Seattlest: Seattle's Mall-ternative Newsweeklies

seandr

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:55:31 -0800

Very interesting post, Jeremy, sorry to have seen it so late. Brave of you to fight the power. As The Stranger continues to gain mass, who knows, maybe it will one day implode. On the following point, however, I think you are dead wrong: "There's nothing quite as sad as a poorly aging hipster, and that means the Stranger either needs to grow up... Keck needs to ... ax half his staff and bring in a new crowd of crazy young radicals to reinvigorate the paper" This is bullshit. No one handed the hipster crown to The Stranger back in the 90s. They just took it. So did The Onion, The Village Voice, and McSweeney's. Assuming you are in your twenties, I can understand your frustration. Frankly, as a 30-something hipster, I find it quite disturbing that the youngsters have not claimed cool for themselves. Young should be cooler than old - this is just the natural order. But from what I've seen, hip is dead among the twenty somethings in Seattle. Most youngsters are yuppies, aspiring yuppies, or losers who are bitter and angry because they'll never be yuppies, and the coolest people around are all pushing 40. Please, one of you, start a cool alternative weekly already. And please don't remove this comment because it contains a few colorful words. That's not hip.

Cato the Younger Younger

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:14:31 -0800

@15. I totally agree. The Stranger lost a lot of credibility with me when that was posted AND it is still on line. (Any editor with any morality would have pulled it by now) So Seattlest, we all know the Stranger has gone mainstream, are you going to fill in the gap as Seattle's ONLY newspaper?

Katelyn

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:07:53 -0800

The Slog post with your query letter was completely yucky and underhanded. However, it did alert me to the existence of this article. And now, Seattlest is officially bookmarked! Score one for disillusionment. Now, Seattlest, if you can turn into a fierce and important city blog, I'll love you forever. I'll be checking in to see the progress.

Gomez

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:42:06 -0800

There's a lot more truth to this article than Stranger fans want to admit. I've been a Stranger supporter long after my friends turned their back on the paper, and at this point, even I have to call their journalistic credibility and quality into question. This article says a whole hell of a lot, and pulling a quasi-damning query letter out of Frizzelle's desk drawer doesn't change that. You can bag on the blogs and the Seattle Weekly for so long, but if your own paper's quality begins to suffer, you begin to become a parody of yourself every time you do so.

sciencevsromance

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 19:56:07 -0800

f.w.i.w., I e-mailed the managing editor of the Weekly to ask about Hsu's departure from the paper. He replied said that "[Hsu] left amicably to move to Shanghai to work on a long-awaited book project that has to do with his 96-year-old grandmother in China." [mb]

guest

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:59:02 -0800

What really constitutes a race to the bottom? Hsu's stories were obviously well read if they generated such strong emotions in the community. Isn't that the whole point of an alt-weekly, or for that matter, any publication? Specifically, why is a story about high school administrators setting dirty dancing rules a race to the bottom? Why is a story about the people who sell Real Change (homeless or not) a race to the bottom? If Hsu wrote about puppy toys laced with phthalates, would that be a race to the bottom? Implying that Hsu was fired (besides being a low blow) doesn't pass any sniff test. Clearly the editorial staff at the Weekly didn't have any problems with his articles, otherwise they wouldn't have run them (or at least not made them lengthy cover stories). Anyways, what really deserves investigation is why the Weekly and the Stranger feel the need to snipe at each other. In reality, both are pretty good alt-weeklies, but they sound like petulant teenagers when they nitpick on their respective blogs. Just shut up and focus on the product... that's what will earn more readers.

Michael van Baker

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:53:16 -0800

I think it's unfair to Hsu to imply (if I'm reading this correctly) that he personally was on a race to the bottom. The newbie on staff that he was, I'm reasonably certain he was assigned those stories to cover -- if there's a race to the bottom, the starting line is in the Weekly's editors' offices. I believe he left under his own steam, and after that "cougars" article, I don't blame him.

guest

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:52:48 -0800

As a Jew, I am insulted when anyone criticizes The Stranger. When I moved here four years ago from Williamsburg, The Stranger was a breath of fresh air in this too white town. People who don't like The Stranger are really just anti-semitic. The Stranger covers Jewish issues better than any other Seattle paper.

