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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

Friday Jolt: Weekly Tries to Distance Itself From Backpage Controversy

Jolt   October 28, 2011 at 5:18 pm Jonah Spangenthal-Lee

Today’s Loser: Seattle Weekly

Nearly three months after Mayor Mike McGinn ordered the city to pull all advertising from the Seattle Weekly in a battle over the paper’s association with Backpage.com—which McGinn has called an “accelerant” of juvenile prostitution—the Weekly’s publisher came begging to the city, making a concerted effort to distance the Weekly from Backpage, and win back the more than $150,000 the paper lost when the city pulled its ads.

“Wanted to reach out and see if we could begin some dialogue regarding print business from the City,” Weekly publisher Kenny Stocker wrote in an email to McGinn’s chief of staff, Julie McCoy, in September. “I wanted to see if we could discuss print specific business and not digital business in Seattleweekly.com…and not have any ads run where backpage.com is represented.”

“I know Seattle Weekly readers miss that valuable information,” adding that he believes the Weekly is a “valuable promotional piece for the city.”

McGinn’s office stood fast and, made it clear it wasn’t interested in navigating the fine line between the Weekly and Backpage.

“We ceased advertising in your publication because of the extent to which it is supported by the sale of ads promoting sex with children.”—Julie McCoy

Explained McCoy in a terse email to Stocker, ”We ceased advertising in your publication because of the extent to which it is supported by the sale of ads promoting sex with children.”

“Those ads remain easily accesible on your site,” she wrote. “As Long any such ads can be accessed from any version of the Seatle Weekly, the city will continue to find other means of promoting itself.”

Boom.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Weekly and several other Village Voice Media papers have slashed editorial staff, because the newspaper industry is in the toilet.


  • http://www.facebook.com/alexjon Alex-jon Earl

    I can only imagine how this would have been worded if Erica was allowed to write it.

  • jimu

    What does the City of Seattle need to advertise that costs $150,000?

    It would be interesting to know if they have increased their advertising in rival paper The Stranger. It has been alluded to that McGinn has a bit too cozy of a relationship with this publication.

  • FrequentPoster

    If the letter had been honest, it would have read:

    “As long as the Seattle Weekly keeps slamming Mayor McDope, the city will continue to find other means of promoting itself.”

  • David Miller

    What in the hell are we spending $150,000 for in the Weekly?

  • FrequentPoster

    Were spending. That money has been shifted to McDope’s liberal loafer lickers at the Stranger, with nary a peep from the erstwhile defenders of “a vigorous inependent media” and “freedom of expression” among the so-called “progressives” of Seattle.

  • David Miller

    I guess it shouldn’t surprise me. SDOT rerouted over $6 million of the Prop 1 money from infrastructrure to advertising/promotional spending in one of their draft budgets…

  • RatGirl72

    That is completely untrue. The $150K that is often quoted as the value of the city’s print contract with the Weekly specifically refers to the amount remaining on Seattle Center’s print contract with SW. Seattle Center has a print contract in place with them in order to advertise their programming content throughout the year. The Stranger hasn’t received a dime of that money. If you pick up the paper on a regular basis, you can easily confirm this for yourself. No ads from Seattle Center in the Stranger.

  • Anonymous

    Primarily ads for Seattle Center events.

  • FrequentPoster

    So the Seattle Center is simply going to quit advertising? That’s even dumber.

  • Guest1234

    You close one, another will open.  Just look at http://www.classivox.com

  • Anonymous

    Tony Ortega, Village Voice editor, in an effort to protect prostitution ad revenue, belittles anti-child trafficking activists and tries to manipulate statistics on child sex trafficking to create an illusion that this is a minor problem.  See here: http://villagevoicepimp.com/tony-ortega-2/