AAN News
Defamation Suit Against Yelp Commenter Set to Begin Next Weeknew
The Daily Online Examiner |
03-13-2009 10:56 am |
Legal News
Study: Twitter Driving Traffic To Social, Entertainment Sitesnew
Online Media Daily |
03-13-2009 9:27 am |
Industry News
Chicago Reader Redesigns Websitenew
Chicago Reader |
03-13-2009 9:26 am |
Industry News
FOIA Ombudsman Gets $1 Million in New Budgetnew
The budget President Obama just signed includes $1 million for the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), which will mediate disputes over FOIA requests and act as a government-wide ombudsman for FOIA issues. The budget also houses OGIS in the National Archives, not the Department of Justice, where the Bush administration had attempted to place it. "OGIS should help end stalemates and lengthy delays when faced with controversies over disclosure decisions," Rick Blum, coordinator of the Sunshine in Government Initiative, tells Broadcasting & Cable. "This investment will help agencies strengthen their responses to FOIA requests."
Columbia Journalism Review | Broadcasting & Cable |
03-12-2009 2:06 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Arkansas Times Publishes Concealed Weapons Data, Causes Backlashnew
The alt-weekly recently published on its blog a state database containing the names and addresses of Arkansans who hold permits to carry concealed handguns, but after an uproar from gun lobby and death threats made against Times editor Max Brantley and his family, the paper took the database down. Not long after, the state House of Representatives introduced and passed by a 98-1 vote a bill that would prohibit revealing "the identities or other information concerning concealed handgun licensees." Sponsors of the bill argued that doing so put handgun owners at risk.
Arkansas Times |
03-12-2009 11:49 am |
Industry News
LEO Weekly Eliminates Listings from Print Editionnew
As part of a larger redesign, the paper has decided to pull listings from the printed page entirely. "We simply don't have the resources -- in people-power or page count -- to continue" printing listings, editor Stephen George writes. He notes that Louisville's Gannett papers have replaced much of their cultural reporting and criticism with listings. "We've realized that instead of trying to compete, we should fill the gaps," he writes. "Our real value to you, we believe, is our judgment and expertise on matters of arts and culture." To that end, LEO is launching a blog that will hip readers to cultural events the paper finds worthwhile.
LEO Weekly |
03-12-2009 9:06 am |
Industry News
Creative Loafing Back in Bankruptcy Court Todaynew
Atalaya Capital Management said in court this morning that if it assumed control of the six-paper chain, it would continue to operate the newspapers "as a going concern" and put more money into the company rather than sell it off, Wayne Garcia reports. Atalaya, CL's biggest creditor, is seeking to wrest ownership of the company from CEO Ben Eason because it has "lost confidence" in his management. MORE: Later in the day's hearing, an expert on valuation testified that CL's value as a company had dropped more than $7 million in the three months after it declared bankruptcy. CL will make its case in court on Thursday.
Creative Loafing (Tampa) |
03-11-2009 1:27 pm |
Industry News
Reflections on the Underground Press of the 1960snew
There's "a bona fide resurgence of interest in the Vietnam-era radical press," David Downs writes in CJR, noting the Village Voice's scanning of its archives and a new book on "the graphic design of radical press." Underground press vets Abe Peck and Todd Gitlin tell Downs how the forebears to today's alt-weeklies came and, in many cases, quickly went. "For all their flaws, they captured the period," Peck says. "They were innovative in terms of their display and in terms of the prose that wasn't jibberish. Some of it was very smart. Some of it was very weird." MORE: For about a year, Voice editors have been working their way through old issues of the paper, posting excerpts on a daily basis. They're now up to Sept. 1962.
