First order: 9 of 13 editorial staffers axed
After months of speculation, the new owners of Culver City-based alternative weekly the LA Weekly were revealed in a story posted to the publication’s own website on Friday, Dec. 1.
On the previous Wednesday, 9 out of 13 of the newspaper’s editorial staff, including editor Mara Shalhoup, were axed by mysterious new owners Semenal LLC, in a move described by Shalhoup on social media as reminiscent of the infamous “red wedding” scene on TV’s “Game of Thrones.”
At that point, nothing was known about Semenal LLC besides the fact that it was set up to purchase the LA Weekly from previous owners Voice Media, and that ex-Orange County Register editorial director Brian Calle is in charge of editorial affairs to some degree.
At present, Calle does not have a title.
A story called “Who Owns LA Weekly?,” written by freelancer Keith Plocek, appeared on the LA Weekly website soon after the cuts were announced, leading fellow alt-weekly the OC Weekly to speculate about whether this is the first time a publication has queried its own ownership in a story. Talking to the OC Weekly, Plocek said that he acted alone in posting the story.
That may have prompted Calle into action, because on Friday morning, a story appeared on the LA Weekly website called “And the New Owners Are…,” written by Calle himself.
In the article, Calle writes, “The L.A. Weekly [sic] group is made up of several investors including Brian Calle, formerly of the Southern California News Group; David Welch, an L.A.-based attorney; Kevin Xu, a philanthropist and investor; Steve Mehr, an attorney and investor; Paul Makarechian, a boutique hotel developer; Mike Mugel, a real estate redeveloper; and Andy Bequer, a Southern California–based investor. And Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley’s law school, also plans to invest.”
So now we know who owns this Culver City business and local institution. Calle also offered some explanation for the drastic cuts.
“As media marched forward into the digital age, however, print publications saw innumerable challenges and L.A. Weekly [sic] has suffered as a result,” he writes. “It wasn’t inevitable. And today, perhaps more than ever, we need media organizations, like L.A. Weekly, to become reinvigorated journalistic voices in the new media landscape. It’s disheartening that the Weekly has been on a declining trajectory. Our goal is to turn it around and see it grow.”
Earlier this year, New York alt-weekly the Village Voice shut down print operations to focus on the online side only. Calle states in the article that there are no intentions to do that here, but that the digital side needs to be improved.
In the past, he has pointed at Vice Media as inspiration.
One can only hope that he doesn’t intend to fully crowdsource content, compromising the editorial quality that has helped the LA Weekly win numerous awards over the years, including a Pulitzer, sources said.
Update: A group called Boycott LA Weekly has organized a “funeral” / protest for the paper to be held outside the LA Weekly office at 3861 Sepulveda Boulevard, at noon on Friday.
