AAN News

California Alt-Weeklies Win a Slew of 'Better Newspapers' Awardsnew

AAN members won 15 first-place awards in the California Association of Newspaper Publishers' annual contest, led by Palo Alto Weekly, which took home five firsts. Chico News & Review placed first in in three categories; Pacific Sun won two; and Metro Santa Cruz, North Coast Journal, Sacramento News & Review, San Francisco Bay Guardian, and the Santa Barbara Independent each finished in first in one category. The awards were presented in a ceremony Saturday evening.
California Association of Newspaper Publishers (PDF file)  |  07-16-2007  8:54 am  |  Honors & Achievements

Jonathan Gold On Childhood, Snoop Dogg, and L.A. Cuisinenew

The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles  |  07-13-2007  12:58 pm  |  Industry News

Alt-Weekly Campaigns to Expose Daily's Restaurant Reviewernew

Nathaniel Glen ... it's got a nice ring to it, but it's just the pseudonym being used by The Gazette of Colorado Springs' new restaurant critic. Now the Colorado Springs Independent is working to lift his veil of anonymity, running two articles criticizing the pseudonym and hinting at his identity in the form of rhymes and anagrams, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The critic chose to work under an assumed name because he was already a staffer at the paper and his real identity was known. "But a person's byline doesn't make that person known to everyone in the community," says Ralph Routon, the Indy's executive editor. "We use several reviewers whose names are well known and their ability to do their job has never been compromised."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette  |  07-12-2007  8:43 am  |  Industry News

Tribune Plans to Roll Out Metromix Entertainment Sites at All Papersnew

As it launches Metromix LA this week (with former LA Weekly books and restaurants editor Deborah Vankin at the helm), the Tribune Company says it will produce versions of the local entertainment website at all of its papers, Editor & Publisher reports. Metromix was already up and running in Chicago, Orlando and Baltimore; the company says a New York City site will go live this week. Metromix is aimed at young, "socially active" adults and features a searchable database of entertainment listings with user and staff comments.
Editor & Publisher  |  07-11-2007  8:12 am  |  Industry News

Swaim: Minor Clarification on The Nation's LA Weekly Piece

In a letter to AAN News, ex-OC Weekly editor Will Swaim maintains that The Nation's "[Jon] Wiener did a fine job" conveying the paper's "loss ... of independence" under Village Voice Media, but claims that Wiener got at least one thing wrong. "[The article reports that] I told Jon Wiener that OC Weekly's film coverage was run out of Denver. I didn't say that," writes Swaim, now the publisher of Long Beach alt-weekly The District. MORE: In a letter to The Nation published on the OC Weekly blog, Gustavo Arellano says that "many of the overarching conclusions" reached by Wiener in the piece "are ludicrous." (FULL STORY)
AAN News  |  07-10-2007  8:36 am  |  Letters to the Editor

Matt Smith Joins City Pages as Managing Editor

Village Voice Media Press Release  |  07-10-2007  3:26 pm  |  Press Releases

Valley Advocate Starts Partnership With Bilingual Newspaper

In an effort to reach out to the region's growing Hispanic population, the Western Massachusetts alt-weekly has entered a content-sharing partnership with La Prensa del oeste de Massachusetts (The Press of Western Mass.), a monthly English-Spanish newspaper. La Prensa's editor and publisher Natalia Munoz will contributing an occasional column to the alt-weekly, and some Valley Advocate stories will run in La Prensa. In addition, the Advocate is rolling out an ad campaign targeting La Prensa's Hispanic readers. (FULL STORY)
New Mass. Media, Inc. Press Release  |  07-09-2007  3:58 pm  |  Press Releases

