AAN News
AAN's Editor Stepping Down
Editor Jon Whiten is leaving the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies; he will be replaced by current Editorial Awards and Advertising Director Jason Zaragoza. Whiten, who joined AAN in January 2006, is stepping down to focus on the local news website and arts & culture magazine he owns and operates in Jersey City, N.J. His last day on staff is March 31, but he will continue as a part-time contractor, overseeing AAN.org, for a month or two, as Zaragoza transitions from his current position into the editor role.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
03-26-2010 11:25 am |
Association News
Judge Grants Injunction Sought by Santa Barbara Independent Editornew
Judge Denise deBellefeuille has granted an injunction sought by Independent co-owner and editor-in-chief Marianne Partridge in her contract dispute over the paper's sale with publisher and majority owner Randy Campbell. The injunction effectively bars Campbell from selling or distributing his shares of the Independent until the conflict with Partridge over the sale of his shares is finally resolved, the paper reports.
Santa Barbara Independent |
03-25-2010 12:11 pm |
Industry News
Report: U.S. Ad Spend Fell 12.3 Percent in '09new
The New York Times |
03-17-2010 11:42 am |
Industry News
SF Weekly's Banks File Suit Against the Bay Guardiannew
A lawsuit filed by the Bank of Montreal
on behalf of a group of institutional lenders seeks a temporary restraining order and injunction to stop the San Francisco Bay Guardian's efforts to collect millions of dollars from SF Weekly as part of 2008's predatory-pricing jury verdict. Last week, a Superior Court commissioner ruled that the Guardian is entitled to half of the Weekly's ad revenue; the banks are arguing that they have the first legal right to any money made by the Weekly. Meanwhile, The Stranger reports that it has court filings that show Weekly parent company Village Voice Media Holdings has been declared in default on an $80 million loan it has from the Bank of Montreal. This comes as the Weekly is asking for a separate restraining order to stop the Guardian from sending letters to Weekly advertisers; they say advertisers have been receiving conflicting notices from the Guardian and Bank of Montreal about who has first rights to the Weekly's revenue. In a court filing, the Weekly's lawyer says the confusion, if allowed to continue, "is likely to devastate SF Weekly's advertising business beyond repair."
SF Weekly |
03-16-2010 4:25 pm |
Industry News
Court: Bay Guardian Gets Half of SF Weekly's Ad Revenuenew
A Superior Court commissioner has ruled the San Francisco Bay Guardian is entitled to half the advertising revenue of the SF Weekly to help collect $21 million in damages after a 2008 jury verdict of illegal price-cutting. Guardian attorney Jay Adkisson says the ad revenue would be "a very significant" amount -- potentially as much as $200,000 a month. Meanwhile, the Weekly's parent company, Village Voice Media Holdings (VVMH), will ask a state appeals court to overturn the ruling. VVMH executive associate editor Andy Van De Voorde says the Weekly will stay in business regardless. The Weekly is also currently in the midst of a separate appeal of the verdict. MORE from Westword.
San Francisco Chronicle |
03-10-2010 8:17 am |
Industry News
Report: Advertisers Will Spend More on Digital Than Print in '10new
Forbes |
03-09-2010 8:44 am |
Industry News
Interpretation of One California Law is Key in SFBG/SF Weekly Casenew
"Both sides appear to agree in court that the case boils down to a fight over whether a pivotal section of California law should protect businesses or consumers," the East Bay Express' Robert Gammon writes in his in-depth update of the legal fight between the San Francisco Bay Guardian and SF Weekly. "If the Weekly wins, it could effectively eviscerate a section of California's Unfair Business Practices law, and thus make it nearly impossible for small, independently owned companies to fight off well-heeled competitors who try to drive them out of business. But if the Guardian wins, it could end up hurting consumers, because corporations may be fearful of offering steep discounts on their products because they will be sued for 'unfair business practices.'"
