AAN News
New Times is Good, But Template Could Be a Problem, Writer Argues
Weighing in today on the NT-VVM merger on the Huffington Post, John Dicker says the usual arguments against media consolidation are not apt in this case, since New Times papers "do incredible reporting. Lots of it. All the time. Serious investigative shit that’s hard, if not impossible, to emulate in the blogosphere." In fact, Dicker argues that readers in many other large metro areas "would be well served if their alt weekly were gobbled up by the emerging behemoth." He's worried, though, that New Times will impose its editorial template and shrink the newsholes of the newly acquired papers, and that the company "doesn't host blogs or create interplay between its web and print versions."
10-24-2005 12:53 pm |
Industry News
New Times to Acquire Village Voice Medianew
The New York Times is reporting that the long-rumored deal will finally be announced on Monday. The merged company will be called Village Voice Media, and 62 percent of it will be owned by New Times' current shareholders. The Times says the merger "will undoubtedly raise questions about whether The Voice and its siblings can preserve their anti-establishment roots as part of a growing corporation." But New Times' Jim Larkin says, "I'm doing it because I love good journalism. I want to have newspapers in the most exciting markets in the country. This is not a financial play." Larkin also says he and his partners expect to buy out VVM's financial backers in five years.
The New York Times |
10-23-2005 8:35 pm |
Industry News
Renee Downing: Getting a Handle on a Scientific Mystery
An abnormally high number of children in Sierra Vista, Ariz., were getting leukemia, but government agencies had repeatedly declined to investigate the cause of the cancer cluster. Freelance writer Renee Downing stepped into the breach. In her article for Tucson Weekly, "Cancer Wars," she discusses two scientists' research exploring a possible environmental link as well as the politics surrounding the identification of a cancer cluster. This is the sixth in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
(FULL STORY)
Erika Beras |
10-23-2005 4:12 pm |
Association News
2005 AltWeekly Award Bios Now Available
AAN has made available the complete list of submitted biographies for winners and runners-up.
(FULL STORY)
10-21-2005 9:08 am |
Association News
Tags: Editorial
Detroit's Metro Times Celebrates 25 Years with Special Issuenew
The Oct. 19 issue spotlights the newspaper's past, from top stories to the "massive rhetorical demolition derby" of letters to the editor. Sarah Klein describes the "strange characters" who have staffed the office, W. Kim Heron provides updates on where some of those characters have gone, and in the editor's column, Ric Bohy and the present staff reflect on the aims of the Metro Times and the importance of alternative journalism. A special pullout section featuring artists' interpretations of the Metro Times is available as a PDF.
Metro Times |
10-21-2005 7:30 am |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Metro Times
Susan Clark Armstrong: Getting the Goods on the Sheriff
Nobody seems to have questioned Clay County, Florida, Sheriff Scott Lancaster about his spending until Susan Clark Armstrong started nosing around his records. What were all those extra cars being used for? The airline tickets? The underwear? After Armstrong's story "Booty Call" appeared in Folio Weekly, an investigation ensued, and the sheriff lost in the Republican primary. This is the fifth in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
(FULL STORY)
Lindsay Kishter |
10-20-2005 3:48 pm |
Association News
Melissa Maerz: Doing It on the Road
When an interview extends over 10 days -- as it did for Melissa Maerz when she went on tour with Minnesota band Friends Like These -- it was important to set up the rules from the start. Whatever wasn't immediately declared off the record was on the record. The resulting account, published in City Pages, was unsparing in its portrayal of the band's disappointments as well as its hopes, offering a dose of on-the-road realism. This is the fourth in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
(FULL STORY)
Derek Schleelein |
10-19-2005 10:16 am |
Association News
Dan Savage on His Attraction to Wonkette and Other Topics
The editor of The Stranger publicizes his latest book, "The Commitment," in
a new interview with Boulder, Colorado's Dirt. Among other topics, Savage also discusses the process behind his weekly sex column, the kind of people he likes to hire at the Stranger, and why he thinks "newspapers are a graveyard for people who have lost their ambitions and passions."
10-19-2005 10:08 am |
Industry News
LA Times Profiles Reader's Jim Holmannew
In a piece focusing primarily on his support for a statewide ballot initiative requiring parental notification prior to an abortion, the Times also tells us this about the owner of the San Diego Reader: His friends say he's a "a cerebral man who tilts libertarian but is defined mostly by his deep religious beliefs. He attends Mass daily and counts priests among his close friends. He once took an extended leave from his newspaper to work with a missionary group on Los Angeles' skid row." And, "(d)espite his substantial wealth," Holman (pictured) -- who served with the Navy in Vietnam and was awarded the Purple Heart -- "takes the bus to work, eats sack lunches and lives modestly."
Los Angeles Times |
10-19-2005 10:13 pm |
Industry News
New Times Newspapers Dominate NABJ Awards
The National Association of Black Journalists announced the winners of its Salute to Excellence Awards competition this weekend in Washington, D.C. The organization handed out six first-place prizes for newspapers with circulations of 150,000 or less, and every last one of them were awarded to New Times papers. Here's the complete list of NABJ award winners.
10-18-2005 12:29 pm |
Industry News
Mag Publishers, Editors: Product Placement Means Our Product's Debasementnew
MediaDaily News |
10-18-2005 2:08 pm |
Industry News
Dailies' Switch from Broadsheet to Tab Format Continuesnew
Presstime Magazine |
10-17-2005 7:15 am |
Industry News
Customary Findings: Readers Prefer Edit Vs. Adsnew
Media Daily News (reg. req.) |
10-17-2005 7:02 am |
Industry News
'How I Got That Story'
AltWeekly Award Winners Reveal the Secrets of Their Trade
The winners of the 2005 AltWeekly Awards unveil the process they went through to create their first-place articles, photography, cartoons and design. The series sheds light on the work found in the book "Best AltWeekly Writing and Design 2005."
(FULL STORY)
Ruth Hammond |
10-14-2005 2:16 pm |
Association News
Tags: Design & Production, Editorial
Jennifer Loviglio: Finding a Voice
People who don't know Jennifer Loviglio's work sometimes say, "Oh, you write a 'mommy column.'" Far from it. Even when Loviglio is writing about her kids, her City Newspaper column, The XX Files, makes important political and cultural points. In between columns, she's always looking for an issue that will raise her hackles. This is the third in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
(FULL STORY)
Isaiah Thompson |
10-14-2005 1:05 pm |
Association News
