AAN News
'Dilbert' Creator Gives Seattle Weekly Cartoonist a Makeovernew
On the Dilbert blog, Scott Adams has been suggesting ways that Scott Meyer's comic "Basic Instructions" might be made ripe for daily-newspaper syndication, Seattle Weekly reports. The strip currently runs only in the Weekly and on Meyer's website. The readers of Adam's blog have been serving as the focus group as Meyer has tried the various tweaks proposed. "I'm keeping an open mind and giving a shot to anything he suggests," Meyer tells the Weekly.
Seattle Weekly |
08-22-2007 1:13 pm |
Industry News
Seattle Weekly Story Leads to Firing of High School Tennis Coachnew
Earlier this month, Aaron Silverberg, the self-proclaimed "Buddhist tennis coach," was the subject of a Seattle Weekly profile highlighting his flute playing and his reading of sensual poetry to the girls he coached at Ballard High School. Last week, Silverberg was fired, according to the Weekly. He says the school's principal told him that "no matter what, when someone sees something with young girls referring to sex, it puts me in a gray area." For its part, the Weekly wonders why it took them to bring this to the light. "Where was the oversight from Ballard administrators? Why did it take a newspaper story to make them aware of Silverberg's supposed improprieties?"
Seattle Weekly |
06-28-2007 10:59 am |
Industry News
Tags: Management, Seattle Weekly
The Independent Weekly Wins Casey Medalnew
The North Carolina alt-weekly took home a first place prize in the nondaily category for Mosi Secret's story of one man's struggles to overcome addictions to find meaningful, legal work through a Durham jobs program. The paper will receive a Casey Medal and $1,000 at a ceremony this October. AAN members swept this category, with Seattle Weekly's Nina Shapiro finishing second, and Phoenix New Times' Sarah Fenske receiving an honorable mention.
Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families |
06-13-2007 11:03 am |
Honors & Achievements
Seattle Weekly Makes Waves with F-Bomb on the Covernew
KOMO-TV says it "has received several viewer e-mails" complaining about this week's Seattle Weekly cover (pictured), which features an illustration of a kid wearing a T-shirt that reads "Fuck School." The TV station assumes "the paper made the bold move to make people pick up the paper," and talks to a few angry Seattle residents, but finds others who certainly don't seem to mind. Managing editor Mike Seely explains the decision to KOMO, saying "I took a look at the guy on the cover and I thought, 'what is this guy thinking?' And it was crystal clear." On the Weekly's blog, editor-in-chief Mark Fefer writes that the paper didn't go with the cover "just to get attention or stoke controversy." He adds: "I take no pleasure whatsoever from knowing that many people -- mostly (I think) people who aren't the paper's readers -- took offense."
KOMO-TV |
05-14-2007 9:15 am |
Industry News
Former Seattle Weekly Editor Details Stalking Episodenew
Knute Berger says over the last few years he was at the Weekly, a stalker constantly harrassed him with letters and packages containing threats, hypodermic needles, and, once, even a bullet. Most of the packages came to the Weekly's office, but some were delivered to his home as well. He says the stalker also sent mail threatening to blow up places like Starbucks, with Berger's name on the return address. Eventually, after he left the Weekly, Seattle police apprehended a suspect, who is being charged with one count of stalking. "People in journalism are used to getting angry calls and nasty letters and e-mails," but this campaign clearly went beyond that, Berger says. "My writing was putting my family at risk."
Crosscut Seattle |
04-06-2007 9:33 am |
Industry News
Seattle Weekly's Founding Editor to Launch Regional News Sitenew
David Brewster, who sold his interest in the Seattle alt-weekly in 1997, has recruited two other former Weekly staffers to work on Crosscut, which will cover Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and parts of British Columbia, according to the Seattle Times. Former Managing Editor Chuck Taylor will be Crosscut's editor, while former Editor-in-Chief Knute "Skip" Berger will write for the site, set to launch March 12. Brewster says he started working on Crosscut about 18 months ago, to counteract "the growing fatalism of Seattle journalism."
The Seattle Times |
02-14-2007 12:36 pm |
Industry News
Alt-Weekly Adult Ads Lead to Sex Sting in Seattle Suburbnew
After an investigation that began when a detective saw an ad for Paradise Tanning in the Seattle Weekly's "sensual" section in August, the Everett, Wash., police have cited one employee of the spa with prostitution, reports the Daily Herald. An undercover detective and three other men working with police say they were offered sex for money at the spa, according to a search warrant filed Monday in Everett Municipal Court. Paradise also placed ads in The Stranger. "I'm not sure why people think police don't look at these newspapers. We are paying attention and we will respond as we need to," Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz says.
