AAN Association of Alternative Newsmedia

Biz Paper Weighs in on the Providence Phoenix's 'Journalistic Niche'

By AAN Staff

november 4, 2008 08:51 am

As the Phoenix celebrates its 30th anniversary, Providence Business News looks at how the alt-weekly is flourishing "at a time when daily newspapers in Rhode Island and elsewhere are struggling." One University of Rhode Island professor says the paper provides a function "critical to political life in this state," and Phoenix associate publisher Steve Brown says the paper has succeeded by "knowing [its] audience and sticking with them." Ty Davis, who launched the paper (as The New Paper) in 1978, says he's not sorry that he sold his paper to the Boston Phoenix in 1988. "My objective was to give Rhode Island a solid alternative weekly," he says. "I succeeded and, from that standpoint, I have no regrets."

View full article at Providence Business News