August 18, 2005 @ 9:09 am
Why not read the Weekly…The Tucson Weekly, Tucson’s own "alternative" newspaper? If the Weekly isn’t part of your regular news diet perhaps it’s because you’ve been put off by that ‘alternative’ tag.
Take a moment to ask, alternative to what? There is plenty of solid local reporting in the Weekly, with pieces that are more detailed than you find in the local dailies; and rather more aggressive, too.
Yeah, the Weekly has a good deal of fun at the Star’s expense, but keeping a skeptical eye on other journals would seem to be as much an obligation of the press as keeping an eye on the local pols. The Weekly does that, too.
So, is the weekly press a substitute for the local dailies, or the NY Times, Washington Post or Wall Street Journal? No. But in the arena of aggressive local reporting the weekly press very often leads.
The Tucson Weekly is on line, (link) but as much as I depend on the net for my news I still prefer reading papers in dead tree editions; especially if the stories are long.
I assume that most Foothills residents know that the Tucson Weekly is free and distributed at public locations like Basha’s, Risky Business, Village Bake House, and of course all the public libraries.
For a hundred bucks you can subscribe and they’ll mail you a copy, which will save you hunting one up. The only problem with this is that the Weekly is published on Thursday and won’t reach you by 1st Class mail until Saturday, or possibly the following Monday, but at least you’ll have it in hand.
The weekly press is vigorous and edgy. Let me suggest a look at AltWeeklies.com (link) for a selection of the best reporting from weeklies across the country.
