AAN News
Metromojo Releases SaaS Offering, Version 2 of the Local Mojo Platform
New citizen journalism and premium content features cater to traditional media clients.
(FULL STORY)
Metromojo Press Release |
09-10-2008 6:46 am |
Press Releases
Critic Pans Alt-Weekly Convention Coverage; Alts Fight Backnew
Columbia Journalism Review assistant editor Jane Kim claims in a blog post that "one thing that was sorely lacking from the past two weeks of convention spotlighting was good alt weekly coverage." She then uses a couple of blog features from convention host-city papers Westword and City Pages to prove the "sad results" of "consolidation of the alt weeklies under VVM." In the comments section, Westword editor Patricia Calhoun argues that staff cartoonist Kenny Be, whose "Delegating Denver" series provided grist for Kim's critique, is "the town's best political columnist," adding that "to quote lines without the context of the artwork is hardly fair" when criticizing a cartoon. AAN executive director Richard Karpel, meanwhile, points out that both papers broke significant convention-related news prior to the conventions, and that several dozen other alt-weeklies had folks on the ground during the confabs. "It seems clear from the tone of this piece that Kim went in with a set of preconceived ideas -- the all-too-easy meme that corporate ownership leads to homogenization -- and wasn't going to let the facts get in her way at 4:42 p.m. on a Friday," City Pages' editor-in-chief Kevin Hoffman adds. Lastly, Village Voice Media executive associate editor Andy Van De Voorde takes Kim to task for "focusing on 'the various shades of Banana Republic grey' worn by the Palins" in her own work during the conventions, while City Pages reporters were arrested, roughed up, and pepper-sprayed as "a direct result of their decision to actually go out and cover news."
Columbia Journalism Review |
09-09-2008 9:10 am |
Industry News
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New Nielsen Tool Combines Mobile, Lifestyle Datanew
Online Media Daily |
09-09-2008 9:14 am |
Industry News
Four New Alt-Weekly-Related Books Hit the Shelves
OC Weekly staff writer and ¡Ask a Mexican! columnist Gustavo Arellano's second book is due to be released on Sept. 16. Orange County: A Personal History is a memoir that examines the history of Orange County as seen through four generations of his family moving back and forth between Mexico and Anaheim. Ed Zotti, longtime editor of the syndicated Straight Dope column, also has a new memoir, which was released this week. His The Barn House: Confessions of an Urban Rehabber is a "memoir about fixing up an old house in the city and pursuing the urban version of the American Dream." Check out an excerpt on the Chicago Reader's site. Another memoir on the horizon is Prince Joe Henry's Princoirs. Henry is the longtime author of the "Ask a Negro Leaguer" column in the Riverfront Times, and the book is an extension of the column. If you're not into memoirs, some of Seattle Weekly cartoonist Scott Meyer's "Basic Instructions" comic strips have been collected in the new Help Is on the Way: A Collection of Basic Instructions, which was released this week.
AAN News |
09-05-2008 8:08 am |
Industry News
City Pages Reporters Maced, Assaulted at RNC Protestnew
Updating their reporting every few minutes by telephone last night, City Pages' Jeff Shaw and Andy Mannix say they were "assaulted by the cops" while trying to cover a RNC protest march. Here's the play-by-play, from Shaw: "The police said we needed to leave, we showed them our press credentials. I said I was a reporter and that it was a public street. An officer struck me and knocked me backwards over a curb. I tried to get up, and three or four officers shoved me to the ground. Andy was maced." Meanwhile, The Stranger's Brendan Kiley was pepper-sprayed earlier this week at the RNC. "I've hurt myself in a lot of different ways," he reports, "but nothing hurts like pepper spray. The pain is fleeting, but it is crippling." Lastly, Sam Stoker, who attended the AAN/Medill Academy for Alternative Journalism this summer, was arrested twice this week while covering RNC protests for In These Times. He's been tapped by LEO Weekly to write a first-person account, which he's agreed to make free to AAN members to reprint. For more on Stoker's piece, contact LEO's Stephen George at sgeorge (at) leoweekly.com.
City Pages |
09-05-2008 7:48 am |
Industry News
Comcast Appeals FCC's Net Neutrality Rulingnew
Online Media Daily |
09-05-2008 7:52 am |
Industry News
Gambit Weekly is Back in Business
After distributing this week's issue one day early, on Saturday, so readers fleeing Hurricane Gustav could grab a copy on their way out of town, about half of Gambit's staff are back in the office today, publisher Margo DuBos tells AAN News. The entire staff of 35 are expected back tomorrow. Much of New Orleans is still without power, but Gambit is running on a generator purchased after Katrina, furiously working on next week's issue, which will see the light of day on Monday, just one day after the paper's unusual Sunday street date. The alt-weekly also kept a steady pace of blogging over at the Blog of New Orleans before, during, and after the storm.
