Project Proposal

My entry point for examining the Providence Phoenix is to try to understand a person’s motivation for picking up the Phoenix from a newsstand, a coffee shop table, or a seat on the bus or train. The magazine is free, and therefore requires no more from the reader than the willingness to bend over and reach for it. But what else makes the Phoenix appealing? As a newspaper geared specifically towards Providence, it creates a community of readers. Within the greater Providence community, the Phoenix claims to appeal to a specific “type” of reader. But who is this reader who is supposedly drawn to a weekly publication focused on entertainment news? Also, can the Phoenix legitimately be labeled as “alternative”? Do we read the Phoenix because we have been taught by modern society that to be disconnected from the mainstream (or, in this case, the “underground” scene) is to be inadequate?

I also want to look into the newspaper as a mosaic, a combination of seemingly unrelated news stories and events. Articles are connected only by their date of publication and volume number, and are presented on the page alongside advertisements. How has television impacted the layout of print publications?

Ads themselves can be interpreted as a form of news, in that they reflect the interests of the community on which they are reporting. They are also essential to the production of a free newspaper. The Phoenix has a heavy concentration of adult advertisements, an entire pullout section called “The Phoenix Adult”. Does this section detract from the legitimacy and credibility of the front-page news? How many readers flip right to this section? Skip over it? Pull it out of the middle of the paper and leave the rest behind? Use the front-page news as a shield for the pornography?

Another notable aspect of the Phoenix is that it provides a space for readers to be published. Widely distributed free newspapers indorse democracy by allowing the average citizen to ask for advice and/or voice his opinions.

Other questions:

-What separates the Providence Phoenix from the Providence Journal? The New York Times? I may do a close comparison between one issue of each Providence paper. How do the cover stories compare? The headlines? The ad distribution?

-Who writes for the Phoenix? Can its staff be type casted? Are journalists drawn to its looser, less formulaic, quirkier format? Does a weekly publication such as the Phoenix provide its journalists with more breathing room?

-How has the newspaper developed as an entity? If the earliest newspapers waited for the news to come to them, modern newspapers seek out the news. They arguably go so far as to create their own, by picking and choosing what stories are print worthy.

-What is the effect of other media on print? How does the availability of news online effect the readership of the Phoenix? The Phoenix in paper form is full of references to its online format, reminding its readers to check out its blogs and websites. So is print journalism failing? How will it stand up against the “Go Green!” craze?

-How does the reader of the Phoenix take advantage of the newspaper’s physicality? Does the reader hide behind the paper? Use it to avoid confrontation?

-Is the Phoenix actually used as a precursor for taking action? How many readers follow through and attend the concerts, art openings and plays that are reviewed within its pages?

-What happens to the Phoenix once it has been read? Is news disposable once it has been absorbed? Is it thrown into the trash, or does the reader make a conscious decision to leave it for someone else to pick up?

-What are other physical uses for the paper? Think of the Phoenix as packing paper, as wrapping paper, as an umbrella. After all, free things tend to be reused!

-How does the presence of papers on the sidewalk, on tables and benches, in buses and trains, affect the cityscape?

Concepts to apply to the Phoenix:

-Marshall McLuhan’s statement that “the media is the message.”

-Theodor Adorno’s claim that the “culture industry” has a place for everyone: even in the act of resisting, we are filling the “alternative” role and in doing so fitting into the industry just as neatly.

-Benedict Anderson’s belief that mass-production of print media creates a mass ritual, and in doing so promotes nationalism.

-Walter Benjamin’s statement that modern art does not require our undivided attention and is sufficiently absorbed in a state of distraction.

Side Note: My project proposal, like the Phoenix, is currently in scattered, mosaic format. I hope that by exploring all of these questions, I can gain a broader understanding of the Phoenix as a thing and come around to a concrete thesis. However it may all come down to the question "Is printing and distribution of the Phoenix, or any local newspaper, still justifiable? Socially does it shape us positively, negatively or negligibly?"

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