AAN News
Newspaper Blogs Triple Readershipnew
Unique visitors to blogs affiliated with the top 10 U.S. newspaper sites rose to 3.8 million in December 2006, from 1.2 million the previous year, according to data released this week by Nielsen//NetRatings. Those same blogs increased their share of page views at the papers from 4 percent to 13 percent in the same period.
Reuters |
01-18-2007 3:56 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Electronic Publishing
Former Miami New Times Editor to Buy Local Papernew
Jim Mullin, who edited the South Florida alt-weekly for 17 years, signed a letter of intent yesterday to buy the 25,000-circulation monthly The Biscayne Times, reports the Miami Herald (second item). Mullin, who has never owned a paper before, admits he has much to learn "about running the business from the business side. I have to learn to interact with advertisers in a way that I haven't before.'' The Biscayne Times, which has four full-time staffers, in 2005 was named ''best neighborhood newspaper'' by Miami New Times.
The Miami Herald |
01-17-2007 12:56 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Arkansas Times the Go-To Paper on Huckabeenew
So says Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, who calls the Little Rock alt-weekly "a progressive paper that will be must-reading if (former Arkansas Gov. Mike) Huckabee runs" for President. The Times also made a splash last week when it added video to its popular Arkansas Blog, premiering with a walk-and-talk interview of new Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe. "The Times' blog's reader/responders have been positively lapping up this video," says The Morning News' John Brummett, "posting their delight that they could see their new governor in real-time action for themselves over an exended period, and thus size him up directly without the filter of the traditional journalist, the middle man."
Real Clear Politics |
01-17-2007 1:30 am |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Arkansas Times
Boston Phoenix Critic Working on Film-Crit Docnew
Gerald Peary, a film critic and columnist for the Phoenix for more than 10 years, is working on a documentary, "For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism." The feature film, which Peary is directing with his wife, Amy Zeller, includes an interview with the late Pauline Kael, reports the Boston Globe (see item at bottom of page). MORE MOVIE NEWS: Zoo, a documentary about a man's fatal sexual encounter with a horse, which was written by The Stranger's Charles Mudede, premieres next week at Sundance, according to the Seattle Times.
Boston Globe | Seattle Times |
01-17-2007 1:02 am |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Boston Phoenix
NY Times Spends 'Night Out' With Voice's Mustonew
Village Voice columnist and VH1 commentator Michael Musto plays the viola, still goes home to Bensonhurst for the holidays, and does a mean Diana Ross, reports the Times in a 'Night Out' profile of what the paper calls "the city’s most punny, raunchy and self-referential gossip columnist." Oh, and they also mention his new book, "La Dolce Musto," a compilation of two decades worth of the columnist's favorite "blind items, outings, hissy fits and scandals concerning everyone from Madonna to Anita Ekberg."
The New York Times |
01-16-2007 12:39 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, The Village Voice
Web Publishing Exec on Blogging, 'Web-First' Publishingnew
Innovation in College Media |
01-16-2007 3:01 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Missoula Independent Columnist Quits Lobbying Jobnew
After roaming the halls of the Montana legislature for more than 20 years as a professional lobbyist, George Ochenski leaves it all behind to focus on his career as a political analyst for Missoula's alt-weekly. Ochenski announced the decision in his latest column, in which he admits that his dual role created problems. "As a writer, the obvious conflicts between what I wanted to be able to convey and the sometimes not-so-good reactions those stories elicited from one party or another within the Capitol, certainly had the potential to create problems for a lobbyist trying to get legislation passed or funded," he writes. NOTE TO READERS: Last week, based on an inaccurate report in The Billings Outpost (see second item), AAN News briefly reported that Ochenski had decided to quit writing.
Missoula Independent |
01-15-2007 12:53 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Missoula Independent
Philly City Paper Editor-in-Chief Publishes Second Crime Novelnew
In an interview discussing his sophomore effort, The Blonde, Duane Swierczynski says his journalism career has made him a better writer. "It has beaten some of the bad writing out of my system," he tells the Journals. "Journalism teaches you to be concise; space, after all, is precious." But fiction has also helped make him a better editor and journalist. "I think writing fiction has helped me realize that story is king, even in non-fiction. When I edit stories for the City Paper, I find myself mostly looking for structure flaws -- hiccups in the storytelling -- and craving strong narratives that unfold like a novel. After all, journalism is just storytelling with the truth."
