The Public News is back in Houston
When I was a teen and before, there was no Internet to find out Houston happenings. So you turned to the Houston Press or Public News. Both were free at your favorite inner loop hang out. The Public News was always way edgier than the Houston Press.
Then one day, the Public News disappeared. Turns out New Times bought both the Houston Press and Public News and shuttered the latter.
Well now the PN is back. But from what I understand it is only an online newspaper. And get this, right now it is only available in a .pdf format!!!!!
So basically they are laying out a standard newspaper, not publishing it to paper and putting it online as a .pdf! Hey, I hear Microsoft is releasing a new browser to compete with Netscape Navigator. Wait a minute, it's not the 1990's anymore so stop thinking this way! (Although, I guess a Clinton will be back in the White House soon so that explains it.)
I think it's great the paper is back and only online. Newspapers are on their death knell anyway. Why waste money printing something when most people are going online? But still thinking in a newspaper mindset is wrong. Who will want to read a .pdf file? There's a place for that file type, but this is not one of them.
Why not start a Public News blog and publish the stories whenever they are written? Put the advertising around the template. Or at least go buy or make a content management system and put out a standard news site?
Good luck to the Public News if it continues in this manner. I am glad it is back because it was always an enjoyable read.
I'm not sure if the Public News' return will garner any support in the Houston blogosphere because most of the bloggers probably weren't here at the time to read it.
23 comments:
Hi Mike... thanks for the "ink". Hopefully we'll live up to the hype!
-Ken Petty
publisher, PN
Bert Woodall made that thing go.
A new publication can grab the name, but it's not Bert Woodall's Public News.
They really need to find a copy editor. Desperately.
Ken, glad you could bring it back in some form.
They used to have some of my favorite ads in the back to read.
Considering that this was the first issue for this version of the Public News, it wasn't a bad first outing.
By the way, newspapers are startiong to move toward pdf. See http://www.metropdf.com and the Nashville City Paper. If you have a PC tablet, this format works very well.
Electronic newspaper readers are wishful thinking. No one wants one except the newspaper industry and an electronics company that will do anything for money.
http://www.houstonist.com/archives/2007/02/18/opinionist_ask_6.php
Great to see it back, now if they can only bring back the News of the Weird.
Nothing but a hustle. These guys are trying to hustle the public into believing this paper is related to the old PN. It is run out of Spring Texas and has no old PN staff or style. Seen the pdf? They may purport to not try and make a connection, but their promos are rife with 'Public News returns' and other misleading garbage. New Times bought PN and they were just able to pull the name as a result of an expired DBA. They have attempted no less than 6 launch dates and have failed to follow through on one.
My favorite thing about the "new" PN is all of the fake covers that are posted up on their Myspace, for issues that will never make it to press. If that's not proof of delusion and need for psychiatric help, I don't know what is!
What's odd is the Houston Press also took the name of a dead newspaper and made a go of it.
Six failed launch dates? How many times did (name your favorite artist here) push back album releases? Why is it evil, bad or wrong for the new guys to retool, if this is what they are doing.
Putting out a paper is not like farting. It takes effort, energy and money. Bad mouthing someone else's work just makes you look bad or bitter.
Why aren't you trying to do something for the local music and art scene? Are you promoting stuff? Are you bringing people in to the scene? Or are you a sideline critic of those who are at least trying to do something.
Truth be told, the downtown scene is dying, fast. The clubs playing live music are opening up, but not in the Downtown area. Why? I have no idea. Parking perhaps, Police problems perhaps. Who knows.
In the meanwhile, clubs are hopping up in the north and some are expanding what they are doing.
FBI Rocks 1 & 2, Gary's Spot, 19th Hole, Howling Coyote as well as some sweet locations for softer music.
Overall, I think bringing back an old name with a new slant is a interesting idea. I hope it goes well. Summer of '07 is not over.
I looked at the "fake" covers on their myspace and they are just that... "fake" covers. Get over it.
Wish them well and offer constructive criticism when it is warranted.
