Photo courtesy of Dave Decker
Six Tampa Bay individuals from Texas-based parent company, Chava Communications, purchased Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
Founded in 1988, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay is an alt-weekly newspaper that covers news and culture. For the past 18 years, four different out-of-state parent companies have owned the paper. However, as of Jan. 15, the organization has returned to local hands.
Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Trial Lawyer Mike Trentalange and Public Affairs Consultant John T. Fox joined Creative Loafing Tampa Bay Editor-in-Chief Ray Roa, Publisher James Howard, Digital Editor Colin Wolf, and Senior Account Executive Anthony Carbone in the purchase of the paper.
“It feels pretty cool,” said Roa, who has been contributing to the paper for 15 years and is one of the new co-owners. “I always felt like we had some kind of autonomy and nobody ever really told us what to do, but it is really significant to know that ownership is back locally and what that really means… It is nice to be able to make your own decisions and know that we are a locally-owned business now.”
While Chava Communications gave the paper a lot of freedom, Roa distinctly remembers a “spat” over a satirical political cartoon that the paper wanted to publish. With this new acquisition, disputes between publishing staff and corporate owners can be bypassed.
Alongside publishing freedom, Roa points to autonomy in hiring decisions as an important aspect of the new ownership. While every previous acquisition that Roa has been a part of has included layoffs, the recent purchase of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay has allowed for the rehiring of a reporter onto the team.
“It means a lot. It means everything, you know?” said Roa. “Community sites and sites that are so focused on neighborhoods down to the street and little corners are so important. So, [I] really look forward to being able to do this for at least another 40 years, so I feel great, excited…”
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