AAN News

The Stranger Reworks 2004 Election Cover

If this week's cover looked strikingly familiar to readers of the Seattle alt-weekly, it's because the two papers are almost visually identical, with new text. The lead of the '04 cover, "Do Not Despair," has been replaced with this year's "Rejoice. Revel. Repeat."

0408 The Stranger
AAN News  |  11-17-2008  9:25 am  |  Industry News

Three AAN Members Take Home Press Club of Dallas Awardsnew

The Dallas Observer, Fort Worth Weekly, and Houston Press were all honored when the Press Club's announced its 50th annual Katie Awards Saturday night. The Press won a total of three awards in the large newspapers division, including a first-place win for Column. The Observer, which also competed in the large newspapers division, won one award. In the small and medium newspapers division, the Weekly took home a total of four awards, three of which were first-place finishes -- in Business reporting, Investigative Series or Story, and Specialty Reporting.
The Press Club of Dallas  |  11-17-2008  8:37 am  |  Honors & Achievements

How I Got That Story: Gilbert Garcia

In the sixteenth installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, San Antonio Current music editor Gilbert Garcia talks about his winning columns, which Ling Ma says are all "portraits of mediocrity." She's talking not about Garcia's writing, of course, but about the subjects he covers: The Police, Paul McCartney, and American Idol Haley Scarnato. Garcia discusses his band, the role a music critic should play, and the difficulty of writing about something you know very well. "When you know too much about a subject, you almost have too many approaches you could take," he says. (FULL STORY)
AAN News  |  11-14-2008  12:44 pm  |  Association News

Rebecca Schoenkopf is Out as LA CityBeat Editornew

Schoenkopf gave her notice this week, according to an email obtained by LA Observed. She had been CityBeat's editor since April. It is not clear who will replace her, or if newly named publisher Will Swaim will take on double-duty as publisher and editor, as he did for a time at OC Weekly.
LA Observed  |  11-14-2008  9:10 am  |  Industry News

VVM's Digital Director Talks About How They've Approached the Webnew

In a video interview from last month's Digital Hollywood conference, Village Voice Media director of web and digital operations Bill Jensen tells Vator TV's Ezra Roizen about how VVM has stepped up its game online. "The key is ... we had to go daily," Jensen says. "That was the biggest challenge ... changing the culture to go from weekly to daily." He says that each VVM paper now has about 30 pieces of daily content going up on its site, in addition to the weekly content being created for the paper.
Vator TV  |  11-13-2008  1:06 pm  |  Industry News

Boston Phoenix Film Critic on the State of Film Criticismnew

Gerald Peary, who has been a critic for more 30 years, celebrated his career last night with a special screening of his three favorite films at a Cambridge theater. To mark that occasion, he spoke with BU Daily about how film criticism has changed over the years, his film-crit documentary For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism, and the difference between reviewing and criticism. "Reviewing is the basic lunch bucket job that everybody does, which is consumer reporting," Peary says. "But what a critic does in addition is contextualize the movie in terms of history, politics, a filmmaker's career, and genre. A film critic sees the movie as just a starting point for a more general discussion."
BU Today  |  11-13-2008  11:26 am  |  Industry News

Village Voice Vet Named New Editor of Philadelphia Weekly

Adamma Ince, who worked at the Voice for 12 years until she left last fall, will replace longtime PW editor Tim Whitaker. Whitaker had been the paper's editor since 1994, when it was known as Welcomat. At the Voice, Ince served as chief of research, associate editor, reporter, and, most recently, managing editor. "Adamma gained valuable experience and a special passion for editorial from The Village Voice in New York which can only lift PW to new heights in the fast changing world of print and electronic media," Anthony A. Clifton, the CEO of PW parent company Review Publishing, says in a release. (FULL STORY)
Review Publishing Press Release  |  11-13-2008  9:29 am  |  Press Releases

Salt Lake City Weekly Drops 'Savage Love' After Talk of Utah Boycottnew

In the wake of the passage of a same-sex marriage ban in California last week, an effort that was heavily funded by the Mormon church, Dan Savage and others have called for boycotting the state. "Trouble is, all Utahns aren't to blame, nor are all Mormons," writes Salt Lake City Weekly founder John Saltas. "A nonspecific call to boycott is never effective and is fraught with misdirected fire." He concludes that "since Savage hates Utah so much, there's no point in us playing in his sandbox by sending him a regular check." MORE:The Village Voice weighs in on the Weekly's decision. STILL EVEN MORE: Savage has been making the media rounds talking about Prop. 8 this week. Check out his New York Times op-ed, his appearance on The Colbert Report and his takedown of Tony Perkins on Anderson Cooper 360.
Salt Lake City Weekly  |  11-13-2008  9:18 am  |  Industry News

East Bay Express Writer Wins National Science Journalism Awardnew

Kara Platoni has won first place honors in the "small newspapers" category in this year's American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science Journalism Awards for stories in the Express about efforts of local scientists to determine whether there is life elsewhere in the cosmos. Platoni "did a marvelous job of bringing the faraway questions surrounding astrobiology down to Earth and particularly important to the readers in her region," judge Andrew Revkin of the New York Times says. She will receive $3,000 and a plaque at the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting in February.
American Association for the Advancement of Science  |  11-13-2008  8:23 am  |  Honors & Achievements

Dan Savage Talks 'Savage Love' and the Role of Alt-Weekliesnew

In the recurring "So What Do You Do?" column on MediaBistro, the editorial director of The Stranger and syndicated sex advice columnist discusses how he got started with "Savage Love," how sex-column writing has changed in the last 15 years, and why he loves his job. "I get emails from people all day long describing their sex lives and sex problems," he says. Savage also talks about the role of the alt-weekly in a deteriorating mainstream media landscape. "I think alt-weeklies have more and more of a role to play -- particularly as dailies continue to try and swim around with an anvil under each arm," he says. "One anvil is objectivity and the other is 'family newspaper.' Alt-weeklies have the luxury of publishing writing by adults, to adults, and for adults. And that's a real advantage. It's a style advantage, it's an attitudinal advantage, and it's also an urban advantage."
MediaBistro  |  11-12-2008  12:52 pm  |  Industry News

Longtime L.A. Weekly Astrologer Diesnew

Rochelle "Rockie" Gardiner, who had written "The Rockie Horoscope" for the Weekly since 1983, died on October 31. She was 70 years old. The column was a very popular feature in the Weekly, and went on to be nationally syndicated. Judging by the outpouring of comments on the Weekly's site (80 at last count), Los Angeles has lost an institution. There will be a public memorial for the late astrologer on November 15, 3-6 p.m., at Boardner's, 1652 N. Cherokee Ave., Hollywood (323-462-9621).
L.A. Weekly  |  11-12-2008  9:31 am  |  Industry News

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