AAN News
Nine AAN Board Seats Up for Election
Nine seats on the AAN Board of Directors will be up for election this year at the association's annual meeting in Toronto. Prior to the election, The board of directors will consider adopting bylaw amendments that would reduce the board of directors (which now totals 18) to 16 by eliminating two of the four at-large positions.
The annual meeting will be held in Toronto on Saturday, July 17, during the final day of AAN's upcoming convention.
FULL STORY (FULL STORY)
The annual meeting will be held in Toronto on Saturday, July 17, during the final day of AAN's upcoming convention.
FULL STORY (FULL STORY)
AAN |
06-07-2010 10:56 am |
Association News
Tags: Financial, Management
Boulder Weekly Investigation Leads to New State Law
On May 27, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed Senate Bill 193 into law, making Colorado the ninth state to ban the shackling of inmates during labor and childbirth. The bill was inspired by Boulder Weekly editor Pamela White's investigation into the treatment of pregnant inmates in state prisons and jails. White was also key in drafting the legislation and pushing the bill forward. "I've written lots of news articles and opinion columns. I've written nine published novels," she says. "But I'd never written a bill."
(FULL STORY)
Boulder Weekly Press Release |
06-04-2010 2:13 pm |
Press Releases
'Savage Love' iPhone App Released

Index Newspapers (parent company of The Stranger and Portland Mercury) and Night & Day Studios have released a Savage Love iPhone app, which provides "an interactive take on the love, sex, and relationship advice Dan Savage has been serving up for nearly 20 years," as the press release puts it. The app features a "Question of the Day" updated each afternoon, previous columns and podcasts, and exclusive text and video content. "We thought for sure that the app store would reject this but they approved in record time," Stranger publisher Tim Keck says. "I guess we've lost our touch." The app sells for $1.99, and is tagged in the iTune app store as having "Frequent/Intense Sexual Content or Nudity," "Frequent/Intense Profanity or Crude Humor," and "Frequent/Intense Mature/Suggestive Themes." In other words, everything you love about Savage Love to begin with.
(FULL STORY)
Index Newspapers Press Release |
06-04-2010 10:50 am |
Press Releases
Tom Tomorrow Gets Gold Record for Work on Pearl Jam's 'Backspacer'new

The cartoonist behind "This Modern World" was tapped by Pearl Jam to create the cover for the band's most recent album, Backspacer. Now it has gone gold after selling a half-million units, and the band thanked Tomorrow (aka Dan Perkins) with a framed gold record. "I had no idea they were going to pull me up on stage last week in Hartford, and I had no idea this was in the works. It was an incredibly thoughtful gesture on their part, and I was as moved as you might imagine," Perkins says. "And now I have a gold record, with my name on the plaque and everything -- how cool is that?"
The Washington Post |
06-04-2010 9:17 am |
Industry News
Need Reporting Help? Get a Leg Up with Help from ProPublica
ProPublica director of communications Mike Webb will be on hand at the Toronto Convention to talk about how you can use their data and resources for your own investigative work.
The nonprofit news organization has rolled out a number of collaborative tools since its January 2008 launch, including a "reporting recipe" for how to investigate state boards that license nurses, pharmacists, mortgage brokers and other professionals. That specific tool was borne out of an investigation ProPublica did of California's nursing board that found broad breakdowns in the state's regulation of registered nurses.
Other resources the organization offers include the Stimulus Recovery Tracker and a "Reporting Matchmaker," the first of which hooked home loan modification applicants up with local journalists.
With newsrooms getting smaller, partnerships and collaboration are becoming hot topics in journalism. With a little guidance from Webb, you could well be on your way to a number of solid features that put local names and numbers on the big issues facing the nation.
The nonprofit news organization has rolled out a number of collaborative tools since its January 2008 launch, including a "reporting recipe" for how to investigate state boards that license nurses, pharmacists, mortgage brokers and other professionals. That specific tool was borne out of an investigation ProPublica did of California's nursing board that found broad breakdowns in the state's regulation of registered nurses.
Other resources the organization offers include the Stimulus Recovery Tracker and a "Reporting Matchmaker," the first of which hooked home loan modification applicants up with local journalists.
With newsrooms getting smaller, partnerships and collaboration are becoming hot topics in journalism. With a little guidance from Webb, you could well be on your way to a number of solid features that put local names and numbers on the big issues facing the nation.
AAN |
06-03-2010 12:19 pm |
Association News
Hartford Advocate Launches Pot Advice Columnnew
The Connecticut alt-weekly this week introduced "High Concept," a new pot advice column that aims to "address questions of all the smokers out there" in an "entertaining but also useful and informative" way. "We're hoping there will be smart questions about neuroscience, memory studies, the law, high quality, pot culture, etc.," Advocate managing editor John Adamian says in an email.
Hartford Advocate |
06-03-2010 10:58 am |
Industry News
Westword Receives Award for its Medical Marijuana Coveragenew

The Denver alt-weekly received a "press vape" award for the best medical marijuana coverage of last year at the Colorado Cannabis Caregiver's Cup this weekend. Timothy Tipton, owner of the Rocky Mountain Caregivers Cooperative and organizer of the Cup, says Westword has excelled at covering "the medical marijuana community from a political standpoint, as well as making extra efforts to do reviews ... and provide service to the community."
Westword |
06-03-2010 10:51 am |
Honors & Achievements
Editorial Panel Competition Winners Have Been Chosen

