The Press is mostly crap now, although they do have Matt Taiibbibbi, a weekly must-read (despite the name).
On moving to SF, and after careful examination of both the SF Weekly and the SF Bay Guardian, I came to the conclusion that they both were fucking crap. Good for music listings and comix -- that's it. Boaf of 'em.
But. Apparently I have to have a favorite now that the SF Weekly has made a deal with the devil:
New Times, which owns SF Weekly and East Bay Express, has cut a deal with Clear Channel, the giant entertainment conglomerate, that could shut other print media, including the Bay Guardian, out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in concert advertising, representatives of Bill Graham Presents, a Clear Channel subsidiary, told Bay Guardian ad sales staffers June 23.Sucky. I hate this bullshit.
Under the terms of the deal, New Times will pay Clear Channel a sum in the high six figures for naming rights to the Warfield Theatre, which for the next three years will become the SF Weekly Warfield [snort. -ed.], BGP representatives said.
In exchange, Clear Channel will spend so much money on advertising in the Weekly and Express that there will be little or no money left for competing print media.
In effect, one of the nation's largest media oligopolies has joined forces with the nation's largest alternative weekly chain to squeeze out an independently owned competitor.
"It's bad," Jeff Perlstein, executive director of Media Alliance, told us. "As all these dark tentacles become entwined, it gets more and more serious as a threat to independent media."
Nobody at New Times, SF Weekly, or Clear Channel would return our calls seeking comment. But a press release sent out June 27 from SF Weekly and BGP described the naming-rights deal and stated that SF Weekly and BGP "will collaborate across business fronts."
The press release never mentions New Times or Clear Channel and presents the deal as if it were just a friendly agreement between local companies.
Boycott the Weekly.
