Underground Bunker

The rise and fall of the Village Voice reads like a Greek tragedy. Having long been a stalwart of strong writing and interesting points of view, it went from being an American icon to a national disgrace in a matter of a few short weeks following Tony Ortega being installed as Editor-in-Chief. It was around this time that New Times Media became “Village Voice Media,” and the Sith lords at its helm, James Larkin and Michael Lacy, felt they had free reign to exploit the seamiest possible underbelly of American media: online prostitution, and, in particular, the underage sex trade market.

By this point there are few brazen enough to argue away the corrupting influence Backpage had on every element of society it touched — from the marginalized who were its victims to the online predators from all walks of life who took advantage of the despicable illegal sex trade platform. Tony Ortega is about the only one we could think of with that unique mix of arrogance, ignorance and lack of any discernible ethical system who might take up the challenge but as we have previously noted Tony Ortega remains strangely silent on the topic he once fought so hard to defend.