# What's your city's alternative newspaper? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 25, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666 "2010-05-25T02:54:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/1 "2010-05-25T02:54:15Z")
And is it available online? …and do you have a link its site? ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/2 "2010-05-25T02:56:05Z")
[Jackson Free Press](http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/) FTW!! ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/3 "2010-05-25T02:57:34Z")
May I present the [Tucson Weekly](http://www.tucsonweekly.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/4 "2010-05-25T02:58:18Z")
[The Shepherd Express](http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/) and [The Onion](http://www.theonion.com/) which even though I think is nationally distributed now, started out primarily in Madison and Milwaukee. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/5 "2010-05-25T03:01:05Z")
[Independent Weekly](http://www.indyweek.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Goliath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rex\_Goliath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Goliath)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/6 "2010-05-25T03:01:57Z")
[Black & White](http://www.bwcitypaper.com/) magazine, an entirely appropriate title for the #1 alternative paper in Birmingham, AL. It’s excellent, and does a very good job of covering local political issues, events, and occasional hilarity. [Here’s](http://www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2010-05-13-235789.113121_Naked_Birmingham.html) an article detailing the rise of a new local brewery whose growth is strangled by stupid, archaic laws being fought right now. You can see another great Birmingham landmark, Vulcan’s ass. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/7 "2010-05-25T03:06:49Z")
In the canonical “alternative weekly” mode, bizarrely, we have two English ones (the _Montreal Mirror_ and the _Hour_) but only one French one (_Voir_); the French version of the _Mirror, Ici,_ folded some time ago. However, there are lots of other smaller French papers distributed various places, such as _L’Aut’ Journal._ One interesting story (not quite in the alternaweekly vein) is a paper started by the journalists who have been locked out of _Le Journal de Montréal_ (crappy _Sun_-style daily tabloid) for months now. Called _Rue Frontenac_, it’s web-only for the moment but it’s become fairly popular and successful. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/8 "2010-05-25T04:46:33Z")
Not suprisingly, the Puget Sound is full of them. Our own town of Tacoma has the [Weekly Volcano](http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/), which oddly enough is usually bundled within a military newspaper. Seattle has the more “established” alt weekly [Seattle Weekly](http://www.seattleweekly.com/) and the much edgier [Stranger](http://www.thestranger.com/), and numerous specialized papers. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/9 "2010-05-25T12:40:39Z")
For many years Boston has had the **Phoenix** , which used to run _The Straight Dope_, but hasn’t for many years > **[Boston Phoenix - Local News, Events, Music, Restaurants, Reviews, Arts and...](https://thephoenix.com/)** > > The Phoenix - award-winning, incisive journalism and the most comprehensive arts-and-entertainment listings in New England. I don’t know if they still do, but there used to be a Worcester MA version, too. Bavk in the 1970s, there was an alternative alternative staffed by disgruntled ex-Phoenix people, _The Real Paper_, but that has, I think, been absorbed back into the Phoenix. In any event, it hasn’t existed in many decades. A newer alternative is **The Weekly Dig** , which clearly wants to unseat the Phoenix > **[Personal Growth - WeeklyDig.com](https://weeklydig.com/)** > > Explore our site to read the latest and most captivating articles on personal growth and self-improvement. Start working on yourself today! ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/10 "2010-05-25T12:43:39Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > [Jackson Free Press](http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/) FTW!! Beaten to the punch! 😃 JFP is an awesome read. So, I’ll share my old town’s alt paper: Louisville KY, [LEO Weekly](http://leoweekly.com/). ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/11 "2010-05-25T12:46:47Z")
Pittsburgh City Paper is the closest we have > **[pittsburghcitypaper.ws](http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/index)** > > This domain may be for sale! although its pretty much mostly arts. ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/12 "2010-05-25T12:47:06Z")
We have two. There’s the [Lansing City Pulse](http://lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/) - “A newspaper for the rest of us”. It does a decent job of being a liberal muckraking gadfly, as well as covering local events, concerts, shows, bars and restaurants, etc. There’s also the Lansing [Noise](http://www.lansingnoise.com/section/noise) - Make Some", which is owned and run by the local fishwrapper, the [Lansing State Journal](http://www.lsj.com/). My take is that the LSJ folks saw that the City Pulse was doing decently well, and they decided “OOH! Us too!”. But the Journal is owned by the Gannett newspaper chain, I think, and somehow corporate newspapers don’t do small and funky all that well. It’s still interesting, but to me it feels like the newspaper version of “Casual Friday” at the local Big Eight accounting firm. You get to wear your Hush Puppies and Jimmie Buffett tie instead of wingtips and a silk Eton. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/13 "2010-05-25T12:50:38Z")
Here’s the true local alternative rag for Indianapolis: [Nuvo Magazine](http://www.nuvo.net/). Here’s the bizarro-world corporate-whore advertising-rag-with-bar-reviews, owned by Gannett, which replaces the essentially similar [Indy.com](http://Indy.com), which replaced the essentially similar InTake: [Metromix Indianapolis](http://indianapolis.metromix.com/). InTake and [Indy.com](http://Indy.com) used mostly local writers and editors, with an upbeat commercial bent, and padded the rag out with classifieds culled from the _Indianapolis Star_. As the newspaper and classifieds markets shrink, Gannett kept “reinventing” the paper, ending up with the current version, which shares much of its content with other metropolitan Metromix papers, has a little local flavor (mostly bar and restaurant reviews), and the same classified ads. A long-time alternative to the _Star_, [The Indianapolis Recorder](http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/) is the local African-American newspaper, and has a pretty healthy circulation; founded 1895. And the local astrologie/magick/new age paper: [Branches Magazine](http://www.branches.com/). Used to be full of ads for personal rolfers, etc… haven’t looked at this one for a while. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/14 "2010-05-25T12:53:40Z")
St. Louis has the [Riverfront Times](http://www.riverfronttimes.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/15 "2010-05-25T13:10:58Z")
Ours is the [Houston Press](http://www.houstonpress.com/). It’s published weekly. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/16 "2010-05-25T13:32:22Z")
We have the [Free Times](http://www.free-times.com), which is, eh, so-so. Its coverage of the recent mayoral election was NOT as good as it thinks it was. And it hasn’t realized that there are more things people want to read about than just local bands. There’s also the [City Paper](http://www.columbiacitypaper.com), but nobody reads that. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/17 "2010-05-25T13:37:38Z")
Ours is [Creative Loafing](http://www.creativeloafing.com/) which now owns this board, if I’m not mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/18 "2010-05-25T13:41:20Z")
We have [Creative Loafing](http://www2.tampa.creativeloafing.com/), which I understand was bought up the Chicago Reader. We also have [TBT\*](http://www.tampabay.com/tbt/) which is a pseudo-alternative paper published by the St Pete Times, in an effort to draw in younger readers. Creative Loafing is weekly, TBT\*\* is daily (M-F?); both are free. There may be others. [_TBT_ is subtitled \*Tampa Bay Times, with the asterisks.](http://www.tampabay.com/tbt/) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/19 "2010-05-25T13:42:37Z")
Charlotte, too, has a _Creative Loafing_. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666/20 "2010-05-25T13:44:57Z")
[Nashville’s Online Source for Daily News](http://nashvillecitypaper.com/) [Nashville Scene](http://www.nashvillescene.com/) There may be others that I don’t read. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-citys-alternative-newspaper/540666.md?page=2)