AAN News
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) Names Henry Scott as New Publishernew

Henry E. Scott, who joined Creative Loafing, Inc. as vice president and chief marketing officer in February, has been named the publisher of the company's Atlanta paper. He replaces Luann Labedz, who announced her departure in March, and will be the paper's eighth publisher in six years. "With the declining circulation of the city's only daily, and its decision to move its newsroom [outside the Perimeter], we have emerged as Atlanta's largest-circulation hometown newspaper," he says. "That means we have an even greater responsibility to Atlantans who want to learn how to make the most of life in this sophisticated and cosmopolitan city."
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
05-13-2010 4:05 pm |
Industry News
Gerald Posner Says He's Ready to Sue Miami New Times
Posner, who was fired from the Daily Beast earlier this year for lifting material from the Miami Herald, has retained attorney and author Mark Lane "to prepare litigation against the Miami New Times for accusations about his journalism and interfering with his career as an author," according to a press release issued this morning. The threatened suit comes on the heels of a series of New Times reports that revealed Posner had also plagiarized passages of his latest book, Miami Babylon (including parts from New Times). "We're delighted to have Mr. Lane, an 83-year-old Jonestown survivor, involved," New Times editor Chuck Strouse tells AAN News in an email. "We clearly have nothing against Mr. Posner, though we despise his admitted serial plagiarism. New details on this egregious literary theft -- which is crystal clear -- will be published soon."
AAN News |
05-13-2010 11:02 am |
Industry News
SEE Magazine Driver Dies on the Jobnew
Delivery driver Doug Fletcher suffered a fatal heart attack while delivering SEE last Thursday. He was 74 years old. "He was a very loveable personality," says Lorraine Canuel, Fletcher's wife of 16 years. "Anyone who would talk to him, with anybody that he saw or talked to he was always very personable. He was a good man, a very nice person."
SEE Magazine |
05-13-2010 10:14 am |
Industry News
Local Online and Mobile Ad Spending and Trending: How Does Your Paper Stack Up?

You probably know how much online advertising revenue you're making with
your website, but do you know whether you're doing better or worse than
everybody else in online sales? Borrell Associates, a research and
consulting firm that tracks local advertising and helps media companies
develop executive strategies, is currently conducting a survey of AAN
members and their online advertising revenues. Andrew Martin, a senior
associate with Borrell, will present the results of this benchmarking survey
at the upcoming Toronto Convention on Friday morning, July 16. If you need a
copy of the survey or have any questions, please contact Debra Silvestrin at debra (at) aan.org. The deadline to return the survey is June 4.
AAN |
05-12-2010 3:09 pm |
Association News
Voice Editor to Blogger: Stop Apologizing for Dolan Dick Jokenew
In a blog post titled "MEMO TO FOSTER KAMER, RE: DICK JOKE," Village Voice editor Tony Ortega tells Voice blogger Foster Kamer to "stop apologizing for the damn dick joke" about Cablevision CEO James Dolan that has cost the Voice $1 million in advertising. "There's a reason I told Dolan's people to stuff it when they called to complain about your original blog post," Ortega writes. "And that's because your dick joke was spot-on, and a prime example of what we do around here."
The Village Voice |
05-12-2010 11:40 am |
Industry News
Voice Local Network to Use Analog Analytics for Couponsnew
Village Voice Media Holdings' Voice Local Network has tapped Analog Analytics to provide a local coupon solution for its publications. The company's software offers interactive coupons for local online publishers and advertisers, as well as a scalable platform to integrate and optimize the performance of both traditional advertising like print with online interactive and mobile. "We are constantly seeking ways to enhance and extend local online advertising, going beyond our own sites," VVM president and COO Scott Tobias says in a release. "Interactive coupons in all media are very effective and Analog Analytics does an excellent job in providing this technology."
Analog Analytics Press Release (via Marketwire) |
05-12-2010 9:27 am |
Press Releases
Metro Spirit Taps New Publisher, Buys Local Magazinenew
Portico Publications has acquired the Augusta, Ga. monthly event magazine Verge and tapped its founder, Matt Plocha, as the new publisher of Metro Spirit. Plocha replaces Bryan Osborn, who vacated the position last month.
Metro Spirit |
05-11-2010 4:53 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
OC Weekly & Houston Press Win Maggie Awardsnew
The Western Publishing Association held its banquet on Friday and announced the winners for its annual Maggie Awards, which go to work deemed "The Best in the West." With all five finalists in the overall Tabloids/Consumer category being Village Voice Media papers, we knew an alt-weekly would win, but which would it be? OC Weekly ended up taking home the first-place prize in that category, and the Houston Press finished first for Best Public Service Series or Article/Trade & Consumer for staff writer Chris Vogel's December 2009 story on toxic polluters and lax enforcement at the Houston Ship Channel.
Western Publishing Association |
05-10-2010 4:58 pm |
Honors & Achievements
Cablevision Head Pulls Even More Advertising from The Village Voicenew
A little over a month ago, Cablevision subsidiary Independent Film Center pulled its $400/week print ad from the Voice in reaction to a blog post that included a dick joke about Cablevision CEO James Dolan. "That same post has now resulted in all Madison Square Garden Entertainment advertising being pulled from the Village Voice," Foster Kamer reports. "Furthermore, LiveNation -- one of America's biggest concert promoters -- has now pulled all of its advertising from the The Village Voice at the behest of James Dolan, whose MSG Entertainment employs the services of Live Nation/Ticketmaster in their ticketing and promotions operations. In toto, a mediocre dick joke about a media acquisition has now cost this company upwards of $1M in yearly advertising revenue."
The Village Voice |
05-07-2010 4:07 pm |
Industry News
The Village Voice Obtains, Publishes Secret NYPD Tapesnew

