So, the Weekly Planet gets a makeover. It has jettisoned its news staff and will concentrate on “more real, meaty stories about culture, broadly defined.” Those are the words, whatever they mean, of Neil Skene, senior vice president, group publisher. Out with the political muckraking and gadfly style and in with: “culture, broadly defined.”
So what’s next? An overhaul in advertising approach? Out with the escort ads, lingerie modeling, 900-number calls and kinky personals?
To replace full-time staffers with free-lancers is an obvious, even understandable, cost-cutting measure. But did it have to lobotomize itself in the process? Apparently going to staple binding wasn’t enough.