The ''Detroit Metro Times'' is a progressive
alternative weekly
An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting ...
newspaper located in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
,
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the
metro Detroit
Metro Detroit is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and over 200 municipalities in the Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the officia ...
area.
The ''Metro Times'' was an official sponsor of the now-defunct
Detroit Festival of the Arts, where one of the stages is named after it.
History and content
Founded in 1980, the Metro Times since its inception has been supported entirely by advertising and distributed free of charge every Wednesday in newsstands, businesses, and libraries around the city of Detroit and its suburbs. Compared to the two dailies, the ''
Detroit Free Press
The ''Detroit Free Press'' (commonly referred to as the ''Freep'') is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of ''USA Today''), and is operated by the Detro ...
'' and the ''
Detroit News'', the ''Metro Times'' has a liberal orientation, like its later competitor ''Real Detroit Weekly''. As of 2014, average circulation for the ''Metro Times'' was 50,000 weekly and it was available at more than 1,200 locations. Average readership is just over 700,000 weekly.
Its annual "Best of Detroit" survey awards local businesses. The categories include "Public Square" (city life); "Spend the Night" (nightlife and bars); "Nutritional Value" (restaurants and food); and "Real Deal" (retail and other stores).
Syndicated alternative comics run by the ''Metro Times'' have in the past included ''
Perry Bible Fellowship'', ''
This Modern World'', ''
Eric Monster Millikin'' and ''
Red Meat''. The ''Metro Times'' also prints Dan Savage's ''
Savage Love'' sex advice column (which replaced Isadora Alman's ''Ask Isadora'' sex advice column) and Cal Garrison's ''Horoscopes'' (which replaced
Rob Brezsny's ''Free Will Astrology''). Starting with the January 19–25 issue, the ''Metro Times'' had its own exclusive crossword, crafted by Brooklyn-based cruciverbalist Ben Tausig, who appears in the documentary ''
Wordplay''. Editors cut the crossword in May 2008 to save space.
The paper was founded in 1980 by co-publishers Ron Williams and Laura Markham, with Williams as editor and Markham as business manager. In December 2012, Metro Times Editor W. Kim Heron announced his departure. Heron had previously been the paper's managing editor. In March 2013, after three months during which Michael Jackman was interim editor, the publisher named Bryan Gottlieb as Editor-in-Chief.
In 2013,
Times-Shamrock Communications sold the newspaper to
Euclid Media Group. The company dissolved in August 2023 and the sold to Chris Keating, operating under the name Big Lou Holdings LLC.
In April 2014, Valerie Vande Panne, former editor of ''
High Times
''High Times'' was an American monthly magazine (and cannabis brand) that advocates the legalization of cannabis as well as other counterculture ideas. The magazine was founded in 1974 by Tom Forcade. The magazine had its own book publishing d ...
,'' was named editor-in-chief. In May 2014, the ''Metro Times'' merged with ''
Real Detroit Weekly,'' which had been a Detroit-area alternative weekly paper since 1999. Dustin Blitchok took over as editor-in-chief in February 2016, before resigning from the position in November of the same year. Former ''Metro Times'' staff writer and associate editor for ''
Hour Detroit'' Lee DeVito was named editor-in-chief following Blitchok's departure.
Euclid Media Group dissolved in August 2023 and the newspaper was sold to Chris Keating, operating under the name Big Lou Holdings LLC.
Offices
The headquarters are located in
Midtown Detroit. It was previously headquartered in the
Detroit Cornice and Slate Company Building in
Downtown Detroit
Downtown Detroit is the central business district and a Neighborhoods in Detroit, residential area of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Locally, "downtown" tends to refer to the 1.4 square mile region bordered by M-10 (Michigan high ...
. The ''Metro Times'' moved to the Cornice and Slate building in the 1990s and building owners constructed a wraparound expansion to give the newspaper additional room.
[''Look Up: Top 10 Downtown Buildings''](_blank)
Archive
AIA Detroit, ModelD, November 8, 2005. In 2013
Blue Cross Blue Shield purchased the Cornice and Slate building, forcing the ''Metro Times'' to move to a leased space in
Ferndale. According to editor-in-chief Lee DeVito, the newspaper intended to eventually return to Detroit. In 2018, the ''Metro Times'' returned to Detroit, moving into the Arnold E. Frank Building in Midtown.
References
External links
Official website
{{Portal bar, Michigan
1980 establishments in Michigan
Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States
Newspapers established in 1980
Newspapers published in Detroit
Progressivism in the United States