AAN News
Magazine Publishers Explore Alternative Revenue Models for Digital Editionsnew
Folio |
07-31-2009 11:14 am |
Industry News
Jackson Free Press Launches 'JFP Daily'new
Earlier this month, the alt-weekly launched a daily e-blast that will feature one full story along with listings and other timely content, like profiles of musicians or authors who have appearances that day. The Daily, which has the catchy slogan "Today's News...Today," will be published each day at 1 pm. "It's been twenty years since Jackson had an afternoon daily," publisher Todd Stauffer tells the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership (pdf). "We thought it would be interesting to revive that tradition, but starting from the ground up using 21st Century technology."
Jackson Free Press |
07-30-2009 12:42 pm |
Industry News
Editor of Wired Magazine is Bullish on East Bay Expressnew
Discussing the future of newspapers in a recent episode of C-Span2's Book TV, Chris Anderson, who also is the author of The Long Tail and Free: The Future of a Radical Price, had good things to say about his local alt-weekly: "The (New York) Times will be fine. They will figure it out," Anderson says. "My local newspaper -- my local, local newspaper -- the East Bay Express. They're already pretty lean and mean, they're probably going to be good about covering my local community even better. The San Francisco Chronicle? I'm not sure it has a future."
CSpan2's Book TV |
07-30-2009 10:54 am |
Industry News
Key Decision in Creative Loafing Bankruptcy Case Will Come Aug. 25new
In today's bankruptcy hearing, the judge said she will wait until the Aug. 25 equity auction to define what the "highest and best" offer will be, a decision that CL CEO Ben Eason has said will be of utmost importance to the future of the six-paper company. "While today's hearing about the rules and procedures for the bidding was given a pretty high-drama buildup ... it didn't live up to its billing and was actually a complex, confusing, and undramatic court session," Creative Loafing (Tampa)'s Wayne Garcia writes. Following the hearing, Eason told Garcia he's considering stepping down temporarily as CEO to focus on putting together a new bid for the company, though he said he hasn't made a decision yet and has no timetable in mind.
Creative Loafing (Tampa) |
07-29-2009 4:51 pm |
Industry News
L.A. Weekly Story Leads Marilyn Manson to Threaten Journosnew
The shock rocker has issued a warning on MySpace against journalists who write "cavalier statements," saying there will be repercussions for the "soon-to-be-murdered-in-their-home press" if more inaccuracies are reported. Manson's threats come on the heels of a recent L.A. Weekly interview with Buddyhead.com founder Travis Keller, who talked about what it was like to meet Manson in 2007. In the piece, Keller paints Manson as a paranoid cocaine addict and a fraud.
L.A. Weekly |
07-29-2009 12:27 pm |
Industry News
Judge to Set Rules of Creative Loafing Auction Todaynew
CL CEO Ben Eason has said that today's hearing (rescheduled from Monday) will likely determine whether or not he will be able to retain control of the six-paper chain. The actual auction is slated for Aug. 25, but Eason says that if the judge allows unfettered bidding by Atalaya Capital Management, the company's largest creditor, he may have no chance. He thinks that would be unfair and will ask the judge to restrict Atalaya's ability to bid. "What you'll see is the judge grappling with a core issue: How do you preside over a fair auction where one of the bidders has an advantage that would cause others not to bid," Eason says. "It's like pulling money out of one pocket and putting it into another."
St. Petersburg Times |
07-29-2009 9:54 am |
Industry News
Columbia J-School Grads Remain 'Excited and Hopeful'new
As part of the Village Voice's education supplement, the alt-weekly talks to several 2009 graduates from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism about what it feels like to enter an industry that many are proclaiming to be near death. Surprisingly, they remain upbeat about the future and feel prepared to take part in the rebirth of the news industry. "If you look at it differently, it's an exciting time in journalism," one recent grad says. "People are trying to come up with solutions to find out what the future is going to be."
The Village Voice |
07-29-2009 9:36 am |
Industry News
Poll: Advertisers Migrating From Print To Webnew
A recent LinkedIn/Harris Interactive poll of 1,015 top executives at ad agencies and their corporate clients found that while the number of advertisers using print and online are still roughly equal the trend lines for the two media are headed in opposite directions. While 88 percent said they were using print, and 92 percent said online, 74 percent of those using internet say they are using it more than they did one year ago, while 49 percent of advertisers that use print say they are using it less.
