Free Republic

Four times in recent weeks, members of the White House press corps have relayed questions to press secretary Jen Psaki from someone claiming to be a fellow reporter who was not able to be there in the room due to Covid protocols. That colleague, who goes by the name Kacey Montagu, doesn’t exist — at least not as an actual reporter. Since late last year, Montagu has taken on the identity of a White House correspondent extraordinaire with a fictional outlet to boot: White House News, shortened in emails to WHN. Montagu started two real-life Twitter handles, which are followed...

Openly gay “American Idol” runner-up could run in North Carolina Clay Aiken may dedicate his knack for winning voters’ hearts to something besides “American Idol”: The runner-up on the show’s second-season is reportedly mulling a run for Congress in North Carolina. The Washington Blade says Aiken, 35, has consulted with political operatives including Betsy Conti, a political strategist who worked for Al Gore and former North Carolina Gov. Bev Purdue. Conti is based in Aiken’s hometown of Raleigh. He would potentially seek the seat now held by second term Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers, the Blade reported. Aiken, who came...

The Washington Blade, the nation's oldest LGBT newspaper, has been selected to join the White House press pool on a rotating basis, the paper announced Wednesday. "This designation reflects the Blade's nearly 45-year commitment to quality journalism," said Blade editor Kevin Naff in a press release. "We're excited to get started and continue the Blade's long tradition of excellence in objective reporting."

Monday November 16, 2009 Largest U.S. Homosexual Publisher Shuts Down, Closing Major Gay Newspapers By Peter J. SmithWASHINGTON, D.C., November 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The largest publisher of homosexual newspapers has shut down, leading to the closure of a string of homosexual newspapers, including the influential Washington Blade, which had just celebrated its 40th anniversary.The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the news first broke when employees at the Southern Voice, a homosexual weekly paper in Atlanta, discovered the keys changed and the doors locked on Monday morning, with a sign informing them that their parent company Window Media LLC had...

The largest publisher of newspapers serving the gay and lesbian community in the US has shut down. Laura Douglas-Brown, editor of Southern Voice newspaper in Atlanta, said she arrived at work today to find the locks changed and a note saying parent company Window Media LLC had closed down.UKGuardian"Window Media long provided a very special outlet for the gay community to learn about itself way before there were a lot of other places to find that type of thing," said Michael Musto, an openly gay writer for the Village Voice in New York, which is owned by Village Voice Media...

Atlanta's gay community has lost its Southern Voice. The city's gay and lesbian weekly has shut its doors after 21 years. Southern Voice, along with David Atlanta, a publication about gay men's nightlife in Atlanta, closed after a long-time financial battle to stay afloat. Southern's owner, Washington, D.C.-based Window Media LLC, shuttered the weekly newspaper and a handful of other gay publications nationwide over the weekend, the newspaper's editor, Laura Douglas Brown, confirmed to the AJC on Monday. Employees arrived at the newspaper's offices off of Briarcliff Road early Monday to find the door locked and a sign posted on...

Gay newspapers in several U.S. cities, including the Washington Blade, shut down on Monday, as the company that owned them, Window Media, abruptly went out of business. Window Media had been in serious financial trouble, but employees said they had expected a reorganization or sale, not a liquidation. “We found out when two of the corporate officers were waiting for us when we got to work this morning,” said Kevin Naff, editor of the Blade, a 40-year-old paper that was one of the most important publications written for a gay audience. “It’s not a complete surprise. The abruptness of it...

Washington gay and lesbian newspaper The Washington Blade has ceased publication and is closing Monday, along with its parent company, Atlanta-based Window/Unite Media LLC. Window/Unite published five gay and lesbian publications, including Southern Voice, South Florida Blade, The 411 Magazine and David Atlanta. All will stop publishing, and three of the company's offices will close. The news, first reported by Washington City Paper’s sister paper Creative Loafing Atlanta, was confirmed by a Washington Blade employee. The publication has also stated the news on its Twitter feed: “Washington Blade, like all Window Media publications, is closing today. Thank you for your...

The investment fund that owns the Washington Blade, the Southern Voice, Genre magazine, and other gay publications has been forced into receivership by the federal Small Business Administration (SBA), which will sell the fund's assets and distribute the proceeds to investors. "As a consequence of defendant's continuing violation... SBA is entitled to the injunctive relief... including the appointment of SBA as receiver of [the Avalon Equity Fund]," the SBA wrote in an August 2008 court filing, which was only recently found by Gay City News. Avalon, which owns a stake in the company that publishes the New York Blade and...