Revision 121768031 of "Benutzer:Learyx2012/Village Voice Media" on dewiki

{{refimprove|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox company
| name             = Village Voice Media
| logo             = 
| caption          = 
| alt              =
| type             = [[Privately held company]]
| genre            = Newspaper publishing
| foundation       = as '''New Times Media'''<!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| founder          = 
| location_city    = [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]], [[Arizona]], United States
| area_served      = Various cities across the United States
| key_people       = 
| industry         = [[Publishing]]
| products         = Weekly [[alternative newspaper]]s
| services         = 
| revenue          = 
| operating_income = 
| net_income       = 
| assets           = 
| equity           = 
| owner            = 
| num_employees    = 
| parent           = 
| divisions        = 
| subsid           = 
| homepage         = [http://www.villagevoicemedia.com villagevoicemedia.com]
| footnotes        = 
| intl             = 
}}

{{Update|inaccurate=y|date=September 2012}}

'''Village Voice Media''' is an American [[privately held corporation]], headquartered in [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]], [[Arizona]],.<ref>Database (undated)  [http://www.hoovers.com/company/Village_Voice_Media/hcftif-1.html "Village Voice Media Holdings, LLC{{spaced ndash}}Phoenix, AZ United States"]. [[Hoovers]]. Retrieved March 18, 2012.</ref> In September 2012, VVM sold its weekly [[alternative newspaper]]s to [[Voice Media Group]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Village Voice Management Buyout Leaves Backpage.com Behind|url=http://adage.com/article/media/village-voice-management-buyout-leaves-backpage/237371/|publisher=Ad Age|accessdate=27 September 2012}}</ref> These weeklies included ''[[The Village Voice]]'', published in [[New York City]], [[New York]], America's oldest (founded in 1955) and largest [[alternative weekly]] newspaper.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}}

Village Voice Media operates [[Backpage]], the second largest U.S.-based Internet classified ad listing service after [[Craigslist]].<ref name="Dorish">{{cite news |title=Backpage Vs. Craigslist |author=Joe Dorish |url=http://furniture-care.knoji.com/backpage-vs-craigslist/ |newspaper=Knoji |date=February 2011 |accessdate=27 May 2012}}</ref> It is the largest source for adult services listings on the Internet.<ref name="CNN lurid">{{cite news |title=A lurid journey through Backpage.com |author=Deborah Feyerick and Sheila Steffe |url=http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/10/a-lurid-journey-through-backpage-com/ |newspaper=CNN |date=11 May 2011 |accessdate=27 May 2012}}</ref>

==History==
The company was previously named New Times Media. On October 24, 2005, New Times Media announced a deal to acquire Village Voice Media, creating a chain of 17 free weekly newspapers around the country with a combined circulation of 1.8 million.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/business/media/25paper.html | work=The New York Times | title=New Times Will Buy Village Voice Media | date=October 25, 2005}}</ref> After the deal's completion, New Times assumed the Village Voice Media name.

In 2002, the previous Village Voice Media had entered into a noncompetition agreement with New Times Media, another{{clarify|date=March 2012|reason=there were two companies called "new times media"?}} national publisher of [[alternative weekly|alternative weeklies]], whereby the two companies agreed to stop publishing ''[[New Times LA]]'' (a product of New Times Media) and ''[[Cleveland Free Times]]'' (a product of Village Voice Media), so that the companies would not publish two, competing newspapers in any single city.  This agreement and phasing out of the two newspapers, led to an [[antitrust]] investigation by the [[United States Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]].  The investigation resulted in a settlement, requiring the companies to sell off assets and the old newspapers' titles to any potential competitors.<ref>Blackwell, Savannah (January 29, 2003).  [http://www.sfbg.com/37/18/news_newtimes.html "New Times Nailed{{spaced ndash}}SF Weekly's Parent Company Charged with Violating Antitrust Law"]. ''[[San Francisco Bay Guardian]]''.  Retrieved March 18, 2012.</ref>

In October 2007, Michael Lacey, the executive editor, and Jim Larkin, the chief executive, of Village Voice Media, were arrested in Phoenix on charges that a Village Voice Media publication, the ''[[Phoenix New Times]]'', had published secret [[grand jury]] information.  A state [[special prosecutor]] was investigating the newspaper's long-running feud with [[Maricopa County, Arizona|Maricopa County]], Arizona, [[Sheriff]] [[Joe Arpaio]], including the publishing of Arpaio's home address, a crime under Arizona law.  The special prosecutor's [[subpoena]] included a demand for the names of the readers of the ''New Times'''s website.  It was the information about the subpoena which was deemed by prosecutors to be secret grand jury information.<ref>{{registration required|date=March 2012}} [[David Carr (journalist)|Carr, David]] (October 19, 2007).  [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/business/media/19cnd-arrest.html?bl&ex=1192939200&en=28947383a6d6c21c&ei=5087%0A "Media Executives Arrested in Phoenix"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref>

