The American Spectator

When I picked up a copy of The Boston Phoenix this morning I had no idea I had just picked up its last issue.

This afternoon, the Hub’s long running independent weekly newspaper, abruptly announced it was closing its doors. The Phoenix newspapers in Providence, Rhode Island and Portland, Maine, however, will remain open.

Back in October, Phoenix Communications had changed the newspaper from a tabloid into a glossy. Regardless of its presentation, both its editorial content and reportage was roughly equivalent to that of The Socialist Worker. Last July, when I spoke at an anti-Obamacare rally sponsored by the Greater Boston Tea Party, The Boston Phoenix sent a reporter who was a member of Occupy Boston. Let’s just say he didn’t exactly have an open mind. On occasion, I would write letters to the editor from time to time but mostly it wasn’t worth the effort. 

Yet when I moved here 13 years ago, I found The Boston Phoenix a useful tool not only in finding out about to things to do about town but getting to know the city and its neighborhoods better. However annoying its editorial content  it was never enough to prevent me from picking up a copy almost every Thursday morning.