AAN News
Orange County Faux-Alt Kills Print Editionnew
SqueezeOC, the weekly launched two years ago by Orange County Register parent company Freedom Communications, will go online-only Aug. 31, the Register reports. Twenty percent of the paper's employees were laid off and an unspecified number of others were reassigned. "Management is spinning fast about the publication's troubles," OC Weekly's Janine Kahn writes. "The spinners didn't admit it, but it's clear that the publication -- billed ridiculously as "alternative" -- is hemorrhaging dough. Instead, they're putting the word out that going digital is the way to reach their target audience. Puh-lease."
Orange County Register | OC Weekly |
08-14-2007 10:31 am |
Industry News
New York Press Hires Former Village Voice Editor David Blumnew
Manhattan Media has named Blum editor-in-chief of New York Press as well as editorial director of the company's community newspaper group, the New York Times reports. When he starts the job Sept. 5, Blum's first task "will be to compete more vigorously with The Voice," where he served as editor for six months ending this March. "I want to make The Press as fresh and unpredictable as possible," he says. "I tried to do that at The Village Voice, but I didn't have enough time at The Voice to achieve the goals that I had at the paper. But here I will." In his interview with the Times, Blum also takes the opportunity to take a shot at his new competition and former employer for its out-of-town ownership. "I am excited to be working with a publisher and an owner who lives in New York, who knows the city extremely well," he says. "I think that will be a big plus for The Press -- and for me."
The New York Times |
08-13-2007 8:22 am |
Industry News
Monday Magazine Names New Editorsnew
Former arts editor John Threlfall says he has been named the editor-in-chief of the Victoria, British Columbia, alt-weekly. After a lengthy stint as acting editor -- "a charming period of time I like to think of as 11 months of chaotic madness," he says -- Threlfall becomes the tenth editor in the paper's history. Amanda Farrell will replace him as Monday's new arts editor.
Monday Magazine's MySpace blog |
08-10-2007 9:18 am |
Industry News
Independent Weekly (N.C.) Taps Sorg as Editor
Independent Weekly Press Release |
08-10-2007 3:14 pm |
Press Releases
Alt-Weeklies Investigate the Murder of Indy Journalist Brad Will
Twenty-four alt-weeklies will publish a story this week investigating the murder of independent video journalist Brad Will and the apparent cover-up by Mexican authorities. The story, commissioned by AAN, was reported by John Ross, a veteran journalist and author of eight books examining Mexican politics, and edited by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. While those who fired shots at Will are easily identified in the footage he took of his own death, as well as in contemporaneous photographs of the scene, they have not been brought to justice. Ross's story identifies the likely perpetrators as Mexican law enforcement officials associated with the Party of the Institutional Revolution, or PRI. "Who Killed Brad Will?" marks the sixth editorial project commissioned by AAN.
(FULL STORY)
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Press Release |
08-08-2007 12:00 pm |
Association News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Restaurant Franchise Removes Alt-Weekly from Stores ... for a Momentnew
In June, North Carolina's Independent Weekly released an issue featuring a transgendered individual on the cover, which ultimately caused the paper to be pulled from some Raleigh-Durham area Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurants. "The picture on the front cover ... was eye level of children in our waiting area," the local franchise owner explained to the Bull City Rising blog. "We have carried the Indy for so long I forgot it was there until a soccer mom complained about it. After a few more comments/complaints we removed them." Local bloggers publicized the decision and blog commenters vowed to boycott the restaurant and placed calls to the owner, and eventually the Mellow Mushrooms reversed course. "I absolutely regret the decision to remove the Indy from the restaurants," he wrote in a comment on Bull City Rising yesterday. "On Monday I was in contact with the Indy to bring it back to our stores. They want to bring it back as well and it will be there any day. The last thing we intended to do was discriminate against anyone."
Bull City Rising blog |
08-08-2007 8:56 am |
Industry News
San Antonio Current Unveils Redesigned Print & Web Editions
San Antonio Current Press Release |
08-08-2007 12:44 pm |
Press Releases
Group Behind Journalist's Murder Threatened Alt-Weekly Reporternew
Last week, a 19-year-old follower of the
Yusuf Bey family shot and killed Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey, who was working on an investigation of the group and its headquarters, Your Black Muslim Bakery. Fortunately, former East Bay Express reporter Chris Thompson's run-in with the group didn't end so grimly. In 2002, the Express published Thompson's investigative series alleging acts of torture, rape, and sodomy perpetrated by the group. After the stories were published, the retaliation began. "Someone smashed up the windows of [the Express'] offices, and Thompson received numerous death threats," according to the Village Voice, where he's currently a staff writer. "Men repeatedly tried to follow Thompson home, or staked out routes he took leaving the office." Express editor Stephen Buel tells the San Francisco Chronicle that the intimidation campaign forced Thompson to work in a different county for months, and shook the paper to the point that "we stopped writing about the group."
