I wasn’t in court today in the Guardian’s lawsuit against the SF Weekly and its corporate parent – the lawyers for Weekly wanted me to stay out of the courtroom because they might call me back as their own witness later (I look forward to it, guys). Judge Marla Miller ruled later that I could, indeed, attend in the future, so I’ll continue my first-hand accounts shortly.
Meanwhile, other Guardian representatives were there today, and I’ve gotten a report:
Jody Colley, the Guardian’s former sales and marketing manager, testified about her problems fighting the low advertising prices of the SF Weekly/VVM/New Times during her seven years at the Guardian.
Then she testified, as the new publisher of the East Bay Express,
about the challenges she faces in trying to increase the “unacceptably low prices” that she inherited from the
VVM/New Times ownership of the EBX. The paper was purchased in May 2007 by an independent group headed by Hal Brody.
EBX had losses of $l3 million during its six years of New Times ownership. The SF Weekly and EBX combined lost $25 million during the 11 years of New Times ownership, according to financial exhibits presented by the Guardian. This was evidence of consistent below-cost pricing.
Colley testified that she had agreed to honor the New Times advertising contracts with the EBX, but ran into difficulties because of their low prices. One example that she gave involved the Bill Graham Presents/Clear Channel concert advertising contract. She asked for a copy of the contract but neither BGP nor SF Weekly publisher Josh Fromson would give it to her. She then went directly to BGP to renegotiate the rates, but the company refused.
The trial continues at 8:30 a.m. Friday in the Superior Court of Judge Marla Miller. Carrie Fisher, associate publisher of the SF Weekly at the time of the sale in l995, and Guardian advertising rep Mary Samson are scheduled to testify.
STOP THE PRESSES: Mike Lacey, the executive of the VVM/New Times chain, was given a new title at the hearing.
It was bestowed by Jennifer Lopez, former SF Weekly and Guardian advertising sales rep. She was testified that Lacey, at a meeting of the SF Weekly staff at the time of the New Times purchase in l995, called the Guardian “a piece of shit” and threw the Guardian on the floor and stomped on it. She quoted him as saying, “We want to be the only game in town.” Then Craig Moody, a Guardian attorney, asked her if Lacey was speaking for the New Times and who he was.
She said she thought he was “the mascot for the New Times.”
By the way (and that concludes the court report, and it’s back to me again): VVM, the chain formerly known as New Times, has an out-of-town hit man named Andy Van De Voorde covering the trial. He was happy to take nasty swings at Jean Dibble and Colley (though he wasn’t quite so mean to me, go figure), but he still hasn’t explained why VVM/New Times was willing to lose $25 million in San Francisco, selling ads below cost for 11 years, if the goal wasn’t to damage the locally owned competitor.
I don’t want my coverage of this trial to be about Mr. Van De Voorde. I don’t expect him to be fair (and I’m sure nobody expects me to be fair, either – we work for the two parties to the case).
But I have to say: his reporting has been breathtaking in its personal viciousness. I’ve seen a lot of hit pieces over the years, and been subject to them myself, but this is another order of magnitude altogether.
Personal note to Andy: I don’t believe I own a “puffy jacket.”You might want to run a correction.