Riverfront Times

I learned about yellow journalism in college. This is some yellow journalism.
The only reason this publication would start taking shots at its adbase would be to simply stir up controversy and get some attention. Its a tabloid that has no real bearing on the city anymore.
They have taken shots at my family, my places of work and also a local radio station. It was all a smear campaign to generate attention.
So if thats all you are looking for or if you know that going into it then you can enjoy this paper for what its worth. Baseless entertainment.

they have a version for l. a. both pretend to be leftist and liberal but each time i badmouth the nwo they cancel my post. i believe it’s fake. it promotes a very commercial plastic materialistic superficial culture. too generic and mainstream and gives me a feeling it has a hidden agenda. has an interesting story now and then.

I like print media. There’s something timeless about flipping through an ex-​tree as you soak in the news of the world, incurring ink stains on your hands as proof of your effort. Of course not all print media is worthwhile and the saying «you get what you pay for» applies aptly to the RFT. The RFT is free BTW.
The RFT is a household name and the newspapers are ubiquitous throughout the city and environs. They could do much to fill the noticeable void in local journalism and perform a public service by filling their pages with relevant local news in addition to local arts and entertainment schedules. Instead they regularly choose to waste paper and ink on poorly-​constructed rants from anonymous locals (I assume), concert listings, biased political swill and trashy ads. The same goes for the website, but without the ink and paper wastage.
I’m a sucker for trying new things and going new places. That’s why I joined Unilocal.But in the past three years, I couldn’t glean from the RFT a single event/​venue that was interesting enough to commit to. When I first moved to STL, I used to grab a copy every week, but now I only bother once every few months, in hopes that the content has improved. Needless to say, every few months, I’m disappointed. The glorious exception to everything written above is the RFT’s annual «Best of St. Louis» list. It’s simply the best «best of» resource I’ve ever seen, check it out right now!

RFT has been, from the beginning of my stay in the Lou till the end, an invaluable guide to getting to know the city as a tourist and as a resident. There’s always a weekly restaurant review to introduce you to the new or reintroduce you to the old. There’s features on upcoming festivals or events (the pull out a few weeks ago was «Summertime in St. Louis» — awesome!)
And the price is right.

I’m not really sure how the RFT can get a bad review since you know it’s uhh… free. In my opinion it is one of the last remaining bastions of halfway decent journalism left in the area. Yes it follows the obligatory Village Voice format of regurgitating local news with a snarky leftist spin, but it does a good job at doing that.
The RFT occupies a unique spot somewhere in between the Post Dispatch and Evening Whirl of legitimate news and entertainment. Each week they have a cover story that is usually interesting and relevent and a helluva lot better than anything the PD staff could come up with these days. But what really wins me over as a fan is the online component to the RFT. They do a lot of really neat features on their online blogs such as featuring literary giants that hail from or have a strong connection to St. Louis. Or during the world cup they ran a feature that showcased local ethnic enclaves as they cheered on their home country’s team. Not only are things like that interesting, but they showcase a side of the community that the local media giants tend to ignore. Oh and their annual best of St. Louis list is probably the best comprehensive guide to where to check out that you will find anywhere.
No the RFT is not going to win a pulitzer and I don’t think Paul Krugman will be jumping from the NYT to the RFT anytime soon. But let’s face it people, the Post Dispatch is garbage and the local news stations are barely any better. The RFT actually tries to be engaged with what goes on in St. Louis and it does so a lot better than its more widely read competitors. Oh and did I mention that it’s free?

