AAN News
Report: 85 Percent of World's Online Population Has Shopped Onlinenew
Center for Media Research |
02-13-2008 6:22 pm |
Industry News
Medill Survives Wave of AltWeekly Awards Entries
In its first year administering AAN's editorial contest, Northwestern University's journalism school processed 1,404 entries, a slight decline from last year's total of 1,490. The decline is probably due to rule changes that resulted in the elimination of two categories and a decrease in the number of entries allowed in other categories. Member participation continues to hover around the 100-mark, with 97 newspapers and seven independent cartoonists submitting work. Finalists will be announced on AAN.org in May.
AAN |
02-12-2008 1:37 pm |
Association News
Testimony Continues in Bay Guardian/VVM Trial
Village Voice Media chief financial officer Jed Brunst and former SF Weekly publisher Chris Keating took the stand yesterday in the predatory-pricing trial. In its wrap-up, the SF Weekly focuses on the part of Brunst's testimony that offered "evidence that Weekly rates have been going up over time," not down. The Bay Guardian, on the other hand, focuses on the "huge amounts of cash" the Weekly and the East Bay Express had lost under New Times/VVM control. The trial takes a day off today for Lincoln's Birthday, and will resume on Wednesday.
SF Weekly | San Francisco Bay Guardian |
02-12-2008 12:07 pm |
Industry News
VVM Witnesses Begin Taking the Stand in Bay Guardian Suit
On Friday, Village Voice Media executive editor Michael Lacey testified in the predatory pricing trial. The Guardian says Lacey "had some trouble answering some key questions" about SF Weekly's ad sales and a 1995 meeting where he met the Weekly staff shortly after purchasing the paper. The Weekly says Lacey's testimony illustrated that his and Bruce Brugmann's "editorial philosophies were worlds apart," and notes that Lacey's testimony showed he is not involved in the business side of VVM's affairs. This is key because of comments he made about being "the only game in town," which the Guardian is using as evidence he wanted to drive them out of business. Patricia Calhoun, editor of Denver's Westword, which New Times bought in 1983, also testified on Friday, and according to the Weekly, she "got on and off the stand in only about twenty minutes, a timely performance that drew appreciative nods from jurors." The trial resumes today.
San Francisco Bay Guardian | SF Weekly |
02-11-2008 12:21 pm |
Industry News
Testimony Continues in Bay Guardian/VVM Trial
Former Guardian ad director Jody Colley continued her testimony in that paper's predatory pricing trial against SF Weekly and Village Voice Media yesterday, as did Jennifer Lopez, a former ad sales rep of both papers. Colley's testimony centered on just how many accounts the Guardian may have lost due to alleged ad-price undercutting by the Weekly, and also on the challenges she faces in trying to increase the "unacceptably low prices" that she inherited from Village Voice Media when she took over as publisher of the East Bay Express, which was sold by VVM to by a group of investors in May 2007 and is also named in the suit. The trial resumes this morning.
SF Weekly | San Francisco Bay Guardian |
02-01-2008 11:09 am |
Industry News
Two More Guardian Witnesses Take the Stand in Trial Against SF Weekly
Executive editor Tim Redmond and former ad director Jody Colley were called as witnesses yesterday in the predatory pricing trial against the Weekly and Village Voice Media. Redmond's testimony centered on local ownership and the crucial matter of editorial spending. The Guardian is arguing that the Weekly was trying to put them out of business because it refused to cut editorial spending while it lost money overall. On the other hand, the Weekly reports that Redmond said he has had to struggle with laying off writers and editors over the past few years. "If [ad] revenue goes down, I have to cut costs. The Weekly editors don't have to meet that kind of budget; they can just get more money from headquarters," Redmond writes on the Guardian's blog. Colley, who is now the publisher of the East Bay Express, testified mostly about the Weekly's dealings with concert promoter Billy Graham Presents, which the Guardian claims is an example of illegal below-cost pricing. Her testimony will continue when the trial resumes this morning.
