A
free, weekly,
tabloid-formatted newspaper based in New York City. New issues are available each
Tuesday in streetcorner newsboxes, at newsstands, and in stores which act as "authorized distributors".
NYP supports itself via sales of advertising space and also sells yearly subscriptions for $75.00. According to the Distribution information inside the paper, each reader is entitled to one (1) and only one (1) copy and must pay $1.00 for each additional copy desired. Further, "no person may, without prior written permission of NEW YORK PRESS, take more than one copy of each NEW YORK PRESS weekly issue." One can only imagine the scene in the courtroom if and when NYP decides to sue the evil bastard who takes two copies of the paper out of the box on some dark day*.
The New York Press is primarily an opinion, entertainment and commentary newspaper. A large proportion of the articles are essentially personal essays. As it is published weekly, the paper's ability to report "news" is, obviously, limited. There are occasionally investigative journalism-style reports, but, by and large, the NYP is "for fun" reading.
Nevertheless, the quality of the writing is generally high. Nationally recognized (though not necessarily famous) columnists, essayists and writers are featured, as are talented locals. Alexander Cockburn and Christopher Caldwell trade off weeks with their political columns. Jim Knipfel regularly contributes stories of his life and/or interviews with people he finds interesting. William Bryk writes a weekly column about interesting historical personalities. John Strausbaugh offers book reviews and insight into the literary world. Many more regulars round out the offerings.
As with most weeklies, NYP features art, music and film criticism, listings of upcoming events, classified ads and the ubiquitous, luridly illustrated phone sex pitches. It's also (I believe) the only paper in New York which runs Tony Millionaire's Maakies comic strip.
Politically, the paper does an excellent job of featuring opinion and analysis from all over the spectrum. Russ Smith, the editor-in-chief and CEO (who writes an op/ed column under the warm and fuzzy nom de plume MUGGER) leans toward the libertarian right according to his writings. But you will find contributions by representatives of the radical left (e.g. Alexander Cockburn and George Szamuely), centrists (like Christopher Caldwell), and the reactionary right (such as Taki Theodoracopulos). It's a refreshing blend, and stands in contrast to The Village Voice which is exclusively 'liberal'.
*cbustapeck has informed me that the legalese regarding numbers of free copies allotted to readers is actually a method of preventing censorship. A disgruntled reader could decide to gather up every copy of the New York Press he or she was able to find in order to prevent it being read. This is, obviously, dirty pool. The disclaimer makes taking more than one copy theft, and therefore prosecutable. cubustapeck says that people have, in fact, been prosecuted for the crime of stealing free newspapers.
Highlights from the current masthead, as of vol. 14 no. 45 (November 1-13, 2001) are reproduced below.
EDITOR: John Strausbaugh
MANAGING EDITOR: Lisa Kearns
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Andrey Slivka
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Eva Neuberg
LISTINGS EDITOR: Lisa LeeKing
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Christopher Carbone
LISTINGS ASSITANT: Tanya Richardson
EDITORAL PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Jeff Hanson
PROOFREADER: Noah Masterson
STAFF WRITER: Jim Knipfel
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Spencer Ackerman, Andrew Baker, William Bryk, Richard Byrne, Alan Cabal, Caeriel, Christopher Caldwell, Alexander Cockburn, Melissa de la Cruz, Willing Davidson, Mike Doughty, Dave Eggers, Don Gilbert, Kenneth Goldsmith, David Grad, Tim Hall, Ed Halter, Joe S. Harrington, Adam Heimlich, Tama Janowitz, Mark Gauvreau Judge, Howard Kaplan, Mary Karam, Mimi Kramer, J.T. LeRoy, Lane Lipton, William Monahan, William S. Repsher, Wendy Reynolds, Bob Reidel, Crispin Sartwell, Allyson Schrager, Matt Zoller Seitz, Ben Sisario, C.J. Sullivan, George Tabb, J.R. Taylor, Taki Theodoracopulos, Lucian K. Truscott IV, Christian Viveros-Fauné, Ned Vizzini, Spike Vrusho, Armond White, Jessica Willis
ART DIRECTOR: Roxene Wu
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: Doug Allen, Lynda Barry, Ivan Brunetti, Russell Christian, Marc Crisafulli, Tristan Eaton, Fly, Marcellus Hall, Kaori Hamura, Fred Harper, T.S. Hart, Danny Hellman, Sam Henderson, Julee Kim, Tom LeGoff, Jason Little, Don MacLeod, Erik Maniscalco, Marloth, Travis Millard, Tony Millionaire, Mumbleboy.com, John Nebesney, Claudio Parentela, Andrew Perkowski, Olga Rezvaya, Richard Sala, Jane Sanders, Emily Schuch, Akiko Stehrenberger, Neil Swaab, Takeshi Tadatsu, Michael Teague, Mort Todd, M. Wartella, Wayno, Antony Zito
PUBLISHER: Kim Granowitz
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AND CEO: Russ Smith