AAN News
Best Practices For Your Social-Media Strategynew
Online Spin |
12-21-2007 10:07 am |
Industry News
News & Review Looks to 'Hire' Outsourced CEO for McClatchynew
Reacting to the news that McClatchy plans to eliminate half of the artist jobs at its flagship Sacramento Bee and outsource the work to India, the Sacramento News & Review posted an ad for a "Media Company CEO" on Delhi Craigslist yesterday. "The value of McClatchy's stock has plummeted," the ad reads. "We are thereby accepting applications that we will dutifully forward to McClatchy for 'outsourced' CEOs who will work for much less than McClatchy's current CEO (who hauls in a cool $1 million, or up to $2.38 million with bonuses. Why are you laughing?). Your duties will include bailing water out of a sinking ship, blacking or tearing out bad McClatchy financial news from publications distributed in house (including your own) and dancing while angry board members shoot bullets at your feet. Serious inquires only." News & Review editor Matt Coker, reached by email, tells AAN News that they've already received two applications: one from the Phillipines, and another from a headhunter in New Delhi.
Delhi Craigslist |
12-20-2007 2:58 pm |
Industry News
Louisville Eccentric Observer Settles Inquiry Over Light-Hearted Adnew
"In our issue before the Kentucky Derby, we ran an ad for a bar that
was holding a 'no celebrities allowed' party," LEO editor Cary Stemle
tells AAN News. "At that time of year here, there's lots of fancy
parties that involve celebs and it gets tons of attention," he
explains. The ad read, in part: "If you
have an agent, publicist, third world adopted baby, or front row seats
to the Church of Scientology, you have no chance of getting in."
Alfonso Lanceta, the chairperson of the enforcement board of the Metro
Human Relations Commission, filed a formal complaint against the
paper, contending that the ad's text attempted to prevent not Angelina
Jolie and Tom Cruise from attending its party, but anyone who's
adopted a person from the Third World, as well as all Scientologists.
After spending more than $5,000 in attorney's fees, LEO settled with
the Commission, and had to print an ad this week reaffirming its
commitment to uphold non-discrimination standards. "This advertisement
is an appeal to the common man in every sense of the term," a
University of Louisville dean tells LEO. "I have to
believe that the Metro Human Relations Commission didn't get the
joke."
Louisville Eccentric Observer |
12-20-2007 11:26 am |
Legal News
John Sugg Retiring from Creative Loafingnew
"This company has been my home for almost 13 years, I love it and own a tiny bit of it, so I won't disappear," the CL group senior editor, columnist, and shareholder says in announcing his retirement at the end of January. He says he'll "likely continue" writing his column, "in large part because our CEO, Ben Eason, and editor, Ken Edelstein, are guys who passionately care about Atlanta." Sugg plans on starting a think tank which will "look for radical, yet effective, alternatives to urban dilemmas."
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
12-20-2007 10:31 am |
Industry News
Fake OC Weekly Story 'Gets Internet's Panties in a Bunch'new
The response to Ben Westhoff's "The Efron Scandal," which "revealed" that Lil' Wayne and Zac Efron were working together on High School Musical 2: Non-Stop Dance Party and that the two even shared a "full-on kiss," was enough to temporarily crash the Weekly's servers, the paper reports. But not everyone got the joke: the story was picked up as truth by outlets as diverse at VH1 and the British tabloid The Sun. "The overwhelming impression I have over the hysteria 'The Efron Scandal' has generated is that some people don't recognize comedy gold, even as it's repeatedly conking them upside their thick heads," writes Weekly music editor Dave Segal.
OC Weekly |
12-20-2007 8:40 am |
Industry News
Tucson Weekly's 'Reality Journalism' Contest Makes Wavesnew
In Arizona nearly anyone can qualify for the presidential primary by filling out some forms and meeting a few basic requirements. With this in mind, the Weekly launched Project White House in November, and thus far has put 20 candidates (of 48 total) on the ballots. Yesterday, a drawing clarified in what order those candidates' names -- as well as more prominent ones like Obama and Romney -- will appear on the ballots. Some people think the long list of unknown names could be taxing on voters, but the Weekly's Jim Nintzel, who is coordinating the process, defended his candidates and the contest. "I think it's a wonderful opportunity to really get people engaged in the democratic process," he says. "A lot of people have dreamed of running for president for a long time, and this is really an opportunity for them to do so." He adds: "The Project White House candidates have just as good a chance at winning the Arizona primary as Ron Paul does."
