AAN News
LEO Weekly Takes 19 Metro Journalism Awards
LEO Weekly earned 19 awards at last Thursday's Society of Professional Journalists Metro Journalism awards ceremony in Louisville, including first place honors for Column Writing, Editorial Cartoon, Minority and Women's Affairs Reporting, and Reviews/Criticism. The paper swept the Column Writing and Reviews/Criticism categories.
(FULL STORY)
LEO Weekly Press Release |
06-30-2008 12:23 pm |
Press Releases
Boulder Weekly Editor Lives 'Secret Life' as Romance Novelistnew
Pamela White, better known to romance-novel readers as Pamela Clare, is set to release two books this year: Unlawful Contact and Untamed. She talks to the Daily Camera about how she balances editing an alt-weekly, cranking out award-winning romance novels, maintaining relationships with fans of her books, and being a single mother. "I will say it's hard," White says. "I would only do this if I felt absolutely compelled to write. And I can't not write." She says she couldn't possibly manage it all without the help of her youngest son, who helps cook, clean house and keep the yard presentable. "I am absolutely so proud of her. I am so impressed with how much she manages to get done," he tells the Daily Camera. "She's daring enough to go after her dream at a time when that's really hard to do."
The Daily Camera |
06-30-2008 9:51 am |
Industry News
Tim Redmond: Cleveland Merger Marks a 'Curious New Chapter'new
The San Francisco Bay Guardian executive editor offers his take on the deal announced last week that will merge the Cleveland Free Times and Cleveland Scene under new owners Times Shamrock. He wonders why "VVM couldn't create a monopoly, [but] another newspaper outfit apparently can." He's referring to when the Justice Department nixed a similar 2002 deal between New Times and Village Voice Media (then two separate companies) that shuttered the Free Times. Justice forced the sale of Free Times to a group of investors, and the paper reopened in May 2003. "I'll leave it to you to speculate on why we couldn't do this deal, but Times Shamrock could," VVM executive editor Andy Van De Voorde says. Redmond says the Justice Department has yet to respond to his request for comment.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
06-27-2008 8:33 am |
Industry News
Phoenix New Times Receives First Amendment Award from APnew
The Associated Press Managing Editors association selected winners for its annual awards this week in New York, and the group cited New Times in the First Amendment category for "for aggressively investigating and reporting on grand jury subpoenas seeking notes, tapes and confidential sources related to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, an investigation that expanded to other citizens." The awards will be presented during the group's September conference in Las Vegas.
The Associated Press |
06-27-2008 8:09 am |
Honors & Achievements
Missoula Independent Names New Editor
The Missoula Independent tapped arts and entertainment editor Skylar Browning to be its next editor and hired freelance contributor Erika Fredrickson to take over the arts desk. Browning, who has edited the arts section for four years, will replace Brad Tyer, who left late last year. "Skylar was the guy we wanted from the start," says Independent publisher Matt Gibson. "He's very, very good at the work he does -- smart, funny, ambitious. And he exudes personal confidence and professional cool. He's a truly admirable colleague, and I'm thrilled he agreed to step up."
(FULL STORY)
Missoula Independent Press Release |
06-26-2008 1:45 pm |
Press Releases
New Nashville Scene Editor Gets Mixed Reactionnew
Outgoing editor Liz Garrigan reports that she had "openly recommended Scene managing editor Matt Pulle for [her] job, and he was seriously considered." But in the end, Village Voice Media brought Pete Kotz over from the soon-to-be-defunct Cleveland Scene, a move that was criticized by some of the paper's staff. "Bypassing Matt sent exactly the wrong message to the city: It said that the Scene is just another interchangeable cog in a big corporate wheel," one staffer says anonymously. Former Scene media critic Henry Walker agrees. "The idea of an alternative weekly paper importing an editor would have been almost unthinkable just a decade ago," he says. "[But VVM] has pioneered the adoption of a cookie-cutter news and design formula and the employment of fungible editors among the alternative weeklies." VVM executive editor Michael Lacey, for one, isn't buying Walker's critique. "For nearly 40 years, we, like most alternative newspaper owners, have selected editors, writers and columnists based upon their skill, not their birth certificate," Lacey says. "Walker's simplistic comments reflect parochial jingoism."
