Metro Times

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Inner cover of the Metro Times, February 1 - 7, 2006. The outer cover also has this image but with a Budweiser ad on the lower right corner.

The Metro Times (originally Detroit 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 Press and the Detroit News, the Metro Times has a liberal orientation. Average circulation for the Metro Times is over 110,000 weekly. Average readership is over 700,000 weekly.^{[citation needed]}

Its columnists include Keith A. Owens and Wayne State University journalism professor Jack Lessenberry. 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 language not used by the dailies, such as the F-word and "a word that the Free Press does not print."

Syndicated features run by the Metro Times include the cartoon Perry Bible Fellowship (which replaced Tom Tomorrow's cartoon This Modern World), Dan Savage's Savage Love sex advice column (which replaced Isadora Duncan's Ask Isadora sex advice column) and Rob Brzezny's Free Will Astrology. Starting with the January 19 - 25 issue, the Metro Times has its own exclusive crossword, crafted by Brooklyn-based cruciverbalist Ben Tausig, who appears in the documentary Wordplay.

The Metro Times won 12 awards from the Michigan Press Association in 2006. The paper also won awards in 2005 and 2004.