The
Metro Times is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed free of charge every Wednesday in newsstands in businesses and libraries around the city and suburbs. Compared to the two dailies, the
Detroit Free PressThe Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
and the
Detroit News, the
Metro Times has a liberal orientation. Average circulation for the
Metro Times is 89,496 weekly. Average readership is just over 700,000 weekly.
Its columnists include Larry Gabriel; journalism professor Jack Lessenberry; and authorized
Alice CooperAlice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
and
The StoogesThe Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
biographer
Jeffrey MorganJeffrey Morgan is a Canadian writer, musician, photographer, and poet who lives in Toronto, Ontario. Morgan is best known for being the authorized biographer of both Alice Cooper and The Stooges.-CREEM:...
.
Its personals advertising are more widely read than those of the two dailies.
Every year, the
Metro Times has reader fiction and photography contests judged by famous local writers and photographers. Its annual "Best of Detroit" survey bestows local businesses with highly sought honors.
The
Metro Times considers itself "alternative media," often featuring news items ignored by the dailies. It also uses profanity not used by the dailies.
Syndicated alternative comics run by the
Metro Times have in the past included such greats as
Perry Bible Fellowship,
This Modern WorldThis Modern World is a weekly satirical comic strip by cartoonist and political commentator Tom Tomorrow that covers current events from a liberal point of view. Tomorrow also runs a weblog that informs readers about stories of interest, often presented as a follow up to his cartoons...
,
Eric Monster MillikinEric Millikin, also known as Eric Monster Millikin, is an award-winning American artist and former human anatomy lab embalmer and dissectionist...
and
Red MeatMax Cannon's Red Meat is an independent comic strip begun in 1989. It appears in over 75 alternative weeklies and college papers in the United States and in other countries. Since 1996, it has been available for reading on the web.- Style :...
. The
Metro Times also prints Dan Savage's
Savage LoveSavage Love is a syndicated sex-advice column by Dan Savage. The column appears weekly in several dozen newspapers, mainly free newspapers in the US and Canada, but also newspapers in Europe and Asia...
sex advice column (which replaced Isadora Duncan's
Ask Isadora sex advice column) and
Rob Brezsny'sRob Brezsny is an American astrologer, writer, poet, and musician. His weekly horoscope column Free Will Astrology , has been published for more than 28 years, runs in 120 periodicals, and can be subscribed to for free via email.- Career :Brezsny is the first well-known horoscope columnist...
Free Will Astrology. Starting with the January 19–25 issue, the
Metro Times had its own exclusive crossword, crafted by Brooklyn-based cruciverbalist Ben Tausig, who appears in the documentary
WordplayWordplay is a 2006 documentary film directed by Patrick Creadon. It features Will Shortz, the editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle, crossword constructor Merl Reagle, and many other noted crossword solvers and constructors...
. The crossword was cut in May 2008, to save space.
The
Metro Times won 12 awards from the Michigan Press Association in 2006. The paper also won awards in 2005 and 2004.
Every year the
Metro Times is an official sponsor of the
Detroit Festival of the ArtsThe Detroit Festival of the Arts is a three day arts festival in Detroit, Michigan, held on the second weekend of June. First held in 1986, the Festival features free musical performances, art showings, activities for children and expensive food...
and has one of the stages named after it.