Source: Boston Herald, Bay Windows, Loaded Gun
New England Blade, a Boston area gay weekly newspaper, has stopped printing papers until further notice. The paper's publisher blamed the country's credit crisis for the company's problems.
"Effective October 1, 2008, the print edition of the New England Blade will be on hiatus until further notice," the 17-year-old publication announced on its website Thursday when the print edition normally hits newsstands.
The paper said in its online statement that a selection of stories that was set to appear in this week’s edition could be found on its website.
New England Blade -- formerly known as In Newsweekly -- is owned by HX in Boston, LLC, which in turn is owned by the New York-based HX Media, publisher of HX magazine and the New York Blade. A sister company, Window Media, publishes Genre Magazine, Washington Blade, Southern Voice, and other gay newspapers.
Boston's Loaded Gun website last week broke a story of the paper's deep financial troubles.
An unnamed tipster told Loaded Gun's Sam Baltrusis that the paper's staff had been told to wait wait before cashing paychecks, that the HX Boston had received an eviction notice, and that the paper's distributor had not been paid.
Before the paper announced that it would not publish this week's edition, New England Blade publisher James Patterson told Bay Windows, a competing gay weekly in Boston, that reports of the paper's financial difficulties were "inaccurate", but confirmed several of the specific claims made on Baltrusis’s blog.
Patterson claimed that HX Boston and the Blade have been seriously affected by the country’s financial crisis. He said the panic on Wall Street temporarily reduced the liquidity of HX in Boston's funds.
Patterson admitted the the company had fallen behind on payments to its distributor but has since paid the bill.
An informal survey of Blade distribution points in Boston and Somerville by Bay Windows found that most if not all sites received last week's issue a day or two late.
"Things are tight. I'm not going to kid you," Patterson told Bay Windows. "What’s happening in the country's financial markets is very much affecting us. We’re still very much solvent ... but things are tight."
Patterson told Bay Windows that the Blade’s landlord, GTI Properties, has not sent them an eviction notice.
"No, we haven't gotten an eviction notice," said Patterson. "We’re at the end of our lease and we’re actually renegotiating. ... Our intention is to stay here but we haven't completed [negotiations]."
John Kiger, leasing director for GTI Properties’s commercial properties, declined to comment to Bay Windows when asked whether GTI had sent theBlade an eviction notice.
In his interview with Bay Windows, Patterson confirmed Baltrusis's report that the paper is searching for new investors. He said they have already found some new investors, but he declined to name them.
"At this time we are currently going through a round of investor financing, which was just recently successfully completed," said Patterson.
Patterson told Bay Windows he has found both individual and corporate investors that are investing in HX in Boston, but he said HX Media would continue to have a controlling share of the company.
Source: New England Blade print edition on hiatus | Loaded Gun
N.E. gay paper stops its presses | Boston Herald
Blade publisher disputes rumors of financial trouble | Bay Windows