New York Press
Encyclopedia : N : NE : NEW : New York Press
- For the original newspaper of the same name, see New York Press (historical)
An earlier newspaper of the same name began publication in 1887 and continued publication until July 2, 1916. Other than the name there is no connection between the modern and original papers.
It is the main competitor to the Village Voice. It was founded in 1988, and originally conceived and published as a conservative voice in traditionally liberal New York. The paper developed an impressive following over its first decade, and by 1996 had forced the Village Voice to become a free paper to compete.
The rivalry with the Village Voice has expressed itself in other ways. New York Press launched an annual "Best of Manhattan" issue in 1996, and the Village Voice responded with an annual "Best of New York" issue in 2001. Press editors have written about hiring away writer Nat Hentoff from the Voice. [link]
The paper's weekly circulation in 2005 was around 100,000, [link] in comparison with around 250,000 for the Village Voice. [link]
The paper was founded by Russ Smith, who published it until he sold it in 2003 to investment group Avalon Equity Partners for around US$3 million. [link] Publishers Chuck Colletti and Doug Meadow became the president and C.O.O., respectively. Smith still contributes his long-running column, which was originally published under the pseudonym "MUGGER" but is now simply called "Mugger" and published under his real name.
Although Smith was nominally editor-in-chief, the actual editor through most of the paper's history was John Strausbaugh. When Smith sold the Press, Strausbaugh was fired and replaced by former production editor Jeff Koyen. Since then the paper has seen a series of editors come and go, and has seen its page count shrink dramatically. Under Smith, the paper was a money-losing operation, rumored to function as a tax shelter for Smith's wealthy family. The new ownership has since (so far unsuccessfully) tried to bring the paper to profitability, bringing in more mainstream and advertiser-friendly content.
New York Press gained notoriety in March 2005 for a cover story entitled "The 52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope," written by Matt Taibbi. [link] The cover prompted outraged comments from a variety of New York politicians, [link], and within a few weeks led to the resignation of its then-editor, Jeff Koyen. He was replaced by "interim editor" Alexander Zaitchik. Harry Siegel became the paper's editor in August 2005, bringing along with him three editors and writers (Tim Marchman, Jonathan Leaf and Azi Paybarah), and giving the Press a greater focus on local politics. In February 2006 all four resigned from the paper, after the publisher pulled at the last minute a planned cover story that would have shown the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons. [link] Siegel was replaced for a short time by Steve Weinstein, former editor of the New York Blade. In May 2006, Adario Strange, former editor of The Source, became the new editor.
Noted memoirist and longtime staff writer, occasional arts and entertainment critic, and author of the nearly two decade old "Slackjaw" column, Jim Knipfel was one of the paper's only mainstays for more than thirteen years, starting out as the paper's receptionist and eventually moving into a columnist position. In June, 2006, Knipfel's column was discontinued.
During Strausbaugh's editorship, the Press ran regular columns by Alexander Cockburn, Taki Theodoracopolous, Christopher Caldwell, Soul Coughing lead singer M. Doughty (both under his own name and under the pseudonym "Dirty Sanchez"), Toby Young, Amy Sohn, Jonathan Ames, Scott McConnell, and David Corn, among others. During Koyen's and Zaitchik's editorship, the paper ran regular columns by Paul Krassner, Michelangelo Signorile, and Matt Taibbi, among others. New York Press's best-known current writer is probably film critic Armond White.
In the tradition of earlier NY underground papers like East Village Other, New York Press has regularly published cutting-edge comic art, including early work by Kaz, Tony Millionaire, Charles Burns, Mark Beyer, Mark Newgarden, Ward Sutton, M. Wartella, Gary Panter, Danny Hellman and others.
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