AAN News
Wrapping Up the 31st Annual AAN Convention
A total of 400 people descended on the Pennsylvania Convention Center and the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown two weeks ago for the 2008 AAN Convention. The three-day event featured the usual mix of presentations and panels, food and booze, and business talk and gossip between alt-weekly staffers and industry types from across North America. AAN committees and staff mostly took care of the first item, while host paper Philadelphia City Paper had the second one covered, and attendees proved themselves more than capable of handling the third on their own.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
06-19-2008 1:01 pm |
Association News
Ventura County Reporter Editor Steps Down
Bill Lascher says in an email that June 25 will be his last day as editor of the Reporter, as he leaves to attend a new master's program in specialized journalism at the University of Southern California. He will be replaced by Michael Sullivan, who was previously a writer at the Fresno Business Journal and a freelancer with the Reporter and the Ventura County Star.
AAN News |
06-19-2008 10:17 am |
Industry News
AAN Members Fare Well in the Lone Star Awardsnew
Alt-weeklies fairly dominated the newspaper divisions of the 2008 Lone Star Awards, the Texas-wide journalism contest sponsored by the Houston Press Club. In the over-100,000 circulation division, the Houston Press and Dallas Observer combined to take first, second and third places in the "Print Journalist of the Year" competition. The Observer won a total of five awards, while the Press took home more firsts (nine) and more awards overall than any other paper in the division. The Press finished first in these categories: Print Journalist of the Year, Photojournalist of the Year, Public Service, Business Story, General Commentary/Criticism, Feature Story (Internet-based), Opinion (Internet-based), Sports Photo, and Photo Package. In the under-100,000 newspaper division, the Fort Worth Weekly brought home more hardware than any other paper. That included five first-place trophies, in these categories: Feature Story, Investigative Reporting, Politics/Government, Business Story, and Student News. The awards were presented on June 6.
Houston Press Club (PDF file) |
06-18-2008 7:51 am |
Honors & Achievements
Possible Strike Looms at The Village Voicenew
Veteran Voice staff writer Tom Robbins tells the New York Press that the paper's employees may strike if a contract dispute isn't resolved. Talks center on proposed cuts in health care coverage in the latest contract offer from Village Voice Media, which the union considers unacceptable. "Management is asking for givebacks on our health care policy and on our 401(k)," says Robbins, who serves as a shop steward with United Auto Workers Local 2110, which represents Voice staffers. "We are adamant that there won't be any givebacks here." He says the union has had two meetings with management, but vowed that there would be a walkout if no settlement is reached. "If we don't get it, all bets are off," Robbins warns. The Press says a call to a Voice spokesperson for comment has thus far gone unreturned. The strike is set for July 1 if a contract agreement isn't reached, according to Gawker.
New York Press |
06-17-2008 8:13 am |
Industry News
Associated Press to Set Guidelines for Use of its Articles on Blogsnew
The New York Times |
06-17-2008 8:23 am |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Electronic Publishing
City Pages Wins 16 Minnesota SPJ Awardsnew
The Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists awarded City Pages top honors in eight categories last week, including newsroom-wide wins for Best Website and Best Special Section. The paper also finished first in the Business Feature; Photojournalism: Pictoral; Short News Feature; Sports Feature; Sports Spot News; and Use of Multimedia categories.
City Pages |
06-16-2008 8:38 am |
Honors & Achievements
City Paper Founder on the Inquirer's Convention Reportnew
Saying that the Philadelphia Inquirer reporter tasked with turning in a "breezy" report about last weekend's AAN Convention "must have drawn the short straw," Bruce Schimmel writes that "it must have been challenging for [Suzette] Parmley to do something chipper about industry upstarts who are eating her lunch." But she rose to that challenge, filing what Schimmel calls a "flattering portrait" of alt-weeklies. He goes on to draw distinctions between the cultures of dailies and alt-weeklies, ultimately concluding that "the daily is dying." He adds: "And while that might mean a temporary measure of good fortune for weeklies, even the most eccentric of independents dread the daily's demise. A functional democracy needs the good reporting that comes with these dinosaurs."
Philadelphia City Paper |
06-13-2008 2:42 pm |
Industry News
Cleveland Scene Clubs Editor Publishes His First Book
Continuum Books has published D.X. Ferris' book, 33 1/3: Reign in Blood, which examines the classic heavy metal record by Slayer. It is part of Continuum's 33 1/3 series, a growing collection of volumes about and inspired by classic albums. "Writing the book, I had two goals in mind," Ferris says. "First, I didn’t want to be the guy who screwed up a Slayer book. Second, I wanted present the story in a way that's compelling to both rabid Slayer fans and to NPR listeners who love pop music, but have never lost a shoe in a mosh pit."
