A New Alternative    

Creative Loafing Inc. keeps it in the family, but also takes on a new, more traditional partner.

Creative Loafing Inc. keeps it in the family, but also takes on a new, more traditional partner. The chain of nine alternative publications changes hands from founders Deborah and Elton Eason, as well as their Atlanta paper's co-publisher Scott Walsey, to a group led by son Ben Eason and daughters Jenny and Taylor Eason. Cox Newspapers Inc., parent of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, acquires a minority interest in the new company and a seat on its board of directors. The papers will be combined with Ben Eason's two Weekly Planet papers in Tampa and Sarasota. Chains and corporate interest used to be something alt weeklies shunned, not welcomed. But Jane Levine, publisher of the Chicago Reader, says ownership by a big daily is not necessarily "the death knell" for alternative publications. Still, she says, "I worry more about business imperatives...dailies buying alternatives because they need to shore up their readership among younger people." Tim Redmond, executive editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, takes an even darker view. "These dailies are run by bean counters and have no concern for journalism," he says. "The alternative press was set up to be an alternative to that." Ben Eason could not be reached for comment. In a Creative Loafing/Atlanta story, the paper's managing editor, Ken Edelstein, said of Cox's interest: "It does raise some concerns about consolidation, but Cox has no editorial control as a minority shareholder. It's still in the family."