Media Daily News |
07-27-2009 11:18 am |
Industry News
Metroland Finally Gets Served in Suit Filed in Aprilnew
A controversial executive training program known as NXIVM filed a lawsuit alleging defamation against the paper one day before the statute of limitations would have expired in April, but Metroland wasn't served papers until this month. The paper reports that the crux of NXIVM's suit stems from one line that was attributed to a source. Editor and publisher Stephen Leon says Metroland is consulting an attorney and hopes to have the suit quickly tossed. "The complaint is baseless, and 97 percent of it has nothing to do with Metroland," he says, adding that the passage cited "isn't even remotely defamatory."
Metroland |
07-24-2009 11:40 am |
Industry News
Pew: Mobile Web Use Growing Fastest Among African-Americans, Hispanicsnew
Online Media Daily |
07-24-2009 11:41 am |
Industry News
Tags: Electronic Publishing, Management
CEO Says Creative Loafing's Future Rests on Rules of Upcoming Auctionnew
Ben Eason tells the Chicago Reader that the key upcoming date in the ongoing bankruptcy saga of Creative Loafing is not Aug. 25, when the auction will be held, but July 27, when the judge sets the rules of the auction. He says the judge should restrict the ability of lender Atalaya Capital Management to bid on the company because "they'll put their money in and immediately take it out." He says that the issue should not just be who has the highest bid for the company, but the "highest and best" bid, which Eason thinks will be his. "For me it's my passion, my life, and everything," he says. "The real key here is not a financial play -- it's how everybody uses their publishing smarts and knowledge of online to fuse those models together. The game is not who's got the most money but who's got the most smarts to make the transition."
Chicago Reader |
07-22-2009 11:10 am |
Industry News
Longtime Metro Spirit Contributor Talks About the Paper's Startnew
As the Augusta, Ga., alt-weekly celebrates its 20th anniversary, reporter Angel Cleary talks to "the only person, save founder David Vantrease, who has been around for the entire history" of the paper: senior music contributor Ed Turner. He discusses what Metro Spirit has meant to the music scene, how much the paper has grown over the years and how he got his column started. "I freelanced starting with the first issue of the Spirit," Turner says. "It was, of course, B.C. (before computers) and (get ready for this) I did not know how to type. And I barely do now! David and Lisa Smith (who was Spirit editor for the first five years or so) agreed to accept handwritten columns from me, which I would slip in the mail slot."
Metro Spirit |
07-22-2009 9:38 am |
Industry News
Latest Phoenix New Times Spoof Sparks Sheriff Investigationnew
New Times ran a story in late June by "Joseph Rossi" on Reinalda de Souza, an Arizona faith healer who claimed to have killed Michael Jackson with a curse she learned in Brazil. Among the many exaggerated details in the piece is that de Souza had slit the throat of a 4½-month-old Rottweiler named Cerberus, drank his blood and left his lifeless carcass as part of a black magic ritual. This, New Times reports, led several people to call the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office to demand an investigation into the purported animal cruelty. Stephen Lemons, who actually wrote the piece, says that while this hoax didn't spark as much intense reaction as some of his earlier handiwork, "it was certainly a bunch of fun to write." He adds: "For the record, no animals were harmed in the making of the spoof."
Phoenix New Times |
07-21-2009 11:59 am |
Industry News
Radio Host Upset that Houston Press Took 'Ask a Mexican' Online Onlynew
Tony Diaz, who hosts KPFT's Nuestra Palabra program in Houston, says that the Houston Press' decision to publish Gustavo Arellano's syndicated column only on the web is like putting it "in the back of the bus." Diaz also says the Press doesn't understand how popular the column is among Hispanics, insinuating the alt-weekly is out-of-touch with that community -- an insinuation that editor Margaret Downing is having none of. "While I certainly understand the disappointment of some of our readers, to say that not carrying the column in print shows a lack of commitment to the Hispanic community is nothing but hyperbole," she says in a statement explaining the move.
Houston Press |
07-21-2009 9:05 am |
Industry News
Media Groups Make Push to Keep Officials On the Recordnew
A coalition of groups, led by the Bureau of National Affairs and including the Sunshine in Government Initiative (SGI), hope to change the practice of public officials insisting their remarks be off-the-record when addressing large audiences, the Washington Post reports. "Standing in front of 300 people and declaring your words to be 'off-the-record' is frustrating for reporters, but it's also silly," SGI coordinator Rick Blum says. "With Twitter, blogs and old-style email, the lobbyists, bloggers and other opinion-shapers in the audience will repeat your words a thousand different ways before you step off the podium. But a reporter who respects the traditional rules of the road can't report what you say to a broader audience."
The Washington Post |
07-20-2009 12:47 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
