AAN News
Court Filings Shed Light on Creative Loafing's Financesnew
According to a case management summary (pdf) filed in Creative Loafing's bankruptcy proceedings on Monday, revenues are off at the six-paper alt-weekly chain. Atlanta Magazine's Steve Fennessy reports that when CL was looking for financing to purchase the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper, it projected the expanded company would see revenues of $43 million in fiscal year 2008. But the court filing says that revenue in FY08, ending June 30, 2008, was $35 million, and predicts that sales in the first quarter of FY09 will be only $3.5 million. In other CL bankruptcy news, Washington City Paper has published a statement from one of the company's lenders, Atalaya, which says the bankruptcy filing was "unfortunate and unnecessary," and assures "all interested parties that Atalaya has no intention of attempting to shut down the business." MORE: City Paper editor Erik Wemple talks to the George Washington University student paper The Hatchet about the changes in store as the paper shifts focus.
Atlanta Magazine | Washington City Paper |
10-16-2008 11:43 am |
Industry News
Monterey County Weekly: Looking Good at 20
The Weekly celebrates an historic milestone with a special 20th anniversary issue that hit the streets (and the web) yesterday. The 200-page issue, which is saddle stitched and features the Weekly's first-ever glossy cover, "takes a long backwards glance at the people, the institutions, the buildings, the parties and the natural disasters that have helped shape the community" since Coast Weekly (the paper's original name) debuted in the fall of 1988. "The community support has been fantastic for this issue, in much the same way it has been for the last twenty years," says founder and CEO Bradley Zeve.
(FULL STORY)
Monterey County Weekly Press Release |
10-10-2008 8:18 am |
Press Releases
Syracuse New Times Cartoonist Releases Second Book
Joe Glisson, who has been New Times' political cartoonist for 25 years, is celebrating with a new retrospective book, Seems Like Old Times. "I had done the first book [1986's Dome Sweet Dome] a number of years ago, and I thought that I would like to have a companion to it," he says. "And this is the 25th year that I've been doing this, so I thought it was an appropriate time to do a retrospective. I don't know if anybody else feels that way, but I wanted to do it." Read more from Glisson in a Q&A posted at AltWeeklies.com.
(FULL STORY)
Syracuse New Times Press Release |
10-09-2008 8:36 am |
Press Releases
Layoffs Hit Las Vegas Weekly and The Village Voice
Facing a tough economic climate, two AAN members had to lay off several employees last week. The Las Vegas Weekly let go "a writer and an art staffer," as part of larger staff reductions by parent company Greenspun Media Group, the Las-Vegas Review-Journal reports. In addition, The Village Voice laid off two staff writers and a deputy copy chief, according to Pop + Politics.
AAN News |
10-08-2008 9:56 am |
Industry News
Still More on the Creative Loafing Bankruptcy Filingnew
On Atlanta Magazine's blog, former Creative Loafing (Atlanta) staffer Steve Fennessy talks to Ben Eason -- who he calls "a tireless networker with a love of jargon" -- and a few worried staffers about this week's filing. Eason reiterates a few points he's been making to the press this week, and adds that, despite his web-first strategy, he doesn't envision a time when his publications don't produce actual newspapers. MORE: Read more from Creative Loafing's John Sugg, Washington City Paper's Angela Valdez, Gawker, and consultant Mark Potts.
Atlanta Magazine |
10-02-2008 12:31 pm |
Industry News
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2004 Village Voice Cover Makes Cameo on HBO Vampire Seriesnew
The New York Observer |
10-01-2008 9:24 am |
Industry News
More on Creative Loafing's Bankruptcy Protection Filing
When Creative Loafing filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, the news was widely reported. AAN News scoured the wires, separated the wheat from the chaff, and collected some of the pertinent information and opinion.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
09-30-2008 1:27 pm |
Industry News
Alt-Weekly Cartoonist Derf Releases New Book
Derf, whose comic "The City" has appeared in various alt-weeklies since 1990, has just released his latest book, Punk Rock & Trailer Parks. The graphic novel "takes place in recession-ravaged Akron, Ohio, in 1980, at the peak of the Rubber City's unlikely and lively punk rock scene." It's Derf's longest book yet, and his first work of fiction (check out a preview here). In an interview with Comicon.com's The Pulse, Derf says for his next project he is re-working his first book, My Friend Dahmer, the true story of his teenage friendship with the future serial killer, as a "full-blown graphic novel."
