Former Blade staffers regroup, investigate paper's closing

Former staffers at the now-defunct Washington Blade say they're planning to publish a revived edition of the gay weekly on Friday, although they're not sure what name they will use or how they will print the paper.

At a coffee shop Tuesday morning in the lobby of the office building that was their former home, Kevin Naff, the Blade's editor, convened his staff -- now volunteers -- handed out assignments and made plans for a vastly scaled-down issue.

"It could be a four-page Kinko's job, it could be an eight-page professionally printed paper, we're still figuring it out," Naff said. "It's to let people know we're still here, and still reporting the news."

After 40 years, the Blade was shuttered Monday by Window Media, its Atlanta-based owner, the leaders of which have declined to publicly explain their decision.

Blade employees say Window Media officials told them that the company had been forced into bankruptcy and had to shutter its properties, which included four other gay-oriented publications in Atlanta and Miami.

Window Media's largest stockholder, Avalon Equity Partners, was placed in receivership under the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) last year.

Among the stories Naff has assigned is one on "Who killed the Washington Blade?" to be reported by the paper's longest-serving staffer, Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Naff told his volunteer reporters to find out why the SBA did not accept offers made by two prospective publishers earlier this year to buy the Blade.

Hayley Matz, an SBA spokesperson, said in an e-mailed statement that the agency received "offers to purchase two" of Window Media's publications," and that those offers were conveyed to the company "through Avalon."

Matz said Window Media "is wholly responsible for any decision to sell or not sell the newspaper properties it owns."

Naff said he and other former Blade staffers have been inundated with offers of help, from landlords willing to donate office space to freelance writers willing to work for free.

He said it's unclear how many copies of the issue might be printed Friday, or exactly where or how they will be distributed. "Someone is out pricing different options," he said.

He said the group would launch a Web site shortly (savetheblade.com), on which they would publish news articles and keep readers posted on efforts to relaunch a version of the Blade.

"It's numbing and exhilarating, sad and exciting today," Naff said. "What has been heartening is the support from the community."