AAN News
Early Registration Deadline for AAN West is Tomorrow
This Friday is the deadline for early registration for this year's AAN West conference, to be held in San Francisco Feb. 1-2. For AAN members, early registration is $75 per person (non-members pay $150). After Friday, both of those rates go up $25 per person. You can register online here. In addition to the four streams of programming (Business, Design & Production, Editorial, and Sales), the AAN West Planning Committee has some parties planned that are sure to please. On Friday night, the North Coast Journal will host a cocktail reception featuring the best in Northern California wine, cheese, and beer. On Saturday night, the San Francisco Bay Guardian will throw down at Element Lounge. Be sure to check the AAN West website for full details on events and programming, as well as updates as we get closer to February. The registration deadline for the Web Publishing Conference is Jan. 4.
AAN |
12-06-2007 8:58 am |
Association News
Alt-Weeklies Commemorate Kyoto Protocol Anniversary
Fifty alternative newsweeklies in the U.S. and Canada will publish stories this week to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol. The editorial package, conceived and shepherded by staff at Sacramento News & Review, includes a retrospective by author and environmentalist Bill McKibben commissioned by AAN, a look-back by Kyoto participant Ed Smeloff, a drubbing of ABC News Correspondent and global-warming skeptic John Stossel, and a look at the controversial views of Danish environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg. Many of the papers participating in the project are also contributing their own stories focusing on local climate-change issues. Sacramento News & Review Editor-at-large Melinda Welsh says the anniversary was "a chance to reveal to millions of alt-weekly readers how little distance we've traveled these last 10 years toward a solution to this giant problem we've created for ourselves and future generations." Links to Kyoto Protocol Anniversary stories may be found at kyoto.altweeklies.com.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
12-05-2007 10:27 am |
Association News
Hey, That's Not an Alt-Weekly!
According to AAN executive director Richard Karpel, reporters often
mistakenly apply the term "alternative newspaper" to the wrong publications.
So in an effort to "make some small contribution to human understanding and
the brand equity of our member papers," he decided to note every time he
sees the term used incorrectly. In this first edition of "Hey,
That's Not an Alt-Weekly!" -- an irregular series devoted to the correct use of
the term "alternative newspaper" and all its variants -- Karpel explains what an alternative newspaper is and why The Sun News in Santa Fe, N.M., doesn't qualify.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
11-14-2007 8:07 am |
Industry News
House Ad Targeting Potential AAJ Applicants Now Available
It's time to recruit our next class for the Academy for Alternative
Journalism, the training program for long-form writing and
reporting that AAN funds every summer at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. To help spread the word, AAN is making available to members a display ad (PDF file) to run between and now and
the Feb. 8 deadline. Feel free to amend the size of this ad to support your
format, add your logo, or add additional language urging interested applicants to contact your paper directly about the
program. If you have any questions about AAJ, contact Donna Ladd at the Jackson Free Press or Debra Silvestrin at the AAN office.
AAN Staff |
11-12-2007 2:19 pm |
Association News
AAN Membership Application Process Begins
AAN is now accepting applications for the 2007-08 membership year. Alternative newspapers that are interested in applying for membership in the association can download an application here (PDF file). Applications must be received in the AAN office in Washington, D.C. by Dec. 31 to be eligible. As papers that have run the gauntlet know, the AAN membership process is rigorous. To learn more about how the association determines whether a paper qualifies for membership, we encourage potential applicants to read our membership guidelines -- there is a short version and a long version (Word doc). For questions about the process, papers should contact Debra Silvestrin at 202-289-8484 or debra (at) aan.org.
AAN Staff |
11-08-2007 11:25 am |
Association News
Alt-Weeklies Protest Arizona Officials' Outrageous Abuse of Power
To show solidarity with Phoenix New Times, members of AAN are providing links on their websites that direct their readers to the many
places on the internet where the home address of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is listed. Last week, New Times disclosed that its executives, writers, and even its readers were the target of a sweeping grand jury probe relating to the paper's publishing the sheriff's home address online; this disclosure led to the paper's co-founders being arrested. One day later, all charges against New Times were dropped. "Our association and its members won't tolerate this
sort of attack on the right of a member paper to publish information that is
and ought to be public record," says Tim Redmond, AAN First Amendment Chair Tim Redmond and executive editor of the San
Francisco Bay Guardian.
(FULL STORY)
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Press Release |
10-23-2007 11:10 am |
Press Releases
AAN CAN Announces New Contest: Win a European Vacation
The AAN CAN sales rep who generates the most money in new business between Oct. 11, 2007 and Jan. 25, 2008 will receive a 10-day European dream trip for two. The trip includes round-trip airfare and 3 nights each in London, Paris, and Rome. In addition, the sales manager of the winning rep also wins a trip for two to Europe. Sales reps must sell at least $10,000 in new business during the contest period to be eligible to win. For more details, travel restrictions, moral support and/or sales ideas, call Tiffany Kildale at 202.289.8484.
