Tulsa's Daily Sues the City's Alt-Weekly
By AAN Staff
january 16, 2009 05:28 pm
The
Tulsa World sued AAN member
Urban Tulsa Weekly and columnist Michael Bates for libel yesterday, citing what it says was Bates' false claim that the
World misled advertisers about the newspaper's circulation. In a Jan. 15 column, Bates alleged that a 2006 report by the Audit Bureau of Circulation "suggests the
World was inflating its circulation by as much as 20 percent." Editor and publisher Keith Skrzypczak tells AAN News that the
Weekly hasn't seen the suit yet. "We understand a lawsuit was filed yesterday afternoon, but as of right now, we have not seen a copy of the complaint, and we simply cannot comment on something we haven't seen," he says. "We will be happy to comment on the suit after we have had the chance to review the allegations. In the meantime,
Urban Tulsa will be taking steps to talk to the
Tulsa World to try to work toward
a resolution of the matter."
MORE: Slate columnist
Jack Shafer says the
World will regret the suit.