Alternative Papers Waking Up From Net Slumber

OJR has done a great story on how the alt-weeklies are now waking up from their Net slumber, so to speak, and trying to ride the second wave and recapture the youth.

Alt-weeklies have largely let the Internet revolution pass them by. Classified sites such as Craigslist.org and Match.com, and content sites such as Alternet.org and Salon.com have taken their mantle online, while alt-weeklies have looked on with growing horror.

Now the weeklies are trying again: the New Times chain trying to outdo Craigslist with its Back Page initiative, and the Village Voice Media chain appointing a vice president for online. And innovation is coming from the edges, with the Buffalo ArtVoice wading into online multimedia, the Jackson (Miss.) Free Press putting Weblogs front and center on its site, and The Stranger (in Seattle) and Chicago Reader pushing new “aggressively local” online personals.

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