AAN voters have spoken and the results are in. The winner of the 2010 Editorial Panel competition is Bradley Zeve, CEO of Monterey County Weekly. Zeve's proposal "Going Deep for a Baker's Dozen: 12 Quick Investigative Story Ideas," proposed a panel in which three experienced editors discuss how to continue producing hard-hiting investigative pieces even in this era of smaller newspaper staffs. The ultimate goal of the panel, according to the proposal, would be for the editors and attendees to generate 12 investigative pieces members can take home and implement, along with a 13th bonus project for AAN members to undertake together.
As the winner of the competition, Zeve is entitled to one free registration to the convention.
AAN also is offering a half-off registration to the second-place winner, Matt Kettmann, senior editor at Santa Barbara Independent, as well as the offer to transform his panel proposal, "Cultivating the Online Culture" into a roundtable discussion during Thursday's editorial roundtables.
Finally, third place winner Jeff Lawrence, publisher of Boston's Weekly Dig, has agreed to lead what is sure to be a lively roundtable discussion from his "Mister Publisher, Tear Down That Wall!" panel proposal that will explore whether, in this Web 2.0 world, the walls between departments, such as editorial and advertising, need to crumble a little more.
The editorial panel competition is a project of AAN's Editorial Committee to generate new ideas and programming for AAN.
As the winner of the competition, Zeve is entitled to one free registration to the convention.
AAN also is offering a half-off registration to the second-place winner, Matt Kettmann, senior editor at Santa Barbara Independent, as well as the offer to transform his panel proposal, "Cultivating the Online Culture" into a roundtable discussion during Thursday's editorial roundtables.
Finally, third place winner Jeff Lawrence, publisher of Boston's Weekly Dig, has agreed to lead what is sure to be a lively roundtable discussion from his "Mister Publisher, Tear Down That Wall!" panel proposal that will explore whether, in this Web 2.0 world, the walls between departments, such as editorial and advertising, need to crumble a little more.
The editorial panel competition is a project of AAN's Editorial Committee to generate new ideas and programming for AAN.
AAN |
06-02-2010 4:15 pm |
Association News
The Reader's Operations Manager Leaves to Head Local Business Org.new
Sarah Johnson, who has been with the Omaha alt-weekly since December 2008, is leaving to become manager of the Greater Omaha Young Professionals, a group formed by the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce in 2004 to draw younger people into the city's business life. The 27-year-old was reportedly selected from a field of more than 170 applicants.
Omaha World-Herald |
06-02-2010 3:56 pm |
Industry News
The Coast Picks Up National and Regional Journalism Awardsnew
Last weekend, the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) gave out their annual awards -- dubbed "Canada's only recognition for the best in investigative journalism across the country" -- and The Coast took home a first-place win in the Print Feature category. The award went to Matthieu Aikins' story "Unembedded in Afghanistan," and it was the second CAJ award that Aikins has won in two years. Coast editor Kyle Shaw tells AAN News that the paper's work was also a finalist in two other CAJ categories -- Open Newspaper and Award of Excellence for Student Work. Earlier in May, the Halifax alt-weekly took home four silver awards and one gold in the regional Atlantic Journalism Awards.
Canadian Association of Journalists |
06-02-2010 10:07 am |
Honors & Achievements
City Pages Founder Tom Bartel Moving to Ecuadornew
MinnPost |
06-02-2010 10:10 am |
Industry News
2010 AltWeekly Awards Finalists Announced

The judging process is finally complete and the 159 finalists of the 2010 AltWeekly Awards have been established. Nashville Scene led all papers with eleven awards. In the large-circulation division, Boston Phoenix will snag ten awards and L.A. Weekly will pick up nine prizes at the awards ceremony next month.
The final rankings of the winners will be revealed at the AltWeekly Awards luncheon on July 16 in Toronto during AAN's 33rd Annual Convention. Gustavo Arellano, staff writer for OC Weekly and author of the nationally syndicated weekly column '¡Ask A Mexican!', will host the ceremony.
To see the full list of finalists click here. (FULL STORY)
The final rankings of the winners will be revealed at the AltWeekly Awards luncheon on July 16 in Toronto during AAN's 33rd Annual Convention. Gustavo Arellano, staff writer for OC Weekly and author of the nationally syndicated weekly column '¡Ask A Mexican!', will host the ceremony.
To see the full list of finalists click here. (FULL STORY)
AAN |
06-01-2010 2:20 pm |
Association News
Folio Weekly: We've Also Done a Fold-In Cover

Folio Weekly editor Anne Schindler points out that Robert Newman's claim that last week's Village Voice's fold-in cover was "probably the first time" a fold-in had been on the front of a publication is technically incorrect. The Jacksonville alt-weekly ran with a similar idea in 2007. (See the large before and after shots here and here.)
AAN News |
06-01-2010 1:11 pm |
Industry News
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East Bay Express Editor Remembers Gary Coleman Stuntnew

Gary Coleman, best known for his role on the TV sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, died on Friday at the age of 42. Many of his obituaries note that Coleman was an unlikely candidate for California governor in 2003, a piece of "political theater" the East Bay Express created. In a blog post, editor Stephen Buel explains the idea behind the idea. "We would point out the folly of replacing an imperfect but duly elected governor with an actor whose primary appeal appeared to be his fame. Of course, the actor we were wary of wasn't Gary, but Arnold," Buel writes. "But, of course, things didn't turn out like we planned. Far from provoking high-minded discussion about the perils of Hollywood populism, we helped propel the recall into altogether surreal territory. Although the world media lapped up the story, and Gary improvised his lines with sly humor, we soon realized there would be no larger point. Celebrity, it turned out, was the point."
East Bay Express |
06-01-2010 12:52 pm |
Industry News
The Village Voice Releases iPhone Appnew
The Village Voice |
06-01-2010 2:07 pm |
Industry News