The last post was made by Ken Petty.
While it largely remains to be seen whether the ''new' Public News is an exercise in fraud or an exercise in delusion, my money so far is on the latter. A scam artist would've at least come up with a business plan that looked good on paper. The only 'plan'' evident here is a mutual admiration society for the benefit of a pack of far northside yokels.
Mr. Petty is a failed evangelist. Check out his hilarious blog at
http://jstachristian.blogspot.com/
Ken Petty says 'God has chosen him to lead.'
Sounds a little bit like GWB?
Hi, My name is Carl, and for the one and only issue of the new Public News, I was the Music Editor. To answer a previous poster's comment of "While it largely remains to be seen whether the ''new' Public News is an exercise in fraud or an exercise in delusion, my money so far is on the latter."
... It absolutely was an exercise in fraud. I busted my ass for Ken Petty's new paper, and now, several months later, he still hasn't paid me one dime of the money I earned. I made a HUGE mistake in putting a halt to all the other freelance work I was doing to devote my full time and effort to help make the new PN a success. Boy did I get bent over and reamed...
All I can legally prove is the $240 from issue one, but I did work for weeks on issues that had yet to come out (and are apparently never going to come out). He owes me in excess of $1000, and the last time I heard from him, he begged me to be merciful, as Jesus was, and then told me that he would "prove his intentions were honorable." That was in September, and it's now January.
Where Ken failed, in my eyes, primarily was to pin his financial hopes (and PN's immediate future) on selling enough ads to A: Pay for printing and B: Pay the people that put the darn thing out. Ken failed to come into the venture with solid financial backing, planning or experience.
The numerous failed launches of issue number one did far less damage to the paper's reputation than the even more numerous failed launches of issue number two. Ken, you can only burn paid advertisers - and staff members you keep promising to pay - so many times before they lose faith in you.
The advertisers wisely took their ad dollars else where, and I wisely left PN regretting I'd ever gotten involved in such an embarrassing venture.
Where Ken did succeed is making it even more likely that the next great music publication idea that comes along in Houston is almost certain to fail because of his shady dealings with advertisers and the unpaid staff.
Well, the ordeal wasn't all bad for me. It was getting ripped off by PN that inspired me to require payment upfront from freelance writing clients now, and it has worked amazingly well, so well that I now work exclusively on my own directly with music artists with no editors or publishers in the way.
Thanks for the Public embarrassment, Ken Petty.
Carl Cunningham...
Your former music editor
PS... As far as I know, he's still a candidate for a 2008 bid for the 150th District seat of the Texas House of Representatives. I hope he loses, but his track record proves he'd make a perfect politician.
In the words of the immortal Bill Burroughs:
"...If you're doing business with a religious son-of-a-bitch, get it in writing. His word isn't worth shit. Not with the good lord telling him how to fuck you on the deal..."
Just wanted to post an update to my rant a few months ago... Ken Petty Emailed me this weekend after I turned ballistic on him. Here's his interesting response. Note how he blames ME for everything.
"Mr. Cunningham,
I understand that I owe you $240, but this activity that you have immersed yourself in for the last few months is over the top compulsive-obsessive like behavior...
As I have said and it bears repeating, I will not push a second issue out until everyone has been paid from the first issue. You have been instructed
this numerous times.
Now that you have been defaming the paper publicly, purporting yourself to be an employee of the paper (of which you were not) it becomes increasingly hard to see that a second issue may ever come out. Alienating potential
advertisers' etc, is nothing more and nothing less than a "biting the
hand that feeds you" issue.
I have a relatively new "day job" that is meeting my family's immediate needs and, as I can scrape away some, the folks who contributed to the paper will be paid. You included.
Is this too much to ask?"
At least he's not asking me to be "merciful as Jesus was" in this Email like he has previously. He's also told me "I will prove my intentions are honorable"... It's been almost a year Ken, too little, too late.
