AAN News
Henry Waxman to Form Subcommittee on Information Accessnew
The Democratic chair of the newly re-named House Government Reform Committee has announced the creation of a subcommittee dedicated to increasing the flow of government information, reports The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The newly born Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives will promote transparency in government, says the California congressman. "We have legislative jurisdiction over [the Freedom of Information Act] and some of the other issues that relate to openness in government," Waxman told the The Hill. ALSO: Florida's new Governor plans an open-government office.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press |
01-10-2007 1:00 pm |
Legal News
Tags: Editorial
Boston's Weekly Dig Announces Big, Big, Big Editorial Changes
Joe Keohane will be stepping down as editor next month and will be replaced by current music/food/commerce editor Michael Brodeur, the Dig announced today. "Running this zoo has been enormously fun," says Keohane, "but I've always said that turnover is key to keeping an alt-weekly fresh, and Brodeur's the guy for the job." The Dig also announced that staff writer Paul McMorrow will be promoted to news and features editor; Jim Stanton has been hired "to rehabilitate the paper's disastrously bad website;" and
Salon.com writer Cintra Wilson will soon begin contributing a semimonthly celebrity column.
(FULL STORY)
Boston Weekly Dig press release |
01-09-2007 7:31 pm |
Press Releases
Portland Mercury Incites Local Blog Warnew
When law professor-turned-blogger Jack Bogdanski posted an item about a shooting outside a downtown hip-hop club, the Mercury's Matt Davis accused him of inciting racism, leading to a flame war that spread to other local sites, reports the Oregonian. Bogdanski responded by blocking the alt-weekly's IP address, preventing Mercury employees from posting comments on his site. "It's like a jihad, when these guys (at the Mercury) get going, they just pour it on," Bogdanski tells the Oregonian. To which Davis responds: "Regardless of (Bogdanski's) readership or our readership, I don't think we should be cutting conversation down. It's important that Portland have a conversation about race."
The Oregonian |
01-09-2007 7:01 pm |
Industry News
Poynter: Online and Print Headlines Need to Work, not Matchnew
Amy Gahran says that papers that use the same headline for an article in print and on their Web site are making a mistake. "Online headlines should be intuitive, not cryptic, vague, or leading," says Gahran. "A well-crafted online headline provides the reader with sufficient information and incentive to decide whether to click a link to read the story." NOTE FROM AAN: Descriptive headlines also optimize search-engine results.
Poynter Online |
01-09-2007 6:16 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Electronic Publishing
Man Suspended From Work for Sharing 'Ask a Mexican'new
Richard Diefenbach read Gustavo Arellano's syndicated column for the first time in the Weekly Alibi, while on vacation in Albuquerque. He was so enthused with the column -- which that week addressed readers' questions about "the Mexican love affair with chicken and similarities between Mexicans and the Irish," according to Arellano -- that when he returned to work in his hometown of Newport, Ore., he printed a copy and gave it to a Mexican-American co-worker. The following day Diefenbach was suspended from work for five days without pay, accused of racial discrimination and sexual harassment.
OC Weekly |
01-09-2007 5:13 pm |
Industry News
What Five Things Come to Mind When you Think of Oklahoma?
That was the question Oklahoma Gazette Editor Rob Collins recently asked editors on an AAN listserv in preparation for last week's cover story kicking off the paper's coverage of the state's centennial. Oklahoma! the musical came in first and the Dust Bowl placed third. See editors' complete responses by downloading this PDF document.
Oklahoma Gazette |
01-08-2007 5:26 pm |
Association News
Tags: Editorial, Oklahoma Gazette
Pazz and Jop 'Undermined by Internet' Says NPRnew
The Morning Edition is the latest to weigh in on the battle for music-poll supremacy between The Village Voice's 32-year-old "world series for smarty-pants people," and Gawker Media's upstart Jackin' Pop, which was released Friday. NPR reports that several prominent critics, including former Voice contributor Ann Powers and The New Yorker's Sasha Frere-Jones, won't be voting in this year's Pazz and Jop, which will be released early next month.
