Right-wing rag
By Brandon Astor Jones
"There may be worse things in the universe than letting your Voice subscription expire . . . frankly, we can[not] for the life of us figure out why you — seemingly — ignored our previous notices. If living without the Voice is as unthinkable to you as it is to us, then take steps — immediately! Renew your expired subscription, using the attached form. And welcome back to the world." — Village Voice subscription department
My subscription to the Village Voice expired on August 24. Near the top of the renewal form, the subscription department urges me to "REPLY IMMEDIATELY".
It was difficult for me to not laugh out loud when I read those two words. I would write the subscription department a letter, but history shows that the only thing they respond to is a cheque for $79. I am tired of being ignored by them, so I am replying publicly. That is the only way my reply will get read.
I have subscribed to the Voice off and on for more than 36 years. There was a time when I thought it was one of the most important newspapers in the US. It did not matter what colour, gender, political or sexual persuasion the news maker was, views and grievances were presented unfettered by the mores of so-called mainstream media. It was the people's newspaper, then.
More than 40 years ago, the Voice started out very much like Green Left Weekly (GLW) did nine years ago, to give a forum to the voiceless. For many years, it did that better than any weekly publication in the US.
About 10 years ago, however, the paper began to be less responsive to the people it professed to serve. The best and most appreciated writers, critics and cartoonists were terminated outright or had their column-spaces cut and published only bi-monthly.
The delivery and subscription department has become a nightmare to do business with. With the advent of e-mail, snail mail from readers routinely gets no response. None of the paper's staff in New York feel the need to respond to handwritten letters of complaint. It takes more than a year to correct or change a subscriber's address. Sometimes, as many as three copies of a single issue arrive, but then no copies of the next two or three issues arrive.
The publication takes three weeks to get here. Nothing in it is news by the time it reaches me. GLW takes only seven days to arrive from Sydney, and it reaches me intact, not damaged like the Voice does. If the Voice was mailed in an envelope, like GLW, it would not be damaged.
I am not renewing my subscription to the Voice. If there is a lesson GLW can learn from the Voice, it might be: do not forget the little people. It is fine to talk the talk of a left-wing paper, but if the paper does not walk the walk of a lefty every day with its subscribers, it becomes little more than another right-wing rag.
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns (include your name and full return address on the envelope, or prison authorities may refuse to deliver it). He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G3-63, Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA.]