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Alternative newspaper
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Alternative newspaper
An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting local people and culture. Its news coverage is more locally focused, and their target audiences are younger than those of daily newspapers. Typically, alternative newspapers are published in tabloid format and printed on newsprint. Other names for such publications include alternative weekly, alternative newsweekly, and alt weekly, as the majority circulate on a weekly schedule.
Most metropolitan areas of the United States and Canada are home to at least one alternative paper. These papers are generally found in such urban areas, although a few publish in smaller cities, in rural areas or exurban areas where they may be referred to as an alt monthly due to the less frequent publication schedule.
Alternative papers have usually operated under a different business model than daily papers. Most alternative papers, such as The Stranger, the Houston Press, SF Weekly, the Village Voice, the New York Press, the Metro Times, the LA Weekly, the Boise Weekly and the Long Island Press, have been free, earning revenue through the sale of advertising space. They sometimes include ads for adult entertainment, such as adult bookstores and strip clubs, which are prohibited in many mainstream daily newspapers.[citation needed] They usually include comprehensive classified and personal ad sections and event listings as well.[citation needed]
Many alternative papers feature an annual "best of" issue, profiling businesses that readers voted the best of their type in the area. Often these papers send out certificates that the businesses hang on their wall or window. This further cements the paper's ties to local businesses.
Alternative newspapers represent the more commercialized and mainstream evolution of the underground press associated with the 1960s counterculture. Their focus remains on arts and entertainment and social and political reportage. Editorial positions at alternative weeklies are predominantly left-leaning, though there is a contingent of conservative and libertarian alt-weeklies. Styles vary sharply among alternative newspapers; some affect a satirical, ironic tone, while others embrace a more straightforward approach to reporting.
Columns commonly syndicated to alternative weeklies include "The Straight Dope", Dan Savage's "Savage Love", Rob Breszny's "Free Will Astrology", and Ben Tausig's crossword puzzle "Ink Well." Quirky, non-mainstream comics, such as Matt Groening's Life in Hell, Lynda Barry's Ernie Pook's Comeek, Ruben Bolling's Tom the Dancing Bug, and Ted Rall's political cartoons are also common.
The Village Voice, based in New York City, was one of the first and best-known examples of the form. Since the Voice's demise in 2018, Marin County's Pacific Sun, founded in 1963, is now the longest-running alternative weekly. The Association of Alternative Newsmedia is the alternative weeklies' trade association. The Ruxton Media Group (formerly known as Voice Media Group Advertising) is the only national advertising sales representative for more than 100 alternative weeklies after the Alternative Weekly Network passed the torch in early March 2025.
Some alternative newspapers are independent. However, due in part to increasing concentration of media ownership, many have been bought or launched by larger media conglomerates. The Tribune Company, a multibillion-dollar company that owns the Chicago Tribune, owns four New England alternative weeklies, including the Hartford Advocate and New Haven Advocate.
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Alternative newspaper
An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting local people and culture. Its news coverage is more locally focused, and their target audiences are younger than those of daily newspapers. Typically, alternative newspapers are published in tabloid format and printed on newsprint. Other names for such publications include alternative weekly, alternative newsweekly, and alt weekly, as the majority circulate on a weekly schedule.
Most metropolitan areas of the United States and Canada are home to at least one alternative paper. These papers are generally found in such urban areas, although a few publish in smaller cities, in rural areas or exurban areas where they may be referred to as an alt monthly due to the less frequent publication schedule.
Alternative papers have usually operated under a different business model than daily papers. Most alternative papers, such as The Stranger, the Houston Press, SF Weekly, the Village Voice, the New York Press, the Metro Times, the LA Weekly, the Boise Weekly and the Long Island Press, have been free, earning revenue through the sale of advertising space. They sometimes include ads for adult entertainment, such as adult bookstores and strip clubs, which are prohibited in many mainstream daily newspapers.[citation needed] They usually include comprehensive classified and personal ad sections and event listings as well.[citation needed]
Many alternative papers feature an annual "best of" issue, profiling businesses that readers voted the best of their type in the area. Often these papers send out certificates that the businesses hang on their wall or window. This further cements the paper's ties to local businesses.
Alternative newspapers represent the more commercialized and mainstream evolution of the underground press associated with the 1960s counterculture. Their focus remains on arts and entertainment and social and political reportage. Editorial positions at alternative weeklies are predominantly left-leaning, though there is a contingent of conservative and libertarian alt-weeklies. Styles vary sharply among alternative newspapers; some affect a satirical, ironic tone, while others embrace a more straightforward approach to reporting.
Columns commonly syndicated to alternative weeklies include "The Straight Dope", Dan Savage's "Savage Love", Rob Breszny's "Free Will Astrology", and Ben Tausig's crossword puzzle "Ink Well." Quirky, non-mainstream comics, such as Matt Groening's Life in Hell, Lynda Barry's Ernie Pook's Comeek, Ruben Bolling's Tom the Dancing Bug, and Ted Rall's political cartoons are also common.
The Village Voice, based in New York City, was one of the first and best-known examples of the form. Since the Voice's demise in 2018, Marin County's Pacific Sun, founded in 1963, is now the longest-running alternative weekly. The Association of Alternative Newsmedia is the alternative weeklies' trade association. The Ruxton Media Group (formerly known as Voice Media Group Advertising) is the only national advertising sales representative for more than 100 alternative weeklies after the Alternative Weekly Network passed the torch in early March 2025.
Some alternative newspapers are independent. However, due in part to increasing concentration of media ownership, many have been bought or launched by larger media conglomerates. The Tribune Company, a multibillion-dollar company that owns the Chicago Tribune, owns four New England alternative weeklies, including the Hartford Advocate and New Haven Advocate.