The Village Voice sold to new owner for undisclosed sum

The Village Voice, an alternative weekly established six decades ago, has been acquired by the owner of a Pennsylvania newspaper whose family had been involved in the industry for generations.

Peter Barbey told The New York Times that the Voice had ''a unique journalistic role in New York and the country as a whole.''

Barbey's family had owned The Reading Eagle for a long time. He acquired the Voice for an undisclosed sum from the Voice Media Group, though his investment company Black Walnut Holdings LLC, which was a separate entity  from the company that ran the Reading newspaper.
 
The Village Voice, the US' first alternative newsweekly had won three Pulitzer Prizes and had been lauded for its arts and culture coverage and its investigations.

According to Barbey he first became a fan of the Voice as a high school student and had high hopes for what it could be moving forward.

''I am flat-out serious about getting the Voice to be a major Manhattan publication,'' he said.

The once highly influential, well capitalised and powerful publication served to counterbalance New York's media establishment, Politico, reported.

Over the last decade, however, the Voice had struggled along with much of the newspaper industry, as print advertising and circulation started sliding steeply.

The paper was acquired by Phoenix-based New Times Media in 2005, which started an era of volatility characterised by repeated downsizings and forced or voluntary departures of just about all the old-time, high-profile veteran talent that made the Voice what it was.

New Times Media was later renamed Village Voice Media.

The Voice newsroom of about 10 is a pale version of its former self, with much of the the film and television coverage now produced centrally across Voice Media Group's various titles.

Voice Media sold two other tittles prior to the Voice. The group said it will "continue to own and operate" eight weekly papers, including LA Weekly, Phoenix New Times, Miami New Times and the Dallas Observer.

"We don't have any plans to do any more sales right now, but we're always happy to have a conversation or a serious discussion about any of our properties," Voice Media Group executive associate editor Andy Van De Voorde told Politico in a brief interview.