New York Press

New York Press was a free alternative weekly in New York City, which was published from 1988 to 2011. During its lifetime, it was the main competitor to The Village Voice. It was originally conceived and published by founder Russ Smith as a conservative voice in a traditionally liberal New York; later it became less political.

The Press strove to create a rivalry with the Village Voice, and took credit for forcing the Voice into becoming a free paper in 1996, although almost all other alternative weekly newspapers had long since gone that route. Emulating New York Press's own popular "Best of Manhattan" annual feature, the Village Voice later began publishing its own annual "Best of New York" issue. Press editors wrote about their unfruitful attempt to hire away writer Nat Hentoff from the Voice. Liz Trotta of The Washington Post compared the rivalry to a similar sniping between certain publications in the eighteenth-century British press, such as the Analytical Review and its self-styled nemesis the Anti-Jacobin Review.

The paper's weekly circulation in 2006 topped 100,000, compared to about 250,000 for the Village Voice, but this total fell to 20,000 by the end of the paper's run. The Press touted a Manhattan-focused, controlled distribution system while a good portion of the Village Voice's circulation is outside of the NYC metro area.

The print edition of New York Press was discontinued on September 1st, 2011, with its online edition an aggregate of Manhattan Media's other publications. The print edition of Our Town Downtown was resumed in its place, after originally merging with New York Press.