AAN 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
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
AAN Office Closed for MLK Day and Inauguration
AAN headquarters will be closed Monday and Tuesday in observance of the Federal holidays.
AAN |
01-19-2009 8:16 am |
Association News
Survey: Independent Retailers Outperformed Chains Over Holidays
A survey of 1,142 independent retailers by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance found that holiday sales among the indies declined by an average of five percent in 2008, far less than the loss of holiday business suffered by chain stores. The survey also found that independent retailers in cities with active "Buy Local" campaigns, such as the organized efforts that more than 70 AAN members took part in this year, reported much stronger holiday sales than indies in non-"Buy Local" cities.
(FULL STORY)
Institute for Local Self-Reliance Press Release |
01-15-2009 1:02 pm |
Press Releases
Advocacy Groups Ask the FTC To Protect Mobile Privacynew
In a 52-page complaint to be filed with the Federal Trade Commission today, the Center for Digital Democracy and U.S. Public Interest Research Group allege that emerging mobile marketing shops are using "unfair and deceptive" behavioral targeting strategies. The groups are asking the FTC to probe how mobile ad companies deploy techniques like behavioral targeting and geo-targeting. The complaint also asks the FTC to force the companies to notify consumers about how their data is used, and seek explicit consent to its collection.
Online Media Daily |
01-13-2009 11:41 am |
Industry News
New Report Offers 206 Revenue-Boosting and Cost-Cutting Tipsnew
Kim A. Mac Leod of Regional Media Advisors and Seija Goldstein of Seija Goldstein Associates recently interviewed more than 60 regional publishers of every stripe, from alt-weeklies to business journals to city magazines, to find out what they are doing to generate revenue and reduce expenses. The results, broken down into 12 categories, are now available on the Regional Media Advisors website.
Regional Media Advisors |
01-12-2009 11:38 am |
Industry News
Flooding Forces The Stranger to Reprint Last Week's Issuenew
"Since it's printed in Yakima, a semi truck filled with tens of thousands of copies of The Stranger is sitting on the other side of the 10-feet-deep body of water that used to be known as I-5," editor Christopher Frizzelle wrote last Thursday. The alt-weekly reprinted the entire issue at the Seattle Times printing facility and distributed it a little late. "Enjoy this week's paper," Frizzelle wrote. "It was very expensive."
The Stranger |
01-12-2009 11:19 am |
Industry News
Phoenix Media Prez Talks About Purchasing a Spanish-Language Weeklynew
In an interview with New England Ethnic News, Brad Mindich explains why, when other media companies are slashing staff, he thought buying Boston's El Planeta newspaper was a good move. "This is a good niche product that expands what we do," he says, adding that the new acquisition will retain complete editorial control but will share content with the group's other titles when it makes sense. When asked why Phoenix Media chose El Planeta over other Spanish-language publications, Mindich says: "If you look at the other Hispanic newspapers published in this area, with all due respect, they are not very good." That comment has raised the ire of said publications.
New England Ethnic News |
01-09-2009 2:32 pm |
Industry News
Study: Marketers Will Focus on Content Creation and Social Media in '09new
Marketers are directing their budgets toward content, custom media and social media initiatives, according to a new study. Fifty-six percent of marketing decision-makers plan to increase their content marketing spending next year, while only 13 percent said they plan to decrease it.
Online Media Daily |
12-30-2008 9:25 am |
Industry News
Pew: Internet Tops Newspapers As News Sourcenew
Media Daily News |
12-30-2008 9:20 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
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
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
Philly's Daily Papers Launch Local Music Websitenew
Online Media Daily |
12-22-2008 9:07 am |
Industry News
David Carr: Small NJ Paper Shuns the Web and Thrivesnew
The New York Times |
12-22-2008 9:06 am |
Industry News
