AAN News
Metroland Cover Draws Criticism from Conservativesnew
The Albany alt-weekly's Halloween cover depicts Barack Obama as a vampire, holding a scantily clad and prostrate Sarah Palin, who has a spike through her heart. It caught the attention of the conservative website World Net Daily. "Can you imagine conservatives trying to do anything like this?" asks Albany resident Bill Dudek. Metroland art director John Bracchi tells World Net Daily that he was "just trying to combine Halloween with politics." The public response has been mixed, according to Bracchi, with people either loving or hating the image. He says negative emails had a common theme: "If you think this is funny, you have a warped mind, you're racist and sexist."
World Net Daily |
11-06-2008 11:01 am |
Industry News
Woman Suing the Nashville Scene Found Not Guilty of Prostitutionnew
Former stripper Michelle Peacock was exonerated by a jury of all charges on Tuesday, the Nashville Scene reports. Peacock is seeking at least $25,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from reporter P.J. Tobia, the Scene, and its parent company in a defamation suit over an October 2007 story which cited an arrest report detailing the alleged prostitution.
Nashville Scene |
11-06-2008 8:50 am |
Legal News
Ex-Portland Mercury Editor Charged with Stealing McCain Lawn Signsnew
Phil Busse, the former Mercury managing editor and one-time Portland mayoral candidate, was charged with misdemeanor theft for stealing McCain campaign lawn signs in Minnesota. Busse was in the state for a visiting professorship at St. Olaf College, and admitted his deeds in a Huffington Post blog last Thursday titled "Confessions of a Lawn Sign Stealer." He has since resigned from St. Olaf, the Oregonian reports. "I have no problems with taking personal responsibility for stupid actions," says Busse, who faces up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. "I certainly regret I took down the signs."
The Oregonian |
11-06-2008 8:42 am |
Industry News
Former AAN Employee Wields Political Power via a 'Gay Mafia'new
Adam Ebbin directed donations from "a clandestine group of wealthy, gay political donors" to defeat anti-gay politicians in Virginia in 2005, TIME reports in a story examining the group, known as "the Cabinet." AAN's former marketing director is the only openly gay member of Virginia's general assembly. Ebbin is also a former employee of the Washington City Paper, where he worked during the 90's with John Cloud, the author of TIME's story.
TIME Magazine |
11-06-2008 8:35 am |
Industry News
Google, Yahoo Scrap Proposed Search Dealnew
Online Media Daily |
11-06-2008 8:43 am |
Industry News
Tags: Electronic Publishing
Fairfield County Weekly Combines Offices with New Haven Advocatenew
To save costs in an ever-tightening economy, two of the three New Mass. Media papers will now share office space in New Haven. Staff members have been given laptops and cellphones and will seemingly be traveling in the Fairfield County area -- about 20 miles from New Haven -- quite a bit.
Fairfield County Weekly |
11-05-2008 11:56 am |
Industry News
The Stranger's Election Night Party Spills Out into the Streetsnew
Thousands of people took to the downtown Seattle streets last night to celebrate Barack Obama's election in what the Seattle Post-Intelligencer describes as "exuberant mayhem." Police told the P-I that the crowd fueled by people leaving The Stranger's election party was peaceful, and as of midnight no injuries or vandalism had been reported. On the Slog, the Stranger sums it up: "Hundreds of people have been marching up and down 1st and Pike since our election night party got out a few hours ago. It's the most beautiful mob scene we've ever seen."
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer | The Stranger |
11-05-2008 9:19 am |
Industry News
LEO Founder Re-Elected, Jim Holman's Measure 'Too Close to Call' Fails
LEO Weekly founder John Yarmuth was re-elected to Congress yesterday, where he'll continue to serve Kentucky's 3rd District. Today's Louisville Courier-Journal reports that with 99 percent of precincts reporting, unofficial vote totals had Yarmuth, a Democrat, with 59 percent of the vote and Republican challenger Anne Northup with 41. In California, San Diego Reader publisher Jim Holman once again bankrolled a ballot measure that would require doctors to notify parents before performing an abortion on a minor, and the Los Angeles Times reports that it remained too close to call Tuesday night. With four-fifths of precincts reporting last night, 52.8 of voters were opposed to the measure while 47.2 favored it, according to the AP, which says the initiative "appear[s] headed for defeat." Holman contributed more than $1.3 million of the reported $2.6 million raised for the measure, the AP reports. UPDATE (4:55 pm EST): A number of news outlets are now reporting that the ballot measure was indeed defeated.
