AAN News
FBI Hassles Seattle Weekly Photographernew
A Weekly photographer who was shooting on the public sidewalk outside a FBI building was confronted with a security guard and four federal agents when he was taking pictures for the paper's cover story this week. "It became pretty stressful -- they weren't interfering with the shoot by blocking us, but they kept asking us questions and at a certain point I said 'Well, I feel pretty intimidated, I think we're done here,'" Steven Miller says.
Seattle Weekly |
06-11-2010 2:26 pm |
Industry News
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) Undergoes Head-to-Toe Redesignnew
This week the paper debuted its drastically redesigned print publication and also rolled out changes to its website. Editor-in-chief Mara Shalhoup says the process began about nine months ago, with questions like "What if we turned the paper into the type of publication that existed only in our imaginations?" and "What was to stop us from rethinking ... everything?" The print overhaul was led by newspaper designer/art director Ron Reason, who goes into detail about the process and the thinking behind a number of decisions in a blog post.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
06-11-2010 2:15 pm |
Industry News
What's Next in SEO?
By now, most publishers have come to terms with the basics of search engine optimization, but don't get too comfortable. Mike Volpe, from web marketing company HubSpot, will be in Toronto to explain the changes to the way in which search engines work. Volpe will give conventioneers tips on how to adapt and optimize your website in order to remain competitive in the future.
As an example, he says, SEO is becoming more time-sensitive and more personal. Google's new search index, Caffeine, just announced this week, will use more "real-time" results, which means that timely news and blog posts, as well as social media status updates, will become increasingly important to maintaining high search visibility. In addition, Volpe says search engines are beginning to use your physical location and search history more, and will eventually move into social search, which adds what your connections like and use to the mix. Many of these developments could bode well for alt-weeklies, which have strong content based around a locality and often have robust social communities. But that won't do you much good if you are falling on the second or third search pages. After Volpe's talk, you should be ready to make changes to your site that will prepare you for the future of SEO.
As an example, he says, SEO is becoming more time-sensitive and more personal. Google's new search index, Caffeine, just announced this week, will use more "real-time" results, which means that timely news and blog posts, as well as social media status updates, will become increasingly important to maintaining high search visibility. In addition, Volpe says search engines are beginning to use your physical location and search history more, and will eventually move into social search, which adds what your connections like and use to the mix. Many of these developments could bode well for alt-weeklies, which have strong content based around a locality and often have robust social communities. But that won't do you much good if you are falling on the second or third search pages. After Volpe's talk, you should be ready to make changes to your site that will prepare you for the future of SEO.
AAN |
06-10-2010 12:37 pm |
Association News
The Pitch Names New Editornew
Current Westword web editor Joe Tone has been named the next editor of The Pitch. He will take over for C.J. Janovy, who is moving on to a communications job at the University of Kansas Medical Center. "I'm just thrilled about getting to Kansas City and getting to work," says Tone, who has also served as the managing editor at Cleveland Scene. "The city is obviously brimming with great stories, and The Pitch newsroom is well armed to tell them. Filling those ass-kicking boots of C.J.'s is going to be no small feat, but I'm looking forward to trying."
The Pitch |
06-09-2010 11:26 am |
Industry News
Boston Phoenix Publisher Recognized by AIDS Walk Bostonnew
AIDS Walk Boston, which took place last weekend, turned 25 this year, and to mark the milestone, walk organizer AIDS Action honored 25 individuals whose contributions to the fight against AIDS have been invaluable. Phoenix publisher Bradley Mindich was one of them. He was lauded for his decision to distribute safer sex kit in every issue of the paper in 1987, as well as the Phoenix's long association with the AIDS Walk. After distributing the kit, Mindich was called a "murderer" in the pages of the Boston Herald and Boston Archdiocese newspaper The Pilot for making birth control freely available, according to AIDS Action.
AIDS Action |
06-09-2010 8:38 am |
Industry News
Who is the Audience of the Alt-Weekly These Days?
When you have a president who not only admits he inhaled but confesses to having used cocaine, it’s time to redefine "alternative," according to Henry Scott. At the Toronto Convention, the newly named publisher of Creative Loafing (Atlanta) and chief marketing officer of all six Creative Loafing papers will discuss what the company is doing to redefine the traditional "alt-weekly" and make it meaningful to an audience that would rather be well employed and raise a family than drop out of society and rebel.
