AAN News
Boise Weekly Loses Open Records Decisionnew
The alt-weekly's request for documents regarding violations at a private psychiatric facility was set back yesterday, Boise Weekly reports. Late last year, the newspaper and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare started looking into allegations against Intermountain Hospital and requested the relevant documents under the Idaho Open Records Act. Shortly thereafter, the facility won a temporary restraining order from District Judge Joel Horton that sealed all the records, which was upheld yesterday by Judge Michael McLaughlin. Publisher Sally Freeman says the paper is not yet sure if it will appeal the decision.
Boise Weekly |
03-21-2007 8:40 am |
Legal News
Palo Alto Weekly and BooRah Partner on Online Restaurant Review Guide
O'Grady Communications Press Release |
03-21-2007 4:32 pm |
Press Releases
Creative Loafing Food Editor Selected as James Beard Award Finalist
Creative Loafing Press Release |
03-21-2007 11:42 am |
Press Releases
OC Weekly Names New Editor
Ted B. Kissell will take over as editor-in-chief of the Santa Ana alt-weekly on April 2, Village Voice Media announced today. Kissell, previously a staff writer at Miami New Times and an associate editor at New Times Broward-Palm Beach, was most recently senior editor at the daily Ventura County Star. Kissell won't be the only new face in the OC Weekly office: VVM says Jose Santos will start his tenure as art director on April 2, Dave Segal's first day as music editor is March 26, and Luke Y. Thompson, the paper's "newest staff writer," started last week.
(FULL STORY)
Village Voice Media Press Release |
03-20-2007 7:36 pm |
Press Releases
Former Alt-Weekly Editor Launches New Weeklynew
Kirk Ross, formerly the managing editor of North Carolina's Independent Weekly, is the co-founder of The Carrboro Citizen, according to the Carrboro Commons. Ross, who was at the alt-weekly from 2003 to 2006, will edit the free "community newspaper" covering Carrboro, N.C., a town just outside of Chapel Hill. The first print edition of the Citizen is due out tomorrow.
The Carrboro Commons |
03-20-2007 9:41 am |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Five Alt-Weeklies Up for Food-Writing Awardsnew
The Cleveland Scene, City Pages, Creative Loafing (Atlanta), New Times Broward-Palm Beach, and Westword secured six nominations in four categories in the 2007 James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards, which were announced today. The winners will be unveiled on May 6.
James Beard Foundation (PDF file) |
03-19-2007 2:08 pm |
Honors & Achievements
Tags: Editorial, Management
More Details on OC Weekly Founder's New Paper Emergenew
Will Swaim tells the Los Angeles Times that Republican lawyers are bankrolling the new Long Beach weekly. They provided enough seed money to allow the paper to operate for nine months without turning a profit. The District, which is set to launch in April, will have an initial press run of 30,000, with a "television version" of the paper planned for this summer. Swaim, who says he "stopped taking antidepressants and decided to leave" OC Weekly this winter, has plenty of former Weekly staffers in place at The District. He tells the Times they'll all be working from home so the paper can cut the cost of office space.
Los Angeles Times |
03-19-2007 9:43 am |
Industry News
Alt-Weeklies Are Blogging SXSW
It's only fitting: The Austin Chronicle's Louis Black was one of the founders of South by Southwest, and now each year dozens of alt-weekly music writers pour into Austin to cover the festival. So if you weren't able to make it out to Austin for the annual festival of music, debauchery and ... more music, there are plenty of AAN members blogging it for you.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
03-16-2007 6:47 pm |
Industry News
Political Fallout from Texas Observer Investigation Continuesnew
Today, the six board members of the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) became the latest to resign in the wake of the Observer's February story on sexual abuse at a state youth correctional facility and its cover-up, the Dallas Morning News reports. The board resigned two days after the State Senate voted for their ouster, but not before they approved a rehabilitation plan for the TYC. Meanwhile, the Observer has uncovered yet another disciplinary report relating to the scandal that was altered with the apparent approval of the TYC's leadership.