Nashville Scene |
06-26-2008 1:04 pm |
Industry News
Village Voice Staff and Management Meet Today for Contract Talksnew
The two sides are trying to reach an agreement on a new contract before June 30, when the unionized Voice employees' current contract will expire, the New York Post reports. "The battle lines have already been drawn, and, not surprisingly, health care is a major focal point," says the Post. Staff writer and shop steward Tom Robbins says that the unionized employees are being asked to join a contributory health plan for the first time. He estimates the plan could cost each employee up to $5,500 per year, and notes that the union has put forth a wage increase proposal, but he isn't sure that will work. "There is no way they are going to give us a pay increase to match that [health care cost increase]," Robbins says. There has been talk that a strike is possible if the contract isn't in place by the end of June, but editor Tony Ortega is hopeful a deal can be reached. "I've been told these things always go to midnight on June 30," he tells the Post. "We value their work and hope to make an amicable settlement."
The New York Post |
06-26-2008 9:36 am |
Industry News
ProPublica Snags Another Alt-Weekly Talentnew
Independent Weekly staff writer Mosi Secret is leaving the paper to work for the self-described "non-profit newsroom producing journalism in the public interest," the Weekly reports. Secret, a 2004 Academy for Alternative Journalism fellow who recently won his second Casey Medal in as many years, will join former San Francisco Bay Guardian and SF Weekly reporter A.C. Thompson and former Texas Observer editor and Miami New Times scribe Jake Bernstein on the ProPublica staff.
Independent Weekly |
06-26-2008 9:21 am |
Industry News
State Attorneys General Push Senate on Federal Shield Lawnew
A bipartisan coalition of 41 attorneys general urged Senate leadership to quickly pass the measure in a letter (PDF file) that they will deliver July 8 when the Senate returns from its Summer recess, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. (Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wrote separately to endorse the bill.) The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved the bill, and the House has already passed the companion bill. Broadcasting & Cable notes that the prospects for a shield law's passage "look brighter" than in the past, due to bipartisan Congressional support and the fact that both presumptive presidential nominees are co-sponsors of the Senate bill.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press | Broadcasting & Cable |
06-26-2008 8:46 am |
Legal News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Chicago Reader Releases First Annual Best of Chicago Issue
Chicago Reader Press Release |
06-26-2008 10:16 am |
Press Releases
Tags: Management, Chicago Reader
AAN Classified Advertising Network Introduces Changes
There have been number of recent changes to the AAN CAN program, all of which are now in effect. They include:
- New multi-week discounts and regional rates
- A new monthly AAN CAN e-newsletter
- A new media kit
- A new insertion order
AAN |
06-25-2008 1:13 pm |
Association News
Tags: Classified Advertising, Management
Why Local Papers Should Fear the New Local Huffington Post Projectnew
"It's scary, or it damn well should be," former free daily paper editor John Wilpers says of Arianna Huffington's recently announced plan to venture into local news. "With her clout and visibility, she may succeed at the aggregation game where others have failed or are struggling. She plans to grab your content and the best local bloggers and citizen journalists -- something we should have done long ago." He says that papers should act now to help fight out the HuffPo incursion, by lining up high-quality local bloggers -- to run not only on your website, but also in your weekly paper. "Your print product is a huge advantage you have over Arianna," Wilpers writes. "She has no external promotional vehicle; you have what amounts to tens or even hundreds of thousands of daily promotional fliers for your bloggers and your website."
John Wilpers' Blog |
06-25-2008 10:45 am |
Industry News
From Scene to Scene: Cleveland Editor Heads to Nashvillenew
Cleveland Scene editor Pete Kotz has been named the new editor of the Nashville Scene in the wake of last week's news that the Cleveland paper will be merged with Cleveland Free Times in July. On July 1, Kotz will replace Liz Garrigan, who announced she was leaving the Nashville alt-weekly in May. "I know Pete from editors' meetings and conventions and can say unequivocally that he's a wonderful guy, a talented journalist and a good soul, if not the 'dangerously handsome man' he claims to be," Garrigan writes. "He has five kids, loves to 'bust a phrase,' holds dear the value of a great story, and prefers to chase his whiskey with beer."
Nashville Scene |
06-25-2008 8:36 am |
Industry News
Google Launches Tool for Media Plannersnew
AdWeek |
06-25-2008 9:24 am |
Industry News
Illinois Times Editor Stepping Down
In an email, Roland Klose says he's leaving the paper in mid-August. Klose joined the Illinois Times in 2003, after a four-year stint at Riverfront Times. Prior to that, he had reporting and editing assignments at outlets including The Commercial Appeal of Memphis and The Tampa Tribune. "I've been doing journalism since the days of Jimmy Carter," Klose says. "I'm looking forward to a break, then diving into some projects I've put off for a long time."
AAN News |
06-24-2008 9:11 am |
Industry News
