AAN News
Trespass Charges Against Journalist are Dropped in Hawaiinew
Joan Conrow, who was writing a story for the Honolulu Weekly about an oceanfront home being built atop a Hawaiian burial ground, was initially charged with trespassing when she covered a protest at the construction site. But when she went to the police station to be arrested Wednesday night, Kauai Police Chief Darryl Perry told her to go home -- and then had prosecutors rescind the charges, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Perry says that after looking at the arrest warrant, he decided that the arrest raised First Amendment issues. "She was covered by the First Amendment," Perry says. Her presence "didn't sit within the criteria of criminal trespass."
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin |
09-22-2008 8:07 am |
Legal News
Oklahoma Gazette's Scott Cooper Elected SPJ's Region 8 Directornew
The Norman Transcript |
09-22-2008 8:09 am |
Honors & Achievements
Convicted Teen Freed After Independent Weekly Investigation
As a result of an Independent Weekly investigation, a Durham County Superior Court Judge dismissed all charges today against Erick Daniels, who was falsely convicted of robbery in 2001, when he was 15. The May 2007 story by Mosi Secret, "Stolen Youth," which won the the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism, detailed abundant evidence to to support Daniels' claims of innocence, and revealed the contradictions and problems in the case to constitute reasonable doubt. Daniels, who has served seven years in prison, is due to be released this afternoon.
(FULL STORY)
Independent Weekly Press Release |
09-19-2008 12:59 pm |
Industry News
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2008 'How I Got That Story' Series Begins Today
After a two-year hiatus, the "How I Got That Story" series today returns to AAN.org to help shed light on the processes employed by first-place AltWeekly Award winners. This year, 19 winners were interviewed by Academy for Alternative Journalism fellows, and each week, two new interviews will be published on AAN.org. These interviews will also appear in the book Best AltWeekly Writing and Design 2008, which will be available soon. To read the first installment of the series, Rich Knight's interview with Washington City Paper art critic Jeffry Cudlin, click here.
AAN News |
09-18-2008 1:17 pm |
Association News
SF Weekly Theater Critic Inspires Playnew
"I never saw myself as much of a muse; I tend to piss off theater people more often than I inspire them," writes critic Chloe Veltman. She says she "didn't know whether to feel flattered or alarmed" when she learned that Tore Ingersoll-Thorp's new drama was created partly in response to one of her essays. The press release for the play, titled March to November, declares, "Inspired by SF Weekly theater critic Chloe Veltman's January 9, 2008, article entitled 'Election Stage Left,' which challenged Bay Area playwrights and theater companies to create more 'political' works, Sleepwalkers answers the call to arms with a classic hero story that assesses the relevance of overtly political theater."
SF Weekly |
09-18-2008 10:03 am |
Industry News
The Valley Advocate Celebrates 35th Anniversarynew
To mark the occasion, the paper has put together a package reflecting not only its 35th anniversary, but its purchase last winter by Newspapers of New England Inc. During "seven-plus years of corporate ownership" under the Hartford Courant and the Tribune Company, the Advocate "found itself in the hands of a corporation that prized uniformity over individuality, that worried more about its shareholders than its readers, that bought into a world view that has become endemic in mainstream publishing," editor Tom Vannah writes. "More than a simple marking of time, then, this 35th anniversary is part of the Valley Advocate's rediscovery of the virtues of being an independent alternative to the corporate brand of media we were born to challenge."
The Valley Advocate |
09-18-2008 9:38 am |
Industry News
How I Got That Story: Jeffry Cudlin
The 2008 AltWeekly Award winner for Arts Criticism talks about his work.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
09-18-2008 1:14 pm |
Association News
Vue Weekly Cover Prompts Petition to Cover News Box Windowsnew
The cover of the Edmonton alt-weekly's annual sex survey features three naked people, backs turned to the camera, with any naughty bits obscured by text. But the image is still too racy for at least one local resident, who tells CTV Edmonton that she's starting a petition to have the transparent windows of news boxes covered, ostensibly to protect children. "It's basically the same thing you can get in an adult magazine," Michelle Gimenez says, adding that the news boxes are at eye-level with children. But others interviewed by CTV didn't seem to mind. "You see more graphic things on TV in the middle of the day ... it doesn't bother me," says one woman. Vue publisher Ron Garth defends the cover, saying "it's about pushing the limits in every respect (sic)."