SF Weekly | San Francisco Bay Guardian |
01-31-2008 12:32 pm |
Industry News
U.S. Justice Dept. Looking into Viability of Cleveland Free Timesnew
Lawyers and economists from the U.S. Justice Department are investigating if the Cleveland Free Times can "be a viable business in the current media climate" in the city, according to the Plain Dealer. The Free Times was closed in 2002 when its owner, Village Voice Media, agreed to shutter it, giving Cleveland's other alt-weekly, the New Times-owned Scene, a monopoly. (The two parent companies merged in 2005.) The Justice Dept. investigated that deal and forced the sale of Free Times to a group of investors. Former Free Times editor David Eden tells the Plain Dealer he was recently questioned by lawyers from Justice about whether or not he thought the paper could be turned around. He says he told them that Cleveland needs the paper's independent voice and he hopes it is sold to a local group rather than being bought out by the competition and closed. "It feels like deja vu all over again," he says.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer |
01-28-2008 1:20 pm |
Industry News
Is a 'Generational Shift' Afoot in the Alt-Weekly Industry?new
That seems to be the opinion of Ed Avis, who looks at the challenges alt-weekly owners are facing in a piece for Quill, a magazine published by the Society for Professional Journalists. Not surprisingly, he says the biggest challenge to the business is the internet. He talks to the Austin Chronicle's Louis Black, Creative Loafing's Ben Eason, and Times Shamrock's Don Farley to see where they are at in relation to the internet, and, more importantly, where they're trying to go. Ultimately, Avis thinks that the challenge of the online market -- in concert with the aging of the original alt-weekly founders -- is what's behind the industry's increased consolidation. Northwestern University professor and Academy for Alternative Journalism director Charles Whitaker agrees. "I think the (older owners) have had difficulty adjusting and figuring out the new media landscape, particularly the internet and things like Craigslist," he says. "At the same time, a group of new owners said, 'We can do this as a chain. We still have our alternative press sensibilities, but by pooling our resources we can run these papers more efficiently than they had been run in the past.'"
Quill |
01-25-2008 10:34 am |
Industry News
Jackson Free Press to Launch Glossy Magazinenew
Boom Jackson will be an annual glossy celebrating "urban living, working and creating in Jackson," Todd Stauffer writes in his publisher's note this week. The magazine will be a joint partnership between the JFP and Downtown Jackson Partners, the Hinds County Economic Development District, the Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau, and others.
Jackson Free Press |
01-25-2008 8:42 am |
Industry News
Willamette Week Raises More Than Half a Million Dollars for Nonprofitsnew
"You made so many donations to our annual Give!Guide that we're just now finishing the tallies and making final deliveries of incentives," writes publisher Richard Meeker. The 2007 installment of the paper's annual fund-raising endeavor produced more than $518,000 for 49 nonprofits in the Portland area, more than doubling 2006's total of $228,000.
Willamette Week |
01-24-2008 12:13 pm |
Industry News
After Brief Setback, Jury Selection in Bay Guardian/VVM Trial Begins
Yesterday, Judge Marla Miller denied Village Voice Media and SF Weekly's request to delay the predatory-pricing trial in order to further review some documents, and jury selection will get underway today at 8 am, according to reports in the Weekly and the Guardian. With jury selection expected to last two days, the judge has scheduled opening arguments for Monday.
SF Weekly | San Francisco Bay Guardian |
01-24-2008 8:41 am |
Industry News
Conference Attendance Exceeds Expectations
Registration totals for AAN West and the Web Publishing Conference, which will be held next week in San Francisco, have far surpassed AAN projections. At 275 registrants, attendance at AAN West is already 50 percent higher than last year and the most it's been since 2003. And the Web Publishing Conference current total of 170 registrants is more than 40 percent above the final numbers from October 2006, the date of the first AAN web conference in San Francisco. There's still room for more if you would like to register. Although our room block at the Hotel Kabuki is already filled, they have a limited number of rooms available at prices that exceed the AAN group rate. Another option: The Kabuki has a sister property about two blocks away, Hotel Tomo, with lower online rates.
AAN |
01-23-2008 11:44 am |
Association News
Philly Tourism Campaign Adds Five More Alt-Weeklies to Media Mixnew
Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation Press Release |
01-18-2008 12:14 pm |
Press Releases
AltWeekly Award Deadline Approaches
Members have just over a week to enter the 2008 contest. Entries must be registered through the contest website by midnight EST on Fri., Jan. 25. Payments and hard copies of entries should be sent to Charles Whitaker, Northwestern University Fisk Hall,1845 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208. Hard copies must be received at Northwestern by 5 p.m. on Mon., Jan. 28. For more information, contact contests (at) aan.org.
AAN |
01-17-2008 9:57 am |
Association News
Miami New Times Turns 20new
In 1987, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, who started Phoenix New Times in 1970 and bought Denver's Westword in 1983, "bought a South Beach rag named The Wave for $50 and a hot dog with plenty of relish," and Miami New Times was born, managing editor Chuck Strouse writes as the paper celebrates its 20th anniversary. "Miami is a city that reinvents itself every few years," he writes. "Indeed between the time I left town in 2000 to edit New Times Broward-Palm Beach and my return two years ago, the place went from cultural wasteland to visual arts mecca. Miami New Times, though, has become a constant -- brassy, iconoclastic, and, well, sometimes tasteless."
Miami New Times |
01-17-2008 9:12 am |
Industry News