Columbia Journalism Review |
03-11-2009 12:20 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
In Mobile Ads, A Vast Potential to Micro-Targetnew
As more consumers adopt the use of smartphones for web browsing, the digital marketing industry is developing new ways to serve highly tailored ads to users, the New York Times reports. Mobile users can be sorted by demographic makeup and even by income; if the user downloads an application that uses a GPS tracker (like Urban Spoon), then there is potential for ads to be served based on exact location and travel patterns as well. Some privacy advocates have expressed concerns about the tracking, but the Times notes that "as long as advertisers don't use personally identifiable information, there is no current regulation or law" against such tracking.
The New York Times |
03-11-2009 9:59 am |
Industry News
More Than 1,000 Entries Submitted for 2009 AltWeekly Awards
Eighty-six alt-weeklies submitted 1038 entries for consideration in the 2009 AltWeekly Awards contest. The entries were spread over 21 categories, and, as expected, the total number of entries was down from 2008, by about 25 percent. Finalists for this year's contest will be announced in mid-May, and winners will be crowned at the AltWeekly Awards luncheon, to be held on Friday, June 26 during the 32nd annual AAN Convention in Tucson.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
03-09-2009 1:20 pm |
Association News
Hospital Cites LEO Weekly Story as Reason to Shield Witnessnew
Lawyers representing Baptist Hospital East in a malpractice lawsuit filed by the family of hip-hop artist Static/Major contend that the privacy law known as HIPAA protects the identity of a patient who shared a room with the musician the day he died. To buttress their claim, the hospital points to a LEO Weekly cover story about the incident as an example of why the roommate's identity should be shielded. "If this patient becomes a witness to this suit, he will be subjected to similar to scrutiny (sic), and potential embarrassment," the defendants argue in a recently filed court document.
LEO Weekly |
03-09-2009 1:05 pm |
Industry News
Allegations Against Yelp Spread to Chicagonew
The Chicago Tribune |
03-09-2009 9:10 am |
Industry News
Publishers Take Issue With Boston Globe Reportnew
The Globe's thesis is that "falling advertising revenue" is forcing weekly papers to "scale back dramatically." But Phoenix Media/Communications Group president Bradley Mindich says his publications don't fit that mold. "We are not cutting back," he tells reporter Johnny Diaz, who nevertheless intimates that the Boston Phoenix is using less color and sharing film reviews with its newly-acquired Spanish-language weekly to save money. "We actually have more color now" and cutting expenses is not the primary reason his papers are sharing content, Mindich tells AAN News. Weekly Dig publisher Jeff Lawrence says the story was mostly accurate but that it suffered from faulty framing: "Our business model is intentionally evolving -- not reacting to the economy," he tells AAN News.
The Boston Globe |
03-04-2009 3:26 pm |
Industry News
Creative Loafing Cuts Executive Compensationnew
Starting in April, the six-paper chain will cut executive compensation by five to 15 percent, Washington City Paper's Erik Wemple reports. On a conference call today, COO Kirk MacDonald said that he and CEO Ben Eason will take the 15 percent cut and that others -- including publishers, sales executives, and top editors -- will get more moderate slices. Wemple is glad he didn't have to implement another round of layoffs. "This approach makes way more sense," he writes. "No depressing discussions with the staff today!" MORE: The Chicago Reader and Creative Loafing (Tampa) weigh in.
Washington City Paper |
03-04-2009 12:43 pm |
Industry News
How the Santa Barbara Independent Beats the Local Daily Onlinenew
Alan Mutter says newspapers shouldn't charge for access to their websites unless they provide content that is "unique and valuable." As an example, he says the pay wall erected by the daily Santa Barbara News-Press has left the paper with less than half of the traffic generated by the much smaller Independent. When wildfires threatened Santa Barbara in November, Mutter says, "scant information" was available for non-subscribers on the daily's site, while the alt-weekly's site -- which won a 2008 EPpy Award for best weekly newspaper-affiliated website -- "brimmed with up-to-the-minute bulletins, first-person reports" and fire photos.
Reflections of a Newsosaur |
03-04-2009 10:34 am |
Industry News