Arizona Daily Star |
12-19-2007 1:24 pm |
Industry News
NOW Magazine's Senior Film Writer Dies
John Harkness, the film critic for NOW since its inception on Sept. 10, 1981, was found dead in his home in Toronto on Tuesday. "John Harkness was simply the best film critic in Canada over the last 26 years," editor and publisher Michael Hollett says in a release. "He will be sorely missed by all of us at NOW, his family, friends and the film community as a whole." Harkness, who was 53, had been suffering from high cholesterol. "He had never missed a deadline in 26 years," Hollet tells the Globe and Mail, "so we sent somebody to his house when his copy didn't arrive." They then found his body and called the police.
(FULL STORY)
NOW Magazine Press Release |
12-19-2007 12:16 pm |
Industry News
Food Writer Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl Leaving City Pagesnew
The five-time AltWeekly Award winner and recipient of numerous James Beard Awards is taking her food column to Minnesota Monthly starting in January, according to MinnPost. "It makes me sad to the bottom of my toes," Grumdahl says. "I've been a City Pages writer since I was a whippersnapper; it was my first job out of Carleton. That said, I couldn't be more excited about Minnesota Monthly. I'm interested in longer-form things, I have a couple of books in the works, and Minnesota Monthly is interested in having national platform and voice." MinnPost thinks the loss of "a certifiable brand that pulls in big advertising bucks as local chefs court her legions of drooling foodies" will hurt ad revenue in City Pages' restaurant section.
MinnPost |
12-19-2007 11:27 am |
Industry News
SGI Applauds Congress for Approving FOIA Reform
The House yesterday passed a FOIA reform bill that the Senate passed late last week, sending the bill to the president's desk. The Associated Press reports that the administration isn't saying whether Bush will sign the bill. (He had promised a veto of an early draft of the legislation). The ten media groups -- including AAN -- that make up the Sunshine in Government Initiative (SGI) applauded the Congress for passing what could become the first overhaul of FOIA laws in a decade. "After years of growing government secrecy, today's vote reaffirms the
public's fundamental right to know," says Rick Blum, coordinator of SGI. "Fixing FOIA isn't a secret. This bill
makes commonsense changes to help the public know what government is up to."
(FULL STORY)
Sunshine in Government Initiative Press Release |
12-19-2007 8:40 am |
Press Releases
Former New York Press Columnist's TV Pilot Finally Airsnew
In 2004, Jonathan Ames wrote and acted in a pilot for Showtime, yet it never aired. Until today. What's Not to Love? is based on Ames' 2000 memoir of the same name, which sprang from his "inflammatory, exquisitely worded, and often tastelessly brilliant columns for the New York Press," according to Showtime. The 30-minute show will debut tonight at 11:30 pm, and will be on Showtime On Demand until Jan. 15.
Bumpershine.com | Showtime |
12-18-2007 8:32 am |
Industry News
Publishers Say Magazine Sites are More Effective Than Digital Editionsnew
Mediaweek |
12-18-2007 9:01 am |
Industry News
Village Voice Media Breaks Into Top Ten Newspaper Sites In U.S.
Backpage.com Ranked As 2nd Largest Free Classified Site In U.S.
(FULL STORY)
Village Voice Media Press Release |
12-18-2007 8:52 am |
Press Releases
Two Veteran Staffers to Leave AAN
AAN director of sales and marketing Roxanne Cooper and her assistant,
Tiffany Kildale, resigned last week after accepting new positions with
different employers. Cooper will be leaving AAN in February to take over as
associate publisher of the Philadelphia City Paper, and Kildale departs next
month to assume the position of meeting coordinator at the Chemical
Producers & Distributors Association in Washington, D.C.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
12-17-2007 5:28 pm |
Association News
Ben Eason Weighs in on the State of Creative Loafingnew
"While it is easy to blame mean and nasty CEOs for trimming budgets, the fact is that our journalism, advertising and our content needs to be and are being re-conceived," Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason says in a memo to employees leaked to Poynter's Jim Romenesko. In the memo, Eason tells his employees that most of the post-merger integration -- including staffing decisions -- of the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper into the CL family is complete. "I'm very pleased with how the new company has come together," he says. "We are positioned well to take advantage of the future."
Romenesko Memos |
12-17-2007 10:08 am |
Industry News
SGI Applauds Senate Passage of FOIA Bill, Urges Speedy House Action
On Friday, a revised bill strengthening the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) passed the Senate by a voice vote, according to the Associated Press. The bill makes minor revisions to previously passed legislation to meet concerns of the House of Representatives, which could take it up this week before adjourning for the year. It creates an independent ombudsman to resolve citizen disputes and help agencies strengthen FOIA, creates tracking systems so the public can easily track the status of requests and lets requesters more easily recover legal costs when agencies improperly deny requests. The Sunshine in Government Initiative, of which AAN is a member, urges the House to take action and pass its version of the bill.
(FULL STORY)
Sunshine in Government Initiative Press Release |
12-17-2007 8:51 am |
Press Releases
Tags: Editorial, Management
