Hold Fast

The Unadulterated Story of the World’s Most Scandalous Website

By: Trevor Aaronson, Sam Eifling, Michael Mooney

Narrated by: Trevor Aaronson, Sam Eifling, Michael Mooney

Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Hold Fast is the uncompromising story of Backpage.com, the world’s most scandalous website, and the rise and fall of alternative weekly newspapers nationwide.

Over four decades, Michael Lacey and his business partner James Larkin built the largest, most influential company in alternative media—a colossal chain of muckraking newspapers that included The Village Voice, LA Weekly, Phoenix New Times, Dallas Observer, Miami New Times, and others. These alternative newspapers published writers who were fierce investigators, stylish storytellers, and astute cultural critics. These papers also published loads and loads of ads, including page after page of so-called “adult ads”—ambiguously written ads that appeared to offer illegal sexual services, but were nonetheless protected by the First Amendment.

As lucrative classified ads moved to the internet, cutting a hole in the money bag of newspapers everywhere, Lacey and Larkin founded Backpage.com, a classifieds website that would become synonymous with sex ads and scandal. The Justice Department alleges that Lacey and Larkin weren’t just newspapermen. They were, prosecutors say, the biggest pimps in the history of the world.

Reported, written, and hosted by three writers who once worked for Lacey’s newspaper chain—Trevor Aaronson, Sam Eifling, and Michael Mooney—Hold Fast is a romp through the weird history and boundary-pushing culture of alternative newspapers; the controversies surrounding Backpage.com and the government investigations; and fraught frontiers of free speech in America.

©2024 Trevor Aaronson, Sam Eifling, Michael Mooney (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC.

Blackbeard's diary basically

A well done capture of morally ambiguous pirates in the waning days of American journalism as we knew it. As someone privileged to ride along for a bit in the young writer churn& burn factory, I can attest Lacey and Co. were the best, the worst -- always a hell of a ride.

Very interesting

I had never heard of this incident. It was very interesting. Times changed and the internet changed everything. I enjoyed the listen and learned a lot. Well done!

Very engaging listen

Thank you to On The Media for highlighting this story and sending me to this story. Excellent listen!! I highly recommend!

Exceptional

As a native of Phoenix, I only had half of the story. A wonderful and informative listen!

So good

Deep, nuanced, exactly like things used to be. Not telling you what to think, telling you what happened. Skepticism rules. Anything else and the reader thinks you take him for a rube.

1A R.I.P.

Backpage fell victim to a modern-day witch hunt and Messrs. Lacey and Larkin became the targets of a governmental overreach only surpassed by that wreaked on Julian Assange. The lesson? Freedom of speech is a chimera, and you defy the federal government at your peril. Backpage, a massive website filled with Constitutionally-protected speech, was intentionally taken down and destroyed so that it could not be rebuilt -- without so much as a warrant. Lacey, Larkin, and four co-defendants bravely endured the full prosecutorial weight of the U.S. government for more than five years. Larkin was hounded to suicide. Two worker bees at Backpage were fully acquitted, but not before having their names trashed, their lives ruined. Three men, all in their 70s, now face the prospect of death in prison. Even if their convictions are overturned on appeal, the government has extracted from each its pound of flesh and then some. I hope this podcast is the beginning of a paradigm shift in a media narrative that has unthinkingly echoed the talking points of the powerful and the mendacious.

A fun, educational ride

Bright narration and compelling storylines, woven nicely. Had me learning, questioning, bristling, and laughing — highly recommend

Great story, excessive music behind speakers

Very irritating drum tracks behind people talking — like when you are reading or debugging code and the neighbor’s music is coming through the closed window. Audible should offer a music-free option for Originals and podcasts.

An American Adventure Tragedy

I was also an alt weekly journalist, and this is really a history of those papers’ big moment. Also a portrait of a complicated piratical character and an important journalist, in Lacey. Wild ride.

Best Podcast and Journalism I have ever listened too

This is such an important story and was so entertaining to listen to, I loved it! The future of free speech, journalism, and the internet is going to shape our country for decades, and this podcast does a great job exploring the complexities of this important topic. Everyone should listen to this.