AZCentral.com is discontinuing its local blog networks, dubbed Voices, at the end of this week in the wake of the latest round of layoffs at the Arizona Republic.
The newspaper launched the networks two years ago, recruiting nearly a dozen of the Valley’s best-known food bloggers like Phx Rail Food, Phoenix Bites, AZ Eater, Foodie Bear, and Girl Meets Fork. (Somehow MXSW also made the cut.)
The idea was to round up all the Valley’s latest food and drink news and opinion in one place on the newspaper’s AZ Central website. Similar networks were launched for Southwest travel and Arizona politics. Eventually, even more subjects were added.
From the start, though, the networks were plagued by technical problems, sometimes-erratic curation, and the absence of any promotion. After yet another round of Republic layoffs in July, the networks had gone without any updates for a couple weeks.