Scott -- a self-professed member of the Woodstock Generation -- says he had long ago quit reading alt-weeklies because he found them irrelevant. He says market research he did at previous jobs at the New York Times and Metro New York showed him that most young people agreed. So he and his Creative Loafing team have rethought their approach, using easily available market research and staff coaching. In Toronto, he'll talk about how they are doing and he'll detail both the research and business aspects of the strategy.
Scott -- a self-professed member of the Woodstock Generation -- says he had long ago quit reading alt-weeklies because he found them irrelevant. He says market research he did at previous jobs at the New York Times and Metro New York showed him that most young people agreed. So he and his Creative Loafing team have rethought their approach, using easily available market research and staff coaching. In Toronto, he'll talk about how they are doing and he'll detail both the research and business aspects of the strategy.
AAN |
06-08-2010 12:24 pm |
Association News
Creative Loafing (Sarasota) Names New Editornew
Creative Loafing (Sarasota) food writer and restaurant critic Brian Ries is taking over the top editor position at the paper, replacing Cooper Levey-Baker, who has left to edit the Florida Independent website. Ries says he will continue his food writing, which leads to an interesting conundrum: he will try to maintain his anonymity while performing a much more public role as the paper's editor. "Soon, there will be plenty of pictures online that restaurants could use to identify me, if they want to go to the bother," he writes. "In my experience, restaurants don't perform well when they know a critic is in the dining room, perhaps because the pressure gets to them. And I won't make it easy for them -- I'll continue to make reservations under another name, use an alias credit card, and shave my legs to match the summer dresses I plan on wearing as a disguise."
Creative Loafing (Sarasota) |
06-08-2010 9:04 am |
Industry News
SF Weekly Releases iPhone Appnew
"SF Weekly has always been your essential guide for where to go, where to eat, and what to do," the paper says, "and now we have, well, an app for that." The free app features easily searchable event and restaurant listings as well as editorial coverage of nightlife happenings and slideshows.
SF Weekly |
06-08-2010 8:42 am |
Industry News
AAN Diversity Grants Recipients Announced
Random Lengths News was approved for a grant to fund Armando Segovia to assist the paper in its investigative news reporting of the paper's large immigrant community. Potential investigations include examining the impact on this community by the area's clean trucks program, as well as various aspects of the Mexican government's "war on the drug cartels." Segovia is a previous recipient of a multimedia fellowship at The Coloradoan, and also has interned at a variety of publications, including El Paso Times, El Conquistador and Al Día.
Oklahoma Gazette also received one of the two grants for this cycle for its proposal for Rachel Bradley to serve as the paper's marketing/PR intern. Bradley, an African American student at the University of Oklahoma, will help the paper with its 2010-2011 marketing plan, writes Marketing Director Jill Brown, which "includes some initiatives targeted toward increasing minority readership and community involvement. We are currently not very knowledgeable about these emerging markets, and feel that Rachel would be an asset to the team." Bradley has received a variety of awards for scholastic achievement, and also has worked as an event intern for The CE Group in San Antonio, Texas, and and as a teacher for the First Baptist Church Kaleidoscope After School program in Norman, Oklahoma.
AAN's Diversity Grant Program awards two $1,250 grants twice annually. The program was instituted by the association in 2001 to help alternative weeklies hire and train top-quality minority journalists. The grants are administered through AAN's Diversity Committee. (FULL STORY)
Oklahoma Gazette also received one of the two grants for this cycle for its proposal for Rachel Bradley to serve as the paper's marketing/PR intern. Bradley, an African American student at the University of Oklahoma, will help the paper with its 2010-2011 marketing plan, writes Marketing Director Jill Brown, which "includes some initiatives targeted toward increasing minority readership and community involvement. We are currently not very knowledgeable about these emerging markets, and feel that Rachel would be an asset to the team." Bradley has received a variety of awards for scholastic achievement, and also has worked as an event intern for The CE Group in San Antonio, Texas, and and as a teacher for the First Baptist Church Kaleidoscope After School program in Norman, Oklahoma.
AAN's Diversity Grant Program awards two $1,250 grants twice annually. The program was instituted by the association in 2001 to help alternative weeklies hire and train top-quality minority journalists. The grants are administered through AAN's Diversity Committee. (FULL STORY)
AAN |
06-07-2010 3:53 pm |
Association News
Nine AAN Board Seats Up for Election
Nine seats on the AAN Board of Directors will be up for election this year at the association's annual meeting in Toronto. Prior to the election, The board of directors will consider adopting bylaw amendments that would reduce the board of directors (which now totals 18) to 16 by eliminating two of the four at-large positions.
