Can alt-weeklies write a future for themselves in a digital era?

In a news landscape filled with layoffs and closings, the alt-weekly may be perhaps the most precarious form of journalism.

Lisa Snowden-McCray has started one anyway.

And, bucking conventional wisdom about digital platforms, it’s in print. But then, bucking convention has always been part of the alt-weekly ethos.

The veteran journalist launched the Baltimore Beat after her old newsroom, the Baltimore City Paper, shuttered operations in November after 40 years.

While the business model for alt-weeklies – the scrappy, unapologetic siblings to more staid print