Journals (AOL.com) |
01-12-2007 11:25 am |
Industry News
L.A. Weekly Art Critic Paints, Sculpts, Toonew
Doug Harvey doesn't just sit around thinking about art; he also creates it. The alt-weekly critic will exhibit his paintings and sculptures in "Great Expectorations" this month and next at a gallery in L.A.’s Chinatown district. The gallery describes the exhibit as "a multi-faceted serial piece ... simultaneously disturbing and therapeutic." It's the artist-writer’s first solo show in almost a decade. ANOTHER ALT-WEEKLY WRITER-ARTIST: Austin Chronicle arts editor Robert Faires stars in "In on It," which returns this month after being "the Austin theater hit of the summer," says the Austin American-Statesman.
High Energy Constructs |
01-12-2007 1:20 am |
Honors & Achievements
MTV Begone: Did Alt-Weeklies Help Drive 'The Real World' to Sydney?new
Job ads for "The Real World" production assistants have been sited around Australia and traced back to the pioneering reality show's production company, reports TV Squad. Why Australia? The AOL blog offers a provocative thesis: that the reason for the trip abroad is that "alternative newsweeklies in American cities, like The Stranger in Seattle, have made it harder and harder for the Real World crew to shoot without interruption and open hostility from the locals." (Insert long pat on back here.) According to TV Squad, the Real World's last ventures abroad, in Paris and London, were not considered critical or popular successes.
TV Squad (AOL.com) |
01-11-2007 12:58 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, The Stranger
Capital Newspapers to Launch Madison Print Weeklynew
The Wisconsin media company, which last year shuttered its faux-alt Coreweekly after 18 months, is set to launch a new free weekly on Feb. 15, Isthmus reports. The tabloid, named the Post, will start small -- 24 pages, 15,000 copies -- and include classified ads from the parent company's dailies and print versions of blog entries from Madison.com's "Post" page. The paper will be edited by a Madison blogger.
Isthmus |
01-11-2007 12:03 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Commercial Appeal Adds Three Alt-Weekly Vets to Staff
Memphis' daily newspaper beefed up its staff last year by hiring three seasoned alt-weekly veterans in the space of a few months. According to executives at the paper, the new hires don't reflect a conscious recruitment strategy, but the addition of investigative reporter Trevor Aaronson, music writer Bob Mehr and former C-Ville Weekly publisher Rob Jiranek (pictured) represents three small steps in the CA's efforts to adapt to the Internet age. "It's happening throughout the building," Jiranek says. "We're blowing up the newspaper."
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
01-11-2007 6:19 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Boston Media Types Hail Keohane
The Boston Herald's media reporter calls it "(a) big loss." A local TV guy says it's "an unwelcome blow to this city’s precious supply of sarcasm and creative loathing." All of this wailing and gnashing of teeth is for Joe Keohane, the Weekly Dig editor who announced yesterday that he was leaving the paper next month.
"Singlehandedly, he has transformed a once-lousy altweekly into a lousy altweekly with a brilliant editorial (by himself) and a handful of other great features ... that spoke truth to power," says a Boston Globe blogger. Meanwhile, Dig president Jeff Lawrence wonders what all the fuss is about. After all, he tells the Herald, the Dig doesn’t encourage editorial employees to stick around for more than five years.
Boston Herald | Boston Globe | Boston CBS4 |
01-10-2007 4:59 pm |
Industry News
Seattle Weekly Writer Spells -- and Drinks -- His Way to King Beenew
Gavin Borchert, an arts writer for the alt-weekly, has triumphed in the first Seattle Spelling Bee, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The newly crowned 43-year-old champion defeated 11 other contestants -- including fellow AAN-affiliated writer Andrew Bleeker of The Stranger -- in an alcohol-drenched evening of "cockalorums" and "gjetost." For his efforts, Borchert received $200 in cash and gift certificates. That, and glory glorious glory.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
01-10-2007 4:17 pm |
Honors & Achievements
Tags: Editorial, Seattle Weekly
Former Music Editor Returns to The Stranger as Freelancernew
Two months after being fired from The Stranger for allowing the coordinator for club advertising to write for the paper's music blog under a false name, Dave Segal is back, reports the Seattle Weekly. "Segal is freelancing for the paper again," confirms The Stranger editor Dan Savage. "He made a serious error of judgment as a manager and editor, not as a writer or critic. He remains a terrific music writer. We're very happy to have his column in the paper again."
Seattle Weekly |
01-10-2007 1:21 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, The Stranger