Until 2012, [[Goldman Sachs]] owned 16% of Village Voice Media, but sold its shares soon after [[Nicholas Kristof]] of the [[New York Times]] publicized the fact and began asking them questions about its stake.<ref>{{cite news|last=Jonas |first=Ilaina |url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/01/us-goldmansachs-backpage-idUSBRE8300FH20120401 |title=Goldman fund to exit company owning sex traffic site |publisher=Reuters |date= April 1, 2012|accessdate=2012-04-19}}</ref> According to the bank, they "had no influence over operations,” of their asset.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/opinion/sunday/kristof-financers-and-sex-trafficking.html?_r=2&hp "What Nick Kristof Got Wrong: Village Voice Media Responds"], Village Voice Media Wednesday, Mar 21 2012</ref>

In 2012, Village Voice Media owners sold the papers and their web properties to a group of longtime executives, leaving the online classifieds site Backpage in control of shareholders Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin. In talking about the advertiser controversies, the CEO of the new newspaper firm said, "Backpage has been a distraction - there's no question about it - to the core (editorial) properties." Executives for the spinoff holding company, called [[Voice Media Group]] and based in [[Denver]], raised "some money from private investors" in order to separate the newspapers.<ref>{{cite news |title=Village Voice newspaper chain to split from controversial ad site |url=http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/09/24/us-usa-villagevoice-backpage-idINBRE88N04020120924 |first1=Chris |last1=Francescani |first2=Nadia |last2=Damouni |publisher=Reuters |date=Sept. 24, 2012 |accessdate=Sept. 25, 2012}}</ref>

===Lawsuit===
The company was sued in September 2010 by a 15-year-old sex trafficking victim (identified in court papers as "M.A") for allegedly aiding and abetting forced prostitution and the exploitation of children and child pornography by failing to investigate the prostitution ads on [[Backpage]],<ref>[http://www.archive.org/download/gov.uscourts.moed.108973/gov.uscourts.moed.108973.1.0.pdf "Victimization of Plaintiff M.A."] ([[Portable Document Format|PDF format]]; requires [[Adobe Acrobat]]).</ref> which is owned by Village Voice Media.<ref>[http://www.archive.org/download/gov.uscourts.moed.108973/gov.uscourts.moed.108973.1.0.pdf "Parties"] ([[Portable Document Format|PDF format]]; requires [[Adobe Acrobat]]).</ref> A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in August 2011.<ref>Patrick, Robert (August 17, 2011). [http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_9fca7a02-c8f0-11e0-b267-0019bb30f31a.html "Federal Judge Dismisses Teen's Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Against Website"].  ''[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]''.  Retrieved March 18, 2012.</ref>  The court case and allegations of Village Media's role in child trafficking has been highlighted by many national commentators.<ref name=NYTIMES>Kristof, Nicholas D., [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/kristof-where-pimps-peddle-their-goods.html "Where Pimps Peddle Their Goods"], ''The New York Times''</ref>

====Rebuttal====
In an article on the Village Voice website,<ref name=VillageVoice>[http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-03-21/news/kristof/]</ref> Village Voice rebutted the allegations against it by pointing out several factual errors in Nicholas Kristof's article, including the fact that Backpage was not operating in the markets where the 15-year-old victim was said to be involved in prostitution.<ref name=NYTIMES/> "A video that accompanied [Kristof's] online op-ed was headlined: "Age 16, She Was Sold on Backpage.com"  That is not true.  According to Alissa's court testimony, she was 16 in 2003. Backpage.com did not exist anywhere in America in 2003."

====Nicholas Kristof's Response to the rebuttal====
Nicholas Kristof immediately responded to the Village Voice Media's rebuttal with an entry in his blog.<ref>Kristof, Nicholas D.,[http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/responding-to-village-voice-on-sex-trafficking/ "Responding to Village Voice on Sex Trafficking"], ''The New York Times''</ref> An excerpt is posted below.

:''"It’s interesting that Village Voice doesn’t dispute anything in my column or the accompanying video, but only the online blurb for the video. The Voice is right that Alissa was 16 in 2003 — for about two days. In fact, Alissa turned 16 at the end of 2003. So all during 2004, she was 16 years old. And so it was in 2004, not 2003, that she was traveling up and down the east coast being pimped. Backpage operated in at least 11 cities during 2004, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale, both of them cities where Alissa says she was pimped on Backpage. Then at 17, as Backpage expanded to 30 cities including Boston, she was pimped even more broadly on Backpage — and also in Village Voice print ads, she says."''
:

:''"Moreover, contrary to what the Voice says, Alissa continued in the sex trade until 2007, when she got out for good. Backpage was steadily expanding and becoming a major force in this period, and pimps routinely used it to sell her, she says."''

==See also==
{{Portal|Arizona|Companies|Media}}
* [[List of Arizona companies]]
* [[List of publishers]]
{{clear}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.villagevoicemedia.com villagevoicemedia.com], company's official website
* Jessica (October 24, 2005).  [http://www.gawker.com/news/village-voice/village-voice-sells-its-soul-to-new-times-132712.php "Village Voice Sells Its Soul to New Times"]  ''[[Gawker]]''.  Retrieved March 18, 2012.

{{Village Voice Media|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Companies with year of establishment missing]]
[[Category:Media in Phoenix, Arizona]]
[[Category:Privately held companies based in Arizona]]
[[Category:Weekly newspaper companies of the United States]]

[[sw:Village Voice Media]]