New York City’s iconic alt-weekly newspaper The Village Voice will relaunch next month, over two years after it unceremoniously shuttered following a 60-year-long run.
According to The New York Times, the publication was recently purchased by Brian Calle, the current owner of LA Weekly and the chief executive of Street Media. Calle will relaunch The Village Voice digitally sometime in January 2021, and hopes to release quarterly print issues shortly afterwards throughout the year. The latter is especially big news considering print was one of the first things axed when the paper tried to reshuffle its profit, pre-closure.
Calle has already hired former Village Voice editor Bob Baker to return to the paper, this time to serve as a senior editor and content coordinator. An editorial staff has yet to be hired in full, but Calle told the Times that he wants to bring other former staff members back into the fold if possible.
It should go without saying that there’s a lot of legacy to uphold in reviving The Village Voice. During its original run, the paper was a legendary resource not just for New Yorkers, but for people all over the world due to its thoughtful reporting on the arts scene. It was the home for influential critics like Robert Christgau and J. Hoberman, moderated the annual Pazz & Jop music survey, and even staged its own 4Knots music festival.
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That said, given Calle’s past history, the relaunch of The Village Voice is not without some controversy. Three years ago, Calle acquired LA Weekly and steered the newspaper in a dramatically different direction. Almost immediately, nine out of 13 editorial staffers at the paper were fired, a massive boycott took place, and a handful of LA Weekly backers — including Calle — were sued by David Welch for allegedly mismanaging the paper.
