WORCESTER—Visitors to local coffee shops or convenience stores will no longer see stacks of Worcester Magazines on windowsills and tables as they make their way.
In a letter from the editor published Friday morning, Michael McDermott, executive editor of the Telegram & Gazette and Worcester Magazine, announced that beginning with the Jan. 5 issue, Worcester Magazine won’t be distributed for free anymore.
The magazine will still be printed as an insert in the Telegram & Gazette on Fridays and content will still be available at WorcesterMag.com, according to McDermott.
McDermott did not explain the move in his three-paragraph letter, but said the staff “remains focused on providing the best coverage of arts and culture in Worcester.”
“Our commitment to highlight compelling artists and unique local voices remains undiminished,” McDermott wrote. “As we have since 1976, we have many stories to share, and we hope you will continue with us on the next leg of our journey.”
More than 20,000 free copies of Worcester Magazine were made available throughout the city at hundreds of locations, according to its website.
Worcester Magazine has changed significantly in the nearly 50 years since its founding as an alternative weekly.
Allen Fletcher bought the alt in 1992 and told the Worcester Guardian Friday that while it’s sad the magazine will no longer be available for free, with the direction the magazine has been going in was inevitable.
“It’s an inexorable tide and it’s nobody’s fault,” Fletcher said.
Worcester Magazine experienced a real heyday that coincided with similar players such as the Boston Phoenix, San Francisco Bay Area Guardian, and The Village Voice, according to Fletcher.
“They were young and they were left-leaning and they were smart and they were fun,” Fletcher said. “But that heyday’s past for reasons that we all know. So it’s not surprising. I’m kind of gratified that they’ve maintained sort of an illusion of independence for as long as they have.”
Worcester Magazine was acquired by the Holden Landmark Corp. and Kirk Davis in 2008 and then sold to Gatehouse Media in 2018. Gatehouse Media already owned the Telegram & Gazette, having purchased Worcester’s paper of record in 2014. Gatehouse merged with Gannett in 2019, creating the largest U.S. Newspaper chain.
In July 2019, the Telegram & Gazette discontinued its Go! arts and entertainment section inserted in the paper on Thursday and replaced it with Worcester Magazine. Around that time, Gatehouse laid off Worcester Magazine’s editors, leaving one reporter. Nancy Campbell and Victor Infante from the Telegram & Gazette took on the editor roles for Worcester Magazine. Infante remains the editor of the magazine.
Walter Bird, one of the editors who was laid off in 2019, said Friday he was disappointed but not surprised that the outlet is ending free distribution.
He said during his tenure as editor they focused on hard news including government and politics and tried to challenge the Telegram & Gazette in that area, in addition to reporting on the local arts and entertainment scene.
When it became an insert in the Telegram & Gazette, the focus shifted to solely arts and entertainment.
“The magazine in all of its incarnations, all of its reporters and editors and published and all of those people that have breathed life into it…it’s just a part of the fabric of the city in my opinion,” Bird said. “I certainly hope it doesn’t fade away.”
A lot of good people came through the halls of Worcester Magazine, according to Fletcher, which Fletcher said makes him proud.
“In the so-called Medical City era we made a lot of noise and kind of got a lot of people listening,” Fletcher said.
The magazine lost its significance as an independent voice a long time ago, according to Fletcher, but it still has value.
He said it’s nice that the content will still be available in the print edition of the Telegram & Gazette and online and called for people to subscribe to their local news outlets.
Kiernan Dunlop is an award-winning journalist who has spent the past five years reporting in Worcester, New Bedford, and Antigua and Barbuda. Her work has been published in Bloomberg, USA Today, Canary Media, MassLive, and the New Bedford Standard Times, among other outlets. She can be contacted at kdunlop@theworcesterguardian.org