East Bay Express |
03-05-2010 2:35 pm |
Industry News
Nielsen: U.S. '09 Ad Spend Down 9 Percentnew
Media Daily News |
02-25-2010 9:01 am |
Industry News
SF Weekly Asks Appeals Court to Overturn Bay Guardian Judgmentnew
In an appeal brief filed yesterday, SF Weekly is asking the California courts to overturn the San Francisco Bay Guardian's $21 million judgment in the 2008 predatory-pricing case, marking the final written document that will be entered into the record as part of the Weekly's appeal. The court is now expected to schedule oral arguments in the case, with a final decision coming "anywhere from five to eighteen months," according to the Weekly.
SF Weekly |
02-17-2010 3:53 pm |
Industry News
Santa Barbara Independent Editor Sues Publisher Over Proposed Salenew
Editor-in-chief Marianne Partridge has sued publisher Randy Campbell in Santa Barbara County Superior Court for breach of contract in a legal dispute that Independent reporter Nick Welsh says "could have major ramifications for the ownership structure" of the paper. Partridge, a minority shareholder, claims that Campbell -- who owns 51 percent of the company -- is in violation of contract language that requires him to offer to sell his stock to Partridge or one of the other two minority owners before selling to anyone else. The dispute stems from Campbell's apparent desire to sell his share of the Independent to Valley Printers, which prints the paper and is owned by Southland Publishing, the parent company of four Southern California AAN member papers.
Santa Barbara Independent |
02-16-2010 1:39 pm |
Industry News
Bay Guardian/SF Weekly Case Back in Court Today
A San Francisco judge today heard arguments on whether SF Weekly should be forced to give half of its advertising revenue to the San Francisco Bay Guardian as part of the Guardian's continuing efforts to collect on the 2008 judgment in the predatory pricing suit between the two papers. The judge issued a "late tentative ruling" that suggested he will do just that, and he said he will give the final ruling soon. Meanwhile, the Guardian has asked a judge to add Village Voice Media, LLC and Village Voice Media Holdings, LLC to the companies that make up the Weekly's parent company in the judgment. (When the Guardian's suit was initially filed, the Weekly was still owned by pre-merger New Times.) A hearing on that matter has been set for March 12. The Weekly has said it is waiting to make any payments to the Guardian until it exhausts its appeals. MORE: Seattle Weekly wonders why The Stranger is sending a reporter to San Francisco to cover this, when Stranger editor Dan Savage's sex column runs in many papers that SF Weekly's parent company owns.
AAN News |
02-11-2010 6:31 pm |
Industry News
How the Long Island Press Took Advantage of Newsday's Paywallnew
While the economic downturn hurt the paper a bit, Press publisher Jed Morey tells CNN Money there were no mass layoffs -- and the paper was back in the black by the end of last year. Morey pegs the Press' success in part to the decision of Long Island's daily paper Newsday to go partly behind a paywall last year. The Press seized the opportunity and began running more general news on the web, to appeal to those who might not pay for Newsday online. Since then, Morey says traffic has gone up 600 percent. "It is not about a newspaper, it is not about the physical product or even the experience. It's about the quality of the journalism," he says. "If you stay true to that, we think that there is several different places you can go with that. The web being one of them."
CNN Money |
02-09-2010 2:21 pm |
Industry News
Deadline to Apply for AAN Membership Extended to Feb. 19
The application deadline for newspapers to apply for AAN membership has been extended two weeks to Feb. 19. You can download an application here, or contact AAN to have one mailed to you. Find out more about admission guidelines and membership requirements here.
AAN |
02-05-2010 3:36 pm |
Association News
Videos, Presentations from Web Publishing Conference Now Available
Scores of alt-weekly staffers descended on San Francisco's Argonaut Hotel last week for AAN's 2010 Web Publishing Conference. Publishers, editors, ad sales managers and others came together for one-and-a-half days of virtually non-stop panels and presentations on how best to manage digital publishing now and in the future. If you weren't able to make it to the conference, or want to share what you learned at a particular session, you can check out videos from nine of the 12 sessions and PDF presentations of several sessions in the Resource Library.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
02-04-2010 5:47 pm |
Association News
Newspaper Classified Ad Revenue Down 70 Percent in Last 10 Yearsnew
Poynter Online's Biz Blog |
02-02-2010 10:38 am |
Industry News