AAN Staff |
10-12-2007 10:23 am |
Association News
AltWeeklies.com Surpasses 25,000-Story Marknew
It took us a little more than 40 months, but yesterday, the 25,000th story was posted to AAN's collaborative news site. While we'd love to say the milestone was marked with one of the in-depth investigations our members are so well-known for, alas, the 25,000th story was a recipe for "Drunken Cherries" from Philadelphia Weekly. It's true: it takes all kinds, especially here at AAN, but perhaps it's fitting that the milestone was marked by a food story, considering alt-weeklies' domination of food-writing awards over the past few years. Either way, there's plenty of content on AltWeeklies.com, be it about politics, food, or whatever else you may be into. "I'm not usually big on milestones, but this one is significant to me because it shows the real development of AltWeeklies.com as a deep, valuable resource for readers and for editors," says AAN senior editor Jon Whiten.
AAN Staff |
09-27-2007 5:38 pm |
Association News
AAN Board Member Resigns, Two Others Appointed
Executive editor Mike Lenehan (pictured) left Chicago Reader, Inc. on Aug. 30, and
as a result he has stepped down from his position as Diversity Chair on the
AAN Board of Directors. AAN president Stephen Leon appointed Jackson Free Press editor and current at-large
board member Donna Ladd to serve the one year remaining in Lenehan's term as
Diversity Chair, and appointed East Bay Express publisher Jody Colley to take Ladd's
at-large seat for the one year remaining in her term. "I think I speak for everyone on the board in expressing our gratitude for
Mike's service over the years," Leon says. "We're going to miss his dry wit, and also his common sense." Lenehan has served on the board since 2002 and was elected as the association's first Diversity Chair in 2004.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
09-18-2007 10:17 am |
Association News
AAN Announces New AltWeeklies.com Application for iPhone Users
AAN has developed a special application for iPhone users (iphone.altweeklies.com), which displays AltWeeklies.com headlines and links to AAN member papers' content. While the application was specifically developed for the iPhone, it works on other mobile devices as well.
(FULL STORY)
AAN Staff |
09-07-2007 12:59 pm |
Association News
Redesign Begins at AltWeeklies.com
As part of a larger redesign and graphic overhaul of the site to be revealed later this year, we've made some initial changes to AltWeeklies.com:
In addition to cutting down on clutter in certain sections, these changes also mark the first step towards a modified folksonomy for organizing the information on the site.
- The "Movies" section is now "Movies+TV" and TV stories have been moved there from the "Culture" section.
- Food and Drink stories now have their own "Food+Drink" section.
- The "Politics" section has been resurrected.
- The "Opinion" section, on the other hand, has been eliminated, and its contents have all been shifted to other sections.
In addition to cutting down on clutter in certain sections, these changes also mark the first step towards a modified folksonomy for organizing the information on the site.
AAN Staff |
08-29-2007 4:31 pm |
Association News
AAN Board Candidates Make Their Pitch
Elections for 11 positions on the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies' Board of Directors will be held Saturday, June 16, during the association's annual meeting in Portland. Nine incumbents and two new candidates have announced their intention to run. Read here to find out what they think the issues are and why they want to serve.
(FULL STORY)
AAN Staff |
06-13-2007 3:54 pm |
Association News
AltWeeklies.com: The Week in Review
In this week's installment: Dubious sub-prime lenders, Philly's mayoral madness, going car-free, domestic partnership's inherent inequality, carbon farming, witnessing an execution, and more.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
05-23-2007 3:49 pm |
Association News
Michael Musto Meets Keith Olbermann ... Finally!new
After talking pop culture on MSNBC's Countdown from a remote location for four years, the Village Voice columnist got to meet Olbermann in the flesh last week when the TV news anchor was awarded the first annual Molly Ivins Award by AAN. "The patron saint of skeptical liberals turned out to be as appealing as he is on the tube," he says in his La Dolce Musto column.
The Village Voice |
05-17-2007 4:38 pm |
Association News
Keith Olbermann Presented With First Annual Molly Ivins Award
At a midday reception in New York last Wednesday, Olbermann accepted the award from AAN president and Memphis Flyer publisher Ken Neill. Olbermann spoke of the crucial role that alt-weeklies played post-9/11 as "the way out of the maze" of suspended disbelief; of the continuing importance to think and question what those in power do and say; and of his foray into the realm of political reporting and commentary.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
05-14-2007 10:52 am |
Association News
