AAN News
Alt-Weekly Film Critics Weigh in On Star Ratingsnew
"Film critics and scholars have a tumultuous relationship with a system that is meant to help guide readers but may also encourage some to skip the review entirely," the Wall Street Journal reports in a story on the ubiquitous star system. Boston Phoenix critic Gerald Peary, who is also the director of an upcoming documentary on film criticism, tells the Journal that he's required to hand out stars -- but he doesn't like it. "The apple has been bitten by everybody, and it's a rotten apple," Peary says. But Las Vegas Weekly critic Mike D'Angelo says he likes the system, especially when approaching a film as a fan. "I prefer that critics use some sort of scale, personally, because I don't want to know much about a movie before seeing it," D'Angelo says.
The Wall Street Journal |
01-26-2009 2:41 pm |
Industry News
Registration Open for Columbia Journalism School's 2009 Career Expo
Sponsored post by Associate Member Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Registration is now open for our March 28, 2009 Journalism Career Expo in New York City
(FULL STORY)
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Press Release |
01-26-2009 3:19 pm |
Press Releases
Year-Long Village Voice Series is Followed by Multiple Indictmentsnew
In July 2007 Graham Rayman revealed in the Voice that jail guards at Rikers Island were deputizing inmates "to beat up other inmates," sometimes paying them with cigarettes, and that internal reports were ignored, and at least one whistleblower was fired. "Young people tell me when they go in there, the culture is such that [youthful inmates] control the jail," a victim's lawyer told Rayman. When inmates beat 21-year-old Tyreece Abney to death, one of them was convicted of the crime -- but nothing changed, and in November Rayman reported on the death of 18-year-old Christopher Robinson by similar methods. Yesterday three guards were charged with conspiracy in Robinson's death.
"I feel like I'm one step closer to getting justice today," Robinson's mother tells the Daily News.
The Village Voice |
01-23-2009 2:48 pm |
Industry News
2009 AltWeekly Awards Deadline Approaches
Members have one week to submit entries for the contest. Entries must be registered through the contest website by 11:59 p.m. EST on Fri., Jan. 30.
Each entry must be registered online, regardless of whether the material itself is being entered in PDF or tearsheet format. Hard copies and payment must be received in the AAN office by 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 2.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
01-23-2009 10:33 am |
Association News
Another Axed Editorial Cartoonist Finds a Home at an Alt-Weeklynew
Steve Greenberg, who drew editorial cartoons for the Ventura County Star until a few months ago, will now draw weekly cartoons for the Ventura County Reporter. In December, Brian Duffy made a similar jump in Des Moines, Iowa. "The Reporter is giving me a chance to restart and recharge," Greenberg writes. "Sometimes, when the roller-coaster stops working, you've gotta give the Ferris wheel a spin."
Ventura County Reporter |
01-23-2009 9:21 am |
Industry News
Village Voice Media Social-Networking Site Draws Controversynew
"(VVM) ... is using a social-networking company it owns to erode the wall between editorial content and advertising by promoting its advertisers under the guise of community buzz," reports The Stranger. The Seattle alt-weekly made the claim after scouring the user-generated reviews on the Yelp-like LikeMe.net and purportedly discovering that a majority were thumbs-up recommendations written by VVM ad staff. But in a response posted on Seattle Weekly's website, VVM says its employees posted the reviews to "test drive" the new site, which had yet to be officially announced, and that the number of posts do not constitute a majority. VVM also notes that earlier reports that it owns a controlling interest in the new "local recommendation engine" are erroneous.
The Stranger | Seattle Weekly |
01-22-2009 6:24 pm |
Industry News
Obama Reverses Bush Policies on FOIA and Executive Privilegenew
President Barack Obama yesterday reversed a Bush administration policy making it easier for government agencies to deny requests for records under FOIA, and repealed Bush's executive order allowing former presidents or their heirs to claim executive privilege in order to keep records secret, the New York Times reports. "For a long time now there's been too much secrecy in this city," Obama said during a swearing-in ceremony for senior officials. “Transparency and rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency." Secrecy News calls it a "breathtaking series of statements and executive actions" that "gained immense force from the fact that it was presented on the President’s first full day in office."
