‘The Village Voice’ is being relaunched in 2021

Karma Oak

The Village Voice, the long-running NYC alt-weekly which ceased print publication in September 2017 and online publication a year later, is returning both to digital content and print. According to The New York Times, the Voice has been acquired by Street Media, who currently publish LA Weekly (and bought it from Voice Media in 2017).

Brian Calle, CEO of Street Media, told the Times that digital publication would begin in January, with quarterly print editions starting in early 2021. Bob Baker, a former Voice editor, will be senior editor and content coordinator and Calle says that he plans on hiring more former staffers. Calle says the new version of the publication "will honor the traditions of The Village Voice of yesteryear."

The Village Voice had been sold by Voice Media to Peter Barbey's Reading Eagle Company in 2015, who in turn sold it to Street Media. Calle told the Times he'd been thinking about buying it for some time and began asking about it earlier this year. “I literally just cold-called [Barbey] and I said, ‘Hey, I’ve been thinking a lot about The Village Voice and a lot about journalism in the context of this year and I feel like we need to figure out a way to bring it back.'"

Calle controversially gutted L.A. Weekly's editorial staff when Street Media (acting under the name Semanal Media) bought the alt-weekly in 2017. An employee and advertiser boycott followed; the Boycott LA Weekly campaign cites ethical violations by management. Investor David Welch sued Calle in 2018, alleging the paper had been mismanaged, but the case was settled out of court in 2019. “I think the proof is in the results, which is that we’re still around and we’re on a nice trajectory,” Calle told the Times.

Stay tuned.