AAN News
More on the Alt-Comics Meltdownnew
Washington City Paper recently saved $8,000 by dropping all of its syndicated comics, the Chicago Reader's Michael Miner reports. City Paper still carries one local strip, "Dirtfarm," only because author Ben Claassen lets the paper run it for free. "City Paper feels like family to me," Claassen tells Miner by way of explanation. But Lynda Barry, who quit her "Ernie Pook's Comeek" strip, and her friend Matt Groening are feeling less familial these days about their former alt-weekly clients. Nevertheless, Groening keeps plugging away, creating "Life in Hell" every week even though his success with The Simpsons has left him financially secure. "I like sitting down once a week and knocking something out all by myself," says Groening. "The rest of my life is full of collaborators."
Chicago Reader |
02-13-2009 3:30 pm |
Industry News
Phoenix New Times Duped by NBA Tattoo Cap Hoaxnew
Takes one to know one? Maybe not. Despite New Times' propensity to publish the occasional tall tale, staff writer Niki D'Andrea admits that this time the paper fell victim to another publication's spoof. In a lengthy cover story about the tattoos of Phoenix Suns basketball players, D'Andrea credulously reported that NBA Commissioner David Stern was proposing a "tattoo cap" limiting each team's "roster as a whole to 61 percent tattoo coverage of the 'upper arms and necks.'" D'Andrea says she picked the story up from Foxsports.com, which posted an item originally published on a blog called the Gerbil Sports Network. Bloggers Alana G, who first caught New Times' mistake, and Heat City, weigh in on the incident.
Phoenix New Times |
02-13-2009 2:36 pm |
Industry News
News Editor Reflects on 10 Years at the Providence Phoenixnew
"I've been privileged to enjoy the alt-weekly journalist's brief of reporting and writing lengthy articles on the various topics, from the serious to the fanciful, appealing to the wide-ranging interests of Rhode Islanders," writes Ian Donnis. He is leaving the alt-weekly to become public radio station WRNI's political reporter.
The Providence Phoenix |
02-13-2009 12:09 pm |
Industry News
Small Local Businesses Not Keeping Up With Online Presencenew
Though 63 percent of consumers and small business owners turn to the internet first for information about local companies and 82 percent use search engines to do so, only 44 percent of small businesses have a website and half spend less than 10 percent of their marketing budget online, according to new research from Webvisible and Nielsen.
The Center for Media Research |
02-13-2009 8:25 am |
Industry News
The Independent Weekly Wins 14 Awards in N.C. Contests
Independent Weekly Press Release |
02-13-2009 2:21 pm |
Press Releases
Judge Orders Web Publisher to Reveal Users' ID Informationnew
A judge in Texas has ordered the site Topix to reveal identifying information about 178 anonymous commenters who allegedly defamed Mark and Rhonda Lesher. The couple was indicted and later acquitted for sexual assault, but in the nine months that the criminal case was pending, people posted more than 25,000 comments to Topix message boards about the charges, some of which were defamatory, according to the 365-page lawsuit.
Online Media Daily |
02-12-2009 1:04 pm |
Legal News
Former Alt-Weekly Columnist Drops Out of Mayoral Racenew
Joe Lance, who wrote the "Civic Forum" political column for Chattanooga's The Pulse until early 2008, entered that Tennessee city's 2009 mayoral race back in November, but has since withdrawn and endorsed former Parks & Recreation director Rob Healy. Election officials tell the Chattanoogan that Lance's name will remain on the ballot because they didn't know he was giving up his run.
The Pulse |
02-12-2009 10:45 am |
Industry News
Tags: Management, The Pulse
AAN Diversity-Program Alum Pens Cover Story
Ling Ma, a 2008 graduate of the Academy for Alternative Journalism, wrote this week's Chicago Reader cover story about the city's Museum of Holography and a controversial bank loan that may spell the museum's demise. The yearly academy trains young journalists in long-form feature writing with the aim of recruiting them into the alternative press. MORE: Read Ma's blog about reporting the story here.
