AAN News

Ted Rall Loses Job at United Medianew

His position for the syndicate -- editor of acquisitions and development -- has been eliminated. Over the past few years, Rall had successfully brought several alt-cartoonists into the fold at United, including Keith Knight ("The Knight Life") and the Weekly Dig's Tak Toyoshima ("Secret Asian Man"). Rall, who had held the acquisitions job since 2006, says he will still be drawing comics and writing columns for United.
Rall.com  |  04-22-2009  12:18 pm  |  Industry News

City Newspaper Hosts 'Recession Procession'

The Rochester, N.Y., alt-weekly has organized a neighborhood crawl featuring special discounts on everything from guitar strings to eyebrow waxing to booze. "The Recession Procession was originally conceived as our version of a bar crawl, but tweaked to appeal to our too-cool-for-a-bar-crawl readers," City features editor Eric Rezsnyak tells AAN News. "Given the current economy, a 'F**k the Recession!' theme seemed like a perfect fit." Rezsnyak says the local businesses have "totally embraced the spirit of the event" and are contributing creative ideas for deals. The Recession Procession is scheduled for May 7 from 5-8 pm.
AAN News  |  04-21-2009  3:06 pm  |  Industry News

Philadelphia Weekly Wins State Press Awardsnew

The Weekly won 11 Keystone Press Awards this year, including first place finishes in the Column, Feature Photo, General News and Personality Profile categories.
Pennsylvania Press Association  |  04-21-2009  8:50 am  |  Honors & Achievements

Sen. Kerry to Hold Senate Hearings on Newspapers' Economic Woesnew

The Boston Globe  |  04-21-2009  11:41 am  |  Industry News

Two Alt-Weeklies Are Up for 2009 EPpy Awardsnew

Two AAN members are finalists in this year's EPpy Awards, which "honor the best websites in the media world." Las Vegas Weekly is a finalist for best entertainment website with fewer than one million unique monthly visitors, while Baltimore City Paper is a finalist for best weekly newspaper-affiliated website, a category the Santa Barbara Independent won last year. Winners of the awards, which are sponsored by Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek magazines, will be announced on May 7.
Editor & Publisher  |  04-20-2009  4:49 pm  |  Honors & Achievements

The Austin Chronicle Set to Host its First-Ever Mayoral Debate

The Hustle for Mayor event, which is scheduled for tomorrow night, will feature campaign-themed drink specials and a "no-holds-barred rhyme-off" between the candidates. "I've been to tons of election forums where the candidates outnumber the folks in the audience," says forum creator and host Wells Dunbar. "With The Hustle for Mayor, the Chronicle and I are really excited to promote and present a fun and informative forum, one that we think will attract younger voters who wouldn't ordinarily turn up." (FULL STORY)
The Austin Chronicle Press Release  |  04-20-2009  11:57 am  |  Press Releases

Forecast: Global Ad Spend Will Decrease 6.9 Percent in '09new

A new report from ZenithOptimedia predicts a steep decline in North America and Western Europe, as businesses look for more ways to cut costs. The forecast says that internet will be the only medium to grow this year, with most of its growth coming from search advertising.
The Center for Media Research  |  04-20-2009  10:25 am  |  Industry News

Metro Spirit Editor Receives Community Awardnew

Tom Grant was presented with the 2009 Louis Harris Award by the The Augusta West Rotary Club yesterday. The award honors the memory of Harris, a community leader and longtime editor of The Augusta Chronicle and Augusta Herald.
The Augusta Chronicle  |  04-17-2009  9:12 am  |  Honors & Achievements

East Bay Express is Moving Officesnew

East Bay Express  |  04-17-2009  9:13 am  |  Industry News

Keith McGinnis Talks About Philadelphia Weekly's Site Redesignnew

McGinnis, who is management information systems (MIS) director for PW parent company Review Publishing, says they started sketching out the new site at the end of 2007. The Weekly unveiled the redesign early last month. "From a design perspective, it was about making [the site] look more pleasing," he says. "From a traffic perspective it was about decreasing bounce rate and increasing time on site."
Technically Philly  |  04-16-2009  12:07 pm  |  Industry News

New Nonprofit News Site Partners with Seattle Weeklynew

The Weekly says it will be linking to stories from the Seattle Post Globe, and the new site will be doing the same with Weekly stories. In addition, the alt-weekly's sales staff will be selling ads on the new site. More on the Seattle Post Globe from the Seattle Times.
Seattle Weekly  |  04-15-2009  12:51 pm  |  Industry News

Media Executives Plan Online Service to Charge for Contentnew

Steve Brill and his partners say they're building an automated system to allow newspapers and magazines to charge for online access, including a subscription that would allow access to multiple publications.
The New York Times  |  04-15-2009  12:44 pm  |  Industry News

First Quarter Newspaper Ad Revenue Could Fall as Much as 30 Percentnew

Industry executives and analysts tell the New York Times that many large papers will be reporting the sharpest drop ad revenue in generations as they begin to release first-quarter results this week. Small papers aren't faring quite as badly as large ones, according to the Times, and there is a hope among publishers that losses for the rest of 2009 will not be as steep as the first quarter's.
The New York Times  |  04-15-2009  11:55 am  |  Industry News

The East Bay Express Announces the Angel Business Builder

The alt-weekly is rolling out a program "designed to help exceptional businesses get off the ground in exchange for a share in the growth." Once a business is chosen, it will be officially paired with the Express as a marketing/community partner. The paper will subsidize the local marketing of the business in exchange for seeing a return when it grows. (FULL STORY)
East Bay Express Press Release  |  04-15-2009  11:06 am  |  Press Releases

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