Petrelis Files

Bay Times Comes Out as a Bi-Weekly

Betty Sullivan, a lesbian who maintains profitable listserv reaching thousands of Bay Area gays, has informed her listserv subscribers of her assuming control of the Bay Times and my friend Gary Virginia shared her detailed note with me.

It should be running in her newspaper and the fact that she hasn't published in the Bay Times raises more ethical questions regarding her motives for buying the Bay Times and her intentions as a responsible publisher.

The enormous omission of basic facts about the paper's recent erratic printing schedule, the founding publisher moving on and a new, untested publisher taking the helm and other matters of import to the Bay Times' readership should raise a few eyebrows among media and gay community watchdogs.

These are excerpts from Sullivan's listserv:

The current schedule is for bi-weekly publication. ... I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am about the goodwill and the questions coming from throughout our LGBT community about the new Bay Times for the entire Bay Area.

With cheerful mentoring from founding publisher Kim Corsaro, we are thoughtfully developing plans to preserve and evolve this important editorial voice of our community that Kim has shepherded for more than three decades. ... Our process is not a quick one, so your patience is appreciated. Sometimes a ball gets dropped as we discover the way. There's a lot to do here, but you can rest assured that the Bay Times story continues to unfold. ...

Tell your friends about the new Bay Times. Buy an ad or refer a colleague and let them know that there is great potential in combining the reach of the Bay Times (www.sfbaytimes) and "Betty's List” (www.bettyslist.com). ... There's more to come so watch for announcements both here and through our other means. ...

Hey Betty, you've had ownership of the paper for five-months now. How about using the Bay Times to print your listserv message in full and give your readership the respect they deserve?