AAN News
J-School Grads Still Want to Break into Alt-Weekly Worldnew
Reacting to former Chicago Reader staffer Edward McClelland's piece in Columbia Journalism Review arguing that alt-weeklies were no longer hip, Washington City Paper assistant managing editor Jule Banville shares an anectdote from a J-school job fair last year. "The kids lined up to talk to me. A staff writer from the Philadelphia City Paper also had trouble coming up for air," she says. "For these grads -- still -- alt-weeklies were where it was at ... they didn't want to have to slug it out at a podunk daily churning out cop briefs and obits. Yet, they were beaten down enough to know they're nowhere near ready for a magazine job."
Washington City Paper |
10-31-2008 9:24 am |
Industry News
Metro Pulse Named in $20 Million Libel and Slander Lawsuitnew
This summer, a Knoxville homeowners association published a newsletter raising concerns about a local pain clinic. The story, which Metro Pulse later reported on, quoted police sources who claimed that several armed robberies and drug deals took place in the local grocery store parking lot when patients went there to refill their pain meds, which had been prescribed by the clinic, Bearden Healthcare Associates. On Wednesday, the clinic's doctors filed a $20 million lawsuit against the homeowners association, Metro Pulse and the alt-weekly's parent company, claiming libel, slander, and interference with business practices. "We intend to vigorously defend our position in the case, and we are confident that we will prevail when the facts are established," says a statement released by Metro Pulse.
WBIR-TV |
10-31-2008 9:08 am |
Legal News
News & Review Papers Fare Well in California Press Awards
Sacramento News & Review Press Release |
10-31-2008 2:33 pm |
Press Releases
How I Got That Story: Jeffrey Anderson
In the twelfth installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, Jeffrey Anderson talks about his multi-part investigative series "The Town the Law Forgot," which uncovered shocking abuses of power by government officials in Los Angeles County. He tells Sam Stoker how he started on this thread, and how he kept at it until it all started to unravel for him. Anderson, who wrote the series for L.A. Weekly but has since changed coast and is a staffer at Baltimore City Paper, also gives some advice to anyone undertaking an investigation. "The main thing is you just can't plan things out in advance," he says. "Things don't occur logically sometimes. You just need to be ready to revive things you have let go of. You just can't plan it."
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
10-30-2008 3:54 pm |
Association News
L.A. Weekly Theater Critic's Play Hits Off-Broadwaynew
"There's much to admire in the first act of Steven Leigh Morris's intelligent but uneven new play," says New York Times theater critic Rachel Saltz. "Beachwood Drive," written by Morris and based on a true story, has at its center a Ukrainian prostitute enslaved by the Russian mob and then caught by the police in a sting. Though Saltz praises the first act, she says that Morris "gets tripped up in the second act ... hitting his themes too hard and making his play seem more literary contrivance than living, breathing drama." The play is at New York's Abingdon Theater through Nov. 16.
The New York Times |
10-30-2008 11:52 am |
Industry News
Santa Fe Reporter Unleashes Zombie Apocalypsenew
Reporter staff writer Dave Maass has created a fictional zombie apocalypse in Santa Fe, using real information and scenarios. "To determine whether Santa Fe could prevent a zombie infection from expanding into a full-blown global zombie apocalypse," Maass interviewed scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory, emergency responders, a company that maps infectious disease spread, cops and dozens of others. The result: a multimedia cover story and web packages, including maps, videos, and a zombie photo shoot featuring Santa Fe's mayor. Watch the outbreak spread below:
Santa Fe Reporter |
10-30-2008 11:38 am |
Industry News
East Bay Express Crowns Winner of Sarah Palin Songwriting Competitionnew
"The Sarah Palin song competition that we launched four weeks ago drew in seventeen submissions," the Express writes. The paper's music critics graded them for concept, lyrics, humor, style, musical depth, and aesthetic quality, on a scale of 0-5 bloody moose heads. The winner was "Sarah Palin vs. the Flobots" by M. Spaff Sumison (watch it below). The Express runs down the rest of the best -- and, well, the worst -- in this week's paper.
East Bay Express |
10-30-2008 9:50 am |
Industry News
The Boston Phoenix Names America's 25 Scariest Conservatives
To celebrate Halloween this year, the Phoenix has prepared a "field guide of sorts" to the "fire-breathing bloviators [who] are using political bogeymen, scare tactics, and scorched-earth ideology to rally their base." The paper argues that the impending likely takeover of the White House and Congress by Democrats will only serve to "make these conservatives angry -- and thus exponentially even more dangerous." Coming in at number one is the omnipresent TV and radio talker Sean Hannity. The rest of the top 10 is, as follows: Richard Lowry, Mike Pence, Matt Drudge, Bill Kristol, Roger Ailes, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Jon Kyl, and Jeb Hensarling. For the full list, check the Phoenix's website.
