The Hook is being shut down by its parent company, in a decision that is disappointing, although surely not shocking. That leaves C-Ville Weekly, owned by the same company, as the city’s sole weekly. The final issue will be published on September 26.
The Hook debuted thirteen years ago, only three weeks after an acrimonious split between the three owners of C-Ville Weekly drove owner Hawes Spencer to start his own paper. Nine years later, the two publications’ owners decided to join up again, with time and experience having mellowed the former competitors. At the time of the merger, owner Bill Chapman denied plans to eliminate staffing redundancies. Finally, last December, Hook editor Hawes Spencer sold his shares and stepped down, with Courteney Stuart taking his place. (The first comment after that story was prescient: “Cue the Cville gutting the Hook in 2013 by summer if not sooner.”)
Both of the papers have maintained distinctly different identities. Post-split, The Hook quickly took on the role of news publication, while C-Ville Weekly focused more on the arts and soft news. In this way, they managed to enlarge the overall news market, so that both could have room to exist. When the two papers came under the same umbrella again two years ago, it was logical to keep both publications, since—anecdotally—each had their own fans and detractors, and presumably likewise differing bases of advertisers. If today’s news is any indicator, that simply proved not to be true. Or, at least, the benefits of maintaining two competing brands were outweighed by the cost and redundancies of maintaining two publications.
Questions remain. What will become of Hook staff: reporters, back-office staff, and ad sales? Will C-Ville Weekly expand its coverage to include the hard news that The Hook provided, or as a community will we simply lose that? When will C-Ville Weekly become a twice-weekly publication? And what of The Hook’s website? There are 12 years of vital, historically significant news coverage there, available to anybody using Google. The loss of that archive—like the once-deep web-based archives of The Cavalier Daily, WINA, and The Observer—would be terrible. What’s the plan to maintain that?
5:45 PM Update: In a statement, the company says that “several key members of The Hook’s team will remain,” that they’ll be moving publication from Monday to Wednesday, and touts that the combined circulation of 25,000 will give them the largest circulation in Charlottesville.
Why are they closing the Hook? Shut down Cville! That thing’s a piece of junk. The Hook’s been running circles around it for years. smdh
Sad. Proud and depressed to say that the free t-shirt I got at their launch party will outlive them.
“What’s the plan to maintain that?”
Theoretically, wouldn’t the wayback machine and or internet time machine have that covered? Tougher interface, true, but still usable.
The Wayback Machine a) isn’t comprehensive b) can’t handle more advanced JavaScript-based interactive elements like The Hook’s inline image galleries c) isn’t searchable and d) isn’t indexed by Google. Basically, The Hook’s content would disappear from the web, all existing URLs broken, unfindable by Google, and the only way to look at a potentially-broken version of an article is to know exactly what URL it used to be at.
I’m a big fan of the Wayback Machine. My cousin is a core developer on it, and I’ve stood before its blinking 2 petabytes of racked storage as Brewster Kahle explained it to me, but it’s not nearly as good as a website simply continuing to exist.
Sigh. Even though I predicted this event, as did many, the demise of the Hook -it’s still sad. Charlottesville’s most liberal and yet most boring paper , C-Ville continues to under-inform Who will now keep Charlottesville informed about governmental misgivings? It’s just Ted Wescheler’s print world in Charlottesville and we’re just living it. Thanks hook for everything-We owe you a debt.
I’m hearing that the editorial staff will be moved over to C-Ville Weekly, but I haven’t gotten any solid information about that yet.
In my opinion if one paper has to go it should be the CVille Weekly. The Hook was always the higher quality paper. After I moved away from town which paper was the one I was sure to grab out of the paper box every time I came back for a visit? The Hook. I think that loss of this paper will be a detriment to the community.
Am I the only one who thought The Hook went off the deep-end in terms of sensationalizing anything and everything that happened in Central Virginia? It was my go-to paper for breathless, rushed, innuendo-laden coverage of things that I arguably had know need to know.
From the Newsplex
The Hook sent out a statement, which reads in part:
“The Hook will publish its final issue on Thursday, September 26, the free weekly newspaper’s parent company announced today, and its editorial and business resources will be folded into a bigger, better version of C-VILLE Weekly.
“Two-and-a-half years after a parent company was formed to run the two competing weeklies, its owners have decided that the readers, advertisers, and staff would be best served by combining the resources of the two papers to create a more robust print and online hyperlocal media organization.
“The new version of C-VILLE will carry that legacy forward while building on its own 25-year history as an intelligent, progressive journalistic voice for news, arts, and culture in one of the country’s great university towns. “The merger allows us to eliminate the duplication of efforts and reinvest in content delivery that we believe will serve the community better both in print and online,” said Bill Chapman, another CPG partner. “Several key members of The Hook’s team will remain to help make that happen.”
