Whoa! Monday City Paper is thinner than a Weekly Reader; free publication must be on its last legs

When a free newspaper tabloid grows thinner than a slice of cheese, then its future is not long for the world of print journalism.

Monday's City Paper was shockingly thin. If not for all the legal notices, content would have been negligible. Two pages featured half-page, in-house ads. And the City Voices page featured a non-city voice -- Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn -- as its major content.

Reporters Richard Lawson and Amy Griffith Graydon are the stars of the staff. Unfortunately, the are saddled with an unimaginative editor Clint Brewer who has offered nothing to contrast content with The Tennessean.

Its first owner was someone who made his money on the tech bubble on Wall Street. He promised a conservative counter to The Tennessean. But he must have lost interest while trying to preserve all his money on Wall Street in the ongoing decline. The paper's editorial page has mostly agreed with The Tennessean's editorial stands.

The only good feature to the paper is that it is free. But you have to wonder how long the owner will allow his investment hemorrhage to continue.

I'd like to say Nashville would be poorer for the decline of the City Paper. But like the Nashville Scene, its quality and content has deteriorated so significantly that readers would simply go to television for anything they might miss.