11/06/2009
Former Editor Judy Wieder Revises Attack on The Advocate
On Wednesday I posted about an attack on Here Media and The Advocate by former editor Judy Wieder. Wieder pulled the original (which was published on November 2 at 3:51 pm) and posted a new version two days later, saying she hadn't realized it was a rough draft (November 4 at 2:48 pm).
Writes Wieder: "Before I begin, I need to say that an earlier VERY rough draft of this piece accidentally got posted. That never should have happened and I apologize to anyone who saw it."
The magazine is now no longer a murder victim (What Killed the Advocate?) — but instead died a slow, and apparently painful death (The Not-So-Sudden Death of the Advocate).
Posted 10:08 AM EST by Andy Towle in Gay Media, News | Permalink
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Gays today don't want to read anything from the Advocate...they would much rather spend time on Manhunt, Perez Hilton, post to a blog that shares there sense of entitlement, trying to see alleged straight men have sex via Sean Cody and other sites, dress up in drag, have bareback sex even thou they profess that they never would, oh did I forget shopping and going to gym to look like a porn star. Yep that is what gay men today want...I know that is what I am doing right now...
Posted by: diiferingview | Nov 6, 2009 10:25:28 AM
I both enjoy reading the Advocate and get some differing views on topics. Not that I don't think it could be improved or focus less on the fluff, but I still think it's valuable.
Posted by: David R. | Nov 6, 2009 11:39:25 AM
Judy is an insane narcissist. If she'd gotten the EIC job that she begged for when Regent bought the magazine, she wouldn't be complaining (and straight actors would still be appearing on the cover.
Posted by: Jet | Nov 6, 2009 12:29:43 PM
What's with deleting comments, Andy?! There were a bunch more earlier. You trying to stay on Regents good side or something?
Posted by: Casey | Nov 6, 2009 4:52:08 PM
The Advocate is the People magazine of the gay world and perhaps was something different before but once you accept that fact it is just horrible celebrity news, poorly written first person stories, and the mindless combo that makes People a top selling magazine, you can sleep at night.
I do not bother reading it because that is not where I want to get my news and I do not check the website often because I do not find it very informative.
Posted by: jtchicago | Nov 6, 2009 6:50:47 PM
The day the Advocate's Heterosexual Owners decided to turn it from being a pro-active News Magazine, alerting us to our plight state to state and around the world, was the day I cancelled my subscription.
You see gay folks: The Heteroarchy don't want you knowing what horrid things they be doing to you everywhere and all the time.
So they killed the advocate by turing it into a piece of shit.
Think it's not true? Look at the magazine in the 1970's, 80's and 90's. Then look at it post 9/11.
'Nuff said
Posted by: New Jersey Girl | Nov 6, 2009 8:48:19 PM
uh, hey New Jersey Girl? The Advocate is owned by heremedia - which is owned by Paul Colichman who couldn't POSSIBLY be gay-er. Not sure where you got your information about the Hetero Owners, but you might wanna do a quick fact check before your next rant.
Posted by: Ron Oliver | Nov 7, 2009 7:21:51 AM
True enough, Ron Oliver. Colichman is gay in the most queeny, West Hollyfuck sense of the word. I would suspect he's a very clever and ruthless businessman, though, for whom the bottom line is all-important. First and foremost, he's a seasoned movie and entertainment producer and distributor (just in case ya didn't know). But I doubt back in 2008 he realized what a mess Regent Media would be taking on. This is not the place to go into the many lurid details.
New Jersey Girl is perhaps referring to the shareholders and employees of PlanetOut (PNO), the company most responsible for the demise of the dysfunctional (but still functioning) LPI Media and Specialty Publications, which published Advocate and several "erotic" magazines for a number of years, and also took on Alyson Books, Out, and HIV Plus. For years and years, there was no other national LGBT media company in the class of LPI (or its earlier incarnation, Liberation Publications). PNO acquired LPI, after five years of hemming and hawing, in late 2005, only to dump it on Regent in August 2008, after having lost the entire inflated worth of LPI Media and tens of millions beyonds that. We aren't exactly speaking Frontiers or Windy City Times or even Window Media here, in terms of finances and the capacity for financial loss.
Quite a few of the PNO types, from the execs to support staff, were straight (but oh-so- gay-friendly!) or only very peripherally gay ("postgay" but "sex-positive" were the rage words with some of them — "greed," surely, was another among the execs and big stockholders).
To a lesser extent, the straight and/or "sex-positive" postgay orientation of many staff was also true of certain segments of the LPI group. Aaron Hicklin, at the time of his hiring, was billed to all of us "on the inside" as a straight man, but then he wrote an editorial about going to his first gay bar in Scotland as a 20-something however many decades ago. So, perhaps "postgay" is the word again. Who knows? Or, I suppose, cares at this point?
Posted by: calmuse | Nov 15, 2009 1:21:06 AM