To answer Wayne's question: Nobody runs their own newspaper in the VVM family, including those editors who claim to do so. They know what Lacey and Andy want - that's constantly made clear to them through phone calls, emails and drop-ins, as Ortego, after 13 years of obeying, clearly has learned. VVM wiped out political and social commentary from its papers (albiet unable to fire an instituion such as Nat Hentoff), displacing them from any relevant role in the civic discussion. A chain is a chain is a chain, behind the scenes and on the surface: merely evidence the canned columns and movie reviews that now flow out of NY and LA and are manditorily run in those supposedly independent publications. They're about as "alternative" to the daily chains as MC is to Visa.
To answer Wayne's question: Nobody runs their own newspaper in the VVM family, including those editors who claim to do so. They know what Lacey and Andy want - that's constantly made clear to them through phone calls, emails and drop-ins, as Ortego, after 13 years of obeying, clearly has learned. VVM wiped out political and social commentary from its papers (albiet unable to fire an instituion such as Nat Hentoff), displacing them from any relevant role in the civic discussion. A chain is a chain is a chain, behind the scenes and on the surface: merely evidence the canned columns and movie reviews that now flow out of NY and LA and are manditorily run in those supposedly independent publications. They're about as "alternative" to the daily chains as MC is to Visa.