Fresh Loaf

This week, Creative Loafing Inc. purchased venerable alt-weeklies Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper. The Reader’s bloggers and commenters have, thus far, greeted the announcement with fear, sadness and dread.

“The Reader has been visited by one of the most common but dispiriting traumas of the newspaper business–new out-of-town ownership.”

— Chicago Reader Senior Editor Michael Miner, posting to the Reader’s News Bites blog

“I’ve been to Atlanta and I’ve read Creative Loafing. It’s better than nothing, but it sure ain’t no Reader (even when you take into account the Reader’s own recent decline in quality).”

— A comment by “saddened and dismayed” on News Bites

“Would it be possible for readers to band together and buy the Reader from Eason?”

— A comment by “someone else who once loved the reader” on News Bites

“How surprised would anyone be if these comments are wiped clean in a bit?”

— A comment by “ugh” on News Bites

“Whatever Creative Loathing paid, it’s too much. Face it, the Reader’s been unnecessary since the mid-80s, when the owners and the board became greedy, conservative, and hopelessly out of touch.”

— A comment by “Oy Boy-o” on News Bites

“And to the CL people who undoubtedly aren’t reading this, here’s what yer boss got for his 8 figures: He got a great brand with huge loyalty–that’s bleeding money in a town with plenty of competition. Go ahead and drag the production down to Atlanta or Fayetteville or Bentonville or wherever–but once you flush your current readership, you’ll be left with a pile of wet papers sitting in the doorway of He Who Eats Mud, attracting as much attention as the Onion’s entertainment listings.”

— A comment by “TLJR” on News Bites

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Last week at a Douglas County rally, the Rev. Al Sharpton compared the circumstances of Genarlow Wilson, who’s serving a 10-year prison sentence for an underage blowjob, with that of former White House staffer Scooter Libby, who was spared lockup by President Bush. In citing the legal double-standard, could Sharpton have been thinking about conservative AJC columnist Jim Wooten?

“Wilson chose to reject a plea bargain, gambling that he could beat the rap. Wilson was determined to set himself apart from the law. …”
– Wooten on his “Thinking Right” blog, June 12

“Libby … drew 30 months in the slammer today. He was convicted of lying and obstructing an investigation. He should serve precisely zero time in jail.”
– Wooten, June 5

“These are ‘Profiles in Courage’ days for Georgia’s Attorney General Thurbert Baker, who’s been given the bum’s rush to ignore the law as written in the Wilson case.”
– Wooten, June 29

“On the serious matter of Scooter Libby’s ‘excessive’ sentence … my preference would have been for a pardon now.”
– Wooten, July 4

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