AAN News
Class-Action Suit Alleges Yelp is Running an 'Extortion Scheme'new
Two law firms have filed a class action lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court alleging unfair business practices by the popular user-generated review site. The suit's plaintiff, a veterinary hospital, allegedly requested Yelp remove a negative review from the website. The suit says the company refused to do so, a move that was followed by repeated calls from Yelp sales reps demanding payments of roughly $300 per month in exchange for hiding or deleting the review. The East Bay Express explored similar charges in-depth last year. Yelp denied everything in the Express' coverage, and went as far as to attack the reporter for being inaccurate. Regarding the class-action suit, a Yelp representative calls the allegations "demonstrably false" and says the company will "dispute [the suit] aggressively."
TechCrunch |
02-25-2010 8:48 am |
Industry News
Phoenix New Times Staffer Fights 'Aesthetic Atrophy' with Music Blognew
New Times editorial operations manager Jay Bennett, a 40-year-old music fan and musician, is authoring the "Nothing Not New" blog, where each weekday, he listens to one new record and writes about it. Music editor Martin Cizmar says the project springs from Bennett's "aesthetic atrophy," an "unavoidable consequence of aging" defined as the "wasting away of the ability to appreciate new, different, or avant-garde music." Checking in a little more than two months into the year-long experiment, Bennett says it has been "fun, but difficult," adding: "It's like traveling abroad for two weeks but really missing American junk food after day 10, or dining out so much that you've forgotten the simple joy of preparing and eating a home-cooked meal."
Phoenix New Times |
02-25-2010 8:32 am |
Industry News
Nielsen: U.S. '09 Ad Spend Down 9 Percentnew
Media Daily News |
02-25-2010 9:01 am |
Industry News
110 Days and Counting: Chicago Reader Still Waiting on Mayor Daley Interview Requestnew
Chicago Reader |
02-25-2010 8:35 am |
Industry News
OC Weekly Investigation Leads to Prison Time for AIDS Doctornew
Nine and a half years after OC Weekly's R. Scott Moxley broke the story about well-known AIDS doctor George Steven Kooshian having injected patients with saline and vitamins instead of the expensive drugs they were billed for, the 59-year-old was sentenced Monday to 15 months in federal prison. Kooshian was also ordered to pay $660,955 in restitution to 18 insurance companies for 21 patients who were subdosed.
OC Weekly |
02-24-2010 12:50 pm |
Industry News
Erik Wemple Says His New Job is 'an Enormous Opportunity'
After announcing yesterday that he was leaving Washington City Paper to edit a new local news website being launched by Allbritton Communications (the folks behind Politico), Wemple and Allbritton's Jim Brady made the media rounds to talk about the move. Here are some highlights:
- Wemple tells Politico he's excited about the potential of the new site: "I think the possibilities, the horizons, really open up if you look at the talent and the resources that are behind this."
- The site will try to incorporate work from Politico and Allbritton's two local TV operations, Wemple tells the Washington Post: "We're hoping to really carve some new ground as to how a TV and web operation can mutually reinforce themselves."
- Brady explains to Washington Business Journal why he hired Wemple: "When you read the City Paper, you get a sense they're really having fun. That's not happening in a ton of places in journalism these days."
- Wemple says he hopes to launch the site with between 15 and 20 reporters; DCist wonders if any will be current City Paper staffers.
AAN News |
02-24-2010 9:56 am |
Industry News
Gambit Picks Up Longtime Times-Picayune Columnistnew
Pulitzer-nominee Chris Rose, who took a buyout from the New Orleans daily last fall, has begun writing a column -- "Rose-Colored Glasses" -- for the Gambit. In his first piece, Rose talks about leaving the Times-Picayune after 25 years, and his new life as a freelancer. "Over the past year or two, I have cast about for alternative ideas to the Big City Daily," he writes. "I'm a newspaperman through and through, a wretched, ink-stained malcontent for whom information is currency and life is spent on one harrowing deadline after another, and I consider the job done well only if you have ruined somebody else's day."