The Daily Herald |
02-07-2007 1:12 pm |
Industry News
Seattle Weekly Writer Spells -- and Drinks -- His Way to King Beenew
Gavin Borchert, an arts writer for the alt-weekly, has triumphed in the first Seattle Spelling Bee, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The newly crowned 43-year-old champion defeated 11 other contestants -- including fellow AAN-affiliated writer Andrew Bleeker of The Stranger -- in an alcohol-drenched evening of "cockalorums" and "gjetost." For his efforts, Borchert received $200 in cash and gift certificates. That, and glory glorious glory.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
01-10-2007 4:17 pm |
Honors & Achievements
Tags: Editorial, Seattle Weekly
Showdown: Rival AAN Staff Writers Face-Off in Seattle Spelling Beenew
The Stranger's Andrew Bleeker and Seattle Weekly's Gavin Borchert will compete with 10 other finalists in the championship round of the Seattle Spelling Bee on Jan. 8, reports Bleeker in the Stranger. The event is the culmination of six months of alcohol-drenched semi-finals. "Over the course of [the] monthly events, the Seattle Spelling Bee has inspired nerves and drinking in equal measure," writes Bleeker. "This is far from a two-horse race, though -- everyone in the finals has the chops to win. ... Hearts will break, honor will flourish, and at least one person will get spectacularly drunk."
The Stranger |
01-04-2007 4:19 pm |
Industry News
Tags: The Stranger, Seattle Weekly
Former Columnist Details Estrangement From Post-Merger VVM Papernew
Geov Parrish, a Seattle Weekly columnist who resigned in August, is airing his grievances with the alternative weekly. In a column in Eat the State!, a twice-monthly Washington state political and opinion journal, Parrish
laments the acquisition of his paper's parent company, Village Voice Media, late last year by New Times. "The new Seattle Weekly is being run by an enormous corporation that will run it the same way they'd run a widget factory," he writes. While much of Parrish's criticism of the reconstituted, 17-paper VVM is familiar, he offers an up-close-and-personal account of the impact of the merger on a single paper.
Eat the State! |
10-23-2006 10:11 am |
Industry News
Mark Fefer Named Editor in Chief of Seattle Weekly
Fefer previously worked at the Weekly from 1995 to 2004: He was a staff writer until he was promoted to arts and culture editor in 2002. He has spent the last two years in New York City, most recently working as an editor for Bloomberg News. His first day will be Oct. 3, Village Voice Media announced in a press release Monday.
(FULL STORY)
Village Voice Media Press Release |
09-11-2006 12:46 pm |
Press Releases
Merriam-Webster Quotes Knute Berger
A wordsmith at Seattle Weekly who subscribes to the word-a-day email from Merriam-Webster Dictionary noticed a familiar name in her inbox this morning. A quotation from the Weekly's former Editor in Chief, Knute Berger, appeared as a usage example for the term "instauration." The complete definition and quote can be seen on Post Alley, Seattle Weekly's blog.
08-29-2006 1:33 pm |
Industry News
Former Alt-Weekly Writers Dish the Seattle Media Scene
Geov Parrish, former staff writer for Seattle Weekly, and Sandeep Kaushik, ex-writer for the Stranger, last week participated in a "Podcasting Liberally" panel about "the fate of the post-purge Weekly in Seattle’s tech-savvy, blog-heavy media market." Parrish worked at the Weekly for eight years before resigning last week, and he doesn't pull punches when describing his differences with the new Village Voice Media management, especially his feeling that they "don't get" online content. Other panelists, however, argue that the Weekly is "oppressed by the weight of its own history" and the VVM changes may bring a younger audience to the paper. The panel also discusses Slog as guilty pleasure and Skip Berger's resemblance to Jerry Garcia. The complete podcast is available for download here.
08-18-2006 12:12 pm |
Industry News
Last Day at Seattle Weekly for Berger, Other Editorial Staffersnew
Seattle Weekly |
08-18-2006 1:07 pm |
Industry News
Old-Timers Bid Farewell as Seattle Weekly Shifts Focusnew
Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
08-17-2006 10:06 am |
Industry News
