Alternative Papers Look to Fill Void in LA, Cleveland

By: Lucia Moses Starting new papers has been cited as one legal remedy to the controversial closing of two alternative weeklies. But some are already moving to fill the void left by the demise of the New Times Los Angeles and Cleveland Free Times.

Silver Lake Press, a 30,000-distribution biweekly in eastern L.A., will change its name to Los Angeles Alternative Press and expand distribution next month, while in Cleveland former Free Times staffers started a new alternative monthly, Urban Dialect.

Federal investigators reportedly are wrapping up their antitrust probe into the alt-weekly closings by Village Voice Media and NT Media. The case is bound to be the talk of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies' annual AAN West conference next month, which features a new session this year: "How to Start an Alternative Paper." AAN Executive Director Richard Karpel said the timing was coincidental.