I dunno . . . I don't recall it happening other places I've lived. Though I do recall Seattle's The Stranger bashing absolutely everything that wasn't The Stranger (to be fair, it often did a damn funny job of it).

Personally, I think the Guardian's gone steadily downhill in the six or so years I've lived here, and the SF Weekly has improved a bit but still seems too yuppie-ish for my taste. The catfighting strikes me as a way of diverting attention away from the fact that both could be doing a better job . . .

They're still at it? I remember them taking shots at each other when I was living in Oakland back in the early 90s.

The catfighting strikes me as a way of diverting attention away from the fact that both could be doing a better job . . .

Ditto with The Stranger and Seattle Weekly.

That's exactly why I find the fighting so baffling. Neither paper is good enough to win, and it makes both papers look idiotic.

Though I did think the linked article was amusing, in a teen-movie-esque sort of way.

What's remarkable is that there are two alt-weeklies. It's pretty cool that they can both survive (although it's less notable now that SF Weekly is owned by the Village Voice).

Alt-weeklies almost universally bash the local daily -- it's what they do. Hell, it's what they were created to do. I think that's turned into a spirit of "Hey, look at us, we're unbeholden to anything but the truth, and we tell it like it is, and everyone else sucks." So naturally, if there's another alt-weekly, they're going to attack them too.

Yes, the Portland Mercury is always in a shit-talking battle with the Willamette Weekly and the Oregonian newspaper. It's just what weekly papers do.

When I wrote for my college paper, the other campus paper would take swipes at us. They weren't very good though.

What's remarkable is that there are two alt-weeklies.

What's also remarkable is that one of them is too liberal for me. Or, at least, used to be; I haven't read the Guardian in years. But I was so so happy when I first moved here and actually found myself filtering a newspaper from the other direction.

In a few different cities that I've lived, there are multiple alt-weeklies, but each goes for slightly different audiences. At the risk of oversimplifying, it seems like, frequently, there's one aimed at yuppies, and one aimed at--what do you call 'em? Hipsters? People who go to a lot of shows? (I'm not intending to disparage any of those groups, and I'm well aware that there's a lot of overlap between 'em.)

YES! It is par for the course.

The New York Press spent years dissing the Voice.

The Voice generally ignored them.

Is the East Bay Express still around? They used to be pretty good, as I recall.

My mom edits a great weekly. There's also a fishwrap that has been carrying on a one-sided 'war' with them since it started. It's a really terrible paper, and my mom's paper takes no notice of this buzzing mosquito, but the other paper seems to be using its attacks to set up some sort of Establishment vs. Renegade thing and win readership.

Not really working. What readership they do have is because that paper is free.

There is a time-honored tradition of newspaper wars, though, and it can be kind of heartening and amusing that people still get a little het up over the written word in periodical form.

Is the East Bay Express still around? They used to be pretty good, as I recall.

Also now owned by the Village Voice!

They bought up New Times a few years ago, so all the old New Times papers are VV papers now. (Seattle Weekly, too.)

East Bay Express has gone downhill since being taken over. Pity.

East Bay Express has gone downhill since being taken over. Pity.

That's a shame.

The Seattle Weekly is worthless since the takeover. It was never that great to begin with, but there was a time when it was at least worth picking up. The Stranger is OK, but... well, I'm 20 years past their target demographic. They're not as obnoxious about it as they used to be, although it's been a couple months since I looked at a copy.

I remember that New Times constantly bashed the LA Weekly, but I don't remember the papers it ate doing so. Bitch has attacked Jane a lot too.