Bottom line... Public News will NEVER see another issue. Not because of me, but because of Ken Petty's failed business plan and his lack of marketing and management skills. No advertiser in their right mind will ever trust one penny to the Public News or Ken Petty. He pinned all his financial hopes on selling enough ads to get issue 2 out, and it's never come about, and it will apparently never come about.
The previous poster was dead on: "Wishing a paper to happen won't make it happen."
I should have posted this before the previous post (see above). Ken Petty sent me this Email MONTHS ago after I left Public News's Public Embarassment. The CAPS sections are my commentary. Enjoy...
KEN PETTY:
"Mr. Cunningham,
Likewise I would ask you to read the following, in full. I understand your situation and will attempt my best to make sure that
the appropriate sum is met as soon as I am able.
I accept your resignation as freelance interim music editor. (I WAS NOT FREELANCE INTERIM MUSIC EDITOR, my title in print was Music Editor).
Your demand for immediate payment, as reasonable as you think it may be, is considered inappropriate for a freelancer. As a professional freelancer you should
understand that most if not all publications pay up to 90 days past
publication, some obviously even longer. (KEN THINKS AS LONG AS HE HASN'T PRINTED ISSUE 2 THAT HE CAN JUSTIFY NOT PAYING ME OR ANYONE ELSE UNTIL #2 COMES OUT)
I tried to best that by paying just prior to or just after issue #2 was published. (I ASKED FOR IMMEDIATE PAYMENT IN NOVEMBER - ISSUE #1 CAME OUT IN, HMMM, LET'S SEE... MAY)
Regarding the current state of advertising; Today there is one ad guy, and that would be me. Because of this I had to redefine the market for the paper. I can't be everywhere and still take two hours to compose a reply for
a note like this one.
At one time a month ago, we had three not including me. Two of the ad guys quit (one of them being the husband of one of the writers) with nary an effort to get advertising. The third I have not heard from although I was
told that we have a handful of pending advertisers. So I spent my time calling on potential advertisers and working on laying out issue #2, several times over, all that while my wife and I share our lone vehicle. And advertising is coming very hard considering that we, as a paper, are being attacked on blogs, message boards, etc by just a handful of vocal
people who do not agree with the Public News being resurrected as we
did; hence, our delay over the last several weeks. It has been a challenge to have to redefine our market in light of this.
And to dispel another rumor you created, Mary and I have unpaid bills as well. We've had our water turned off, electricity turned off, our heat turned off etc. We almost lost our house. Luckily my wife works at a stable job not quite making enough to stay even with bills and I am building
websites on the side and for people who aren't paying me on time, if at all.
This way I can work on the paper as I can. And, for the record, my relationship with my God does not make me some super human able to change the course of events. If you think this is what Christianity is all about, I beg you to give a read to the Gospel of
John so as to give you a deeper understanding of what it is to follow Christ or why Christ came to die for our sins and shortcomings. I am not a perfect
person, nor do I claim to be. If you think that not being able to pay you on demand is a grave sin, then make sure that you have paid the ones you owe on demand as well. It is a spiritual truism that forgiveness begets forgiveness.
Patience is a virtue as well as a fruit of being spiritual. It is true that blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy. I would ask for nothing less than this.
My wife has been talking about giving you and Leslie our older van as (in lieu) payment since, as I understand it; you have no workable vehicle of
your own. It is worth more than I owe you and it would be a blessing to see you use it as Leslie indicated a month or so back that there was a dire need for something more reliable than what you currently have to work with. (KEN NEVER BROUGHT THIS UP AGAIN EVEN THOUGH I OFFERED IT UP AS A SETTLEMENT TO THE MONEY HE OWED)
As eager as I am to continue the paper, it's a dealing like this (and it is the only one) that pause me to reconsider continuing with those who cannot follow through on basic criteria as laid out at the start. I only regret
that you have never made it to any of the periodic meetups with other
writers so they, and you especially, can be in the "know" about what we are doing with the newspaper.(KEN SENT ME AN INVITE TO ONLY ONE PERIODIC MEETUP - HE HAD NO PROBLEM WITH WHERE I LIVE OR WORKING FROM HOME, UNTIL HE SCREWED ME OUT OF THE MONEY)
Regrettably,
Ken Petty
Ps. I will prove that my intention is honorable."
