AAN News
Pew: Internet Tops Newspapers As News Sourcenew
Media Daily News |
12-30-2008 9:20 am |
Industry News
Chief Operating Officer Talks About How VVM's Papers Are Faringnew
Responding in part to rumors circulating on a Denver website that Village Voice Media is on the brink of collapse, president and COO Scott Tobias talks to Westword's Michael Roberts about how the company's 15 papers are faring. Tobias says the company as a whole remains profitable and any talk of insolvency is hogwash, but concedes that times are tough. "Are we soft?" he asked. "No question. We go as our local mom and pops go, and our local mom and pops are having a hard time." He also talks about the company's new "uberblogger" strategy, which started with Roberts in Denver. One staff member at each paper is now being tasked with writing a handful of blog posts each day and editing and processing blog posts by other staffers and freelancers. Tobias says the focus on daily content is part of a transition "from a print product to a web platform with a print piece."
Westword |
12-24-2008 11:18 am |
Industry News
Portland Mercury News Editor Heads to City Hallnew
Amy J. Ruiz is leaving the paper to become incoming Portland Mayor Sam Adams' new Strategic Planning and Sustainability Policy Advisor. After congratulating Ruiz, editor Wm. Steven Humphrey gives a message to Adams. "If you think purchasing our employees is going to stop the Mercury from dogging your every decision and step, you are horribly mistaken," he writes. "In fact, our next news hire will make you wish you'd never been born -- in a fair and accurate way, of course."
The Portland Mercury |
12-24-2008 9:26 am |
Industry News
Layoffs Reported at Four Additional AAN Papers
As part of company-wide cuts at Creative Loafing, Washington City Paper and Creative Loafing (Charlotte) have each reportedly laid off two employees. In addition, Mediabistro is reporting on an unspecified number of layoffs at L.A. Weekly, and the Valley Advocate says that last week associate publisher Do-Han Allen and circulation manager Jeffrey Owczarski became "the latest casualties of a series of year-end layoffs by our parent company." A few days after his paper laid off seven, Creative Loafing (Tampa) editor David Warner dedicates his editor's note to a list of "the Top 10 Reasons Layoffs Suck."
AAN News |
12-24-2008 9:17 am |
Industry News
Online Display Ad Spending Dips 6 Percent Through Q3new
Online Media Daily |
12-24-2008 9:19 am |
Industry News
Metro Spirit: Daily's Ad Calling Us Out Works to Our Advantagenew
Last week, we noted that the Augusta Chronicle ran a house ad targeting advertisers who bypassed the daily and bought space in the city's alt-weekly. "We heard nothing about it locally from customers or readers, and skipped over it a number of times as we perused the paper," writes Metro Spirit publisher Bryan Osborn. "All of this points to the fact that buying full pages in The Chronicle is as effective as throwing money into a burning fireplace." He says the daily's ad "is a great advertising testimonial ... for Metro Spirit."
Metro Spirit |
12-23-2008 12:55 pm |
Industry News
Layoffs Hit the Chicago Reader and Creative Loafing (Tampa)new
As the Creative Loafing bankruptcy case winds its way through the courts, Michael Miner reports that the Reader laid off more staffers last week. "Six more layoffs last Thursday reduced this paper's editorial staff to 17," Miner writes. "It was 38 when the old owners sold [Ben] Eason the paper." Creative Loafing (Tampa) also announced a handful of layoffs last week. MORE ON CL: Former Creative Loafing (Atlanta) editor Cliff Bostock offers his take on the problems at the Loaf.
Chicago Reader | Creative Loafing (Tampa) |
12-23-2008 8:49 am |
Industry News
New York Times Co. Hit with Copyright Suit Over Aggregated Contentnew
PaidContent.org |
12-23-2008 9:26 am |
Legal News
More on Huffington Post Concert Preview Dustupnew
HuffPo co-founder Jonah Peretti says the anger directed at the site for lifting entire concert previews from the Chicago Reader and other publications is misplaced. He tells Wired that the complete re-printing was a mistaken editorial call and that the site's intent is to send traffic to other publications when it aggregates content. MORE: Plenty of bloggers jumped on the HuffPo/Reader flap over the weekend. Here are two interesting takes, one from a search engine optimization perspective and another from fair use perspective.
Wired |
12-22-2008 12:54 pm |
Industry News
Recent Newsweek Cover Looks Very Familiar to the Oklahoma Gazette
Last week, Gazette editor Rob Collins alerted AAN News to the striking similarities between Newsweek's Dec. 15 cover and one published by the alt-weekly on Feb. 5, 2004. The Gazette's image, which was designed by art director Chris Street and shot by photographer Shannon Cornman, was one of three Gazette entries that won a 2005 AltWeekly Award. "Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words," Collins says.
AAN News |
12-22-2008 11:25 am |
Industry News
Mountain XPress Implements Cost-Cutting Measuresnew
Employees of the Asheville, N.C., alt-weekly will see an across-the-board cut in pay of between 5 and 10 percent effective Jan. 1, owner and publisher Jeff Fobes announced Friday. The paper has suffered a recent decline in classified and retail advertising, and Fobes expects the slide to continue in 2009. "Our strategy is to share the pain, so we're instituting a company-wide pay cut," he says. "Everyone feels the pain; everyone should have input into what must be an evolving response to the economy." ALSO FROM THE XPRESS: The paper recently discussed its web operations in a feature story on how local publications are dealing with online journalism.
Mountain XPress |
12-22-2008 9:56 am |
Industry News
Isthmus Names New Editornew
Dean Robbins, who has worked at the Madison, Wisc., alt-weekly on and off (mostly on) since 1983, will take over as editor on Jan. 5. "Isthmus has been without an editor in chief since former editor Marc Eisen stepped down from that role in October 2007," writes publisher Vince O'Hern. "Since that time the paper has been guided by an editorial board, which was formed when Eisen relinquished editorial management to concentrate on writing." Robbins, who recently took a six-month leave from the paper to help it through tough economic times, will be the fourth editor in the paper's nearly 33-year history.
Isthmus |
12-22-2008 9:35 am |
Industry News
New York Press Theater Critic Releases Book of Historic Photosnew
Turner Publishing has just released Leonard Jacobs' first book, Historic Photos of Broadway: New York Theater 1850-1970. For the hardcover book, Jacobs chose 240 photographs, organized them into coherent sections, and wrote accompanying text. Calling the book "at once concise and comprehensive," Curtain Up's reviewer writes that "historic photos of Broadway's showplaces and show people need a historian to guide us through these pages with facts and anecdotes, and Leonard Jacobs is just the man to make these pictures come to life."
Playbill | Curtain Up |
12-22-2008 9:03 am |
Honors & Achievements
CJR: L.A. Weekly's 30th Anniversary Issue a 'Forensically Phenomenal Read'new
Columbia Journalism Review |
12-22-2008 3:46 pm |
Honors & Achievements
Philly's Daily Papers Launch Local Music Websitenew
Online Media Daily |
12-22-2008 9:07 am |
Industry News
