to come to fruition. The co-authors of the piece, VVM executive editor Michael Lacey and chief executive Jim Larkin, were arrested last night at their homes in Phoenix on charges that the story revealed grand jury secrets, according to the New York Times. The East Valley Tribune reports that the arrests came at the request of the special prosecutor. "It is an extraordinary sequence of events," says Steve Suskin, legal counsel for VVM. "The arrests were not totally unexpected, but they represent an act of revenge and a vindictive response on the part of an out of control sheriff." In addition, New Times reporter Ray Stern was given a criminal citation on Thursday for disorderly conduct after an argument over taking photos of public records at the sheriff's office. "They're trying to muzzle us," editor Rick Barrs says. "This is retaliation against us. And it's not just retaliation against us, it's retaliation against the press." UPDATE: Lacey, upon being released from jail this morning, spoke with reporters. "The way that this operates is that they select someone to make an example out of, and they selected our organization," he says. "Hopefully, other media organizations will begin to speak up and speak out about what's going on here."
The New York Times |
10-19-2007 8:12 am |
Industry News
Michael Lacey Attempts to Give LA Observed 'A Little Perspective'new
"As a source of gossip, half truths, lies, slander, unfounded speculation and general lazy-ass foolishness, LA Observed remains invaluable," Village Voice Media's executive editor writes in an e-mail published on the site. "Comes the news flash that three writers have, or will soon, depart the L.A. Weekly. To LA Observed, these are not matters of opportunity but signs of darkening skies," he writes. "In a city like Los Angeles writers find books, scripts and other opportunities. At any newspaper you have the occasional clash. You might have ascertained all of the above if you ever picked up the phone and talked to the targets of your biliousness."
LA Observed |
09-27-2007 9:27 am |
Industry News
VVM's Michael Lacey: 'We Didn't Expect Things to Go Smoothly'new
In a conversation with the New York Times' David Carr, Village Voice Media's executive editor addresses the editorial merry-go-round at the chain's flagship paper. "We didn't expect things to happen overnight," Lacey says. He also tells Carr that a move to New York might be in the cards once his kids leave for college. "I'm not going to edit the paper hands-on," he says, "but I will be close enough to make whoever is editing the paper more miserable than they already are."
The New York Times |
03-12-2007 8:38 am |
Industry News
'What Happened to Our (Village) Voice?'new
That's the rhetorical question PopMatters asks in an article lamenting the "sad trajectory" of arts coverage at the paper since it was taken over by New Times. In a somewhat less-than-thorough investigation, the Web site turns to two former Voice music critics for answers. Robert Christgau says Michael Lacey is "a philistine who hates New York City” but admits that Village Voice Media's executive editor cares about writing; it's just not the kind of writing that Christgau does. Meanwhile, Eric Weisbard claims the new owners hate "what the Voice stood for," i.e., "the idea that you should write about pop music with the same depth and the same number of cultural references that you would talk about a novelist in the New York Review of Books."
PopMatters |
01-22-2007 3:10 pm |
Industry News
Village Voice Changes With the New Timesnew
Morning Edition on NPR (streaming audio) |
07-11-2006 12:50 pm |
Industry News
The Stranger Unearths Another 'Lacey Napkin'
Earlier this week, the Village Voice confirmed the departure of Doug Simmons by posting a photo of a napkin on which Executive Editor Mike Lacey had scrawled, "Doug Simmons is no longer acting editor." But the story doesn't end there. The Stranger has posted on its blog a new photo of a pair of napkins, on which "Lacey" writes that he "recently discovered that many of the young ladies who advertise in the back pages of the Voice actually have PENISES. They appear to be ladies until it’s too late."
03-15-2006 11:15 am |
Industry News
At Voice, Reaction to Lacey Runs Gamut From 'Fear to Exhilaration'new
That's what a source told Boston Phoenix media critic Mark Jurkowitz after Village Voice Media's new Executive Editor Michael Lacey met with "about 30 staffers" in New York on Feb. 1. "This industry has been afflicted by this kind of shut-in mentality," Lacey told Jurkowitz. "Are people prepared to receive the message? There were a lot of people [at that meeting] who didn't like what I said." One of them was media columnist Sydney Schanberg, who said Lacey's "language was adversarial and pugnacious. ... He played the bully. I respond terribly to bullies." Voice columnist Nat Hentoff didn't respond well either, especially when Lacey criticized one of his columns and complained about "reporting that was stenography." But Hentoff decided not to resign because he's waiting to see how Lacey treats his work. Jurkowitz also covered the recent resignation of the editorial staff at the New York Press and interpreted the "turmoil" at both papers as "a sure indicator that the alt-weekly business ... is struggling for relevance in an increasingly fragmented marketplace."
The Boston Phoenix |
02-16-2006 7:55 am |
Industry News
Lacey Tells Voice Staff: Less Commentary, More Hard Newsnew
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
02-07-2006 9:08 pm |
Industry News
Senator Tied to New Times Inquiry Draws Criticismnew
A member of the Arizona Senate's Ethics Committee has filed a formal complaint against Sen. Jack Harper (R-Surprise), arguing that Harper acted improperly when he issued a subpoena requiring that voting machines be released to a consultant hired by Phoenix New Times. Harper said he agreed to allow New Times to fund consultant Douglas W. Jones, a computer-science expert, after the Senate refused to pay for an investigation into a contested 2004 election. On Dec. 21, a judge refused to enforce a second subpoena for the individual ballots to be released to Jones, whose report on the machines is expected in a week. It is unclear whether Jones' report will be made public, or if it will be published first in New Times. According to the Arizona Daily Star, New Times Editor Rick Barrs "said he is not sure whether he will even give a copy of the consultant's report to Harper."
The Arizona Republic (reg. req.) |
01-05-2006 4:36 am |
Industry News
