OUT magazine has fired its entire editorial staff and owner Here! Media will contract the magazine's production to a start-up created by Editor-in-Chief Aaron Hicklin, reports Capital NY.
Hicklin said he will hire back an unspecified number of editors on a contract basis into a new company he is founding called Grand Editorial. It will operate the magazine as a contractor for Here Media, sister company of Regent Entertainment Inc., which acquired Out in 2008. Hicklin told Capital there will be no reduction in the frequency of the magazine or other major changes to the content. "This was not a cost-cutting measure," he said.
"Not a cost-cutting measure" but the circumstances suggest otherwise ...
Out is Hicklin's first, and so far only, client. He said he plans to offer long-term contracts at Grand to "most" of his 12 editorial employees at Out. Should any of them take it, he said, the gig will come with flexible hours and the opportunity to work on other projects in the Grand stable, but not full-time salaries or benefits. They will be contracted freelancers. ...
Hicklin said he doesn't have any outside investors and that revenue at this point will be project-based, a prospect that has been met with gentle skepticism from some Out staffers: Here Media has had problems paying its freelancers and vendors over the past several years. There is an outstanding fraud lawsuit, meanwhile, against Regent.
You may recall in November 2009, The Advocate announced it would no longer be sold on newsstands and would only become available as a subscription supplement to its sister publication OUT. That ended 40-years plus of the venerable newsmagazine's status as the nation's most trusted LGBT news source.
NOTE: I'm a former columnist and featured contributor to The Advocate and occasionally wrote for OUT.com.
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