Ken Petty is a joke. I'm sorry for your involvement in this regrettable series of events Carl.
I "worked" for the Public News for a bit was well, and never saw a dime for all the time and effort I put in. I should have known as soon as he was holding open "interviews" at Starbucks *rolling my eyes*, that he was nothing but a con-artist selling a sham of a paper.
He is a disgrace to the city of Houston, and he should be ashamed that he has the nerve to drag the good name of the Public News through the mud like this.
I had a friend (business owner) who wanted to advertise in the PN when Ken was asking all of us to go out and find advertising for him; I am very glad I never sold my friend that ad space, as he would have just been ripped off by Ken Petty like so many unfortunate others.
I'm sure his "run for congress" will never get any further than that splash page of a website that he has had up now for months.
It's going to be a joke, just like all of his other fantasy-world ideas.
Again, I'm sorry for your experience (and mine) with Ken Petty Carl, but I think you should give up on the idea of ever being paid a cent that he owes you.
Just put it behind you and move on.
Hmmm, curious. I made the last post, yet my previous post is deleted.
The one Carl references about wishing a paper to happen.
Again, Ken Petty is a scam artist and a con man, he is NOT TO BE TRUSTED BY ANYONE.
Was Music Editor at PN for a long, long, drunken, gar and women and LSD saturated dream from near the begining in the mid 80's. (Chris K was the one and only.) Bert and Jane and Bryan and John and Clay. Hey, Piper. Fitz and the Red Lion and the Axiom. What a godamned insane life for a child. I lived in the $180 a month garage apartment behind (1540 W. Alabama) PN 'cause I earned about $300 month at the very high point. Would have happily done it for free. City of Houston came along and put new cement on the sidewalk in front of the office in the late 80's. I scrawled "Walk of Shame" with a stick. Jane was pissed off and even though I was proud of my childish "punk" bravado I changed it to: Walk Of Shamelessnes. Still there. Maybe that's my immortality. Love you Jane. Me and Bryan were siting on the front porch - broke and bored - when a drunk driver plowed into Nestor's "Balls" in front of the office. And... you just had to be there when when the Guerilla Girls gave Louis Dobay the Manhole Award in ('86?). Whatever happened to Chef Bob? Faith No More for a dollar at Cab Voltaire. Barbecue at Gibby's house in Austin. Saint Vitus rocking the 10'th floor hallway at the Marriot on Times Square.
Bert was the best of all of us.
Ken Petty? Get your own life and leave us alone.
Was Music Editor at PN for a long, long, drunken, gar and women and LSD saturated dream from near the begining in the mid 80's. (Chris K was the one and only.) Bert and Jane and Bryan and John and Clay. Hey, Piper. Fitz and the Red Lion and the Axiom. What a godamned insane life for a child. I lived in the $180 a month garage apartment behind (1540 W. Alabama) PN 'cause I earned about $300 month at the very high point. Would have happily done it for free. City of Houston came along and put new cement on the sidewalk in front of the office in the late 80's. I scrawled "Walk of Shame" with a stick. Jane was pissed off and even though I was proud of my childish "punk" bravado I changed it to: Walk Of Shamelessnes. Still there. Maybe that's my immortality. Love you Jane. Me and Bryan were siting on the front porch - broke and bored - when a drunk driver plowed into Nestor's "Balls" in front of the office. And... you just had to be there when when the Guerilla Girls gave Louis Dobay the Manhole Award in ('86?). Whatever happened to Chef Bob? Faith No More for a dollar at Cab Voltaire. Barbecue at Gibby's house in Austin. Saint Vitus rocking the 10'th floor hallway at the Marriot on Times Square.
Bert was the best of all of us.
Ken Petty? Get your own life and leave us alone.
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