Schneps now owns the Times Ledger, too

From Brooklyn Paper:

The three leading local media companies serving the five boroughs of New York City along with Long Island and Westchester have now become one.

Schneps Communications, a family-run business owned by Victoria and Joshua Schneps, has acquired Community News Group and NYC Community Media, one of the largest publishers of community newspapers, niche publications, websites and events in New York State.

Together, Schneps, CNG, and NYCCM offer unmatched reach in the five boroughs of New York City, as well as Long Island and Westchester. The newly combined company will be known as Schneps Community News Group and will have a total printed weekly circulation of more than 300,000 copies, a digital reach of more than 2.5 million page views per month, and host more than 40 events every year.

How did they ever come up with that?

Headline of the year courtesy of the Queens Chronicle.

Queens newspaper publisher may do 20 years in prison

From the Daily News:

A Queens newspaper publisher found herself on the wrong side of a headline after authorities said she was messing with the mob.

Patricia Adams, publisher of The Forum, was arrested Wednesday on a charge of witness tampering in a bizarre offshoot of a loansharking case involving the Bonanno crime family, according to Brooklyn federal prosecutors.

Instead of simply signing off on a story about the scheme, Adams became a key player, using her weekly newspaper to bully a woman out of testifying against a Bonanno associate accused of sexually harassing the woman at his Broad Channel deli.

The harassment accusation against Robert Pisani threatened the freedom he enjoyed after posting $500,000 bail in a $26 million loansharking scheme in and around Howard Beach, officials said.

Adams allegedly stepped in, and tried to make the woman’s father talk his daughter out of cooperating with federal law enforcement.

Days ahead of Pisani’s bail revocation hearing, the local newswoman played hardball with the victim’s dad and said she’d dirty up the daughter in her paper, prosecutors said.

Judge Brian Cogan agreed to release Adams late Wednesday on $150,000 bond. Adams also had to put up her house as collateral.

She’ll be under house arrest, so if she wants to go out and interview people for the paper, she’ll have to get the green light from pretrial services, Cogan said.

Adams is looking at up to 20 years if convicted.

Free newspaper hawkers banned from subways

From WNYC:

Earlier this year, the MTA announced an agreement with the publishers of amNY and Metro — both free dailies — that prohibits these modern-day "newsies" from working in the subway, and allows the newspapers to place self-service metal racks stands in stations instead.

The MTA argues that the hawkers contribute to excess trash in the stations, which is a continual struggle for the agency, and contributes to track fires. There were over 1,000 subway fires last year, according to a report from the MTA. This new agreement holds the newspapers accountable for the disposal of leftover papers at the end of each day. Metro has already begun to withdraw hawkers, while amNY is expected to follow, said MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz. (A spokesman for amNY wouldn't comment.)

Though banned from the subway, the hawkers will continue to physically distribute newspapers in NJ Transit, LIRR and Metro- North stations, according to Metro's media kit.

Knockdown Center's permits being revoked

The Knockdown Center's work permits are in the process of being revoked...

and their Place of Assembly has been disapproved...

but all the Times Ledger wants to do is give them free publicity for their May rap concerts which might not end up happening.

You gotta love certain Queens newspapers for always reporting half the story.

Times Ledger looking for buyer

From Capital New York:

Capital has learned that the global publishing conglomerate, which also owns The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, has issued a prospectus to potential buyers of its Community Newspaper Group, a stable that includes titles like The Brooklyn Paper, the Brooklyn Courier, and the Times Ledger.

The decision to sell CNG indicates that News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and his lieutenants are continuing to shed assets while refocusing on core properties.

In 2006, the company bought two newspaper chains in Queens and Brooklyn, giving it a foothold in the outer boroughs, where the Daily News has historically trumped News Corp's Post in terms of penetration. In 2010, it added to that portfolio by purchasing The Brooklyn Paper, a well-respected broadsheet that's seen as the gem of the bunch. The entire stable was consolidated into the 11 community weeklies that now make up CNG, which has its headquarters in downtown Brooklyn's MetroTech Center.

