Gay biweekly the New
York Blade has shuttered its print operation, the New
York Times reported.
The Blade is one of two major
gay and lesbian newspapers in the city, the other is Gay
City News.
“Everyone was let go, but the people
on the Blade know that they may come back if the Blade
is coming back,” Matthew Bank, an executive with HX Media, told the
paper.
In 2005, the Blade and HX
Magazine merged to form HX Media. Bank built HX Magazine
from a photocopied and stapled handout available for free on street
corners to a million-dollar business.
Both publications, and their tangled
web of ownerships, now face an uncertain future.
On Thursday, David Unger, CEO of Window
Media and Unite Media, announced his resignation as well. Window
also has a minority stake in the Blade.
Unger, who helmed the gay media company
for eight years, told gay weekly Southern
Voice he was leaving to pursue “an excellent opportunity.”
Another Window Media property, Genre,
ceased publication earlier in the year.
Bank said the publications had suffered
as a result of the economic climate. “The economy and the future
of print media being more difficult was definitely weighing on us,”
he said about his decision to sell HX Magazine.
The Blade, published biweekly,
had a circulation of 22,000 readers. While its final issues included
name-brand advertising – Pepsi, Home Depot and Johnson &
Johnson's K-Y – the paper had slimmed down considerably. Its May
issues included only 20 pages and its final Gay Pride issue weighed
in at a svelte 28 pages.
Last week, the UK's only national LGBT
newspaper, Pink
Paper, closed its print operation, but executives said they
might return when the economy rebounds.