Alternative Press: No Direction Home

Oct. 26, 2005

 A dead frog will often keep on twitching.  But does the frog know it’s dead?  And is it impolite to let the critter in on the news?
   That’s the impression I came away with at the Association of Alternative Newspapers (AAN) convention in San Diego last June, which was attended by over 100 urban newsweeklies which are still kicking, but don‘t seem to have much going on upstairs in the leadership department, not to mention a lack of that quality known as heart.
  In case you’re not up to speed on this, alternative newspapers strive for in-your-face stories and ideas. They’re all freebies distributed for the most part in mid-to-large cities and tend to have a cookie-cutter blend of the same features found in Northern Express, including Tom Tomorrow, The City, News of the Weird, Amy Alkon and FreeWill Astrology, along with nightlife listings and such. 
  But gone to a large degree is the idealism of the past. Back in the 1970s and ‘80s when the  genre was taking shape, one can only imagine that an alternative press convention would have been rife with talk of Vietnam, El Salvador, human rights or urban poverty, and what a scrappy band of scribblers could do to make the world a better place.
  But at the June, 2005 AAN convention, I didn’t hear a single word uttered regarding the issues of the day.   Nothing on Iraq, nothing on torture or indefinite imprisonment without trial; nothing on global warming or the control of our government by religious fundamentalists and oil company executives.  Nothing about anything that was topical or an alternative to the status quo whatsover.  Nothing on what “alternative” journalism could do to give the world a nudge in a more positive direction.  
   One thing you did get an earful of, like usual, was endless blah, blah, blah about how to sell more ads.  It was more like a convention of golf club salesmen, and come to think of it, most of the publishers in attendance even looked the part.    
   So, what passions do stir the masterminds of today’s alternative press?
   Fear of losing young readers, for one.  In general, today‘s young people seem far more concerned about the bread & butter issues of making a living than changing the world through the lefty solutions of the alternative press.  Plus, most big city alternatives are packed with goaty classifieds for “she-males,“ prostitutes, and “horny housewife“ talk lines -- a real turnoff for idealistic young adults.
   There was also endless talk about the threat posed by a new wave of youth-oriented publications being distributed free of charge by the mainstream press: commuter rags such as “Red Eye” and “Red Streak” distributed by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun, or “Noise” offered by the Lansing State Journal.  Other papers, such as the New York Times, have their freebies waiting in the wings.
   Here was the storm & thunder!  One-by-one, alt publishers lept to their feet to proclaim that their publication was the one, true source of alternative blather and that -- by cracky -- no mainstream newspaper freebie was gonna’ mess with their turf.  It was like watching a baboon troop acting out; the only thing missing was the chest-pounding, bone-waving and excrement-throwing.
   What sort of flaming arrows does the alternative press have in its asbestoes quiver to rain down on this dastardly threat?  Well, the San Diego Reader which hosted the convention had a 4,000-word cover story on a young lady’s thoughts on mustaches -- what kinds she prefers and whether men should wear them and whether they merely tickle or manage to irritate...  Then too, the Reader had about 22 pages of plastic surgery ads for the silicon-obsessed women of Southern California.  
   In short, the perfect picture of the alternative press today.    
   Currently, there’s a tempest in a teaspoon  in the alt press over the pending merger of the Village Voice’s chain of five urban papers with a 12-newspaper outfit called the New Times, based in Phoenix.  The fear is that the merger will dampen the holy mission of independent, alternative journalism; possibly even exposing America to the neo-con, libertarian views of the publishers of the New Times, bad as that would be.  
   Like, this could be as big a deal as Kmart merging with Sears or something.  Imagine the consequences if, say, the same  mustache story ran in Cleveland, Los Angeles, Phoenix and a dozen other cities. Yikes.
   The view from here in the peanut gallery is far different than what the AAN fears.  Experiments with youth publications are a sign that mainstream newspapers are themselves evolving to a free, tabloid format which will look more like today’s alternative press.  In the near future, people will refuse to pay for content and newspapers will have no choice but to downsize their formats and give it away free or die.
  In fact, last year, 60 broadsheet newspapers across the U.S. converted to the tabloid size of the Express.  Look for the free distribution of mainstream newspapers next, especially with the rise of gas prices making home delivery more costly than ever.
  Meanwhile, alternative newspapers and their aging readership have become far more mainstream over the past 10 years.  Northern Express, for instance, is considered too mainstream to be accepted as a member of  the AAN.   
  Yet someday the twain between alternative and mainstream newspapers will meet, if only out of sheer erosion.  In the meantime, the Internet has become the true home of all things “alternative.”  Check it and see.
   Despite the prophets of doom, newspapers will never die; in fact some of us thrive by doing the same thing storytellers have done since the Stone Age around their campfires at night: by telling good stories and getting people talking.   
   Newspapers are finding their future by going back to their roots.  All things creative -- 
music, art, film, architecture or literature --  must return to their roots in order to be reborn and appear new again in the eyes of the world.  If you want to jump-start a dead frog, start with a good story.  Maybe he’ll listen.