AAN News
Washington City Paper's 'Key Players' Talk About the Past & the Futurenew
In a lengthy Post Magazine feature, City Paper alums like Russ Smith, Jack Shafer and David Carr join current leaders Erik Wemple and Ben Eason in discussing the paper's history, its legacy and its future. Even former mayor Marion Barry, who recently appeared on a City Paper cover that incited some controversy, weighs in on the alt-weekly.
The Washington Post |
08-10-2009 11:12 am |
Industry News
The New York Press Celebrates 20 Yearsnew
"The New York Press' early years involved a lot of tough slogging, making pitches to recalcitrant advertisers (most of whom are out of business today), attracting writers for minimal fees and continually missing the deadline for our printer in the Meatpacking District," writes founder Russ Smith. "But mostly, we had a lot of fun." He talks about the history of the paper, the future of alt-weeklies, and how his conservative political commentary often got the paper -- which also ran pieces by liberal stalwarts Alexander Cockburn and David Corn -- mislabeled as a "Republican paper." As part of the cover package, the Press also published a timeline of notable events in the paper's history.
New York Press |
04-24-2008 2:50 pm |
Honors & Achievements
Matt Taibbi on Russ Smith, New York Press
In a recent interview with John Dicker that appears in the September issue of The Toilet Paper (a monthly "Monster-Truck/Gay-Cowboy tabloid" based in Colorado Springs), Taibbi talks about his new gig with Rolling Stone and his recent departure from the New York Press. Taibbi offers a characteristically heated denunciation of columnist and former New York Press owner Russ Smith; says ex-editors Jeff Koyen and Alexander Zaitchik were scapegoats for the failures of the paper's management; and predicts new editor Harry Siegel ("a Smith protege") will turn the paper "into a dumb neocon rag."
09-19-2005 12:09 pm |
Industry News
New York Press Co-Founder Says Weeklies "At a Crossroads"new
Russ Smith, founder of Baltimore City Paper and co-founder of New York Press, talks to Gawker about the state of alternative papers. He thinks the industry is dealing with "the brain drain of talented youngsters who, 20 years ago, would be fresh blood but are now involved with Internet projects." Smith then tells writers Andrew Krucoff and Chris Gage that editors hoping to sustain alt-weekly success need to "focus on the quality of writing, rather than knee-jerk politics and Quentin Tarantino hagiography."
Gawker |
09-24-2004 6:47 pm |
Industry News
Former New York Press Owner Discusses His Return to "Tinytown"new
Haunted by what he witnessed from the roof of his building near the World Trade Center on 9/11, Russ Smith sold his upstart weekly, New York Press, and moved his family to Baltimore. He has disparaged the city where he once edited Baltimore City Paper as "Tinytown," but old friends say he has a strange way of showing his affection. Former City Paper staff writer Michael Anft offers an in-depth look at the man who now writes a conservative column for the Baltimore weekly he once owned. Smith has said that "if you wanted to find a list of his enemies, all you had to do was pick up the Baltimore white pages," Anft says.
Style Magazine |
01-09-2004 6:26 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Russ Smith
Russ Smith Returns to Baltimorenew
The alt-weekly contrarian launches a new weekly column this week in City Paper under the header "Right Field." Smith will also continue writing his "Mugger" column for New York Press, which he sold late last year. But he and his family left Manhattan to return to Charm City, where he co-founded the City Paper (it was originally called City Squeeze) in 1977 and sold it a decade later.
Baltimore City Paper |
07-02-2003 4:55 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Baltimore City Paper, Russ Smith
Russ Smith's College Daysnew
Johns Hopkins Magazine says Smith led a university newspaper staff "fueled by coffee,
beer, and drugs." Several former fellow underclassmen express shock that the devotee of Hunter Thompson has morphed into an acerbic conservative columnist. The alumni magazine calls the The New York Press, which Smith founded in 1988, "a gadfly: loud, vulgar, self-indulgent, disrespectful, and bracing." Smith's "Mugger" column "can veer from political
diatribe to vitriolic media critique to accounts of Smith's domestic
life, all in one week," Dale Keiger writes. Smith recently sold the paper and has plans to move from New York City to Baltimore.
Johns Hopkins Magazine |
02-14-2003 8:39 am |
Industry News
Tags: New York Press, Russ Smith
Mugger Returning to Baltimorenew
Russ Smith tells Baltimore City Paper, which he co-founded in 1988, that he plans to return to the city and write full-time. Smith recently sold New York Press and tells City Paper he's tired of the "high-octane" Big Apple, where his TriBeCa apartment was uninhabitable for weeks after Sept. 11. "I'd like my boys
to have a real backyard and house, Melissa [his wife] to have a
garden, all that stuff. Also, I'm 47 now, and it's not like I go out to
clubs at midnight anymore," Smith says.
Baltimore City Paper |
01-17-2003 9:19 am |
Industry News
Tags: Russ Smith
Owner of Gay Newspaper Chain Behind NY Press Purchasenew
New York-based Avalon Equity Partners is now the majority owner of both the New York Press and Window Media, which operates a number of gay weeklies, including the New York Blade News and the Washington Blade. Cynthia Cotts of The Village Voice writes that the gay media worries about Avalon's ownership, fearing a private equity company with no gay credentials will undermine the integrity of their product. David W. Unger, co-founder
and managing partner of Avalon, insists that neither the Press nor the gay publications will lose their identities simply by being connected through a mutual investor. Unger says the Press should make money "with just a little hands-on management."
Village Voice |
01-14-2003 3:57 pm |
Industry News
New York Press For Sale?new
Keith Kelly reports in today's New York
Post that Russ Smith discussed
selling his paper to Taki
Theodoracopulos, one of its well-heeled
columnists, for $5 million. (In a
letter to Jim Romanesko's Media News,
Smith said Kelly's story is "wrong.")
New York Post |
01-18-2002 9:42 am |
Industry News
New York Press Loses Web Site in Attack
New York Press loses its Web site after the attacks on the World Trade Center. Publisher Russ Smith also was evacuated from his apartment a few blocks from the site of the terrorist attacks.
(FULL STORY)
AAN Staff |
09-21-2001 2:09 pm |
Industry News