CTV Edmonton |
09-17-2008 1:10 pm |
Industry News
Ted Rall Elected President of Editorial Cartoonists Group
Rall, whose cartoons and columns appear in many alt-weeklies, took over as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists on Sept. 12. "For some reason my colleagues have made me president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC), the organization for professional political cartoonists. (I suspect cartoonists' predilection for hard drinking had something to do with it.)," Rall writes in his weekly column. "Kidding aside, I'm honored." V. Cullum Rogers, the cartoonist at North Carolina's Independent Weekly, remains the group's secretary-treasurer, and Mikhaela Reid, whose work appears in Metro Times and other AAN papers, was elected to the group's board of directors.
AAN News |
09-17-2008 9:28 am |
Industry News
SGI Applauds House Oversight of New FOIA Ombudsman Office
Sunshine in Government Initiative Press Release |
09-17-2008 2:16 pm |
Press Releases
Tags: Editorial
Artvoice Sues for Public Records and Winsnew
The Buffalo alt-weekly had for months been trying to obtain meeting minutes and budget documents from a board charged with negotiating a merger between two area hospital operators. But the board claimed to be exempt from New York State's laws regarding open meetings and freedom of information and wouldn't turn over documents, so associate editor Buck Quigley joined a lawsuit to force the board to release them. On Friday, Judge Patrick NeMoyer ruled in favor of Quigley and the other plaintiffs on every count. Artvoice editor Geoff Kelly writes that, in addition to shining light on the board's activities, the ruling is "also a precedent: The next time a public/private authority claims to be exempt from New York State laws regarding openness, we have a court case to wave under their noses."
Artvoice |
09-16-2008 8:59 am |
Legal News
Alt-Weekly Film Critic Steps Behind the Cameranew
Moving Midway: A Southern Plantation in Transit, a documentary directed by longtime critic Godfrey Cheshire, was released last week and is garnering good reviews so far. Cheshire, a three-time AltWeekly Award winner for criticism published in North Carolina's Independent Weekly, "connects his longstanding interest in American popular culture with the lore attached to his ancestral home, a North Carolina plantation called Midway" in "a fascinating and complicated story of regional identity," writes A.O. Scott in the New York Times.
The New York Times |
09-15-2008 12:10 pm |
Industry News
Republican State Attorneys General Urge GOP Senators on Shield Law
Last week, 13 Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to Republican senators urging them to support the Free Flow of Information Act. "As our states' chief law enforcement officers, we are in a unique position to confirm that our shield laws have not resulted in any degradation in our ability to protect our citizens," the letter reads. "Still, important provisions have been added to this legislation to carefully and thoroughly protect national security and public safety." A House version of the bill was overwhelmingly approved last October, and the Senate Judiciary Committee also approved the bill in the same month.
(FULL STORY)
Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna Press Release |
09-15-2008 9:53 am |
Press Releases
Tags: Editorial, Management
Local Pol: Bay Guardian's Endorsement 'Is the Big One'new
That's what San Francisco's school board president Mark Sanchez, who hopes to replace District 9 Supervisor Tom Ammiano, tells the Bay Area Reporter. Another candidate, David Campos, this week secured the backing of another important group, the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, but Sanchez downplayed not receiving that nod, saying the real prize will be the Bay Guardian's endorsement, which is expected in October. Campos agreed: "I think the Bay Guardian is definitely an important endorsement," he tells the Reporter.
The Bay Area Reporter |
09-12-2008 11:17 am |
Industry News
Washington City Paper Nixes Local Arts Column, Launches Sex Blognew
Washington City Paper |
09-12-2008 11:20 am |
Industry News