For more than a year, a Brooklyn police officer secretly recorded his fellow officers and superiors and those tapes have now been obtained by writer Graham Rayman and published by the Village Voice. "They provide an incredible composite into the goings-on of those entrusted with the law, the ones New Yorkers don't know about, and the ones they would definitely want to," Voice blogger Foster Kamer writes. "And the results are as astounding as they are infuriating." The Washington Post's Story Lab agrees, saying the tapes and the story "[capture] a rare look inside the New York City police department. ... Taken together, the recordings provide an intimate look into a place that has been for the most part hidden from the media and the public."
The Village Voice |
05-07-2010 3:23 pm |
Industry News
After Alt-Weekly's Letter, First Amendment Group Sues L.A.new
On April 28, the California First Amendment Coalition (CFAC) filed a legal complaint against Los Angeles after the council refused to "cure and correct" an inadequately noticed Feb. 18 agenda item that called for 4,000 city workers and positions to be cut. This complaint follows a letter sent by Random Lengths News publisher James Preston Allen to City Council president Garcetti and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich protesting what his paper believes to be a violation of the Brown Act. After Garcetti and Trutanich failed to respond, Allen contacted CFAC, which decided to file suit.
Random Lengths News (via AltWeeklies.com) |
05-07-2010 2:35 pm |
Industry News
Phoenix Media Lays Off 10, Including Some Top Employees
Phoenix Media/Communications Group, which owns the Boston, Portland and Providence Phoenix papers, has let ten employees go. The layoffs include CFO/COO Richard Gallagher; corporate controller Michael Notkin and assistant corporate controller Chris Crandall. The Weekly Dig broke the news of the changes yesterday when it published a staff memo sent by Phoenix Media president Bradley Mindich, which says Mindich will take over some of Gallagher's duties, while Mike Fuller will take on the interim CFO/COO role as they search for a replacement. "This is the sort of strategic reshuffle that prudent companies engage in to stay on top in demanding markets," Phoenix executive editor Peter Kadzis says in a statement released last night. His comments are echoed by Mindich, who tells AAN News in an email that Phoenix Media is focused on "performance across the board" and "ensuring we have the best of the best here to continue to execute our multi-platform strategy." MORE from the Boston Herald.
Boston's Weekly Dig | Boston Herald |
05-07-2010 8:00 am |
Industry News
Portland Mercury Turns 10new
On June 5, the Mercury is throwing an anniversary party to celebrate, as Ezra Caraeff puts it, "a decade of lowering the local journalism bar -- and single handedly ruining the print industry."
Portland Mercury |
05-07-2010 7:37 am |
Honors & Achievements
Tags: Management, The Portland Mercury
Treme Character Works for the Village Voicenew
David Simon, whose harsh portrayal of the Baltimore Sun in The Wire caused a minor stir in media circles a few years ago, is back with a new HBO series, Treme, which also features a reporter character: Jill, a Village Voice reporter played by Danai Gurira. "We'd hope for an honest portrayal of what it's like to work at the Village Voice, and we got one," the Voice's Foster Kamer writes. The character "is first greeted at an awesome, hopping party (which we all go to, nightly) by legendary Jazz critic (and Voice alum) Stanley Crouch, and told how great a piece she wrote was. It happens. She's then greeted by another legendary cultural critic, Nelson George, and asked how the Village Voice is treating her. She replies in the ambivalent-affirmative ("Ehh. Good enough.") thus accurately conforming to Page 121, Paragraph 3, Section A of the Village Voice Media Holdings, LLC employee handbook."
The Village Voice |
05-06-2010 3:51 pm |
Industry News
It's Official: Scientologists are Creative Loafing (Tampa)'s New Landlordsnew
As we noted two days ago, the local branch of the Church of Scientology was in talks to buy the building that Creative Loafing recently settled into in Tampa's Ybor Square area. This morning CL's David Warner is reporting that the building was indeed sold to the church, per a letter sent last night to CL's CFO.
Creative Loafing (Tampa) |
05-06-2010 2:27 pm |
Industry News