As with all local papers, the CNG titles have seen a precipitous drop in classified advertising over the past 10 years, and circulation, which stands at a combined 250,000, according to the company, has declined as well, according to sources familiar with the business. Our sources could not confirm whether the operation is still profitable.

Newspaper blast from the past

Article is from Daily Star, January 19, 1931.

I'm not really sure what the purpose of it is, but it sure is interesting.

Has Jose Peralta's stadium stance changed?

What is MLS stadium supporter Jose Peralta trying to say by posting this on his Senate page?

But what about the whore ads?

Friends, please read this which went out as an official press release today. - Michael Schenkler

"Historic Newspapers Change Hands"
As the ball dropped in Times Square heralding the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, ownership of one of the Metropolitan area’s most storied publishing companies also changed.

The Queens Tribune, started by Gary Ackerman in 1970, and the Long-Islander, started by America’s poet Walt Whitman in 1838, along with their sister papers, were acquired by PFH Media Group NY, LLC from Tribco, LLC.

Michael Schenkler, President of Tribco, LLC, who has guided the Tribune since 1978 and acquired and became publisher of the Long-Islander in 2006, made the announcement on Jan. 2 and shall remain with Phoenix Media as a consultant.

As the staff returned to work in the New Year, Schenkler introduced Mr. Brandy Williams, Chairman of Phoenix Financial Holdings, the Washington D.C. holding company that now controls the publications.

Phoenix Financial Holdings makes significant investments in profitable small and mid-sized companies in partnership with existing management teams and seeks to generate superior financial returns through the pursuit of growth opportunities and a focus on operational excellence.

Brandy Williams said, “I believe that exciting days are ahead for our new publications, and we look forward to building on their historic, journalistic foundations and growing them in the vital communities which they serve.”

The present staff of both the Queens and Long Island operations is being retained by Phoenix, which shall supplement the present efforts with its business expertise and publishing experience, to take the company’s publications to a new level.

In addition to the Queens Tribune and the Long Islander, the acquisition includes: The Record (of Northport, L.I.), the Half Hollow Hills Newspaper and the Press of Southeast Queens; several legal publications; Multi-Media, (an advertising, promotion and printing company) and DineHuntington, (operators of Huntington Restaurant Week).

Why the media covers for Bloomberg

From Salon:

Have you ever wondered why Bloomberg is perpetually portrayed as an uber-popular mayor, despite consistent polls to the contrary, and despite barely winning reelection after grossly outspending his little-known opponent? Have you ever wondered how Bloomberg could be glowingly billed as a moderate liberty-loving hero even as he has trampled civil liberties and freedom in ways that would make a banana republic’s dictator blush? Have you ever wondered why the mayor of New York is a ubiquitous guest on most major news programs, even though he is but the mayor of one city?

All of that has to do with fear and desire. Simply put, there’s a fear among many in the media that Bloomberg may one day buy out their employer, and that if they don’t treat him well, they’ll be out of a job. Likewise, there’s a desire among many to get a high-paying job from Bloomberg when that buyout moment happens, or to get a fat paycheck at one of the outlets he uses to convert has-been pundits and politicos into his loyal ideological spokespeople.

Fueling rumors of Bloomberg’s impending purchases, then, simply stokes that fear and desire — which consequently expands Bloomberg’s overall influence over the media. Hence, a wildly unpopular authoritarian is typically depicted as America’s beloved “Freedom Mayor,” replete with top bookings on major shows to promote his supposed benevolence. Hence, Bloomberg-ism — read: genuflection to Wall Street, deification of the super-rich and rejection of basic civil liberties — becomes the unquestioned ideological position of many major news outlets.

