Valley Advocate

Overview

Valley Advocate is an alternative weekly newspaper covering news, politics and arts and entertainment for the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, published online weekly with a monthly print edition based in Northampton, Massachusetts.

History

Valley Advocate was founded in 1973 in Amherst, Massachusetts, by Ed Matys, Geoffrey Robinson, Christine Austin and Linda Matys O'Connell. The paper built a reputation for investigative reporting, including 1980s exposes on radioactive waste handling and allegations against a college president. It became part of a four-paper Advocate chain that was sold to the Hartford Courant in 1999 and passed to Tribune Company in 2000. In 2007, Tribune sold the Massachusetts flagship to Newspapers of New England, which moved the paper's offices to Northampton. The paper ceased weekly print publication in 2019 before returning to a weekly cadence; it now publishes online weekly with a monthly print edition.

Notable works

Advocate reporters have broken stories including a 1980s investigation into unmonitored radioactive laundry discharge from a nuclear-industry cleaning contractor, and reporting that contributed to the removal of a college president accused of sexual misconduct.

Location and contact info

Address
23 Service Center Road
Northampton, MA 01060
Phone
413-584-5000
Website
https://valleyadvocate.com