“Worth noting: Circulation will grow to an all-time high of 25,000, making C-VILLE Weekly the largest circulation newspaper in the Charlottesville market. C-VILLE’s publication day to will move to Wednesday. As a result, the newspaper’s cultural and dining coverage comes out closer to the weekend and its news section can better cover city and county government meetings that happen early in the week.”
“Hyperlocal”? No. If they’re going to be “hyperlocal,” then they’d have to be planning to be Belmont Weekly or something. Otherwise, we have a perfectly good word for this: “local.”
How exactly did they come up with that circulation number? You can’t add The Hook’s number together with the C-Ville’s. That’s not how that works.
I’m wondering the same thing. I’m dubious that each of them distributed to many areas that the other did not.
[…] One of the most pressing questions is posed on cvillenews: […]
A real loss for the community. I think having 2 weeklies with different voices made them both better and the team work at the Hook brought them 3 of the highest state-wide journalism awards . I think the community has suffered a huge blow to our ability to be informed with smart, well- written indepth reporting. As a business move I doubt this will add to the bottom line .
Buzzkill. Clavin and Hobbs will now be running the (C’vlle – winner by a technicality) same paper under the same roof. I have to aggree with Waldo’s word on that term “hyperlocal.” Local, it may be. Hyper – get a prescription of Ritalin for that. Wonder what they’re going to do with all those vast excesses of newspaper distributuion boxes?
Claire, I agree.
Two alternate business reasons, to Waldo’s speculation that revenues did not justify running two papers.
1. It’s not a good business decision. There’s always that. Initially when the Hook opened, both papers were asking the same ad rates, so costs doubled for a lot of downtown advertisers. That has surely leveled off, but the company cannot predict future revenues perfectly, so it may be a bad decision. Or it may just want to “focus” more, or some other MBA reason. Or it frees up some capital for other ventures.
2. Consolidating makes the paper bigger and more able to maintain dominance. Imagine starting up a small weekly now, vs. when there the was more of a playing field, and each player was smaller. For one thing, you need more capital to start, and more editorial impact to get readers. Same goes for ads, C-ville can control ad rates better without an identical twin in the market. Even if the twins coordinated rates, advertisers felt they could jump around.
So it may be bad news, literally. Maybe Buffet will see fit to compete, but he’s more careful in the newspaper market than rash. There is still one big paper in Va. for sale, and he hasn’t bitten, nor has the Daily Progress magically expanded to the size of the (diminished) Washington Post. It does seem to have added some staff, or is that my imagination?
Comes down to ownership really, are they in the news business? And can they run the ship and hire the right people? If all three are true, then it may be good news.
Cville sucks. I will miss the Hook. Cville, the week after all the hand wringing over the racist rant, published one on which the caller wishes for George Bush’s death. No integrity over there. The Hook was sensational sometimes, but I give it and Courteney Stuart the credit for the Eric Abshire trial and conviction. I feel bad she will be working for the douches at Cville, but I guess she’s been working for the douche owner for a while.
Local news will suffer. The wrong paper is dying.
Ok so bring the scandal! Why is it happening this way?
um seriously… I admire many recent deep articles by the Cville Weekly. but for a long time I wrote it off as no longer relevant, while The Hook produced lots of cutting stories of local interest:
Water supply and reservoirs: Hook was there first and is still right.
Fairness in housing and neighborhood planning: Nobody else is even talking about it.
Here’s hoping that the best of the best will continue at the new consolidated entity. Please don’t stop stirring up trouble. Don’t get into too much trouble. But it’s got to be edgy and challenging to be worthwhile. Otherwise it’s just a tourist guide.
Cheers
The Hook’s arrogance is at the heart of its peril.
Hawes Spencer did not leave on his own terms – he put the LLC in a very difficult position.
Poor investigative reporting about certain family deaths by Lisa Provence while Hawes was skirt chasing is at the heart of the Hook’s crash.
Look up court record suits.
That Hook article on the solid waste authority mismanagement was a classic. And very well researched. It sat on my shelf as a reference on how to make public/private waste management work in the modern age…until water damage destroyed it. Would be a shame if that story was lost. The Hook rocked!
Coy Barefoot has written a terrific tribute to a fantastic news organization.