Village Voice |
08-07-2007 8:24 am |
Industry News
Senate Unanimously Passes FOIA Reform Billnew
On Friday, when the Senate finally got to vote on the OPEN Government Act of 2007 (S. 849), they unanimously approved the bill and advanced it to the House. The bill had been blocked from a floor vote for months by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), who was acting as a legislative conduit of the Department of Justice, which had several objections to the FOIA reforms. The legislation would be the first major reform to FOIA in more than a decade if passed by the House, which already approved a similar bill (H.R. 1309) by an overwhelming vote of 308-117. "FOIA will still be far from perfect with these changes, but they do provide important new tools that will help requesters get public information faster and hold agencies more accountable when they don't comply with the law," says Dave Tomlin, associate general counsel for The Associated Press.
The Associated Press via Forbes |
08-06-2007 4:07 am |
Legal News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Long Island Press Redesigns Print Edition & Website
Long Island Press Press Release |
08-06-2007 9:15 am |
Press Releases
Westword Triumphs in Suit Over 'Ladies Night' Adnew
Earlier this year, Steve Horner filed a discrimination complaint against Denver's alt-weekly for running an ad for a ladies' night promotion at a local bar. Yesterday, a Denver county judge dismissed Horner's claim. "Now I know how black people in the early part of the last century felt about being cheated out of their civil rights," said Horner, perhaps overreaching. The Rocky Mountain News reports that as the trial ended, Westword editor Patricia Calhoun announced that she was running to the ladies room. Turning to Horner, she added, "You don't object, do you?"
Rocky Mountain News |
08-03-2007 4:13 pm |
Industry News
House Committee Approves Shield Law Billnew
The House Judiciary Committee yesterday passed H.R. 2102, a bill that would provide federal protection for journalists' confidential sources. A press release issued by a coalition of more than 40 media companies and organizations that support the measure, including AAN, applauded the committee's action. “The Free Flow of Information Act establishes important ground rules that balance the public interest in both the free flow of information and the fair administration of justice," says Paul Boyle, senior vice president of public policy at the Newspaper Association of America. "By enacting a federal shield law, the Congress can ensure that all parties -- journalists, sources, prosecutors, civil litigants and courts alike -- can rely on consistent and well-articulated standards of procedure.”
Media Coalition press release |
08-02-2007 6:55 pm |
Legal News
Tags: Editorial, Management
CL's John Sugg: Our New Chain is More than a Balance Sheetnew
The columnist and Creative Loafing shareholder says his company's acquisition of the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper is neither an "idealistic foray" nor a "hostile takeover of independent papers." The way Sugg sees it, the two papers were caught up in a "broader crisis in the publishing business" that their former owners weren't nimble enough to navigate. He also defends CEO Ben Eason, who hasn't exactly been welcomed with open arms in Chicago and Washington. "He believes alt-weeklies can help readers strengthen their communities," says Suggs. "Eason loves to see controversy in his newspapers. He admits mistakes, takes risks and has an ambitious vision for new media. His lieutenants often disagree with him; he listens ... sometimes."
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
08-02-2007 3:41 pm |
Industry News
Media Groups Encouraged by House Committee's Passage of Shield Law Bill
Media Coalition press release |
08-02-2007 6:46 pm |
Press Releases
Tags: Editorial, Management
New York Press Sold to Local Ownersnew
The Denver-based Avalon Equity Fund sold the 20-year-old alt-weekly to Manhattan Media, owner of five neighborhood weeklies and other Manhattan-focused publications. The company plans to merge the Press with Our Town Downtown, a weekly paper started last year that circulates in Lower Manhattan, according to the New York Times. In the company's press release, Tom Allon, president and CEO of Manhattan Media, says: "At its best, The New York Press has been one of the most distinctive community publications in this city. ... It was a leader in blogging before the word was even used -- distinctive perspectives, opinions, reporting and reviews. While New York City has changed dramatically in the nearly twenty years since Russ Smith founded the Press, the need for independent voices and real community news and views hasn't."
The New York Times |
08-01-2007 2:06 pm |
Industry News
