AAN News
Sponsors Named for Village Voice's First Annual 'Choice Eats' Tasting Event
The Village Voice Press Release |
02-14-2008 2:06 pm |
Press Releases
Report: 85 Percent of World's Online Population Has Shopped Onlinenew
Center for Media Research |
02-13-2008 6:22 pm |
Industry News
Medill Survives Wave of AltWeekly Awards Entries
In its first year administering AAN's editorial contest, Northwestern University's journalism school processed 1,404 entries, a slight decline from last year's total of 1,490. The decline is probably due to rule changes that resulted in the elimination of two categories and a decrease in the number of entries allowed in other categories. Member participation continues to hover around the 100-mark, with 97 newspapers and seven independent cartoonists submitting work. Finalists will be announced on AAN.org in May.
AAN |
02-12-2008 1:37 pm |
Association News
Testimony Continues in Bay Guardian/VVM Trial
Village Voice Media chief financial officer Jed Brunst and former SF Weekly publisher Chris Keating took the stand yesterday in the predatory-pricing trial. In its wrap-up, the SF Weekly focuses on the part of Brunst's testimony that offered "evidence that Weekly rates have been going up over time," not down. The Bay Guardian, on the other hand, focuses on the "huge amounts of cash" the Weekly and the East Bay Express had lost under New Times/VVM control. The trial takes a day off today for Lincoln's Birthday, and will resume on Wednesday.
SF Weekly | San Francisco Bay Guardian |
02-12-2008 12:07 pm |
Industry News
Philadelphia City Paper Gets Dramatized for V-Daynew
"I Love You, I Hate You" is a City Paper message board filled with rants from people on everything from lust to jealousy to thievery. Allison Heishman has scoured the last three years' worth of postings and culled the best for tonight's dramatic reading at the Azuka Theatre Company's Valentines Party, Metro reports. Heishman, who is literary manager for the theatre company, says she expects a bigger crowd than at Azuka's other events due to the feature's popularity. "It's amazing how many people say, 'that's the first part of the City Paper I read every week'," she says.
Metro Philadelphia |
02-12-2008 8:31 am |
Industry News
Converged Media Platform Propels Boston Phoenix Readership Numbers to Record High
Boston Phoenix Press Release |
02-12-2008 8:37 am |
Press Releases
VVM Witnesses Begin Taking the Stand in Bay Guardian Suit
On Friday, Village Voice Media executive editor Michael Lacey testified in the predatory pricing trial. The Guardian says Lacey "had some trouble answering some key questions" about SF Weekly's ad sales and a 1995 meeting where he met the Weekly staff shortly after purchasing the paper. The Weekly says Lacey's testimony illustrated that his and Bruce Brugmann's "editorial philosophies were worlds apart," and notes that Lacey's testimony showed he is not involved in the business side of VVM's affairs. This is key because of comments he made about being "the only game in town," which the Guardian is using as evidence he wanted to drive them out of business. Patricia Calhoun, editor of Denver's Westword, which New Times bought in 1983, also testified on Friday, and according to the Weekly, she "got on and off the stand in only about twenty minutes, a timely performance that drew appreciative nods from jurors." The trial resumes today.
San Francisco Bay Guardian | SF Weekly |
02-11-2008 12:21 pm |
Industry News
New Widget from Seven Days Links Personals to Facebook
The paper's director of digital development tells AAN News that the widget pulls its "I Saw You" listings into Facebook. "Our users love to check these out to see if they or someone they know has been spotted. Now they don't have to wait a week to read them,"
Bob Kilpatrick says. "The most recent three postings update on their Facebook profile every hour. It brings our brand to mind and increases readership: The widget connects right to our personals site so potential new users can create profiles and start making contacts." If you're interested in finding out more about the widget or having Seven Days build one for your personal ads, email Bob at bob (at) sevendaysvt.com.
AAN News |
02-11-2008 10:14 am |
Industry News
NEPA Names Boston Phoenix 'Newspaper of the Year,' Gives Alts Many Awardsnew
The Phoenix was named "Newspaper of the Year" in the alternative weekly division by the New England Press Association in its 2007 Better Newspaper
Contest. "After 40 years, the Boston Phoenix remains a model for alts, bristling with attitude and loaded with coverage of entertainment, culture, politics, and tweaking of the daily press," the judges say. The Boston alt-weekly led the pack of AAN papers represented in the awards with 12 first-place finishes. Boston's Weekly Dig was close behind it's crosstown competitor, grabbing seven first-place awards. The Portland Phoenix and Worcester Magazine each finished first in three categories, while the Hartford Advocate and the Providence Phoenix each took home one first-place award.
