Stop by the online home of The
Advocate (advocate.com) and you'll be greeted by James Hattori.
Broadcast veteran Hattori is reporting stories with a gay angle from
the Democratic National Convention. Fishing around the Pepsi Center
to find such a story is not difficult this year because a record
number of GLBT delegates are attending the gathering.
The video broadcasts are the most
visible change an Advocate reader will notice at the site, but
many more are planned.
Regent Media completed its purchase of
the nation's oldest GLBT publication from troubled parent PlanetOut
this week. Regent now owns many of America's most well-known gay
brands, including magazines The Advocate, The Out Traveler,
and
Out, and Alyson Books along with their
corresponding websites (advocate.com, out.com, outtraveler.com and
alyson.com).
The company already owns film studio
Regent Releasing and cable television channel here!, both of which
are devoted to the gay & lesbian community.
Acquisition of The Advocate and
the addition of news broadcasting to the website mirrors efforts
being mounted by Viacom-owned Logo network and its news website
365gay.com, where it streams gay & lesbian news stories in
collaboration with broadcasting partner CBS.
The magazine, which is devoted to GLBT
news, will see more changes as incoming Editor-In-Chief Jon Barrett
attempts to revive the struggling brand.
In a recent story from San Francisco
based Bay Area Reporter, Barrett is quoted as saying
publication frequency will drop from bi-weekly to monthly. A move
Barret says will give the magazine “more room for bigger stories,”
then added, “and we're going to get better writers.”
Barrett also said the magazine would no
longer feature celebrities on its covers, such as highlighting a
straight man who is playing a gay role. Barrett said readers no
longer want to read those stories, which lead to the inevitable
question of what's it like for a straight man to kiss another man.
On the net: The Advocate website
www.advocate.com