Louisville Courier-Journal | Los Angeles Times | The AP |
11-05-2008 9:11 am |
Industry News
Tivo Alert: ABC News Reporting from The Stranger's Election Night Partynew
The Stranger reports that its party tonight in Seattle hosted by editor Dan Savage will be one of the handful of locations from where ABC News reporters will be filing live dispatches during the election night coverage.
The Stranger |
11-04-2008 5:19 pm |
Industry News
Tags: The Stranger, Dan Savage
How I Got That Story: Nate Blakeslee
In the thirteenth installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, Nate Blakeslee talks about how he uncovered sexual abuse in Texas' youth prisons for the Texas Observer. The investigation ignited a firestorm that led to the arrests of two employees and the firing of top officials. Blakeslee says the key to his story was a document he was tipped off to and then was able to procure. "Reporters don't often run into documents like this one. In fact, a person can go a whole career without a case like this," he says. "This story was just waiting out there to be found. I can say if you find something like this, get it into print as soon as you can."
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
11-04-2008 12:23 pm |
Association News
Tags: The Texas Observer, Nate Blakeslee
Philadelphia City Paper Hosts Election Day Live Photoblog
In an real-time experiment with user-generated content, today City Paper is hosting a reader-submitted photostream on its website to capture all the local Election Day action. "Trouble at the polls? Take a pic. Long lines at your polling place? Take a pic. Thugs trying to intimidate voters? Take a pic," says editor-in-chief Brian Howard. "Get snapping. Then get submitting. You're all poll watchers tomorrow." The photos will be on display at City Paper's homepage and at citypaper.net/electionphotos. Readers can upload photos via the paper's Flickr stream at www.flickr.com/groups/cp_election.
(FULL STORY)
Philadelphia City Paper Press Release |
11-04-2008 9:11 am |
Press Releases
Biz Paper Weighs in on the Providence Phoenix's 'Journalistic Niche'new
As the Phoenix celebrates its 30th anniversary, Providence Business News looks at how the alt-weekly is flourishing "at a time when daily newspapers in Rhode Island and elsewhere are struggling." One University of Rhode Island professor says the paper provides a function "critical to political life in this state," and Phoenix associate publisher Steve Brown says the paper has succeeded by "knowing [its] audience and sticking with them." Ty Davis, who launched the paper (as The New Paper) in 1978, says he's not sorry that he sold his paper to the Boston Phoenix in 1988. "My objective was to give Rhode Island a solid alternative weekly," he says. "I succeeded and, from that standpoint, I have no regrets."
Providence Business News |
11-04-2008 8:51 am |
Industry News
Why Isn't Print Media Going After Google?new
The Century Foundation |
11-04-2008 10:26 am |
Industry News
The Stranger Parody Lights Up the Right-Wing Blogospherenew
On Thursday, the Seattle alt-weekly published a piece on its website parodying the annual "houses with the best Halloween/Christmas decorations" article so often employed by daily and community papers. But the story, "Hell Houses," featured homes displaying McCain/Palin yard signs instead of decorations, and it included the addresses. Two days later, it "exploded on right-wing blogs." The paper reports that the piece "received over 1,300 comments, including dozens and dozens of death threats against our staff, many directing readers to incorrect addresses." That caused The Stranger to pull the story, but today it has republished it, with the addresses redacted. More from KOMO-TV.
The Stranger |
11-03-2008 3:16 pm |
Industry News
Michael Swanger is Out as Cityview Editor
Swanger's last day at the editorial helm of the Des Moines, Iowa, alt-weekly was Friday. He says he will remain as Cityview's freelance entertainment editor. Publisher Shane Goodman tells AAN News that for now he'll pull double-duty and edit the paper.
AAN News |
11-03-2008 10:32 am |
Industry News