Dallas Morning News |
03-16-2007 2:20 pm |
Industry News
San Diego CityBeat Editor's TV Show is Cancellednew
Troy Johnson, the music editor at the San Diego alt-weekly, has been the host of the Emmy Award-winning Fox Rox for its run of nearly five years, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. "[The cancellation] was purely a financial decision," says the station's general manager Richard Doutre Jones. "I can't keep losing money on it." Fox Rox's last broadcast is scheduled for March 29. "The media exfoliates itself and it's our time to be shed," Johnson says. "Our ratings were on the slender side. We were Jared post-Subway."
San Diego Union-Tribune |
03-16-2007 9:43 am |
Industry News
Phoenix New Times' Anna Nicole Story is -- Gasp! -- a Hoaxnew
After a week of internet chatter and blogospheric speculation about the alt-weekly's story on the deceased starlet's "secret Native American love child," Inside Edition finally gets the paper to admit it was false. Reporter Steven Lemons, who wrote the story under the nom de plume Charles Tatum, admits to the TV tabloid that "absolutely none" of the story was true. "Our aim was to sort of make fun of all the Anna Nicole Smith coverage, you know, just the mania over that," an unnamed New Times editor tells Inside Edition.
Inside Edition |
03-16-2007 8:40 am |
Industry News
AAN Diversity Intern Uses Stereotypes as Motivationnew
"Being pregnant doesn't change the fact that there are issues in Jackson that I can bring to light through this newspaper," writes 19-year-old Melishia Grayson in her introductory column for the Jackson Free Press. Grayson is one of four recipients of AAN's Diversity Internship grants for the Winter/Spring 2007 cycle. The other grant recipients this cycle are Amanda Miller at Washington City Paper, Tuyet Nguyen at Westword, and Lauren Parajon at the Oklahoma Gazette. Established in 2001, the AAN Diversity Internship program awards four annual grants of up to $2,500 to talented young journalists of color.
Jackson Free Press |
03-15-2007 3:59 pm |
Association News
Monday Magazine Columnist Announces Run for Canadian Parliamentnew
Briony Penn, who was an AltWeekly Award finalist in 2002 for her columns in the Victoria alt-weekly, will seek to represent the Saanich Gulf-Islands riding in Canada's next federal election, according to the Globe and Mail. If she wins the Liberal nomination at a March 31 meeting, she will run against incumbent Gary Lunn in an election expected to be this spring. The longtime Green Party activist's decision to run with the Liberals was unexpected, but Penn says getting elected and changing policy is her first priority. "We can't wait around for proportional representation," she says.
The Globe and Mail |
03-15-2007 12:49 pm |
Industry News
FOIA Reform Passes House, As Do Two Other Open Government Billsnew
The House of Representatives today passed a FOIA reform bill by a vote of 308-117, the AP reports. The White House voiced opposition to the legislation, saying it was "premature and counterproductive." The Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition of media groups that includes AAN and that has promoted FOIA reform since 2005, issued a statement applauding the House's action. The House also approved bills that would make contributions to presidential libraries public and overturn a 2001 presidential directive giving the president authority to shield his records from public view. Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee today held a hearing on a companion FOIA reform bill.
AP via Editor & Publisher |
03-14-2007 4:15 pm |
Legal News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Village Voice Staff Writer Heads to New York Observernew
Felix Gillette is leaving the Voice to report on media for the salmon-colored broadsheet tabloid, according to an internal e-mail leaked to Gawker. Gillette, who also previously served as a staff writer for the Washington City Paper, joins a procession of young writers with alt-weekly experience who have been hired to do media reporting for the Observer. Other hires include Tom Scocca and Sridhar Pappu. CORRECTION: The New York Observer has not been a "salmon-colored broadsheet" since Feb. 14, when it switched to a tabloid format.
Gawker |
03-14-2007 2:46 pm |
Industry News
