For years I endured the Phoenix New Times. I read it..because it was free (isn't that why anyone picks it up?). But my story about a brief discussion with an editor says it all.
I wrote to the editor to explain my disappointment with a particular article. I actually said that they were doing themselves a disservice by calling this particular story "real" since it was actually a farce; that's not journalism, its fiction..yet this publication continues to call itself a news source.
Almost immediately, I received a reply from the editor. When I saw it in my "inbox" I assumed it was a "form" response. You know, "thanks for contacting us, blah blah blah". Imagine my surprise to see that it was from an editor, personally insulting me and my intelligence! After the initial shock of receiving a poorly written personal attack from an EDITOR, I replied only that he had "eloquently proven my point." to which he responded again with another insult. I decided that I was the bigger person at this point, and stopped communicating.
Since then, I have never picked up a New Times or any of their sister publications. I encourage others to stop justifying the New Times existence by even so much as lining their bird cages with it. What a waste of trees.