AAN News
MediaNews Group Starting Test of Home-Printed Newsnew
Editor & Publisher |
05-29-2009 1:08 pm |
Industry News
Diversity Grants Fund Innovative Projects at Two Alt-Weeklies
Boise Weekly and Omaha's The Reader each recently received $1,250 from
AAN to pursue ambitious diversity-related projects as part of AAN's
Diversity Grant program. Last fall, the Diversity Committee expanded the
scope of the program to include diversity-related projects; the grants
to Boise Weekly and The Reader mark the first to be awarded to
projects rather than interns.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
05-28-2009 12:17 pm |
Association News
Metro Santa Cruz Adopts New Name and Design
The paper changed its name to Santa Cruz Weekly earlier this month because "the metropolitan flavor of the name never fit well with the character of Santa Cruz." Plus they were tired of being mistaken for the bus company. "At a transformative moment in the publishing industry, we've adopted a decidedly newspaper-y name to express our optimism about weekly print," wrote editor Traci Hukill and executive editor Dan Pulcrano in a note announcing the change to readers.
(FULL STORY)
Santa Cruz Weekly |
05-28-2009 11:37 am |
Industry News
Bill Clinton's 2006 Convention Speech Featured in New Documentary
The former president's keynote remarks on running out of oil and our national energy strategy make an appearance in the new feature-length documentary Sprawling From Grace. The film, which was released on DVD last month, examines the transportation infrastructure and urban planning choices that have led to the current state of suburban sprawl and looks at possible ways forward. The film also features interviews with Michael Dukakis, Denver mayor John Hickenlooper and planning and environmental experts.
AAN News |
05-28-2009 9:28 am |
Association News
Alt-Weeklies Make it into 'Best Music Writing 2009'new
James Parker's essay in the Boston Phoenix -- "Unauthorized! Axl Rose, Albert Goldman, and the renegade art of rock biography" -- has been selected for the annual book that the Phoenix says has "become, next to free Radiohead tickets, the rock critic's highest professional honor." Rebecca Schoenkopf's piece on Hall & Oates for the now-defunct LA CityBeat is also included in the book, which won't be out until October.
Boston Phoenix |
05-28-2009 9:05 am |
Honors & Achievements
Chico News & Review Launches Monthly Business Publicationnew
The publication will spotlight a different segment of the local economy each month, and its title will change accordingly. The inaugural issue is Shop Local; Stay Local, Dine Local and Eat Local are among the subsequent issues being planned. "Community spirit runs high where the CN&R is read. Neighbors support neighbors," editor Evan Tuchinsky writes. "The Shop Local movement is an extension of that spirit, something the News & Review wants to encourage."
Chico News & Review |
05-28-2009 8:58 am |
Industry News
Tags: Management, Chico News & Review
Connecticut Alt-Weeklies Outsource This Week's Issue
When a news website in Pasadena made headlines last year for its decision to outsource City Hall coverage to reporters in India, the group managing editor of the Hartford Advocate, New Haven Advocate and Fairfield County Weekly wondered if his three alt-weeklies could do the same thing. While John Adamian's idea started as a joke, it quickly led to an actual exercise in outsourcing journalism -- and the results are this week's papers, which have been mostly generated by Indian freelancers. The papers say the experiment proves that outsourcing a local newspaper is possible, but not recommended. "Call us old-school, but we think good, old-fashioned shoe-leather journalism is worth the price," the staff writes in an editors' note. "Outsourcing could certainly fill pages, probably very cheaply, but what's lost is the very essence of local newspapers: presence."
(FULL STORY)
New Mass. Media Press Release |
05-27-2009 9:16 am |
Press Releases
The Coast Story Wins National Award, Leads to Actionnew
A story written by Matt Aikins about suicides off of Halifax's Macdonald Bridge has been named the best investigative piece by the Canadian Association of Journalists. The piece, "Adam's Fall," also recently won a gold Atlantic Journalism Award for enterprise reporting. Perhaps more importantly, the Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission has decided to reverse course and install suicide barriers along the entire length of the bridge, though the commission denies that the Coast's story had any influence on its decision.
Canadian Association of Journalists |
05-27-2009 8:51 am |
Honors & Achievements
Number of Adults Using Online Classifieds Has More than Doubled Since 2005new
Pew Internet & American Life Project |
05-27-2009 8:54 am |
Industry News
Willamette Week Webmaster Invited to Prestigious TED Conferencenew
WW's new, MIT-grad webmaster Seth Raphael leads a double life as a technologically savvy magician, MagicSeth, who performs "tricks involving telepathic Google searches and psychic digital cameras." It is in that capacity that he's been selected as one of 25 fellows for 2009 TED Global, which will be held this summer in Oxford. Raphael will give a three-minute presentation to the invitation-only crowd, which is slated to include speakers like Naomi Klein and black-hole specialist Andrea Ghez. "I've never been nervous before," he says. "I get on stage in front of hundreds of people. I applied to MIT. I wing everything. But this made me nervous."
Willamette Week |
05-26-2009 3:04 pm |
Honors & Achievements
Editorial: AAN Convention a 'Positive Sign' for Tucson's Economynew
Inside Tucson Business, a sister paper of convention host Tucson Weekly, includes this year's alt-weekly gathering as one of several "positive signs pointing to Tucson's recovery." The paper notes that the convention, scheduled for June 25-27, "will bring at least 250 people who weren't here last year."
Inside Tucson Business |
05-26-2009 10:42 am |
Association News
Tags: Management
Two Tech Firms Build Tools to Protect Content from Digital Thievesnew
Two new tools "could potentially reshape how content is distributed and monetized on the web," Forbes reports. Scribd Store, from the company Scribd, uses a secure widget to help publishers control who is redistributing their content and keep bloggers and others from posting the raw text of an article. Meanwhile, the start-up Attributor asks publishers to upload all their content into the company's servers, which then search the web for the same strings of words.
Forbes |
05-26-2009 9:59 am |
Industry News
Georgia Straight Honored with National Journalism Award
A story in the Vancouver alt-weekly that exposed pharmaceutical companies' marketing tactics to persuade physicians to prescribe drugs has been named the top magazine article of the year by the Canadian Association of Journalists. Alex Roslin's story, "Pill Pushers," is also a finalist in the National Magazine Awards, along with several other pieces from the Straight. The alt-weekly has also been nominated for five Western Magazine Awards.
(FULL STORY)
Georgia Straight Press Release |
05-26-2009 8:24 am |
Press Releases
Boise Weekly Launches New Website
Boise Weekly Press Release |
05-26-2009 8:34 am |
Press Releases
Police Chief Calls L.A. Weekly Story 'Voodoo Reporting'new
Appearing on a local radio show this week, Los Angeles Police Department chief Bill Bratton went after a recent Weekly cover story that questioned his department's use of crime statistics -- especially Bratton's assurances that crime levels are on par with L.A.'s in 1956. As the chief and radio host segued out of a discussion on drug laws, Bratton cracked, "I think they were smoking a little weed when they wrote that article." He claimed the article was part of a vendetta the Weekly has against Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and added that he stood by the department's numbers. "It's kind of voodoo reporting," he said of the story.
L.A. Weekly |
05-22-2009 11:09 am |
Industry News