Bay Guardian Gets Hat Tip from Editor & Publishernew

In its annual list of 10 newspapers that "do it right," E&P has singled out the San Francisco Bay Guardian as "the archetype of the politically involved, locally focused alternative newspaper that's an alert and occasionally rabid watchdog." Editor/publisher Bruce Brugmann tells E&P that he worries that he and his wife and Bay Guardian co-founder Jean Dibble "are almost anachronisms" in today's media environment, with their brand of crusading alt-journalism. "Every good newspaper man ought to be controversial," Brugmann says.
Editor & Publisher  |  07-09-2007  11:01 am  |  Honors & Achievements

Independent Weekly Editor Steps Downnew

Richard Hart resigned last week, the News & Observer reports. The editor of the 50,000-circulation Durham, North Carolina, weekly tells the N&O that he chose to resign. "It's a tough job, and I was ready to move on," he says. "I'm very proud of the work of the staff and the awards the paper received during my time there."
The News & Observer  |  07-05-2007  11:44 am  |  Industry News

SF Weekly Moves to Dismiss SFBG Lawsuitnew

Writing for the defendant newspaper and its parent company, Village Voice Media, Will Harper reports that the Weekly said it sold ads below cost for "pro-competitive" reasons like generating new sales and "increas(ing) the customer base in a severely depressed market." VVM's motion, which was filed last week in response to the Bay Guardian's Oct. 2004 lawsuit, also asserted that the newspaper chain never engaged in a conspiracy to put its Bay Area competitor out of business. And in a unique counter-argument, the Weekly claimed that by filing suit, the Bay Guardian is trying to force it to reduce editorial expenses in order to adhere to a business model that relies heavily on freelancers and unpaid interns, instead of full-time reporters. THE BAY GUARDIAN'S REPORT: Judge advises attorneys to prepare for October trial even as summary-judgment motion is filed.
SF Weekly  |  07-05-2007  11:31 am  |  Industry News

More Reaction to The Nation's Piece on LA Weeklynew

Fishbowl LA says that Jon Wiener's piece on LA Weekly and Village Voice Media is, among other things, a "cry from an old media guy in a new media world." Regarding Wiener's criticism of the paper's slight reporting on the May Day fiasco in MacArthur Park, which was his evidence of the paper's "big editorial shift to the right," Fishbowl LA points him to the internet, where the Weekly published nearly 4,000 words on the subject on top of the "330-word piece" Wiener cited. Longtime film reviewer (and current OC Weekly staffer) Luke Y. Thompson also tells Fishbowl that "the film reviews haven't been assigned out of Denver for as long as I've been a part of it," as former OC Weekly editor Will Swaim had told Wiener. Meanwhile, New Times Broward-Palm Beach columnist Bob Norman, in a letter to Romenesko, says the story "is exactly the kind of thing Village Voice Media is moving the alt-weekly world away from -- presumptuous ideological essays with much teeth-gnashing and hand-wringing but very little actual reporting or common sense."
Fishbowl LA  |  07-02-2007  1:42 pm  |  Industry News

Honolulu Weekly Wins Four SPJ Awardsnew

The paper took first in the General News/Enterprise Reporting, and placed in three other categories. The awards were presented by the Hawaii chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists Friday evening.
Society for Professional Journalists (Hawaii Chapter)  |  07-02-2007  8:36 am  |  Honors & Achievements

Shepherd Express Taps Citizen Media Vet to Launch Community Sites

Shepherd Express, Milwaukee's weekly newspaper and website, announced the appointment of Andy Vogel as Vice President of Advertising and Online Products. (FULL STORY)
Shepherd Express Press Release  |  07-02-2007  8:41 am  |  Press Releases

Louisville Eccentric Observer Wins 14 SPJ Awardsnew

The alt-weekly placed first in nine categories in this year's Metro Louisville Journalism Awards: business reporting, minority affairs, editorial writing, column writing, feature photography, sports photography, review/criticism, headline writing, and page design. The winners of the awards, which are sponsored by the Metro Louisville chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, were announced last night.
Louisville Eccentric Observer  |  06-29-2007  4:01 pm  |  Honors & Achievements

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