AAN News |
02-12-2009 10:33 am |
Honors & Achievements
Daily Paper Drops Defamation Suit Against Alt-Weekly Columnistnew
The Tulsa World has dropped its suit against Urban Tulsa Weekly columnist Michael Bates after he issued an apology and retraction of his claims that the World had concealed circulation declines and inflated its circulation audits. "My research was flawed and information in my story was false and inaccurate, and I retract those incorrect statements," Bates says in a letter. "I apologize to the Tulsa World and the Urban Tulsa Weekly." The suit had originally named the alt-weekly and its editor/publisher as well, but they were both dropped a few weeks ago.
Tulsa World |
02-12-2009 9:02 am |
Legal News
Call for Applications: Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism
Carter Center Press Release |
02-12-2009 9:12 am |
Press Releases
Tags: Editorial, Management
Federal Shield Bill Reintroduced in the House
A coalition of media companies and journalism organizations that includes AAN applauds the reintroduction of a bill in the House of Representatives that would set federal standards limiting when journalists can be compelled to disclose the identities of their confidential sources. The bill is sponsored by Reps. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Mike Pence (R-IN), John Conyers (D-MI) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) along with 35 co-sponsors. A similar bill will be introduced in the Senate.
(FULL STORY)
Newspaper Association of America Press Release |
02-11-2009 3:14 pm |
Press Releases
Tags: Editorial, Management
AAN CAN Contest: Win a Weeklong Caribbean Trip for Two
Attention sales reps! The top AAN CAN seller between Feb. 9 and April 30 will win his or her choice of a trip to an all-inclusive Caribbean resort or a Caribbean cruise. The winner must meet the individual goal of at least $7,500 of new AAN CAN advertising sold during the contest period. Check out this PDF for more details and contest rules. Each week AAN is also paying $100 to the top salesperson in dollar
volume placing paid AAN CAN advertising that week. In addition, the AAN CAN media kit was recently updated with current information on regional and national rates, participating papers, and circulations. You can download it here.
AAN |
02-11-2009 2:03 pm |
Association News
'New' Models for Journalism Look a Lot Like Alt-Weekliesnew
Business Week's Michael Arndt and Hypercrit's Michael Becker let a little air out of two lofty plans for the future of journalism by noting that both bear some resemblance to an already existing business model. Business Week looks at The Printed Blog, the recently launched weekly print product that repackages blog posts and is currently operating in three cities. The paper's founder, Joshua Karp, says eventually he would like to publish more local content and do so more frequently. "In other words, it would evolve into an alternative newspaper," Business Week notes. At Hypercrit, Michael Becker deconstructs Jane Stevens' idea of "mini-metros," which would be built around a limited number of subjects, perhaps even one beat, but would be exhaustive in those areas. "Stevens' mini-metro model is not exactly a new idea," Becker writes. "The general idea of niche mini-metros has always been with us in the form of alt weeklies."
Business Week | Hypercrit |
02-11-2009 12:20 pm |
Industry News
Oklahoma Gazette Wins Top Honors in State Press Association Awardsnew
The Gazette won one of nine 2008 Sequoyah Awards in this year's Oklahoma Press Association Better Newspaper Contest. The Sequoyah Award, the highest honor in the contest, is based on total points accumulated in all events. The alt-weekly received first place awards in News Content, Layout & Design, Advertising, Sales Promotion, In-Depth Enterprise, Personal Columns, Feature Writing and Photography. It placed second in Editorial Comment; third in Community Leadership; and fourth in News Writing. "A quality alternative weekly," one judge commented. "Great photography. Clever headlines ... wish our paper could attract all those plastic surgeon ads."
Oklahoma Press Association |
02-11-2009 8:42 am |
Honors & Achievements
Survey: Marketers Cutting Costs, Reducing Budgetsnew
Marketing Daily |
02-11-2009 8:45 am |
Industry News