(FULL STORY)
SLG Publishing Press Release |
09-30-2008 8:44 am |
Press Releases
Creative Loafing Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protectionnew
The company, which owns Creative Loafing papers in Atlanta, Charlotte, Sarasota and Tampa, as well as the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this morning, the St. Petersburg Times reports. City Paper editor Erik Wemple reports that CEO Ben Eason discussed the filing with top company officials in a conference call this morning, and said that the bankruptcy filing would allow CL's six papers to establish a greater online presence while the company reorganizes its operations. A corporate memo on the filing says it "has little to do with the acquisition" of the Reader and City Paper last year. Eason also said that the move entails no liquidation or layoffs. In fact, the Chapter 11 filing will roll back editorial staff cuts at the papers, Wemple writes. MORE: Read more about the move from Creative Loafing (Tampa), the Reader, Crain's and Bloomberg News.
The St. Petersburg Times | Washington City Paper |
09-29-2008 12:15 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Circulation, Classified Advertising, Design & Production, Editorial, Electronic Publishing, Financial, Management, Marketing, Retail Advertising, CL, Inc., Washington City Paper, Chicago Reader, Creative Loafing (Atlanta), Creative Loafing (Charlotte), Creative Loafing (Tampa), Creative Loafing (Sarasota), Ben Eason, Erik Wemple
LA CityBeat Launches New Format with Fifth Annual Real Best LA Issue
LA CityBeat Press Release |
09-25-2008 10:39 am |
Press Releases
Vue Weekly Cover Prompts Petition to Cover News Box Windowsnew
The cover of the Edmonton alt-weekly's annual sex survey features three naked people, backs turned to the camera, with any naughty bits obscured by text. But the image is still too racy for at least one local resident, who tells CTV Edmonton that she's starting a petition to have the transparent windows of news boxes covered, ostensibly to protect children. "It's basically the same thing you can get in an adult magazine," Michelle Gimenez says, adding that the news boxes are at eye-level with children. But others interviewed by CTV didn't seem to mind. "You see more graphic things on TV in the middle of the day ... it doesn't bother me," says one woman. Vue publisher Ron Garth defends the cover, saying "it's about pushing the limits in every respect (sic)."
CTV Edmonton |
09-17-2008 1:10 pm |
Industry News
Ted Rall Elected President of Editorial Cartoonists Group
Rall, whose cartoons and columns appear in many alt-weeklies, took over as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists on Sept. 12. "For some reason my colleagues have made me president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC), the organization for professional political cartoonists. (I suspect cartoonists' predilection for hard drinking had something to do with it.)," Rall writes in his weekly column. "Kidding aside, I'm honored." V. Cullum Rogers, the cartoonist at North Carolina's Independent Weekly, remains the group's secretary-treasurer, and Mikhaela Reid, whose work appears in Metro Times and other AAN papers, was elected to the group's board of directors.
AAN News |
09-17-2008 9:28 am |
Industry News
Esquire Unveils Cover with Electronic Inknew
A 10-square-inch display on the cover of Esquire's October 2008 issue flashes the theme "The 21st Century Begins Now" with a collage of illuminated images, powered by electronic ink. The E-ink technology (the same that is found in Amazon's Kindle, for example) is also used on the inside cover for a Ford advertisement. Esquire editor-in-chief David Granger thinks e-paper is what will bring print into the 21st century, as it incorporates digital technology without making the print product unrecognizable. "It preserves that experience but then it adds a little something else." In other E-ink news, the New York Times reported this week that the company Plastic Logic is introducing its version of an electronic newspaper reader: a lightweight plastic screen that mimics the look -- but not the feel -- of a printed newspaper.
The Associated Press via USA Today |
09-11-2008 10:23 am |
Industry News
Google Creating Online Archives for Newspapersnew
Online Media Daily |
09-10-2008 12:00 pm |
Industry News
Four New Alt-Weekly-Related Books Hit the Shelves
OC Weekly staff writer and ¡Ask a Mexican! columnist Gustavo Arellano's second book is due to be released on Sept. 16. Orange County: A Personal History is a memoir that examines the history of Orange County as seen through four generations of his family moving back and forth between Mexico and Anaheim. Ed Zotti, longtime editor of the syndicated Straight Dope column, also has a new memoir, which was released this week. His The Barn House: Confessions of an Urban Rehabber is a "memoir about fixing up an old house in the city and pursuing the urban version of the American Dream." Check out an excerpt on the Chicago Reader's site. Another memoir on the horizon is Prince Joe Henry's Princoirs. Henry is the longtime author of the "Ask a Negro Leaguer" column in the Riverfront Times, and the book is an extension of the column. If you're not into memoirs, some of Seattle Weekly cartoonist Scott Meyer's "Basic Instructions" comic strips have been collected in the new Help Is on the Way: A Collection of Basic Instructions, which was released this week.
AAN News |
09-05-2008 8:08 am |
Industry News
