AAN News
Book Critic: AltWeeklies.com is Part of a 'River of Critical Energy' Onlinenew
"Sales may be flat, bookstores may be struggling and book sections may be dying, but the critical conversation about books continues to be robust, intelligent and adventurous," former San Francisco Chronicle book critic Patricia Holt writes on Huffington Post. She points to six websites as proof, including AltWeeklies.com, of which she writes: "If you're weary of the received wisdom of official book review sites ... here is a treasury of refreshing and often unpredictable takes from alternative weeklies all over the country."
Huffington Post |
10-06-2009 3:01 pm |
Industry News
Westword Editor: Pot Critic Story is 'Very Serious'new
"It's funny how the national media has jumped all over this," Patricia Calhoun writes of the attention being given to the paper's quest to hire a freelance critic to review medical marijuana dispensaries. But while most outlets have taken a "light, fun" tone to the story, she says the issue is serious business in Colorado. "There's one aspect of our search for a reviewer that's not funny: How very, very important easy access to quality medical marijuana is for so many people," Calhoun writes.
Westword |
10-06-2009 2:43 pm |
Industry News
Ted Rall Releases New Graphic Memoirnew
Ted Rall has teamed up with Pablo G. Callejo for The Year of Loving Dangerously, which is based on Rall's experience getting arrested, dumped, expelled and evicted in New York City in 1984. It's Rall's first collaborative effort, and it hits stores next month. "Year is an allegory for the economic collapse, showcasing what can happen to anyone, even a white Ivy-educated male, who suffers a run of bad luck," Rall writes. "It's also a shot across the bow of other male graphic artists who wallow in self-pity and alienation." The Washington Post's Michael Cavna says the book is "a little bit Midnight Cowboy in tone, and part The Graduate."
Rall.com |
10-06-2009 10:28 am |
Industry News
Federal Trade Commission Rules Bloggers Should Disclose Freebiesnew
According to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines released yesterday, bloggers who review products should in many cases disclose when those products are given to them for free, but traditional journalists usually don't need to. The guides -- which call for a case-by-case analysis of whether disclosure is required -- are not enforceable, but "serve to put marketers on notice about the type of activity the FTC will consider deceptive," Online Media Daily reports.
Online Media Daily |
10-06-2009 9:40 am |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Online Ad Spending Down 5.3 Percent In First Half of 2009new
Online Media Daily |
10-06-2009 9:42 am |
Industry News
Third 'How I Got That Story' Live Chat Coming This Friday
Westword staff writer Joel Warner and editor Patricia Calhoun will be live on AAN.org this Friday talking about Warner's story "The Good Soldier," which won first place for feature story in the above 50,000 circulation category. The chat will begin at 3:30 EDT.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
10-05-2009 1:41 pm |
Association News
New Yorker: Nikki Finke is 'a Combination Town Crier and Volcano God'new
Finke gets the New Yorker profile treatment this week in a nearly-8,000 word piece with the subheadline: "Why Hollywood fears Nikki Finke." Finke says the story is "an amusing caricature, only occasionally true but hardly insightful." She adds: "Still, I'm relieved that The New Yorker didn't lay a glove on me. I found Tad Friend, who covers Hollywood from Brooklyn, easy to manipulate, as was David Remnick, whom I enjoyed bitchslapping throughout but especially during the very slipshod fact-checking process."
The New Yorker | Deadline Hollywood Daily |
10-05-2009 10:10 am |
Industry News
How I Got That Story Live Chat: Jeffrey Billman Talks Investigative Reporting
Jeffrey Billman, who won first place for investigative reporting in the under-50,000 circulation category for his Orlando Weekly piece "Might Makes Right," discussed the story with Weekly editor Bob Whitby in a conversation moderated by the San Francisco Bay Guardian's Tim Redmond.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
10-02-2009 2:45 pm |
Association News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Called the 'Worst' by GLAAD, Westword Cartoonist Kenny Be Strikes Backnew
In July, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) placed Be and Westword on the "worst" section of its monthly Best and Worst of National News for a cartoon that used the term "Gear Fags" to describe camping enthusiasts who spend a lot of money on ridiculous gear. Be responds -- in hilarious fashion -- with this week's cover story, which points out that more than one celebrity who has received GLAAD Media Awards has also used the word the group apparently found so offensive. "If GLAAD claims that their mission is to 'prevent defamation' and to 'ensure accuracy and fairness for LGBT people in the media,' then why are they fawning over these fearless funny women, yet censoring me like some backwoods LGBT bigot?," he wonders. "Maybe if I had a vagina and a cable TV sitcom, I too would be a red-carpet-worthy GLAAD icon."
Westword |
10-02-2009 1:37 pm |
Industry News
East Bay Express Launches Small Biz Publication
The Express' Small Business Monthly will launch in February 2010 and "will focus on local reporting of small business issues in our region," according to an email sent out by publisher Jody Colley. "In a broader purpose," she continues, "it will also serve to inform community members, investors, entrepreneurs and policy leaders on how integral our 'Main Street' independent businesses are to a healthy and sustainable local economy." The publication will be distributed as an insert in the Express each month.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
10-02-2009 1:06 pm |
Industry News
Is Obama a Weak Leader? [members only]
Richard Karpel |
10-01-2009 1:51 pm |
AAN Staff Blog
Westword Seeks a Pot Criticnew
"Do you have a medical condition that necessitates marijuana? Do you have a way with words?," the Denver alt-weekly asked in a job posting earlier this week. "If so, Westword wants you to join the ranks as our freelance marijuana-dispensary reviewer." As the paper has reported, the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the area has exploded, so they're launching a weekly column called "Mile Highs and Lows" to review them. Westword editor Patricia Calhoun tells the Wall Street Journal the process of looking for a critic to review drugs isn't any different than looking for, say, a food critic -- they will post the ad and ask for a sample review. "Our restaurant critic, Jason Sheehan, won a James Beard award," she says. "We're hoping we'll have similar success, although there don't seem to be as many rewards for marijuana reviewers."
The Wall Street Journal |
10-01-2009 12:10 pm |
Industry News
Obama Administration Proposes 'Sweeping Revisions' to Shield Lawnew
The White House has told Congress that it opposes federal shield legislation that would protect reporters from being imprisoned if they refuse to disclose confidential sources who leak material about national security, and has proposed changes to weaken that provision of the bill, the New York Times reports. The administration's proposals are being criticized by press groups and at least two Democratic senators who have supported the legislation, Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Charles Schumer (N.Y.). "The White House's opposition to the fundamental essence of this bill is an unexpected and significant setback," Schumer says. "It will make it hard to pass this legislation."
The New York Times |
10-01-2009 10:39 am |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial
Ted Haggard Confesses in This Week's Colorado Springs Independent
Ted Haggard Talks
About launching a new church, drug use, homosexuality and much more. (FULL STORY)
About launching a new church, drug use, homosexuality and much more. (FULL STORY)
Colorado Springs Independent Press Release |
10-01-2009 12:27 pm |
Press Releases
FOIA Should be Stronger, SGI Tells Senate
In spite of strong statements from the White House supporting open government, "the secrecy reflex at some agencies remains firmly in place," Associated Press president and CEO Tom Curley said in prepared remarks to a Senate panel examining the state of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) today. Curley, who was testifying on behalf of the Sunshine in Government Initiative, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Obama message to agencies to be more transparent whenever possible has not yet translated into big changes when federal agencies process FOIA requests.
(FULL STORY)
Sunshine in Government Initiative Press Release |
09-30-2009 11:47 am |
Press Releases
Tags: Editorial