Cato the Younger Younger

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:12:04 -0800

Eh, commenting about the Stranger is always fun. But I do not take the Stranger all that seriously since some of the political commentary has been either right on point or catastrophic. I do agree that Christopher is not the most volumous writer the Stranger has but most of the time he shows talent and at times brilliance. Dan Savage is great as long as he stays with the issues he is passionate about like Gay marriage or the hypocracy of much of Christianity. Once he moves away from that though he sounds shrill, angry and often times wrong (his support of the Iraq war stands out). And Josh awhile back did not even know who Greg Palast was, a sin for a publication that claims to be "alternative". Simply put, the weekly rags in Seattle seem to be more like talk radio than anything else. Lots of ranting through an egostical framework. Always quick to take credit when they can and avoid responsibility when they are wrong. Take the Stranger and Seattle Weekly with a grain of salt.

guest

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 13:18:35 -0800

So what exactly should the Stranger do - fire everyone and chase after a bunch of young conservative types willing to challenge the status quo? Funny, I thought that's exactly what the New Times-owned Seattle Weekly tried - and failed - to do. As anyone who's followed state and local politics knows, the Stranger remains a radical force. Who else championed a surface/transit option? Who else called out the Washington State Supreme Court on their dishonest gay marriage ruling? It would be great if the day came when the Stranger was no longer radical, when progressive politics were the norm. But we're not there yet. Asking for more conservatives is so 2003. -a random Seattleite with no ties to the Stranger (but who does know Seattlest Tom).

axis420

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:47:08 -0800

Spot on if you ask me. The Stranger staff has always been in an ivory tower above Capitol Hill lording themselves over the teeming masses of hipsters (and hipster wannabes) and somehow selling themselves as ahead of the hipster curve (while hanging out in the Cha-Cha Lounge long after everyone else had moved on). I would hope that someday, people will wake up and smell the coffee, and realize that they can find what The Stranger does, done better in numerous other places around the Web and kill that poor rag.

guest

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 09:11:45 -0800

Making fun of a man's tie is bullshit. Especially when they're second-hand.

Jeremy M. Barker

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 00:39:27 -0800

I hear tell that there's an error in the above article--there was no official word from Seattle Weekly that Huan Hsu was dismissed. I regret the choice of word (but not the assertion he was on a race to the bottom).

Seth

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 22:34:04 -0800

I was just talking about this very topic this weekend somewhere, with someone. The Stranger is getting older, and its concerns have changed with its age. I mean, as a kid I picked it up for much-needed advice about sex and TV, now I'm much more likely to read it for trenchant commentary on progressive politics, good writing, or an update about the status of our city's bicycling laws. These were not worries of mine as a desperately horny teenager harboring an unhealthy fixation on Ren & Stimpy. There's been a change. The Weekly's audience aged, and the new Weekly sort-of deserted them--I'm not sure who the Weekly's audience is now. But, just like the Stranger challenged the Weekly, eventually--maybe ten years from now? less? some young upstarts will make the Stranger the butt of their fogey jokes.

guest

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:17:33 -0800

Let's see now. The Seattlest is a who-cares blog of dubious lineage. A local (sic) version of a national syndicate of web sites. Now they're passing judgement on The Stranger. Because...? You're so great? Right. Catty backstabbing wasn't hip in junior high and it sure isn't flattering past one's 20s. (You are over 20 aren't you?). If you have something of merit to say, state your point. Snarky don't cut it. Especially when you write as poorly as you do with so few "facts" presented. Your punishment: writing "I won't be a little bitch any more. I promise." on the blackboard 100 times. Quick before someone drops a house on you! JetCityOrange

kasa

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:26:29 -0800

Mr. Barker sir, I'd like to buy a drink! Followed by a toast with a hearty "hear, hear!"

sciencevsromance

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:24:20 -0800

Call me crazy for picking it up every so often, but I think that the Seattle Weekly is much more interesting today than it was two years ago.