AAN News
Discounted NewsU Webinar on Mobile News Production Next Wednesday
AAN members have the opportunity to participate in a live webinar from Poynter's NewsU that focuses on mobile media and producing news in the digital age. "Mobile Media 101: Producing News with Your Smartphone" is scheduled for Wednesday, March 3, at 2 pm Eastern time. The first 25 AAN registrants using the AAN discount code will get a special rate of $9.95.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
02-24-2010 11:47 am |
Association News
Erik Wemple Says His New Job is 'an Enormous Opportunity'
After announcing yesterday that he was leaving Washington City Paper to edit a new local news website being launched by Allbritton Communications (the folks behind Politico), Wemple and Allbritton's Jim Brady made the media rounds to talk about the move. Here are some highlights:
- Wemple tells Politico he's excited about the potential of the new site: "I think the possibilities, the horizons, really open up if you look at the talent and the resources that are behind this."
- The site will try to incorporate work from Politico and Allbritton's two local TV operations, Wemple tells the Washington Post: "We're hoping to really carve some new ground as to how a TV and web operation can mutually reinforce themselves."
- Brady explains to Washington Business Journal why he hired Wemple: "When you read the City Paper, you get a sense they're really having fun. That's not happening in a ton of places in journalism these days."
- Wemple says he hopes to launch the site with between 15 and 20 reporters; DCist wonders if any will be current City Paper staffers.
AAN News |
02-24-2010 9:56 am |
Industry News
Gambit Picks Up Longtime Times-Picayune Columnistnew
Pulitzer-nominee Chris Rose, who took a buyout from the New Orleans daily last fall, has begun writing a column -- "Rose-Colored Glasses" -- for the Gambit. In his first piece, Rose talks about leaving the Times-Picayune after 25 years, and his new life as a freelancer. "Over the past year or two, I have cast about for alternative ideas to the Big City Daily," he writes. "I'm a newspaperman through and through, a wretched, ink-stained malcontent for whom information is currency and life is spent on one harrowing deadline after another, and I consider the job done well only if you have ruined somebody else's day."
Gambit |
02-24-2010 8:44 am |
Industry News
Washington City Paper Editor Erik Wemple is Leaving the Papernew
Wemple told the City Paper staff this morning that he's leaving in mid-March to edit a new local news website being launched by Allbritton Communications. Wemple has been affiliated with City Paper on and off since 1994, and has edited the alt-weekly since 2002. Wemple says Jim Brady, the former editor of Washingtonpost.com whom Albritton tapped to lead the new project, wants the new site to have the "Washington City Paper voice and feel and sense of authority about local stuff."
Washington City Paper |
02-23-2010 11:57 am |
Industry News
True/Slant Columnist Picks Two Alt-Weekly Pieces as 2009's Bestnew
Conor Friedersdorf, in his annual roundup of the year's best journalism, spotlights two very different pieces from alt-weeklies as exemplary work. First, Mark Groubert's "Box of Broken Dreams," which appeared in LA Weekly in January, gets a nod for "Exceptional Storytelling," along with pieces from This American Life, the Washington Post and Esquire. Meanwhile, Matt Taibbi's New York Press takedown of Thomas Friedman -- "Flat N All That" -- gets the nod for "Best Rant," with Friedersdorf writing that it puts Friedman "so far up a creek he'll need three shovels and a steering wheel to spelunk himself out."
True/Slant |
02-23-2010 11:45 am |
Industry News
Miami New Times Brings On Former 2 Live Crew Frontman as Columnistnew
While its sister paper Seattle Weekly counts rockers Krist Novoselic (of Nirvana fame) and Duff McKagan (from Guns N' Roses) as columnists, Miami New Times has brought on Luther Campbell, the former leader of raunch-rappers 2 Live Crew, to write a column. "It's the perfect place for me. I am a free-speech guy," Campbell says. "It's just a match made in Heaven. Can you believe that? Me turned loose on the world in New Times. Wow."
Miami New Times |
02-23-2010 10:23 am |
Industry News
Georgia Straight Puts All Hands on Deck for Olympics
As the 2010 Winter Olympics enter their final week, Vancouver's alt-weekly continues to work round-the-clock to cover both the games themselves, as well as all the cultural and entertainment happenings coinciding with the international competition. Straight editor Charlie Smith tells AAN News that they opted not to produce any special print editions, and have had to actually tweak their print distribution strategies in light of the influx of people and numerous street closings. Online, though, he says the Straight has been going all out, with nearly all of the editorial staff covering some aspect of the games, including stories that have been picked up in Europe. The paper's running all Olympic coverage through a main Olympic portal, and it is also running a dedicated Olympics blog and featuring numerous Olympic photo galleries. Smith says the comprehensive coverage has translated to a "huge spike" in web traffic. "In the first week, traffic was up more than 100 percent," he says.
