Two foundation-forming and trench-treading reporters that distinctly defined the cutting edge, investigative reporting that put New York's The Village Voice on the map as the king of alternative weeklies...have left the building.

A sad state of affairs for the Voice...which has been downsizing for some time. The Voice has had laryngitis, it has now lost it's voice altogether!

Wayne Barrett, with the voice for 37 years, was let go for financial reasons brought on by the current economic times.

Tom Robbins, another long time expose star, is also leaving to show support for Mr. Barrett...indicating it simply would not be the same there without his friend and colleague.

I hate to see a worthwhile paper like the Voice failing (and possibly compounding that failure with bad management and visionary decisions).

More details in this New York Times article by Jeremy W. Peters:

2 Veterans Leave Village Voice

What becomes of New York’s most formidable muckraking paper when two of its greatest muckrakers are gone?

The Village Voice, the granddaddy of alternative weeklies, which enlivened political and investigative journalism in New York through its scrappy, hold-nothing-sacred approach, has lost Wayne Barrett and Tom Robbins, two journalists who helped define the paper’s modern era.

Mr. Barrett’s departure was a sign of the financial strain facing The Voice and print media: he said he was let go because he was too expensive to keep on staff. Mr. Robbins’s exit showed how unpalatable the professional choices facing journalists today can be: he said he would quit the paper at the end of January in a show of solidarity with Mr. Barrett, despite having no other job lined up.

The Voice without either man, some prominent New Yorkers said, is difficult to imagine. And their leaving raises questions about what kind of future the paper has in the city whose politics it fermented and culture it shaped.

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