This social media stuff kind of blows my mind everyday. I write a few things about Style Weekly, that were critical, on this blog. Some said I was picking a fight. Others said right on. http://floricane.typepad.com/buttermilk/2008/07/styles-long-ove.html
Didn’t think anybody really read our blog…in fact, I am absolutely amazed that you are reading this now.
Anyway, to his credit, Style Editor Jason Roop calls and leaves a message within a couple of hours after posting the thing. He read it, and quite honestly he wasn’t happy. I called him back and we talked.
I really give kudos to Jason for actually calling. I’ve posted lots of stuff about the Times-Dispatch, but they never call.
Long story short, Jason says he respects my opinion, but that I got it all wrong.
Ok, I ain’t human. And I ain’t a journalist. Journalists don’t say “ain’t” for example.
For the record, I really like Style Weekly. There, hrrmmph, I said it again.
Also, for the record, it wasn’t an obit. It was a critique.
I said the paper was half as big as it was a year ago. Jason says that they’ve never had a 100+ page paper, except their anniversary edition last year. Point taken.
The classified pages don’t work because they got hacked by some jerk in China. Fair enough.
The all-new, redesigned StyleWeekly.com (web 2.0 version) will be up soon and he’s invited to give me a sneak peak. (I missed the big unveiling last week…didn’t know about it).
I said the paper was for sale and he didn’t dispute that, but he said there are several suitors that are interested.
He also says that the paper and it’s new products have been profitable. Ok.
He said readership, not distribution, is the most important number, but we’ll just agree to disagree on that one. He says readership is up. I contend that actual printed copies are down. 50K last year. 42,500 in January and 35,000 on the website today.
I love the paper…just not the current website. And the people are starting to grow on me.
Thanks for the call Jason.
by dave saunders