It is truly a sad day for free speech when the East Bay's most independent-minded, intellectual and progressive newspaper announces it will cease print operations. I just read about it in their online edition (which will continue, for the time being). Basically their funding problems are varied, but all revolve around the lack of advertising money. It appears that the tipping point was the just recently disclosed fraud committed against them and other area non-profits by a payment processing company, Clickbooks.com, whose owner absconded with millions of dollars to the Philippines.
The BDP, in contrast to other "free newspapers" in the Bay Area (like the East Bay Express or the SF Bay Guardian, which are valuable information sources in their own right), did not rely on pages upon pages of "personal ads" which mainly appear to be semi-legal sex advertisements. It included sections devoted to local politics, national politics, poetry, gardening, the environment, and of course, their most popular feature, the letters to the editor and the op-eds (to which I myself have contributed). The Berkeley Daily Planet was certainly widely read preceding the 2008 city council elections in Berkeley. I found it a valuable resource for keeping up to date on happenings in the City of Berkeley (being a Sierra Club volunteer leader I am supposed to know what's going on in cities in Northern Alameda County).
The BDP is truly a reflection of the intellectual breadth, depth and power of the people living in Berkeley and the East Bay. Its passage - which I hope is temporary - is a loss for everyone.