DA Brown's selective enforcement

From the NY Post:

Queens Assembly candidate Myungsuk Lee, whose Korean-language newspaper runs ads from “massage parlors,” some of which also peddle prostitution, could be in some legal trouble.

Queens DA Richard Brown says he’s meeting with his vice squad “on this matter” after The Post yesterday exposed the ads and the massage parlors.

From True News for Change NYC:

The Queens DA, who has done nothing to stop sex ads in the Queens Tribune, is going after a Korean candidate for assembly who owns newspaper that also publishes sex ads... Must have something to do with the Tribune joined at the hip with the Queens Democratic Party, backed Brown for DA

Another candidate tied to whore ads

From the NY Post:

A Queens state Assembly candidate who publishes a Korean-language newspaper is profiting from ads for a prostitution ring on the paper’s back pages, The Post has learned.

Myungsuk Lee, 49, the owner of the Korean American Times, is one of several Democrats vying for an open seat in the newly created 40th District.

He trumpets his accomplishments on the paper’s front pages — while the back pages run ads for massage services that serve as covers for prostitution, sex workers said.

At least two of the racy ads soliciting workers lead back to the same building as Lee’s publishing and campaign offices at Prince Street and 35th Avenue in Flushing.

One ad says it would “prefer ladies who just arrived from Korea,” and another says, “Age is not required if look young.”

Women answering telephones at numbers posted on the ads offered callers hourlong massages for $50 and directed them to the building housing Lee’s offices.

A Post reporter who arrived was offered the full menu — an extra $40 above the massage price gets “hand satisfaction,” an extra $60 gets oral sex, and an additional $80 gets conventional sex.

In an interview with The Post at his office, Lee at first denied that the ads were even in his paper.

But when confronted with the evidence, he quickly admitted to it.
“I told my employee not to have this kind of advertisement. I’m strongly opposed [to] it,” he said.

Why Elizabeth Crowley is uniquely qualified for congress

"Mama didn't believe in birth control. Vote for me!"

Ridgewood trashed

Dear neighbor,

Please clean up your property at 1814 Bleecker Street, Ridgewood.

Thank you.

- anonymous

Looks like this house has other problems.

Ad ties Quinn to demise of hospital

From The Politicker:

Manhattan Media CEO Tom Allon has taken out a provocative new advertisement in a local newspaper in Christine Quinn’s home district that accuses the City Council speaker of letting St. Vincent’s Hospital close in order to reap real estate donations.

The ad leads in bold type with the words, DID CHRISTINE QUINN BET YOUR LIFE TO BECOME MAYOR and shows her kissing real estate developer Bill Rudin at an unidentified event.

Rudin Management has made a bid to redevelop the former hospital as a housing and retail space with a medical facility. Some community members have pushed for the hospital to be re-opened and fully operational, but the economics of that plan do not appear to be feasible either to Mr. Rudin or to city officials.

Chronicle endorses Vallone for DA?

From the Queens Chronicle:

As [Peter Vallone] told the Chronicle on Wednesday, unlike many council members, he hasn’t been handing out funds to groups that employ his former staffers. Around the city, many such organizations are little more than slush funds for the politically connected. But Vallone hasn’t been playing that game.

It’s time all of this nonsense came to an end. All council members should receive equal discretionary funding. And Vallone, an independent conservative Democrat and man of integrity, should get your vote. He’s expected to run for district attorney after this term in the council, his last under the law, if Richard Brown retires. Seems like he’d make a fine successor.

Unfortunate headline-photo combo

FEMALE LEADERS IN QUEENS HONORED

That first female leader on the left could use a shave...

From the Times Newsweekly

Leak in the street

From the Times Newsweekly:

The Times Newsweekly was contacted by a resident of Stephen Street between Forest and Seneca avenues who claimed that water has been seeping out of a large crack in the middle of the street that stretches from one side of the curb to the other.

In an interview with the Times Newsweekly, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) noted that a crew inspected the street on Tuesday, Feb. 22, and will dispatch a repair crew to the block “in the next few days.”