“Twenty-four years ago, the same year I moved to Charlottesville, Hawes Spencer and Bill Chapman brought the alternative news weekly revolution to this little city when they founded the bi-weekly C-Ville Review— which of course later became the C-Ville Weekly. I was among its first dedicated readers. In the summer of 1992 I even included a visit to the C-Ville newsroom (then in Hawes’ house downtown) on “Barefoot Excursions”— Charlottesville’s first Public Access TV show. The Cville in those days was irreverent, cheeky, interesting, and compelling. It was never afraid to call a spade a spade, to tip sacred cows or to rake the muck if it needed raking. Thanks to great writers like Jennifer Niesslein, John Blackburn, countless freelancers, and of course Hawes, who contributed editorial to every issue, the old C-Ville built an impressive reputation and became a powerful local brand. I was beyond proud in 1994 when I became a regular freelance writer. I was briefly on staff as a Copy Editor in ’95, and am admittedly to this day the worst Copy Editor the C-Vile Wekly has ever had. I worked in and out of the newsroom from then on, contributing up to 3,000 words a week— thousands of news items, editorials, book reviews, a tech column, Restaurantarama, and for years I was “Ace Atkins.” Hawes was a terrific editor: an encouraging teacher and a demanding taskmaster. He did not suffer fools or laggards lightly. His passion for journalism was infectious to those of us who were lucky to work with him. Those years chronicling the news, events, people, and culture of Charlottesville hold some of my fondest memories in this little city. Fast forward a few years (most of you probably know the story), and Hawes was fired from the C-Ville by his partners. As I understand it, he didn’t fit with a growing corporate vision. He went on to create The Hook, a new weekly to compete with the very brand he’d built. With some of the finest reporters now working in this town (including Courteney Stuart, Lisa Provence, Dave McNair, and Stephanie Marie Garcia), I was not at all surprised to see lightning strike twice. The Hook fast became the only media outlet in town that was doggedly committed to long-form, investigative journalism. The many well-deserved state press association awards attest to the excellence the Hook newsroom championed. In a move that may have only made sense to the bean counters, the C-Ville Weekly and the Hook a few years ago agreed on a backroom merger to cut some costs. Fast forward from that, and Hawes was for a second time nudged out of the only job he’d ever really loved— by some of the very same people who’d pushed him out of the C-Ville Weekly. And now we learn that those same guys are killing the Hook. It will cease publication after a few weeks. Like other Hook fans, I’m saddened but not surprised by this action. For me, it’s simply the sound of the other shoe dropping. Let’s just hope that this creates opportunities for talented people and that good things will come of it. Meanwhile, Charlottesville needs a journalism that is capable and willing to do more than stroke advertisers, keep donors satisfied, reissue press releases, and tell us who said what at a City Council meeting. I’m the first to admit that there is a place for all of that. But a democracy relies on smart, courageous journalists who are not afraid to call a spade a spade or tip sacred cows. And God willing, they will on occasion rake the muck if it needs raking. R.I.P The Hook, 2002-2013.”
The Hook won the top Virginia Press Association Award 3 times. In 2008 for their series on the local water supply issue . The research and reporting for this an invaluable resource for our community . Is there a way to save this Waldo ?
http://www.readthehook.com/73751/story-archive-hook-water-supply-articles
The C-ville died for me when they yanked ‘Savage Love’ to appease a small clutch of bouffant encrusted thought police.
I think Waldo’s justified obsession with online archives is the core of this. Isn’t that what libraries should be gearing up to do? In my youth I went to libraries to access newpapers: recent ones hung on dowel rods & older ones available on micro-fiche. That all took a certain amount of capital in rent & machinery & the labor to manage it. The NY Times & the Washington Post charge $0.99/month for unlimited online access: couldn’t libraries recoup some if not most of their expenses by charging for remote access, but maybe having some on-site terminals with free access to the archives? Still charging for on-site copies made, of course.
Libraries need to change and we do need to not lose online data to the vagaries of corporate change.
Libraries rarely if ever own the intellectual property that would allow them to do this, except for periodicals that have gone into the public domain, and those are exactly the ones for which libraries _do_ provide rich access (see, for example, the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America project). In fact, one of the bigger problems facing libraries of all sizes is exactly this: that they actually _own_ (in the sense required by your suggestion) less and less and less of the material to which they provide access.
OK, but surely there’s a way to parse the ownership of the intellectual property from the ownership of the website that houses the intellectual property. If it could be comparatively cost-neutral for libraries to own abandoned news websites without owning their content, that would be a good thing. GoDaddy charges about ten bucks a year for a domain name. Plus whatever it costs to store the thing; and those costs can vary widely.
I don’t think distinguishing between a website and its content really helps here. That the Hook folds doesn’t mean that the intellectual property in their publications suddenly becomes ownerless. I assume that it will remain with the company that is closing them down. The fate of the computer files and so forth that compose the Hook’s website is not going to affect the ownership of its content. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding, but I’m not at all sure what good “own[ing] abandoned news websites without owning their content” would do for anyone. That would include the stylesheets? The font choices?
Unless the Cville (or whatever entity ends up with that IP) decides to offer it to a library at an affordable price (and that library has the time and money to build and support an archive), there’s really not much to be done here. It is currently much more likely that you will be able to recover Hook articles via paid access to an indexing service (e.g. Lexis) than from a library.
But perhaps it’s really the owners of the Cville who should be asked to consider these matters? It’s their property, and from my point of view, their responsibility to the community as caretakers of a press organ.
Absolutely. Surely The Hook’s archives will be useful to the C-Ville Weekly (especially to those who transition over to the remaining publication); I’d think they’d have a real incentive to keep the website extant. Especially if it can be staticized—that is, all database-driven content turned into flat files, which would make the cost of hosting it trivial, eliminate all maintenance, security concerns, etc.