To read the text of the memos Obama issued to effectuate the changes, click here. MORE: Reaction from the Sunshine in Government Initiative and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy.
The New York Times | Secrecy News |
01-22-2009 12:21 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Willamette Week Reporter Responds to Criticism on Sam Adams Scandalnew
Portland city commissioner Amanda Fritz and University of Oregon journalism ethics professor Tom Bivins both raise questions about whether the public is being served by Nigel Jaquiss' expose revealing that Portland Mayor Sam Adams had a sexual relationship with 18-year-old Beau Breedlove in 2005. But Jaquiss, who won a Pulitzer in
2005 for an investigation exposing a former Oregon governor's sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old girl, says the criticism is misguided. "This is not a story about sex, and it's not a story about sexual preferences," he tells Oregon Public Broadcasting. "This is a story about a politician who has lied, and who has then had to deal with that vulnerability."
Oregon Public Broadcasting |
01-22-2009 9:32 am |
Industry News
OC Weekly Debunks Claim That it Practices Payolanew
"We don't praise restaurants simply because they buy ads, even though our very nice ad reps constantly leave menus on my desk insinuating I should review their clients and even though I've had many run-ins with corporate over the years because of the type of restaurants I review," Weekly staff writer Gustavo Arellano writes in response to one restauranteur's charge that the paper "gives great reviews for people who advertise." Arellano pulls out the statistics to prove his point. "According to records given to me by the Weekly's advertising department of every restaurant that advertised in our rag in 2008, only three restaurants of the 51 that I reviewed last year ever bothered to place an ad."
OC Weekly |
01-22-2009 9:10 am |
Industry News
Salt Lake City Weekly Unveils Redesign
Introducing City Weekly's new layout and expanded editorial coverage -- City Weekly is completely redesigned.
(FULL STORY)
Salt Lake City Weekly Press Release |
01-22-2009 12:36 pm |
Press Releases
Sen. Patrick Leahy Applauds President Obama's Transparency Efforts
Sen. Patrick Leahy Press Release |
01-22-2009 12:18 pm |
Press Releases
Tags: Editorial, Management
SGI: 'On Open Government, the Dawn is Breaking'
Sunshine in Government Initiative Press Release |
01-22-2009 12:14 pm |
Press Releases
Tags: Editorial, Management
Free Newspaper Will Use Reprinted Blog Materialnew
The New York Times |
01-22-2009 11:53 am |
Industry News
The Village Voice Releases 36th Annual Pazz & Jop Critics' Pollnew
The Village Voice |
01-22-2009 8:49 am |
Industry News
Willamette Week Breaks Story of Mayor's Relationship with Teennew
On Monday, the paper published Nigel Jaquiss' expose revealing that Portland Mayor Sam Adams, contrary to his earlier denials, confessed to having had a sexual relationship with 18-year-old Beau Breedlove in 2005. Adams, who was sworn in as Portland's first openly gay mayor on Jan. 1, apologized yesterday for lying and for forcing Breedlove to lie. Also caught up in the City Hall scandal is the Portland Mercury, which was pursuing the story along with WW. Former news editor Amy J. Ruiz was one of two Mercury writers working on the story; subsequently, Adams hired her to be his planning and sustainability policy adviser. "It never crossed my mind that [Adams] might have hired me to keep me quiet," Ruiz says. Adams says Ruiz earned the position on merit. "Amy was hired because of her smarts," he says. Meanwhile, Mercury editor Wm. Steven Humphrey says that the paper didn't sit on the story, but merely lost the race to the finish line to Jaquiss.
The Associated Press | Willamette Week | The Portland Mercury |
01-21-2009 1:04 pm |
Industry News