The Riverfront Times (RFT) is the local free fishwrapper. If you’ve ever visited a big city, you’ve seen one. It’s the paper that people use as makeshift umbrellas and that local hippies say bring the «real» news that the big newspapers don’t want to report because of the man or the system or whatever. Here’s the pros and cons of the RFT (and pretty much every newspaper of this sort).
Pros:
— Free
— Perfect reading time for a Friday lunch.
— Gives a quick and somewhat detailed rundown of the local arts and event happenings.
— Looks at local stories from a snarky smartass perspective which is good for a few laughs.
— Pretty comprehensive concert calendar.
— The local «best of St. Louis» is better and more comprehensive than any other annual «best of», so that’s at least 1 issue a year you should read.
— You get to find out which adult video starlets will be gracing the local gentlemen’s clubs.
Cons:
— You get what you pay for.
— Perports itself to report real «news», instead of admitting it’s just a sensationalist muckraker.
— Movie reviews are outsourced out to some generic indie snarky reviewer.
— The RFT in particular has incorporated more national stories (reported by sister-​papers elsewhere in the country) at the expense of local stories. Sometimes it feels I could be living anywhere and read the same garbage.
— Reporters often skirt facts that get in the way of their agenda, skew numbers in their favor, or do selective interviewing to push their point of view.
— In actuality, not really worth reading outside of the arts and events calendars.
All in all, the RFT isn’t really very different than the other papers owned by their parent corporation, Village Voice Media, who owns 14 «alternative» weekly newspapers. All their websites are set up the same, their papers look the same, the layout is the same, etc. Of course everyone says the RFT was better before it was sold, but the RFT has always been like this as long as I can remember. It’s just the local paper that single people in their 20’s read for arts & events and nothing else.
Every city has something like this now, maybe even 2 or 3. There’s really nothing unique about it, but it serves a niche market. I never really expect it to change or get better. It is what it is: A free paper that provides good info on local events, with reporters who place more creedence in anecdotes than facts. It’s not worth getting worked up over. It’s just there. And that’s A-​OK with me.

I really, really, really used to love this paper but i think once it was bought out it really slide downhill quickly. Yes, i still read it but mainly online these days because it’s hard for me to find it where i live and that’s okay, i like reading them online because it saves trees and all that jazz. I miss the days where the back of the paper had missed connections, and other sundry things that would make me laugh.

I remember when I used to really like The Riverfront Times. It was locally owned and it just seemed like the content was more valid and more informative. Now, it’s owned by the Village Voice conglomerate. I barely ever read the main articles anymore. I do check it out, often online, to find out what’s going on as far events go. It’s a good place to find art openings and concerts. The print version is heavily laden with ads, which can get a little old, although sometimes it is useful to read the restaurant ones.
I might not love this paper, but hey, it’s free, and it’s the only weekly we have. It’s a good place to start when looking for something to do.

Every city I have ever lived in has had a newspaper like this one. It’s hip and people in their 20’s love to read it while sitting on buses or in coffee shops. They are found on street corners and often used to wrap glasses in when you move because well, it’s free and usually easy to grab.
The RFT is no different. I love this paper. I hate to admit it, but most of the time, I would rather be reading this than the Post Dispatch. This paper is filled with some news (but nothing really poignant, obviously), the editorials are always great and make me laugh out loud, but I generally use this paper for three purposes:
(1) Savage Love: I mean, who does not love Dan Savage. This has to be the best advice column in America. I could read it day and night and probably never get sick of it. I never miss a week. Is that sad or does that just make me that much more knowledgeable about relationships?
(2) Events around town: This thing is better than Sauce or Metromix in my opinion. You can open this thing up and find some of the coolest stuff going on around town. There are always midnight movies and book signings and bars opening and clubs having random nights that I would never know about without my trusty RFT.
(3) I just love the advertisements in the back. I mean, for how many years have the same «Smoke Pot for Money» ads been running in the back of this thing. It’s always good for a laugh. And of course, the escort service ads. They are just, well, hilarious, and have afforded my friends and I many a laugh at Coffee Cartel over the years.
So, if you are looking for hearty news stories and deep thoughtful editorials, you may not want to pick this up. However, for a good laugh and a different spin on the goings on in this city, I highly suggest picking up an RFT next time you see them laying out on Thursday afternoon. If nothing else, use it for packing… it’s truly a shame to just let them be recycled.