AAN News
Philly City Paper's Local Band Battle Will Lead to AAN Conventionnew
City Paper and Philadelphia radio station Y-Rock On XPN have each picked eight local bands to go head-to-head in the first "Philly Rock Shootout." The voting began this week, and the band that receives the most votes from each side will face off next week. The winner of that contest will be invited to play a showcase at this year's AAN Convention, to be held June 5-7 in Philly, as well as a Y-Rock festival. In addition, if City Paper wins, it gets to run the radio station for an hour; but if the alt-weekly loses, it will turn over a full page of its music section in an issue to Y-Rock.
Philadelphia City Paper |
03-07-2008 8:09 am |
Industry News
Bay Area AAN Members Act to Fight Newspaper Theftnew
A rash of free newspaper heists is "making unlikely allies of Bay Area alternative publishers, whose intense competition over the years has seemed as much personal as a matter of business," Editor & Publisher reports. East Bay Express publisher Hal Brody has organized a group of free-paper publishers that is taking the thieves on with a two-front strategy: finding an aggressive DA who recognizes the real value of a free-circulation newspaper, and going after the recyclers who look the other way, according to E&P. Brody says he wasn't aware how bad the problem was until he and others bought the Express from Village Voice Media last year. "In one heavily trafficked area, where we lay out literally thousands of papers at dawn, we'd get calls from readers at noon that there were all gone," he says.
Editor & Publisher |
03-06-2008 9:56 am |
Industry News
Reaction Pours in to Verdict in Bay Guardian/VVM Trial
A number of stories and blog posts have come out since a jury ruled in favor of the Bay Guardian in its predatory pricing suit against SF Weekly and Village Voice Media yesterday. Here are some:
- The Associated Press via the San Jose Mercury News: "SF Weekly Ordered to Pay Rival $15M for Predatory Pricing Ads"
- East Bay Express: "Guardian Wins $15 Million, Express Not Affected"
- Editor & Publisher: "Bay Guardian Awarded $15.6 Million In Lawsuit"
- The Georgia Straight: "SF Guardian Wins 'David and Goliath' Suit Over Village Voice Media's SF Weekly"
- San Francisco Chronicle: "Bay Guardian Wins Suit with SF Weekly"
- SF Weekly: "Ka-Ching!"
- SF Weekly: "Who You Callin' Guilty?"
AAN |
03-06-2008 9:47 am |
Industry News
L.A. Weekly Film Critic Talks About Her Career and Worknew
"Like her fellow alt-weekly brethren, L.A. Weekly scribe Ella Taylor infuses prose with a touch of sass, delivering the well-read skinny on films great and small with dexterity and, oftentimes, the patience of a saint," Rotten Tomatoes writes. In this Q&A, Taylor talks about how she got into film criticism 19 years ago ("I was an uncomfortable academic sociologist who preferred journalistic to academic writing"), what she wanted to be as a kid when she grew up ("A shoe saleswoman") and the best part of being a film critic ("Free movies, and the regular opportunity to carp.")
Rotten Tomatoes |
03-06-2008 8:58 am |
Industry News
Jury Rules in Favor of Bay Guardian in Suit Against VVM
The jurors handed down their decision in the Guardian's predatory pricing suit against SF Weekly and Village Voice Media today, awarding the Guardian more than $6.39 million in damages. Under California law, part of that verdict is subject to treble damages, bringing the total award to $15.6 million. The Weekly has indicated that it will appeal the decision. Read VVM's statement on the verdict here. The Guardian has a story on the verdict here.
SF Weekly | San Francisco Bay Guardian |
03-05-2008 5:30 pm |
Industry News
Michael Musto Channels Lindsay Lohan Channeling Marilyn Monroenew
Last month, New York magazine ran a photo series of Lindsay Lohan recreating Marilyn Monroe's legendary series known as "The Last Sitting," which were taken six weeks before Monroe's death in 1962. Now Village Voice columnist Michael Musto is getting in on the act with a cover story and photo spread of his own. "Anxious to share my desperate man-tits with an audience beyond Chelsea, I gleefully agreed to star in an homage to an homage: Musto as Lohan as Marilyn," he writes. The New York Post notes that Musto "is both hairer and more modest than Lohan" and reports that the Voice columnist's pre-shoot regimen was only slightly different than Lohan's. "Lindsay did 250 crunches the night before her shooting," Musto says. "Well, I did 250 Nestle's Crunches."
The Village Voice | The New York Post |
03-05-2008 10:06 am |
Industry News
Boston Phoenix Story Prompts Police Investigationnew
The Phoenix is reporting that Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis has ordered a review of evidence in the wrongful conviction of Stephan Cowans, following a report last month in the Phoenix that raised questions about possible police misconduct. The head of the department's homicide unit will examine ballistics, fingerprints, and other materials from the case, which will determine whether an internal-affairs investigation will begin against officers involved in the case. Cowans was exonerated in 2004, after spending six-and-a-half years in prison for the non-fatal shooting of a Boston police officer. The Phoenix's story reported on evidence suggesting that officers may have forged fingerprint documents and concealed evidence that the officer was not shot with his own weapon, as he testified. Cowans, who received a $3.2 million settlement from the city in 2006, was murdered in his home this past October.