Gambit |
02-24-2010 8:44 am |
Industry News
Washington City Paper Editor Erik Wemple is Leaving the Papernew
Wemple told the City Paper staff this morning that he's leaving in mid-March to edit a new local news website being launched by Allbritton Communications. Wemple has been affiliated with City Paper on and off since 1994, and has edited the alt-weekly since 2002. Wemple says Jim Brady, the former editor of Washingtonpost.com whom Albritton tapped to lead the new project, wants the new site to have the "Washington City Paper voice and feel and sense of authority about local stuff."
Washington City Paper |
02-23-2010 11:57 am |
Industry News
True/Slant Columnist Picks Two Alt-Weekly Pieces as 2009's Bestnew
Conor Friedersdorf, in his annual roundup of the year's best journalism, spotlights two very different pieces from alt-weeklies as exemplary work. First, Mark Groubert's "Box of Broken Dreams," which appeared in LA Weekly in January, gets a nod for "Exceptional Storytelling," along with pieces from This American Life, the Washington Post and Esquire. Meanwhile, Matt Taibbi's New York Press takedown of Thomas Friedman -- "Flat N All That" -- gets the nod for "Best Rant," with Friedersdorf writing that it puts Friedman "so far up a creek he'll need three shovels and a steering wheel to spelunk himself out."
True/Slant |
02-23-2010 11:45 am |
Industry News
Miami New Times Brings On Former 2 Live Crew Frontman as Columnistnew
While its sister paper Seattle Weekly counts rockers Krist Novoselic (of Nirvana fame) and Duff McKagan (from Guns N' Roses) as columnists, Miami New Times has brought on Luther Campbell, the former leader of raunch-rappers 2 Live Crew, to write a column. "It's the perfect place for me. I am a free-speech guy," Campbell says. "It's just a match made in Heaven. Can you believe that? Me turned loose on the world in New Times. Wow."
Miami New Times |
02-23-2010 10:23 am |
Industry News
Georgia Straight Puts All Hands on Deck for Olympics
As the 2010 Winter Olympics enter their final week, Vancouver's alt-weekly continues to work round-the-clock to cover both the games themselves, as well as all the cultural and entertainment happenings coinciding with the international competition. Straight editor Charlie Smith tells AAN News that they opted not to produce any special print editions, and have had to actually tweak their print distribution strategies in light of the influx of people and numerous street closings. Online, though, he says the Straight has been going all out, with nearly all of the editorial staff covering some aspect of the games, including stories that have been picked up in Europe. The paper's running all Olympic coverage through a main Olympic portal, and it is also running a dedicated Olympics blog and featuring numerous Olympic photo galleries. Smith says the comprehensive coverage has translated to a "huge spike" in web traffic. "In the first week, traffic was up more than 100 percent," he says.
AAN News |
02-22-2010 2:27 pm |
Industry News
Huffington Post Rolls Out 'College' Sectionnew
The Washington Post |
02-22-2010 10:00 am |
Industry News
Tags: Electronic Publishing, Management
Arellano: NPR's 'Ask an Arab' is an 'Ask a Mexican' Rip-offnew
"Those geniuses at NPR, the network that thinks Garrison Keillor and Mo Rocca are the height of hilarity, have shamelessly ripped off ¡Ask a Mexican! to start a new feature, Ask an Arab," Gustavo Arellano writes. "Oh, and before anyone begins leaving comments about me being so petty and me ripping off 'Ask a Black Dude,' I preface this post with a classic quote from Krusty the Clown: 'If this is anyone but Steve Allen, you've stolen my bit!'"
OC Weekly |
02-19-2010 3:24 pm |
Industry News
Worcester Mag Offices Robbednew
The offices of Worcester Mag were broken into and robbed Tuesday night. "They stole at least one laptop that we know about so far, and some cash," said publisher Gareth Charter says. "It's unfortunate timing because we don't keep much cash on hand typically. They got us in between daily bank deposits." Worcester police are investigating the crime.
Worcester Mag |
02-19-2010 1:57 pm |
Industry News
What Does Foursquare Mean for Newspapers?new
EditorsWeblog.org |
02-19-2010 1:59 pm |
Industry News
