It’s only been four months since a local reader responded to the creation of the Creative Loafing Tampa Bay Press Club with this piece of advice: “ …it might help not to alienate half of your potential readership at the hands of writers/journalists who push their own political agenda on your platform. CL has been staunchly liberal and now may be the best time to fix that.”
It doesn’t happen a lot, but a short Twitter essay spilled out of me. As CL moves into the second phase of its Press Club campaign, I’m happy to share that since then, many of our readers have pitched in—in ways big and small, financially and otherwise—to keep this endeavor going. I’m proud of the reporting this paper's contributors and staff, skeleton crew and all, has done, especially the coverage of protests and calls for change that started happening in our streets less than two weeks after CL got the choice advice.
What follows below is my response to that advice from a reader who (I want to believe) had the best of intentions. If you agree CL needs to “fix” itself, I implore you to read, and if you don’t, I think you should read it, too. No matter what, I do humbly ask you to consider making a one-time or recurring donation—in any amount—if you believe that Tampa Bay should still have a scrappy, 33-year-old alt-weekly available on newsstands and online for free 24/7/365.
If you're already a member, please tell your friends and grandparents about the Press Club. We really do need you, and your contribution goes a long way in helping fix this thing up.
Thanks, Jonny. I do appreciate the major piece of advice, but I'm not sure you read the post. CL has long embraced progressive ideals. The paper has always told the stories of people on the margins of society. https://t.co/IaceYb9v3l
— Ray Roa (@rayroa) May 16, 2020
CL has long embraced progressive ideals. The paper has always told the stories of people on the margins of society. In ’88, when CL was founded, those people on the margins probably looked a lot different than they do now (you could argue that QAnon folks live on the margins now; CL regularly debunks many in that camp these days). It’s safe to say that CL took unpopular opinions back then.
We stood with marginalized communities (ie: the poor, LGBTQ, Black, brown and the generally overlooked). We celebrated them, told their stories and probably got a lot of backlash (I was three years old when CL was founded).
This paper is not for everyone, but it is for a lot of people.
We’re not asking everyone to donate. We’re asking people who believe in the long standing mission of our alt-weekly to prop us up. People who believe in CL’s independent voice, which is unafraid to (often) speak to “staunchly liberal” ideals.
Push a political agenda? Maybe in some of our most heated columns, our endorsements, and some of our fact-based reporting that doesn’t pull punches when elected officials—on both sides, mind you—behave in a way that harms the common person. But I would argue that even people who don’t wax with CL’s “staunchly liberal” approach can appreciate that along with our “non-political work” (though art, sports, LIFE, are very political in my opinion).
CL covers music, theater, art, food + the Times (the last local daily and an essential cog in Tampa Bay’s media landscape) like no other local pub does. I can’t tell you how many times people say, “love everything else, hate the politics.”
I could even point to several times our “staunchly liberal” fans probably disagree with us sometimes (did you see the Jeffrey Billman column we ran next to our Bernie endorsement?.)
Your major piece of advice actually led me to a quick search of the definition of “liberalism,” which is “belief in the goodness of the human race and the amelioration of social inequity. Preventing those who govern from abusing power…”
Then I looked up what a liberal ideal may be. "…someone who cares about the welfare of the people—their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties…”
Your major piece of advice actually led me to a quick search of the definition of "liberalism." Belief in the goodness of the human race and the amelioration of social inequity. Preventing those who govern from abusing power…. pic.twitter.com/A0mH4Y4BRy
— Ray Roa (@rayroa) May 16, 2020
Time will tell if the community can get this paper through whatever the fuck is happening right now. As I said, if you read my note: “The newspaper business is rough in the best of times. Right now, CL—like so many of our readers—is fighting for its life.”
Being “staunchly liberal” is kinda sorta part of that sometimes uncomfortable fight. It’s a fight CL’s been in, in its own unique way, for the last 33 years. I’m not dumb enough to think that at 35 years old, I have things definitively figured out, but I don’t think the readers who’ll help save CL want us to “fix” that part of ourselves.
Everyone is different; we respect that and folks’ right to their opinions. CL’s coverage has evolved a lot over the years; some longtime fans would say in a bad way, but they stick with us.
Our web traffic (now propped up by more news, with sometimes brutally honest headlines, and other products) now supports stuff that didn’t always slay the numbers: arts, food and theater coverage that is outside of the box—coverage we’ll keep on doing regardless of traffic.
And, yes, CL now also publishes the kind of rosy, offend-no-one, fodder you regularly see on blogs and other websites.
But I’m not sure we’re not gonna waver from some of our core beliefs and betray an evolving community we’ve been looking out for, covering, and been a part of, so we can make a buck. As I said, in the post that you hopefully read, we’re making a bet that our readers want a no-holds barred paper like CL.
One of my favorite things about our parent company, EMG, is that it truly does believe in the independence of our editorial room. Not once has anyone told us not to write something. Our commitment is to our readers. I think readers know that and appreciate it.
I think it’s why readers will pitch in to help us, but I don’t have a crystal ball. What I do have, however, and I hope it serves the paper well, is the gumption to cultivate the spirit of a paper that’s been lifting me + the people I love up for the 20-plus years I’ve been reading it.
All are welcome here at CL. You don’t have to agree with us all the time, but I’d argue that you’ll want to come along. Jump in.
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This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2020.