AAN News |
02-22-2010 2:27 pm |
Industry News
NUVO Managing Editor Co-Authors Environmental Humor Book
NUVO's Jim Poyser has a side project with longtime friend Michael Jensen, a website -- ApocaDocs.com -- that aims to bring humor to "the horror of environmental collapse." Now the duo have released a free book, Converging Emergencies: 2010-2020. "Global warming and industrial toxins are combining to create a fragile environment, yet in some parts of the world, the status quo still seems OK," a release announcing the book reads, "thus need to educate -- via entertainment -- about our planet-wide predicament." MORE: Poyser tells AAN News that the ApocaDocs are offering their weekly PANIQuiz feature, free of charge, to any AAN member papers who may be interested.
(FULL STORY)
ApocaDocs Press Release |
02-22-2010 9:50 am |
Press Releases
Huffington Post Rolls Out 'College' Sectionnew
The Washington Post |
02-22-2010 10:00 am |
Industry News
Tags: Electronic Publishing, Management
Bartash Wins Six Printing Awards in National Competition
Bartash Printing Press Release |
02-22-2010 9:57 am |
Press Releases
Arellano: NPR's 'Ask an Arab' is an 'Ask a Mexican' Rip-offnew
"Those geniuses at NPR, the network that thinks Garrison Keillor and Mo Rocca are the height of hilarity, have shamelessly ripped off ¡Ask a Mexican! to start a new feature, Ask an Arab," Gustavo Arellano writes. "Oh, and before anyone begins leaving comments about me being so petty and me ripping off 'Ask a Black Dude,' I preface this post with a classic quote from Krusty the Clown: 'If this is anyone but Steve Allen, you've stolen my bit!'"
OC Weekly |
02-19-2010 3:24 pm |
Industry News
Worcester Mag Offices Robbednew
The offices of Worcester Mag were broken into and robbed Tuesday night. "They stole at least one laptop that we know about so far, and some cash," said publisher Gareth Charter says. "It's unfortunate timing because we don't keep much cash on hand typically. They got us in between daily bank deposits." Worcester police are investigating the crime.
Worcester Mag |
02-19-2010 1:57 pm |
Industry News
What Does Foursquare Mean for Newspapers?new
EditorsWeblog.org |
02-19-2010 1:59 pm |
Industry News
Style Weekly Fires Writer Who Used Obscenity in Emailnew
The Richmond alt-weekly has fired staff reporter Chris Dovi after Dovi accidentally sent an email meant for his editor, which referred to a blind motivational speaker a "blind [expletive]," to the speaker's public relations representative. Dovi tells the Richmond Times-Dispatch his language sprang from his frustration with the PR rep's frequent calls and emails about a potential story, but says he's "not making excuses." He adds: "I shouldn't have been flip." Style Weekly editor Jason Roop and publisher Lori Waran, in a joint statement, say Dovi's language "violated the core values" of the paper. "It showed an unacceptable disregard for one of our chief missions at Style: to honor diversity as a company in all of our dealings with the community, and within Style's hallways." MORE: Washington City Paper's Andrew Beaujon says Style "decided to assuage an awkward situation by cutting off a talented reporter at the knees."
Richmond Times-Dispatch |
02-18-2010 3:49 pm |
Industry News
Honolulu Weekly Editor Removes Himself from the Rail Beatnew
In response to some concerns "inside and outside the paper" about Ragnar Carlson's role as the Weekly's editor and his father's role as paid consultant to Parsons Brinckerhoff, Honolulu's prime contractor on the current stage of a massive rail project, Carlson says he's handing off all rail and rail-related stories to managing editor Adrienne LaFrance. "I've removed myself to avoid a conflict of interest, real or perceived, on this issue," Carlson writes, adding that he doesn't think that his father's role has influenced his editing or reporting. "[But] the perception of a conflict is as real a threat to our mission as any potential conflict itself," he writes. "Readers need to trust our coverage implicitly." On his blog, Carlson's father says it is "the right decision."
Honolulu Weekly |
02-18-2010 12:45 pm |
Industry News