New England Press Association |
02-11-2008 8:50 am |
Honors & Achievements
Large Crowds Flock to San Francisco for AAN Conferences
More than 190 people attended the Web Publishing Conference and 288 attended AAN West last week as AAN members descended on the Hotel Kabuki and the First Unitarian Church in San Francisco for several days of education, networking and fun. Post-conference surveys for both events will be circulated later this week. In addition, Powerpoint presentations featured at the conferences will soon be uploaded to the AAN Resource Library.
AAN Staff |
02-05-2008 6:03 pm |
Association News
Testimony Continues in Bay Guardian/VVM Trial
Former Guardian ad director Jody Colley continued her testimony in that paper's predatory pricing trial against SF Weekly and Village Voice Media yesterday, as did Jennifer Lopez, a former ad sales rep of both papers. Colley's testimony centered on just how many accounts the Guardian may have lost due to alleged ad-price undercutting by the Weekly, and also on the challenges she faces in trying to increase the "unacceptably low prices" that she inherited from Village Voice Media when she took over as publisher of the East Bay Express, which was sold by VVM to by a group of investors in May 2007 and is also named in the suit. The trial resumes this morning.
SF Weekly | San Francisco Bay Guardian |
02-01-2008 11:09 am |
Industry News
Two More Guardian Witnesses Take the Stand in Trial Against SF Weekly
Executive editor Tim Redmond and former ad director Jody Colley were called as witnesses yesterday in the predatory pricing trial against the Weekly and Village Voice Media. Redmond's testimony centered on local ownership and the crucial matter of editorial spending. The Guardian is arguing that the Weekly was trying to put them out of business because it refused to cut editorial spending while it lost money overall. On the other hand, the Weekly reports that Redmond said he has had to struggle with laying off writers and editors over the past few years. "If [ad] revenue goes down, I have to cut costs. The Weekly editors don't have to meet that kind of budget; they can just get more money from headquarters," Redmond writes on the Guardian's blog. Colley, who is now the publisher of the East Bay Express, testified mostly about the Weekly's dealings with concert promoter Billy Graham Presents, which the Guardian claims is an example of illegal below-cost pricing. Her testimony will continue when the trial resumes this morning.
SF Weekly | San Francisco Bay Guardian |
01-31-2008 12:32 pm |
Industry News
Adding Online Video to the Sales Toolkit
In November, the Sacramento News & Review launched its Face to Face Video Ad project. The ads, which have also been rolled out at the company's paper in Chico and will soon hit its Reno paper, are serious, in-depth recorded interviews with vendors about their products and services. News & Review president and CEO Jeff von Kaenel says the idea was inspired by a vacation to India with his teenage daughter, who was shooting and editing video of the trip. "The video technology had gotten so easy to use," he says, it got him thinking about how the paper could take advantage of the technological leaps. So far, the initial reaction to the project has been promising, according to Susan Cooper, sales development manager at the Sacramento paper. In this Q&A with AAN News, she talks in more detail about the project.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
01-28-2008 8:47 am |
Industry News
L.A. Weekly's Annual Biennial is a Hitnew
Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight writes that the only thing missing from the third L.A. Weekly Annual Biennial, "Some Paintings," is "an exclamation mark at the title's end. A whopping 81 paintings by 80 artists, most made recently; here is a show that wants to make a point. And it does, with wit, verve and considerable taste." The show, curated by Weekly art critic Doug Harvey, opened Jan. 19. "Harvey favors an art that expresses a wild and raucous spirit of life," artnet Magazine says. "'Some Paintings' is a perfect antidote to the minimal cool of much successful art, which can often leave one feeling empty."
Los Angeles Times |
01-28-2008 10:44 am |
Industry News
Is a 'Generational Shift' Afoot in the Alt-Weekly Industry?new
That seems to be the opinion of Ed Avis, who looks at the challenges alt-weekly owners are facing in a piece for Quill, a magazine published by the Society for Professional Journalists. Not surprisingly, he says the biggest challenge to the business is the internet. He talks to the Austin Chronicle's Louis Black, Creative Loafing's Ben Eason, and Times Shamrock's Don Farley to see where they are at in relation to the internet, and, more importantly, where they're trying to go. Ultimately, Avis thinks that the challenge of the online market -- in concert with the aging of the original alt-weekly founders -- is what's behind the industry's increased consolidation. Northwestern University professor and Academy for Alternative Journalism director Charles Whitaker agrees. "I think the (older owners) have had difficulty adjusting and figuring out the new media landscape, particularly the internet and things like Craigslist," he says. "At the same time, a group of new owners said, 'We can do this as a chain. We still have our alternative press sensibilities, but by pooling our resources we can run these papers more efficiently than they had been run in the past.'"
Quill |
01-25-2008 10:34 am |
Industry News
