AAN News
Obama Reverses Bush Policies on FOIA and Executive Privilegenew
President Barack Obama yesterday reversed a Bush administration policy making it easier for government agencies to deny requests for records under FOIA, and repealed Bush's executive order allowing former presidents or their heirs to claim executive privilege in order to keep records secret, the New York Times reports. "For a long time now there's been too much secrecy in this city," Obama said during a swearing-in ceremony for senior officials. “Transparency and rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency." Secrecy News calls it a "breathtaking series of statements and executive actions" that "gained immense force from the fact that it was presented on the President’s first full day in office."
To read the text of the memos Obama issued to effectuate the changes, click here. MORE: Reaction from the Sunshine in Government Initiative and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy.
The New York Times | Secrecy News |
01-22-2009 12:21 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Willamette Week Reporter Responds to Criticism on Sam Adams Scandalnew
Portland city commissioner Amanda Fritz and University of Oregon journalism ethics professor Tom Bivins both raise questions about whether the public is being served by Nigel Jaquiss' expose revealing that Portland Mayor Sam Adams had a sexual relationship with 18-year-old Beau Breedlove in 2005. But Jaquiss, who won a Pulitzer in
2005 for an investigation exposing a former Oregon governor's sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old girl, says the criticism is misguided. "This is not a story about sex, and it's not a story about sexual preferences," he tells Oregon Public Broadcasting. "This is a story about a politician who has lied, and who has then had to deal with that vulnerability."
Oregon Public Broadcasting |
01-22-2009 9:32 am |
Industry News
OC Weekly Debunks Claim That it Practices Payolanew
"We don't praise restaurants simply because they buy ads, even though our very nice ad reps constantly leave menus on my desk insinuating I should review their clients and even though I've had many run-ins with corporate over the years because of the type of restaurants I review," Weekly staff writer Gustavo Arellano writes in response to one restauranteur's charge that the paper "gives great reviews for people who advertise." Arellano pulls out the statistics to prove his point. "According to records given to me by the Weekly's advertising department of every restaurant that advertised in our rag in 2008, only three restaurants of the 51 that I reviewed last year ever bothered to place an ad."
OC Weekly |
01-22-2009 9:10 am |
Industry News
Creative Loafing Bankruptcy Hearing Delayednew
The hearing scheduled yesterday was set to decide whether CL's creditors can declare their loans in default and take immediate possession of the company from CEO Ben Eason. According to Wayne Garcia, the hearing has been continued until March 11. Garcia says both sides in the case complained about the delay but worked together to develop a new timeline.
Creative Loafing (Tampa) |
01-22-2009 8:41 am |
Industry News
Salt Lake City Weekly Unveils Redesign
Introducing City Weekly's new layout and expanded editorial coverage -- City Weekly is completely redesigned.
(FULL STORY)
Salt Lake City Weekly Press Release |
01-22-2009 12:36 pm |
Press Releases
Sen. Patrick Leahy Applauds President Obama's Transparency Efforts
Sen. Patrick Leahy Press Release |
01-22-2009 12:18 pm |
Press Releases
Tags: Editorial, Management
SGI: 'On Open Government, the Dawn is Breaking'
Sunshine in Government Initiative Press Release |
01-22-2009 12:14 pm |
Press Releases
Tags: Editorial, Management
Free Newspaper Will Use Reprinted Blog Materialnew
The New York Times |
01-22-2009 11:53 am |
Industry News
Survey: Online Video is Top Priority in '09 Digital Marketing Budgetsnew
Permission TV |
01-22-2009 8:57 am |
Industry News
The Village Voice Releases 36th Annual Pazz & Jop Critics' Pollnew
The Village Voice |
01-22-2009 8:49 am |
Industry News
Willamette Week Breaks Story of Mayor's Relationship with Teennew
On Monday, the paper published Nigel Jaquiss' expose revealing that Portland Mayor Sam Adams, contrary to his earlier denials, confessed to having had a sexual relationship with 18-year-old Beau Breedlove in 2005. Adams, who was sworn in as Portland's first openly gay mayor on Jan. 1, apologized yesterday for lying and for forcing Breedlove to lie. Also caught up in the City Hall scandal is the Portland Mercury, which was pursuing the story along with WW. Former news editor Amy J. Ruiz was one of two Mercury writers working on the story; subsequently, Adams hired her to be his planning and sustainability policy adviser. "It never crossed my mind that [Adams] might have hired me to keep me quiet," Ruiz says. Adams says Ruiz earned the position on merit. "Amy was hired because of her smarts," he says. Meanwhile, Mercury editor Wm. Steven Humphrey says that the paper didn't sit on the story, but merely lost the race to the finish line to Jaquiss.
The Associated Press | Willamette Week | The Portland Mercury |
01-21-2009 1:04 pm |
Industry News
AAN's Executive Director Lets The New Yorker Know We're Herenew
In a letter published in this week's New Yorker, Richard Karpel tells the magazine that Louis Menand was bizarrely off the mark when he claimed in his recent story on The Village Voice that "after 1970, the alternative press died out" when "mainstream publications moved into the field."
Karpel writes: "The progenitors of the alternative press ... were founded by trailblazers so far out of the mainstream that forty years later even a scrupulous publication like The New Yorker seems to have forgotten that they exist," MORE: Texas Observer managing editor Brad Tyer weighs in on Menand's piece on his blog.
The New Yorker |
01-21-2009 12:03 pm |
Industry News
Tulsa Daily Drops Alt-Weekly From Libel Lawsuitnew
The Tulsa World agreed yesterday to drop Urban Tulsa Weekly and its editor and publisher Keith Skrzypczak from a libel suit filed last week against the publication and columnist Michael Bates, who remains the lone defendant in the suit. Executives from the World say the Weekly acknowledged it had published incorrect information about the daily newspaper's circulation in Bates' column. "We now understand the legitimate concerns of the Tulsa World and appreciate the chance to sit down with its representatives, review their information and correct the record," Skrzypczak says in a letter to readers.
The Tulsa World |
01-21-2009 9:50 am |
Legal News
Film That Uses Alt-Weekly Porn Festival as Plot Conceit Hits Sundancenew
The plot of Lynn Shelton's Humpday centers on two straight college friends who decide to make a movie for HUMP!, the real-life amateur porn contest produced each year by The Stranger. "It's about the limitations and occasional absurdity of straightness, specifically male straightness," Shelton tells The Stranger. "These two guys try to 'outdude' each other by trying to 'do' each other, which is kind of ironic." Salon critic Andrew O'Hehir says Humpday -- which found a distributor this week -- is an "early candidate for Sundance breakout hit." MORE: Read an interview with Shelton at IFC.com.
The Stranger | Salon |
01-21-2009 8:58 am |
Industry News
Yelp Reviews Have Spawned At Least Five Lawsuitsnew
Online Media Daily |
01-21-2009 10:20 am |
Legal News
