Got back from Miami and the NLGJA conference yesterday afternoon, with a cold as my primary souvenir. I could really do with a few days with no overcooled, force-fed, moisture-free air destroying my sinus cavities. I would, however, have enjoyed a couple more days hanging around with fellow journalists and editors, gabbing about the future of the business, how long until newspapers bite the dust, and all those other topics that get more interesting and invigorating the longer you spend in the hotel bar.
My own panel went pretty well, lots of interesting questions about how small GLBT publications can improve their growth and survive in an ever more competitive media market. Although I had planned out a little opening speech, I changed it at the last second when I noticed former Washington Blade editor Lisa Keen come in the room. Lisa was part of the editorial team that really guided the institution during its -- dare I say -- heyday. Long story short, as I said at the panel, if someone had told me as I was helping Randy put together the very first issue of Metro Weekly that 12 years later I would be doing a panel on how my publication moved from surviving to thriving I would have broken out laughing. It was a little bit of a humbling moment, knowing I was in a room with a lot of people who I respected for their accomplishments (even if I didn't always agree with their editorial decisions).
(As an aside, the story about the panel that I link to above is a little bit misleading. While I did say that Metro Weekly -- first known as Metro Arts & Entertainment Weekly -- was not formed as a direct competitor to the Blade, I said that as part of a broader answer about how now, given the changes in both the market and both publications, Metro Weekly and the Blade do compete these days.)
Given the ongoing talk about the decline of print media, it was interesting to get a chance to hear and talk to some bloggers about how they see themselves fitting into the big GLBT media picture. I cornered Pam Spaulding from Pam's House Blend a couple of times, and she had some interesting comments during her panel on blogging -- it's always nice to hear bloggers who talk about the need for the non-blog media outlets. Plus, stories about crazy-ass, anti-gay e-mail always make me giggle. I also challenged Gayest Editor Ever Kenneth Hill to a big gay off that I actually know I would be destined to lose.
I spent way too much of the weekend fielding questions about Chris Crain's announced departure from that other gay publication in Washington: Why did he leave? Was he fired? What does it mean? Who cares? I did read Crain's departure editorial, where he asks everyone to judge him by his enemies. Fair enough, since I understand why he wouldn't want people to judge him by his contributions to gay journalism. Unsurprisingly, he seems oblivious to the fact that good journalism and bad journalism are equally adept at creating enemies. And I'll just leave it at that.
Comments