National Public Radio |
01-08-2007 3:17 pm |
Industry News
Former Seattle Weekly Editor to Write for City Magazinenew
Beginning with the March issue, Knute "Skip" Berger will write a monthly column and serve as editor-at-large for Seattle magazine, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Berger left the Seattle Weekly this past summer after serving for 15 years as an editor at the company.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
01-08-2007 1:35 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial
AAN Hires New AltWeekly Awards Administrator
Former Creative Loafing (Atlanta) staffer Heather Kuldell, who started work at AAN last week, will be responsible for coordinating the association's annual editorial contest. The Washington, D.C.-area native started at Creative Loafing as an intern and worked her way through several positions, including listings editor, assistant A&E editor and music editor.
(FULL STORY)
AAN Staff |
01-08-2007 1:08 pm |
Association News
Tags: Editorial
AAN Member Blogs Make Year-End Lists
Newspeak, a Colorado Springs blog with a strong alt-weekly pedigree, says The Stranger's Slog is "one of the best blogs on the internet and you can skip the local crap if it doesn't interest you." In fact, the folks at Newspeak think the Seattle paper is "the only alt-weekly in the country to have figured out why blogging is an alt's best friend and do it with teeth, wit and style." Perhaps they haven't read the Arkansas Times' Arkansas Blog, which John Brummett of The Morning News calls "by far" the best Arkansas political blog.
Newspeak/The Morning News |
01-08-2007 12:55 pm |
Honors & Achievements
Rodney Carmichael Named Creative Loafing Music Editor
Former Rolling Out senior writer joined alt-weekly's staff Jan. 4
(FULL STORY)
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) press release |
01-08-2007 5:34 pm |
Press Releases
Save Sparky: Tom Tomorrow Petitions Village Voicenew
The popular cartoonist, aka Dan Perkins, is asking his fans to sign a petition in support of returning his widely syndicated strip, "This Modern World," to the print edition of the Manhattan alt-weekly. Although the cartoon still appears online at villagevoice.com, Perkins reports via his blog that it was dropped from the paper "sometime in the last two or three months."
This Modern World |
01-05-2007 10:40 am |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, The Village Voice
R.I.P. IPA: The Independent Press Association Is No Morenew
The indy publishing non-profit has closed its doors after 10 years of defending the interests and increasing the solvency of small and independent magazines, reports Jeremy Adam Smith in Other magazine. Smith eulogizes IPA with pride and sadness -- "it grew rapidly from a scrappy little nonprofit into a multimillion-dollar social venture" -- mixed with bitterness toward the group's last executive director, Richard Landry. The news does not come as a complete shock, however. Last June, the SF Weekly published an investigative expose of the problems plaguing IPA's newsstand service, as well as what Smith calls "the destruction of the community that once defined the organization."
Other |
01-04-2007 5:08 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial
Free Times Reporter Publishes Book on Child Murder Casenew
James Renner has released a book-length investigation into the unsolved 1989 abduction and murder of 11-year-old Amy Mihaljevic, reports the Record-Courier. "Amy: My Search for Her Killer," is published by Gray & Company, and grew out of a 5,000-word feature originally written for the Free Times. The book has already led to numerous tips for local law enforcement, says Renner. "My hope is that someone comes forward to say that they know who killed Amy," he says.
Record-Courier |
01-04-2007 4:30 pm |
Industry News
Inaugural Idolator Music Poll to Feature More Than 500 Criticsnew
Gawker Media's music blog will release the results of its first annual critics poll on Friday, hoping to supplant The Village Voice's 32-year-old Pazz & Jop poll, reports the Los Angeles Times. Longtime Voice music critic Robert Christgau (pictured), who was fired after New Times merged with Village Voice Media, will participate in both polls. "The decision to vote in the [Voice] poll was something I thought about the first week I was fired," says Christgau. "And I said, 'Gee, yeah, I think I want to do that.'"
Los Angeles Times |
01-03-2007 4:16 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial
