AAN News

Westword Cashing In on Medical Marijuana Boomnew

In a report on how Colorado's booming medical marijuana industry is creating a "so called gold rush" for media companies that are accepting advertising from the dispensaries, KUNC's Bente Birkeland says "no newspaper has embraced the industry more than Westword." The Denver alt-weekly "is covered with pages and pages of medical marijuana ads for green docs, natural remedies and alternative healing," KUNC notes. But Poynter's Al Tompkins says that accepting the ads could pose potential problems for newspapers. "The fact is it is still against the law on the federal level," he says. "Even though there is no desire to prosecute it, it is still illegal, and generally it's against the law to be advertising an illegal act."
KUNC  |  12-03-2009  10:19 am  |  Industry News

Call for Entries: 2009 Innocence Network Journalism Awardsnew

The Innocence Network  |  12-03-2009  2:53 pm  |  Industry News

Sacramento News & Review Gets Ready to Movenew

After a few years and a few million dollars, the paper is finally moving into its new office -- a former supermarket that it purchased and renovated using green-building standards. As News & Review publisher Jeff vonKaenel points out, the move wouldn't have been possible without about $2 million in grants, loan guarantees and other incentives from the city -- but he says that doesn't mean the paper will all of a sudden go soft in its coverage of the city and its redevelopment agency. "During my 36 years as a newspaper publisher, there have been many instances where regular advertisers have called me to complain about a story and to cancel their advertising," he writes. "Our business relationship with the city is no different."
Sacramento News & Review  |  12-02-2009  10:54 am  |  Industry News

Las Vegas Weekly Parent Company Consolidates Operationsnew

The Greenspun Media Group, which publishes the Weekly along with the daily Las Vegas Sun and a host of other properties, laid off a number of employees yesterday as part of a major restructuring to streamline operations. Staff at all of the company's publications will now be housed in one building and coalesce in three teams: editorial, advertising and support. Greenspun has not released the number of layoffs involved, but the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the number is "at least 20" and includes two Weekly staffers. On his blog, Weekly columnist Steve Friess says those two are Bethany Acree and Josh Bell.
Las Vegas Sun  |  12-02-2009  9:05 am  |  Industry News

The Stranger Flexing Real Political Muscle in Seattlenew

"While it may be easy to dismiss Seattle's most eccentric weekly paper, there is growing evidence that The Stranger may be more in tune with Emerald City voters than the other major papers in the area," writes Mike Noon in the University of Washington's student newspaper. "The Stranger has some serious political clout in Puget Sound politics." Noon points to the city's recent mayoral election as proof, saying the alt-weekly's "enthusiastic support of mayor-elect Mike McGinn was likely one of the key factors in his victory."
The Daily  |  12-01-2009  9:20 am  |  Industry News

VVM Launches a National Blog Covering Cannabis Culturenew

Toke of the Town is the latest national blog property launched by Village Voice Media, joining titles like Heartless Doll, Joystick Division and True Crime Report.
Westword  |  11-30-2009  11:03 am  |  Industry News

White Supremacists Threaten OC Weekly's Gustavo Arellanonew

On a recent episode the show "88 Degrees" on internet radio station Radio White, white supremacist Martin Cox and co-host Jeremy Moody attacked Arellano for his coverage of an incident this summer involving skinheads in Huntington Beach. During the show, Cox called Arellano everything from a "Mexican homosexual beaner" to a "faggot communist" to a "fricking reporter for a newspaper that comes out once a week and it's free," before talking about attacking Arellano. "I know who he is, where he works. I know everything about this dude," Cox said. "We have his home address. We have everything we need to know about that dude."
OC Weekly  |  11-30-2009  10:19 am  |  Industry News

Oklahoma Gazette Parent Company Launches New Publicationnew

Tierra Media Group, the parent company to Oklahoma Gazette and OKCBiz magazine that Gazette publisher Bill Bleakley formed in 2007, will launch a new hyperlocal community weekly, EastWord, in eastern Oklahoma County on March 1 of next year.
OKCBiz  |  11-24-2009  12:24 pm  |  Industry News

L.A. Weekly Responds to Neon Tommy Storynew

Last week, the USC Annenberg web publication Neon Tommy ran a lengthy piece on the future of the Weekly as new editor Drex Heikes settles in. After correcting a few factual errors, Weekly news blogger Dennis Romero turns his focus to the larger context of the piece -- the changes at the paper since it came under control of Village Voice Media in 2006. "What's seen as a reduction of the editorial department is also a changing of the guard," he writes. "While some liberals and the ex-Weekly writers who catered to them lament the loss of the paper's crusty, bell-bottom voice, we'd argue that the future here is bright -- and digital."
L.A. Weekly  |  11-23-2009  8:47 am  |  Industry News  |  Comments (1)

Richard Karpel, Erik Wemple Talk About Alt-Media's 'Economic Woes'new

AAN's executive director and Washington City Paper's editor joined the Project for Excellence in Journalism's Mark Jurkowitz and former Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff on a D.C. public-radio show yesterday for a wide-ranging discussion about how the digital transformation, changing demographics and the recession are affecting alternative media.
WAMU-FM  |  11-20-2009  12:12 pm  |  Industry News

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