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Alternative News Returns to Vancouver!


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The flame out of the Vanguard monthly and then bi-monthly newspaper earlier this year left SW Washington without an alternative newspaper. That void in our community has been filled once again as of this past Tuesday with the debut of The Vancouver Voice. The website for the fledgling local indy is limited to a listing of locations that are carrying the paper. As editor-in-chief James Walling states in a column which appears on page 3 of its premiere issue:

Vancouver and the surrounding area has become one of the largest and most integrated population centers in the state, and it is time we had an alternative newspaper to serve the needs of the approximately 200,000 people living and working in Southwest Washington.

…

Our goal is to present an up-to-date account of neighborhood events and developments, as well as a comprehensive look at local activities, visual arts, theatre, movies, music, and dining.

I do not know how a monthly (as suggested by a statement on their web page) can fulfill this stated mission of offering “up-to-date” news. Seems to me a paper needs to be at least bi-weekly if not weekly if it hopes to offer timely news to it readers but it’s early and the fact that Walling enthusiastically asks for reader feedback is a welcome sign. It is my hope that this post on d4V will function as a useful forum for this feedback. Those who are not comfortable with using the message board can send their comments directly to vanvoice.info@gmail.com. Noticeably absent from the inaugural issue was anything in the way of local or statewide politics. VanVoice can save a tree and dump the “Test Drive” column. How this endorsement of conspicuous consumption provides an alternative to our local daily is beyond me. I expect that future issues will include a readers letters section.

If we’re lucky a critical mass of readers and advertisers will elevate VanVoice to our own Willamette Week, minus (most of) the sex ads.

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This entry was written by FOIA Gras and posted on October 7, 2006 at 12:51 am and filed under Media. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

3 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

(listed oldest to newest)

  1. Thanks for the heads up. Added Vancouver Voice link to the D4V website list. :mrgreen:

    [Reply]
    1. Above comment written by adminNo Gravatar on October 7th, 2006 at 7:59 am (replies, if any, are attributed separately above).

  2. Here’s hoping that it takes advantage of local opportunities for stories and contributions.
    It was sad to see better coverage of local activist events in the Columbian than that of the Vanguard.
    Without reading the new issue in question, I can only echo your sentiment regarding features that are similar to those in Willamette Week (i.e.: Test Drive, etc…). Although while I’m sure a certain format and demographic is obviously desirable, does this region really need another Willamette Week? The Mercury is for the WW’s younger sibling - more dedicated to listening to rock bands and drinking in trendy bars ’till your head splits in two and is almost completely apolitical (although, I must admit I haven’t picked it up in nearly a year). I think this town’s previous local indy suffered from wanting to emulate the two aforementioned papers a bit too much, rather than find its own voice in its own town.
    I’m sincerely hoping that The Vancouver Voice becomes just that.

    [Reply]
    2. Above comment written by RichNo Gravatar on October 7th, 2006 at 12:23 pm (replies, if any, are attributed separately above).

  3. Hello,

    Can’t tell you how glad we are to see a discussion about The Voice on D4V. My purpose in posting here is to put out a request to FOIA Gras to use all/part of FOIA Gras’ initial message on our November letters to the editor page…mind if we quote you?

    The only portion of the post that we would likely cut would be “Those who are not comfortable with using the message board can send their comments directly to vanvoice.info@gmail.com” since it would be out of context; but everything else would most likely go to print.

    Naturally we won’t print ANYTHING without consent. Thanks for the feedback and for the mention on the D4V site…we hope to hear from you on future issues of the paper as well.

    Best,
    Melissa Wolf
    Copy Chief and Production Manager
    vanvoice.melissa@gmail.com

    [Reply]
    3. Above comment written by Melissa WolfNo Gravatar on October 23rd, 2006 at 11:53 am (replies, if any, are attributed separately above).
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