There’s a hot debate in the blogosphere right now about the future of Mountain Xpress in the wake of that publication’s firing of well-known reporter Cecil Bothwell and the announcement over the weekend that Bothwell would lead the news desk of a new alternative newspaper that will compete with MountainX.
People have accused the publication of moving to the center. What center? If MountainX is center, what’s left and what’s right? What do you think?
Here’s what Managing Editor Jon Elliston says:
Yes, you are wrong about Xpress tacking in any one direction. We’re not running for election — we’re running a newspaper.
So rest assured, we continue to have the left flank, right flank and vital center covered. We do the high altitude and the low opening, and are fully equipped for both day and night-time operations, which we conduct in both rural and urban settings.
I can understand your conjecture. I, too, once spent a lot of time playing that tacky parlor game Pigeonhole Xpress. It was a fun game for a while, but I kept losing at it: Every time I had some tidy notion about what the Xpress does, the newspaper confounded my expectations.
And so it continues to. Have y’all seen the latest issue of Xpress? I’m looking at it right now, and what I see includes: scads of passionate, thoughtful letters from readers from all over the spectrum; insightful commentaries about the drought and Diwali, the Indian festival of lights; in-depth reports on soil and water conservation, the Asheville housing market, the ongoing CTS site contamination controversy and how the WNC Veterans Memorial might carry a poem that many view as authoritarian; and quick but meaty reports on an immigration forum, local newspaper distribution, the Asheville Film Fest, a concrete-crushing initiative by RiverLink, a local spa that’s giving free care to veterans, two cyclists who are collecting “Jokes Across America,” etc.
Whew! And that’s just the first 20 pages of a 92-page issue. I could go on and on, but it’s probably easier if you pick one up today and see what everyone is reading about. Some of it lands at or near the center, some falls on the fringes — but it’s all good.
And we’ve just wrapped up the next issue, which hits the stands Wednesday and will, I’m pretty certain, likewise confound Pigeonhole players.
Thanks for reading and writing,
Jon Elliston
Managing Editor
2 Comments
Mtn Xpress…very decidedly left. I have yet to find anything right (conservative) about the paper, let alone center.
I do not agree with Bothwell’s politics. I do, however, support his new endeavor, and am willing to pay for a subscription to support it.
I think if you guys just quit picking up the Xpress, that’d go a long way to make your point.
It’s my understanding that Cecil’s got quite a few investigative stories that the Xpress wouldn’t run for whatever reason. Those stories will see the light of day at the City Paper. It ought to be exciting.