(FULL STORY)
Boston Phoenix Press Release |
10-30-2008 9:00 am |
Press Releases
2009 AAN Convention Comes to a Desert Destination Resort in Tucson
Next June, AAN members will descend on the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa in Tucson for the association's 32nd Annual Convention, hosted by Tucson Weekly. "This is one of the nicest places AAN has ever used for a convention," says San Francisco Bay Guardian executive editor Tim Redmond, who visited the property along with other AAN board members for a meeting last month. Read here for more about the convention and the lush Starr Pass resort.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
10-29-2008 1:29 pm |
Association News
Candidate for U.S. Senate Lifts Austin Chronicle Video for Adnew
In an attempt to link Democratic challenger Rick Noriega to the infamous Howard Dean "scream" of '04, a new campaign ad from incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) "jacked" footage from an Austin Chronicle video showing Noriega excitedly giving his version of CNN's election-night broadcast. The Chronicle's Wells Dunbar says the paper is "considering all our options" in response to what he calls "the unsanctioned, unapproved, and unstatesmanlike" use of its video. But two of Cornyn's spokesmen tell the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle's Austin bureau blogger that they consider their use of the alt-weekly's video covered by the "fair use" exception in copyright law, and note their ad credited the paper as a source. "I don't think the Chronicle would be raising a peep of objection if their video didn't make Noriega look incredibly out of control," the campaign says.
Austin Chronicle |
10-29-2008 10:13 am |
Industry News
Jonathan Gold's Bro Asks: What About Food's Environmental Impact?new
Mark Gold is executive director of Heal the Bay, a Southern California environmental nonprofit, which can lead to some interesting exchanges with his brother, LA Weekly's Pulitzer-winning food writer. "I am already anticipating the nasty glare I will inevitably get from my marine-scientist brother," J. Gold wrote recently in a report on eating whale in Korea, "[who] has dedicated his life to pretty much the opposite of this." On his blog, M. Gold wonders: "If only Jonathan focused on sustainable seafood for a year, imagine the positive impact he'd have on local restaurants and the dietary choices of the food obsessed." But the food writer (who recently signed on for a column at Gourmet) gets the last word (thus far) in his brother's blog comments. "I stress the local-sustainable-organic trope in my columns almost to the point of self-ridicule," he writes, "and I would as soon amputate a toe as buy meat or fish from a supermarket."
LA Observed |
10-29-2008 9:27 am |
Industry News
Sheriff's Deputy Admits He Ordered Last Year's Arrests of Michael Lacey and Jim Larkinnew
The Arizona Republic |
10-29-2008 12:34 pm |
Industry News
Former Staffer Asks: Is There Still a Place for the Chicago Reader?new
Edward McClelland measures his former paper's hip quotient, using the fictional Reader music critic who appeared in the 2000 film High Fidelity as a yardstick. "Today, if you made a movie about Chicago hipsters, Caroline Fortis probably wouldn't write for the Reader," McClelland writes in Columbia Journalism Review. "She'd write for Time Out Chicago, or Pitchfork." Reader editor Alison True, Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason, and former Reader staff writers Neal Pollack and Harold Henderson weigh in with their takes on the Reader's past and its future.
Columbia Journalism Review |
10-28-2008 1:06 pm |
Industry News
How I Got That Story: Suzanne Podhaizer
In the eleventh installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, Seven Days food editor Suzanne Podhaizer talks about her winning columns, which covered oysters, bread-making and the intersection of chain-restaurant casual dining and sustainability. Podhaizer tells Ling Ma about how she approaches describing food, what she'd cook for her last meal, and the telling theme of her wedding vows. "My vows were almost entirely about how meaningful it is to share food with somebody, and meeting someone you want to give the best parts of a meal to," she says.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
10-28-2008 11:45 am |
Association News
Santa Fe Reporter Dominates News Category in State Press Awards
Reporter staff writer Dave Maass dominated the news writing category for Division 1 Weeklies (over 5,000 circulation) in the annual New Mexico Press Association newspaper contest. Maass won both first and second place in the category, making him the only winner in the category for Division 1. Additionally, SFR writer Zane Fischer placed first for column writing. The awards were announced at a banquet on Sunday.
(FULL STORY)
Santa Fe Reporter Press Release |
10-28-2008 9:12 am |
Press Releases