The problems causing the leak were not specified by the spokesperson, who maintained that work has been scheduled to take place to correct the matter.

Where were you all for the past 10 years?

From the NY Observer:

That the city's political press corps is now answering a mayor who has thrown verbal brickbats their way (he called an Observer reporter a "disgrace"; embarrassed a disabled reporter who was unable to reach a tape recorder which had gone off during a press conference) for close to 10 years with some brickbats of their own is something of a new development. For two terms the Bloomberg administration enjoyed, even seasoned reporters acknowledge, a relatively easy go of it in the press, and an even easier time among the editorial boards.

No longer.

"There has been a demarcation," said one reporter. "There is a certain sense that Mike Bloomberg's string has run out."

The clearest evidence of this, political observers say, is the suddenly negative coverage the mayor has received from two columnists perceived as newsroom weather vanes: Clyde Haberman of The New York Times and Bob McManus of the New York Post. Over the past several years, Mr. Haberman has written various upbeat stories, including "Bloomberg Travels to the Old World In Search of New Ideas" and "Scenes from the Blue Room: A More Flexible Tone is Heard," but last month, the columnist openly wondered whether or not the whiz kids at City Hall were capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. Mr. McManus meanwhile wrote recently that the mayor was guilty "of a spectacular failure of field leadership."And the editorial pages of both papers, which cheered the mayor when he overturned term limits two years ago, have likewise begun to sing a new tune.

"Nobody likes Mike these days," wrote the Post, and The Times called the mayor's recent initiative to ban smoking in parks "a civic disaster."

The sharpened tone has been seen in the news pages as well. A few years ago, if the mayor was out of town during a snowstorm, the press would have pestered him about it, and then, after some stonewalling, moved on.

"Editors sent the signal that they would not back you in a fight with City Hall," said one local political hack. "It became less about getting them and more about getting handouts, and Bloomberg was really effective at getting the press corps to play who likes me best. I think now reporters feel betrayed by their papers."

"Every reporter was freaked out by the term-limit thing, and they got much more critical after that," said one political reporter.

Well that's funny because we were freaked out by it, too. If you had covered it the way you should have instead of acting like he was entitled to it, we all would have avoided the extended suffering. You failed at your jobs and every single one of you who participated are a disgrace to journalism.

We're funding Vito's newspaper

From the Brooklyn Paper:

Assemblyman Vito Lopez and his political allies have found a nifty way of ensuring good press: publishing their own newspaper — and you’re paying for it!

The Bushwick Observer, a newspaper founded in 1995 and published by the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, receives about $70,000 a year in state funding for its budget — not including revenue received from ad sales.

More than 9,000 issues are distributed for free in Ridgewood Bushwick-controlled senior centers and housing developments, businesses and government offices throughout Bushwick every month.

The paper, which operates out of a building owned by Ridgewood Bushwick, is a more sophisticated version of the kind of mailers that elected officials typically send to constituents, consisting of short articles and photographs of city and state leaders attending Ridgewood Bushwick-sponsored events in Lopez’s district.
Mac Support Store

Lopez’s girlfriend, Ridgewood Bushwick Housing Director Angela Battaglia, reviews every issue personally before it goes to press, according to Ridgewood Bushwick sources. And Lopez is the publication’s primary focus.

Nearly all of the newspaper’s budget is funded from a member item earmarked by Lopez ally, state Sen. Martin Dilan (D–Bushwick), who contributed $70,000 in funds last year to the enterprise — about half of his $135,000 total allocation to Ridgewood Bushwick programs.

The practice of using a state member item to fund a newspaper is extremely rare. Records show that only one other allocation has gone to a newspaper, a $500 award for an upstate high school to start its own paper in the 2009-2010 school year.

Vito's also butting into the Catholic Church's business.

And let's not forget City Hall loves him, too.