Last year's 25th Anniversary issue

For over 25 years it was “the alternative voice of the Seven Cities.” Essentially a news and entertainment rag, yet also a high-minded source for arts and culture, Port Folio Weekly was indeed a distinct voice that aimed to serve, connect and illuminate these seven scattered cities.

That voice was made silent this week. And the state of disarray at The Virginian-Pilot, its parent company, was made even more apparent when on Tuesday morning, without a final issue or farewell, Port Folio Weekly quietly released its last print edition.

Without question, its mark is indelible. Now, in Port Folio’s absence is perhaps our first real opportunity to see completely the influence Hampton Roads’ only free alternative had on its history and future.

Like all good instigators, PFW willfully stirred controversy. At times it was irreverent and at others uplifting. To some it was a tabloid, nothing but opinions and sex ads and filth. To others though, it was sacred. A close and beloved friend, one that many here grew up with; the kind that comes round every week without fail to share a long coffee and an afternoon exchange, that contemplates, provokes and argues with you about the day’s hot issues, but is equally satisfied discussing new records, recent films and pop culture. For better or worse, PFW was the friend that would inevitably influence your tastes and ideas, and possibly shape your life, simply by the consistency of its presence.

The one thing that can be said for sure is that to devotees and critics–both of which Port Folio had a great many–it was relevant. So decidedly not the Pilot, its focus was placed firmly on telling untold stories, seeking out that which is in some way other, and breaking light on injustice and startling beauty wherever it could find it. For that it was widely read. And in a generation’s time it became highly respected.

The final cover

The sudden closure marks an end to a great era in local media, during which free print alternatives existed alongside their omnipotent big brother, the Pilot. It is slightly uncommon knowledge that The Virginian-Pilot Media Companies (VPMC) owns nearly every publication read throughout Hampton Roads. Amongst its two dozen or so print and interactive media holdings are Tidewater Parent, Inside Business, HamptonRoads.com and .tv, the Apartment Book, Auto Guide, and Military Newspapers of Virginia, which includes The Flagship and Jet Observer.

But with the changing landscape of all the world’s media comes the tough choices and the big losses.

Last Thursday, the Pilot announced that it will lay off 30 more employees and close both PFW and Mix, a regional multicultural monthly magazine.

The reasons why are many, and some remain elusive. Continuing PFW‘s mantle of alternative news reportage, advocacy journalism and literary exposition, we hope to further unravel those reasons.

Well there’s, one, the Internet. (It’s killing print, as you may have read.) There’s also the recession. And then there’s greed, of course (or business, as some may call it). And then at last there’s the politics.

PilotOnline.com

Of course, it’s not news that the Internet has overtaken print news. Daily papers, disposable as they are, cannot compete with the cutting-edge convenience of digital technology and the absolute throwaway quality of “live,” streaming Internet.  All over the country major newspapers have suffered or closed as a result of fading readership. Granted the Pilot was reportedly one of the first newspapers in the country to launch its own website, Pilotonline.com. But the question readers ask to themselves is why pick up the paper when all the content is free on the Internet?

Weeklies inevitably will be the next to go. They are also traditionally printed on newsprint and therefore denote the same kind of disposability. Generally speaking alt-weeklies are free publications and support themselves through ad sales. For newspapers, the decline in readership and subscriptions directly results in less revenue. Because it costs nothing to read, alts have slightly less competition with online media. But now that print has begun to lose its allure all across the board, it’s only a matter of time before readers put them down altogether. From fewer readers to lower returns on investment for advertisers, weeklies are only one step away from the newspaper’s fate.

The problem that both formats seem to have, like all media, is the inability to adapt to the Internet Age in a way that makes sense to what they know how to do. Television networks and record labels have only now started to crack into the infinite advertising space that the Internet offers. Major dailies have the insight and resources to explore new media but can’t seem to really capture the immediacy of the web. As New York Times‘ Culture Editor Sam Sifton explained at a trade conference, The Times (whose editing process is greatly involved, as one would imagine) is simply too big a ship to turn when it comes to competing with live blogs and streaming coverage.

On the other hand, alt-weeklies are often staffed with blogging, Twittering, YouTubing young editors and contributors. But in the struggle to stay alive on a shoestring budget, small weekly papers lack the resources to forge into new media. Or worse, the print-passionate publishers and editors at their helm miss the necessity of going digital.

If the blow were not enough, along came the abysmal economy. By this time savvy business-owners had grown wary, and many had already pulled their campaigns. Neither the Pilot nor Port Folio have developed enough of an online advertising strategy to entice them to reinvest at the rates they did in print. With spending at a near-freeze, nearly all advertisers’ likelihood to reinvest their money grew thin as their wallets. And then so did the magazines.

“Both publications were losing money,” said Maurice Jones, president and publisher of the Pilot, in Phil Walzer’s article from Thursday.  “This is not an issue of, Did we have loyal readers of Port Folio and Mix? This is an issue of not having an adequate advertising base to support the costs of producing the print products.”