Boston Phoenix |
03-05-2008 9:04 am |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Boston Phoenix
Longtime Chicago Reader Film Critic Retiresnew
Last week Jonathan Rosenbaum retired from his full-time job at the Reader, but the paper says he'll continue reviewing for the paper and writing for its website. The Reader, which has been Rosenbaum's home for more than 20 years, has compiled some of his favorite reviews and has a two-part video interview where he discusses his departure. He says he is leaving to have more free time. "I hope it won't be lessening my productivity, but it'll be shifting it to things that ... I'm more interested in, and not having to see a lot of movies that I'm not interested in." He says he'd also like to be able to do "other kinds of writing which would be broader than film criticism."
Chicago Reader |
03-04-2008 12:31 pm |
Industry News
'Commie Girl' Turns OC Weekly Columns into Booknew
Rebecca Schoenkopf's collection of OC Weekly columns, titled Commie Girl in the O.C., is due out soon from Verso. She tells MediaBistro that the book was a byproduct of her departure from the Weekly last year. "After two weeks, my mom called and started bitching at me and telling me I need to get a job," she says. "So I went back, and of course I didn't keep my clips, so I had to copy and paste everything from the [OC Weekly] website. I revised it a couple of times," and later got the deal with Verso, with a little help from City of Quartz author Mike Davis. "He fired off a grand e-mail for me to everyone he knows," Schoenkopf says. "And his publisher was thrilled."
MediaBistro |
03-04-2008 10:30 am |
Industry News
Jury Still Deliberating in Bay Guardian/VVM Trial
The 12 jurors will reconvene to consider the case this morning. For more, check the most recent blog posts from the SF Weekly and the Bay Guardian.
SF Weekly | San Francisco Bay Guardian |
03-04-2008 8:28 am |
Industry News
Orlando Weekly Publishes Details of MBI Investigationnew
A new 4,000-word Weekly story examines the inner workings of the "crusade" the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI) went on against the paper and the spin the agency used to claim victory in the settlement reached last week. "How Orlando's morality police went from fangs bared to tail between their legs is an old story, one the Weekly has written extensively," the paper reports. The Weekly wrote critical stories that embarrassed the MBI and believes it was likely targeted because of them. "The MBI came after the paper with charges serious enough to put it out of business. The charges were dropped and the case was settled out of court," the Weekly reports. "You decide who won."
Orlando Weekly |
03-03-2008 12:53 pm |
Industry News
Bay Guardian/VVM Trial Goes to the Jurynew
The jury began deliberations on Friday and will resume this morning. Both the SF Weekly and the San Francisco Bay Guardian need nine of the 12 jurors to take their side in order to win the case. "Much like two candidates in the final days before an election, attacks from both sides are getting increasingly personal as a verdict nears," the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The daily says the trial has brought to light financial data that call into question whether the city can support two alt-weeklies at "a time when newspapers are consolidating to stay alive." Local blogger Randy Shaw agrees.
"Maybe the San Francisco market can't support two alternative weeklies," he says. "It's likely, after the outcome of this court case, there might only be one left standing." For the most recent coverage, check out the trial blogs from the Guardian and the Weekly.
San Francisco Chronicle | SF Bay Guardian | SF Weekly |
03-03-2008 8:26 am |
Industry News
State Agency Stonewalls Seven Daysnew
While working on a story on the growth of Vermont's bottled water industry, reporter Mike Ives arranged an interview with a hydrogeologist from the state's Agency of Natural Resources (ANR). But when it came time to conduct the interview, Ives was referred instead to Sabina Haskell, ANR's communications director, who eventually told him, "I won't be able to line up anyone to talk to you." In the meantime, she'd also circulated an internal memo directing ANR employees not to speak with Seven Days unless clearing it with her. "Twice since I've been here," Haskell says as justification, "we've made ourselves readily available and were told that interviews were going to go one way and the story turned out completely differently." The dispute "spilled over to the Vermont Legislature" this week, according to the Rutland Herald. During hearings on two open government bills, the chairwoman of the Senate Government Operations Committee brought up the memo "as an example of how difficult it sometimes is to get agency experts to speak to legislative committees."
Seven Days | Rutland Herald |
02-28-2008 11:50 am |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Seven Days
All Charges Against Orlando Weekly Droppednew
The Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI) has dropped its racketeering charges against the Weekly, as well as the misdemeanor and felony charges it filed against three Weekly employees last October for of selling ads to prostitutes, the paper reports. "As it turns out, the MBI brain-trust hit a small hitch -- there's not really anything illegal about that," the Weekly's Jeff Billman writes. The paper has agreed to stop running Adult Services ads, and reimbursed the MBI $10,000 for its investigation.
Orlando Weekly |
02-27-2008 4:01 pm |
Industry News
Closing Arguments in Bay Guardian/VVM Trial Set for Thursday
The last three witnesses took the stand yesterday in the Guardian's predatory pricing trial against SF Weekly and Village Voice Media. Guardian publisher and editor Bruce Brugmann and associate publisher Jean Dibble were brought back to the stand, this time by the Weekly's attorneys; they were followed by Bay Area publisher Bill Johnson, whose papers include AAN members the Palo Alto Weekly and Pacific Sun. The trial takes a day off today, and closing arguments begin Thursday morning. For more details, read the latest from the Weekly and the Bay Guardian.
SF Weekly | San Francisco Bay Guardian |
02-27-2008 9:05 am |
Industry News