The annual meeting will be held in Toronto on Saturday, July 17, during the final day of AAN's upcoming convention.
FULL STORY (FULL STORY)
The annual meeting will be held in Toronto on Saturday, July 17, during the final day of AAN's upcoming convention.
FULL STORY (FULL STORY)
AAN |
06-07-2010 10:56 am |
Association News
Tags: Financial, Management
Boulder Weekly Investigation Leads to New State Law
On May 27, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed Senate Bill 193 into law, making Colorado the ninth state to ban the shackling of inmates during labor and childbirth. The bill was inspired by Boulder Weekly editor Pamela White's investigation into the treatment of pregnant inmates in state prisons and jails. White was also key in drafting the legislation and pushing the bill forward. "I've written lots of news articles and opinion columns. I've written nine published novels," she says. "But I'd never written a bill."
(FULL STORY)
Boulder Weekly Press Release |
06-04-2010 2:13 pm |
Press Releases
'Savage Love' iPhone App Released
Index Newspapers (parent company of The Stranger and Portland Mercury) and Night & Day Studios have released a Savage Love iPhone app, which provides "an interactive take on the love, sex, and relationship advice Dan Savage has been serving up for nearly 20 years," as the press release puts it. The app features a "Question of the Day" updated each afternoon, previous columns and podcasts, and exclusive text and video content. "We thought for sure that the app store would reject this but they approved in record time," Stranger publisher Tim Keck says. "I guess we've lost our touch." The app sells for $1.99, and is tagged in the iTune app store as having "Frequent/Intense Sexual Content or Nudity," "Frequent/Intense Profanity or Crude Humor," and "Frequent/Intense Mature/Suggestive Themes." In other words, everything you love about Savage Love to begin with.
(FULL STORY)
Index Newspapers Press Release |
06-04-2010 10:50 am |
Press Releases
Tom Tomorrow Gets Gold Record for Work on Pearl Jam's 'Backspacer'new
The cartoonist behind "This Modern World" was tapped by Pearl Jam to create the cover for the band's most recent album, Backspacer. Now it has gone gold after selling a half-million units, and the band thanked Tomorrow (aka Dan Perkins) with a framed gold record. "I had no idea they were going to pull me up on stage last week in Hartford, and I had no idea this was in the works. It was an incredibly thoughtful gesture on their part, and I was as moved as you might imagine," Perkins says. "And now I have a gold record, with my name on the plaque and everything -- how cool is that?"
The Washington Post |
06-04-2010 9:17 am |
Industry News
Need Reporting Help? Get a Leg Up with Help from ProPublica
ProPublica director of communications Mike Webb will be on hand at the Toronto Convention to talk about how you can use their data and resources for your own investigative work.
The nonprofit news organization has rolled out a number of collaborative tools since its January 2008 launch, including a "reporting recipe" for how to investigate state boards that license nurses, pharmacists, mortgage brokers and other professionals. That specific tool was borne out of an investigation ProPublica did of California's nursing board that found broad breakdowns in the state's regulation of registered nurses.
Other resources the organization offers include the Stimulus Recovery Tracker and a "Reporting Matchmaker," the first of which hooked home loan modification applicants up with local journalists.
With newsrooms getting smaller, partnerships and collaboration are becoming hot topics in journalism. With a little guidance from Webb, you could well be on your way to a number of solid features that put local names and numbers on the big issues facing the nation.
The nonprofit news organization has rolled out a number of collaborative tools since its January 2008 launch, including a "reporting recipe" for how to investigate state boards that license nurses, pharmacists, mortgage brokers and other professionals. That specific tool was borne out of an investigation ProPublica did of California's nursing board that found broad breakdowns in the state's regulation of registered nurses.
Other resources the organization offers include the Stimulus Recovery Tracker and a "Reporting Matchmaker," the first of which hooked home loan modification applicants up with local journalists.
With newsrooms getting smaller, partnerships and collaboration are becoming hot topics in journalism. With a little guidance from Webb, you could well be on your way to a number of solid features that put local names and numbers on the big issues facing the nation.
AAN |
06-03-2010 12:19 pm |
Association News
Hartford Advocate Launches Pot Advice Columnnew
The Connecticut alt-weekly this week introduced "High Concept," a new pot advice column that aims to "address questions of all the smokers out there" in an "entertaining but also useful and informative" way. "We're hoping there will be smart questions about neuroscience, memory studies, the law, high quality, pot culture, etc.," Advocate managing editor John Adamian says in an email.
Hartford Advocate |
06-03-2010 10:58 am |
Industry News