The inaugural issue of MIX, released March 2008

Mix was one of a few new publications launched by VPMC last year. The others were Skirt!, a women’s magazine franchise from Charleston; and Link, a free daily news digest targeted at a college-aged demographic.

Many at the time wondered if the new publications would cannibalize existing pubs like PFW. The company’s steadfast model to expand and diversify, mainly through the acquisition of niche pubs, seemed in that market superfluous. Certainly the pubs would overlap and compete for readership. Myself a mid-20s, highly educated, progressive-minded Filipina woman–I was in every niche, targeted by a half dozen magazines at least. On the other hand, for advertisers, here was this diverse array of options–but with such limited budgets, they’re  likely to go with the magazine that’s more highly promoted. Of course, that tended to be whichever one VPMC had most recently sunk its money into launching.

Really, what shot did PFW have in that environment? And what chances did VPMC have against surviving any kind of economic downturn after taking those kinds of risks?

The results, as we know, were devastating. Link closed in December. It followed shortly after the announcement that the Pilot was to cut at least 125 jobs. Fifteen of the eventual 150 came out of the Pilot newsroom. According to editor Denis Finley the laid off employees had a combined 297 years of service among them.

“The paper will be a little smaller,” said Finley in a Nov 22 Pilot story. “I think readers will notice. We will keep the quality of the journalism as high as possible. There will just be less of it in the daily Pilot.”

Readers of course did notice. Because the point of a newspaper or magazine is to be read. And less quality content means less readers. What seemed on the surface like simple, good business sense, is on a basic level counter-intuitive to the ultimate goal of making a paper.

We in this industry are in the business of informing, educating and enriching the public. Good business, in light of that fundamental fact, focuses on good journalism. What are advertising salespeople offering if not the quality content that their product has to offer? Based on the decisions to cut the news staff and the resources at Port Folio Weekly while imprudently launching several new pubs, it seems that what the Pilot specifically lacks is a determined commitment to good writing and service.

A 2008 issue on free expression

There is a social responsibility that news organizations have, and which the Pilot seems to be more and more incapable of fulfilling. A three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning institution, it has celebrated much success and acclaim in the course of its rich history. Its stance on social injustice, specifically desegregation in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, and its stated mission “to exercise First Amendment freedoms with vigor and responsibility” are beyond laudable. However, it’s grown to be a recognizably right-leaning, billion-dollar conglomerate with several lucrative assets to protect.

Despite the paradox of being owned by the area’s mainstream media outlet, Port Folio Weekly was the one avenue that the Pilot had to fulfill a large part of that social responsibility. In that sense, it was its saving grace. Specifically, PFW’s support of local arts organizations, small businesses and cultural centers helped bolster an artistic community that would otherwise not exist in this area.

After selling the highly profitable Weather Channel to NBC Universal last year, Landmark announced in the fall that it is suspending the sale of most of its properties. The company will, however, continue to seek a buyer for The Virginian-Pilot. Maurice Jones has stated that the Pilot will consider reopening its weekly paper when the brutal economic climate has passed. But by that point, VPMC hopes to have developed new sources of revenue, including more robust direct-mail services and a social networking site for “busy moms.”

“I’m saddened both on a personal level and as a citizen of this region,” says Tom Robotham, Port Folio’s recent editor of 10 years. “On a personal level, it’s hard to see something that I put so much of my life into go away.”

Robotham was last year dismissed as editor-in-chief due to ongoing disagreements with upper management as to the editorial direction of the magazine and its shifting business model. He has since founded TReehouse Magazine, an online literary journal that he and partner Shannon Bowman plan to soon translate into print.

“ And as a citizen,” says Robotham, “I feel that even more than other regions, this area which is so fragmented, needs something like Port Folio to bring it together. We are trying to serve that purpose with TReehouse, and I admire what you’re doing with this venture [24SevenCities]. All of that will help, but it won’t completely fill the void.

“Just as veteran employees of a company are important because they have institutional memory, veteran publications are important because they carry the collective memory of the community. New publications, though exciting, aren’t able to play that same kind of role.”

For all who loved and read it, Port Folio’s death–which in many ways was clearly a casualty of the frantic Pilot’s own drawn-out end–was poignantly like watching Goliath in the throes of his own defeat and desperation bring David down with his fall, and to the loss of all, both bodies were given “to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth.”

And so goes a magnificent part of our culture here in the Seven Cities. We bid farewell to our great, old, awe-inspiring friend, who takes with it an intimate knowledge of our history and a faithful investment in who we are to become as a community.

Next up | PFW’S QUARTER-LIFE CRISIS DEMISE | Part 2 Why free alternative media matters| What Port Folio did right, what it did wrong, could it have been saved, and what does it matter…