(FULL STORY)
Continuum Publishing Press Release |
06-13-2008 9:18 am |
Press Releases
City Pulse Publisher Says 'Thank You'
Berl Schwartz thanks the AAN membership for admitting City Pulse on Saturday in a letter to the editor. "This was our fourth time to apply,
and I am sure the membership committee was tired of looking at us, so
allow me to thank you on behalf of its members as well," he writes. He also says he's printing a banner to hang in the paper's office that quotes from a membership committee report on City Pulse: "It's still not perfect."
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
06-12-2008 8:18 am |
Letters to the Editor
The Texas Observer Announces 'Molly Award' Finalistsnew
Editor & Publisher |
06-12-2008 7:29 am |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, The Texas Observer
Washington City Paper Wins Homeless Journalism Awardnew
City Paper contributor Arthur Delaney has won the Street Sense David Pike Excellence in Journalism award for "Median Man," his story about "Billi," a man living in a tent on the freeway. Delaney will be honored at a ceremony this Thursday.
Washington City Paper |
06-11-2008 8:57 am |
Honors & Achievements
Alt-Weekly Alum Running for Mayor in Vancouvernew
Peter Ladner defeated Sam Sullivan on Sunday for the mayoral nomination of the Non-Partisan Association (NPA), a civic-level political party in Vancouver. "He dresses well, runs a weekly business publication and is pleased to describe himself as a 'fiscally conservative' member of the generally right-wing NPA," reports the Globe and Mail. But the Canadian daily also notes that Ladner is an "ex-hippie" who was a back-to-the-land farmer raising goats and chickens in the 1960s. He later worked for "the respected alternative weekly, Monday Magazine," and had plans in the 1980s to launch a new weekly to compete with AAN member The Georgia Straight. Those plans fizzled out, and Ladner instead launched Business in Vancouver, a weekly business publication. The general election is scheduled for November.
The Globe and Mail |
06-11-2008 8:42 am |
Industry News
Philly Inquirer: Mood at Convention Was 'Resoundingly Upbeat'new
The daily paper stopped by this weekend's AAN Convention, and found "a shared belief that alternative weeklies will do just fine in the age of cyberspace and newsroom downsizing." Baltimore City Paper managing editor Erin Sullivan says that as the economy tanks, the paper is reallocating resources, concentrating "on investigative reporting and increasing our criticism. ... Things that the dailies can't or won't do with the same level of depth." Philadelphia City Paper founder Bruce Schimmel tells the Inquirer that competition from blogs and other media has pushed alt-weeklies to be even more aggressive. "Everyone has access to your morgue," he says, "so you better get it right."
The Philadelphia Inquirer |
06-10-2008 11:32 am |
Industry News
Independent Weekly Staff Writer Wins Second Straight Casey Medalnew
Mosi Secret received the 2008 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism in the non-daily category for "Stolen Youth," a
story of 14-year-old Erick Daniels, who was convicted of robbery in 2001 and
sentenced to more than a decade in prison. There was no physical evidence
linking Daniels to the crime, and there were key discrepancies in witness
testimony and police reports. Daniels is expected to receive a new trial this year, largely due to Secret's investigation. He will be honored at an October ceremony, and will receive a $1,000 prize. Once again, AAN members swept this category: Seattle Weekly's Huan Hsu was the runner-up in the category, and two Westword writers -- Luke Turf and Joel Warner -- received honorable mentions. Secret won the same prize last year.
The Journalism Center on Children & Families |
06-10-2008 11:02 am |
Honors & Achievements
Chicago Reader Dropped as Defendant in Defamation Suitnew
The paper had been named as a party to a defamation suit by former assistant commissioner for the Chicago Department of Aviation James Sachay, which alleged that political activist Frank Coconate had written a comment on one of the Reader's blogs and attributed it to Sachay. The Reader "argued in its motion to dismiss that it enjoys immunity under Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which draws a distinction between a publisher that selects what to publish and the proprietor of a public web forum," Michael Miner writes. "This distinction holds even if the website provider makes some effort to police the site. (Someone here took down the offending comment sometime after it appeared.)" Last week the paper was dismissed as a defendant in response to a new motion filed by Sachay. His amended suit against only Coconate will continue.
Chicago Reader |
06-10-2008 9:41 am |
Legal News
