Posted on 11/22/2004 1:47:38 PM PST by Uncledave
New Evening Bulletin about to hit newsstands
By CHRIS BRENNAN
brennac@phillynews.com
A daily newspaper bearing the ancient and revered name of the Evening Bulletin is due to be published this month.
The paper is expected to have a conservative slant based on the record of the editor, Kevin Williamson, former editor of the Main Line Times.
Williamson has said the new paper will be financed by Thomas Rice, a Narberth investor.
It will be an afternoon paper, published Monday through Friday, and sell for 25 cents.
The original Bulletin was a highly regarded afternoon paper published daily and Sunday from 1874 to 1982.
The new paper lists on the Internet an 11-point manifesto of what it will and will not be:
"The Bulletin is independently owned, nonpartisan and maintains a rigorous separation between news and opinion," its Web site says.
"The Bulletin believes that by telling the truth, free from partisan bias and hidden agendas, we will make our community a better place to live."
Williamson, whose conservative views were on prominent display in the pages of the Main Line Times, declined to comment for this story.
Williamson announced plans to publish the paper last month on the Michael Smerconish radio show on WPHT 1210-AM.
Some have speculated that because of Williamson's conservative beliefs the new Evening Bulletin will be something like the New York Sun, a conservative paper launched two years ago in Manhattan.
Seth Lipsky, founder of the New York Sun, a morning paper, says an afternoon daily could fill a void.
"There's a hole in the news cycle," Lipsky said.
"I would love an evening newspaper in New York City. Just as a reader."
The Sun, which says it sells about 54,000 copies a day, has not turned a profit, and Lipsky declined to project when or if it will.
The paper is bankrolled by "18 or 19 investors" who want to see it succeed," Lispky said.
Here are some samples of Williamson's writings in the Main Line Times:
• "Anybody remember which five-sided government building President Clinton shuffled his own chubby ball of girl-trouble off to? That would be the Pentagon. Why? Because Democrats don't take defense seriously."
- an August column on New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, politics and "lesbian avengers."
• "Nobody hates Philly like a native Philadelphian. Even a native Main Liner has more appreciation for the city itself than does Average Joes from the Northeast or South Philly. To be sure, there is much to deplore, almost all of it the result of a grossly corrupt municipal government."
- an October 2003 column on why Philadelphia is underrated.
• "They're pro-choice, gun-grabbing, go-along-to-get-along Republicans. I half expect them to start knitting diversity quilts and lecturing me about my inner child."
- a May 2002 column about Main Line Republicans "making googly eyes" at Ed Rendell during his run for governor.
Williamson also printed a 2003 editorial defending U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's controversial remarks about homosexuality.
When the paper received an "outpouring" of protest letters, Williamson responded in writing:
"I've taken much enjoyment from the angry letters I've received in response to that editorial."
Allan Ash, advertising director at the Main Line Times for part of Williamson's tenure, described him as hard-working with a good sense of humor.
"His personal leanings are conservative," Ash said. "But he's a good journalist. He's going to present a fair point of view."
Paul Janensch, a communications professor at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut and former Daily News managing editor, says it's foolhardy to expect to make a profit with a start-up newspaper because of the competition for advertising dollars.
"Conservative, liberal, socialist, libertarian - it doesn't make a difference," Janensch said. "They need advertisers. Advertisers don't care about your political leanings. They want readership that will go buy their stuff."
As for the Bulletin, here's what Lipsky says to expect: "In almost all cases, a kind of burst of circulation and excitement in the beginning, followed by a fall-off of circulation and advertisements and then a long crawl back."
Joe Natoli, publisher of the Daily News and Inquirer, said the Bulletin faces an era of steep competition from the Internet and 24-hour cable news operations.
"We take all competitors seriously," Natoli said. "This seems to me to be a very tough business model, an afternoon newspaper selling for a quarter."
SEPTA teamed with a European company in 2000 to start publishing Metro, with exclusive distribution rights in the transit agency's stations and vehicles.
Metro executives did not respond to requests for comment.
The organization that audits its circulation refused to disclose how many copies of the free, Monday-Friday newspaper are picked up.
A Canadian media company in 1977 launched the Philadelphia Journal, a tabloid taking its name from a defunct newspaper.
That paper lasted four years, switching from news to all sports before closing without making a profit.
Good news. A smart venture capitalist could due well to invest in newspapers that go head to head with the communist rags in most big cities.
Which conservative papers? I sure can't think of many.
If it's as good as the Sun. Philly is in for a treat, and not just conservatives, The Sun is well written, meticulous in its research and takes on all comers when it comes to governmental corruption and stupidity.
Years ago Philly had The Bulletin, it was the only newspaper worth reading out of that city.
All 54 subscribers will be pleased.
All cities need it.
I need it. I haven't had it in weeks.
Now, perhaps, we'll have at least five (fairly) conservative newspapers.
wrong. More conservatives are interested in real news than liberals. We all gave up our subscriptions eons ago becasue of the commie tilt. I'd be happy to drop 50 cents for even a neutral rag.
Just referring to the number of conservatives in Philly...
The Bulletin was a great paper.
I don't understand the rationale foran afternoon paper. People won't buy TWO papers..Print it in the morning..
You are wrong my friend.....we in the Philly area are stuck with the LA Times of the East Coast the Philly Inquirer......this will be great news.
They'll buy it ken.....I remember the old The Bulletin......great afternoon read.
Wow! A breath of fresh air in the Philly sinkhole.
You'd be suprised. Of the actual literate population in Philly (maybe 150K) half are conservative. The rapper generation there can't read their oft served warrants.
It's being presented as a consewrvative alternative tot he liberal papers, right?..But everyone wants to read the pper i the morning..on the train, over coffee..whatever..so the folks to who the new paper appeals will continue to buy a lib rag? or change their lifelong habits?..doesn't compute.
No Philly paper ever had the devoted clientele of The Bulletin. And it used to sell much better in the suburbs than the Inquirer did. I can still see that Sunday comics section, with Joe Palooka and Dondi and Smokey Stover.
I agree with the person who questioned the time of day of release of the paper. I believe the reason other evening papers folded (e.g. ?Washington Star News?) was that the delivery trucks got stuck in traffic, and the paper itself was competing with evening TV news.
That said, I hope the paper succeeds. I really like the Washington Times, and just wish they had a daily national edition.
I delivered by wagon in the late '40s.
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