AAN News |
09-04-2008 1:40 pm |
Industry News
Weekly Dig Responds to Nude Illustration Flapnew
The Dig's media column this week tackles last week's "story" by WBZ-TV "reporting" that a nude illustration on the Dig's cover had sparked an outrage in Boston. "Look, we get it. The end of the summer is a rough time in the local news cycle," the column reads. "This is when news outlets bring out their own special brand of made-up news. We no longer start wars Hearst-style (we'd kill for that kind of budget), so you have to find something and say, 'This is an outrage/issue!' and go up to everyone within a small radius and say, 'Isn't this an outrage/issue?' and then quote the three people who agree."
Boston's Weekly Dig |
09-04-2008 8:45 am |
Industry News
LA Offers Huge Reward for Serial Killer Revealed by LA Weeklynew
In response to a four-month investigation by the Weekly that last week revealed the existence of an active serial killer who has been linked to the deaths of 11 people, the Los Angeles City Council voted yesterday to reward $200,000 to any person who supplies information leading to his arrest and conviction. The council also approved a record-high $500,000 if the clues lead to more than one conviction. The killer was dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" by the Weekly, since "he took a 13-year break before bizarrely resuming his slayings," but as the paper reports, not everyone is fond of the nickname. Comedian Patton Oswalt, for one, ridiculed the name while he guest-hosted a radio show, saying it was the dumbest, least-creepy name for a serial killer.
LA Weekly |
09-04-2008 8:28 am |
Industry News
JPMorgan, Citing 'Macroeconomic Weakness,' Cuts Online Ad Outlooknew
Online Media Daily |
09-04-2008 8:32 am |
Industry News
Ruxton Media Group Continues to Expand
Six more AAN members have joined Ruxton and industry veteran Yolanda Luszcz was promoted to head the national advertising agency's burgeoning digital network, according to a press release issued this morning. The Shepherd Express, the Memphis Flyer and Gambit Weekly have all chosen Ruxton to represent them for national sales in both print and digital mediums, while Boise Weekly, Seven Days and Isthmus have joined the Ruxton Digital Media Network (RDMN) for non-exclusive representation of their digital products. Ruxton has also created a Publishers Advisory Committee (PAC) for RDMN, "to ensure that Ruxton's publisher partners are fully vested in the rapidly changing world of digital marketing and advertising." The first elections for PAC reps will be the week of September 15, and the PAC's first meeting will be October 23 in Houston.
(FULL STORY)
Ruxton Media Group Press Release |
09-03-2008 8:08 am |
Press Releases
San Diego CityBeat Trims Paper Sizenew
San Diego CityBeat |
09-03-2008 8:50 am |
Industry News
Nude Illustration on Weekly Dig Cover 'Sparks Outrage'new
Local CBS affiliate WBZ-TV says this week's cover is "raising quite a controversy in Boston," and in classic local TV news style, finds three (count 'em, three!) residents to prove it, their reactions ranging from "weird" to "crazy" to "sick." The WBZ reporter even tracks down Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to give him a glimpse. "It's totally irresponsible to have a photo like this in a paper that's widely distributed around our city," Menino says. "Young children can see it. It's not what we should be showing our young people." Menino also says he's going to look into whether he can remove the Dig's news boxes from "nearby city buildings." Dig art director Tak Toyoshima tells WBZ that "the point of the cover is to celebrate summer, the end of summer -- it's the last hurrah." He adds that the illustration, done by Syracuse artist Phil McAndrew, "is not, to me, sexual at all. They're nude, but there's nothing sexual happening."
WBZ-TV |
09-02-2008 9:15 am |
Industry News
More Staff Cuts Could Be On the Horizon at Washington City Papernew
DCist reports that City Paper's parent company Creative Loafing needs to cut the paper's budget by $170,000. The belt-tightening could lead to additional layoffs at the alt-weekly (some production and editorial staffers were laid off after CL purchased City Paper and the Chicago Reader last year). "Like a lot of media companies, we are going through an exceptionally rough period, and indeed we are discussing how to cut expenses," editor Erik Wemple tells DCist. "I don't want to cite any figures at this point because we are trying our best as a company to minimize the impact. But yes, layoffs are part of the discussion."
DCist.com |
09-02-2008 8:28 am |
Industry News
Study: Under 60 Character Email Subject Lines Increases Open Ratenew
The Center for Media Research |
09-02-2008 8:30 am |
Industry News
