AAN News
Willamette Week Revelation Spurs Front-Page Washington Post Storynew
A couple of weeks ago the Portland alt-weekly broke the news that former Oregon GOP boss Craig Berkman has been giving generously to Republicans -- including Sen. John McCain -- despite claiming to be millions of dollars in debt. On Wednesday, the Washington Post turned its attention to Berkman and expanded upon the story. The McCain campaign tells the Post that they've donated Berkman's money to charity and will urge the RNC to do the same, but that doesn't placate some Berkman critics. "He used political donations and the doors those opened to build a web like a spider," says Jordan Schnitzer, the head of an Oregon investment firm who says Berkman duped him. "Someone should ask John McCain, 'With all these folks in your campaign, you couldn't put his name into Google?'"
Willamette Week | The Washington Post |
07-24-2008 4:04 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Willamette Week
Cleveland Scene Editor: The War is Over, and Neither Side Won or Lostnew
"A month ago we were enemies, hunkered down in bunkers and trying to will each other into starvation or surrender; today, we share the same fax machine and make small talk in the elevators," Frank Lewis says of the now-merged Cleveland Free Times and Scene. "And between deadlines and the seemingly endless details inherent in merging two operations -- packing and unpacking, integrating computer systems, finding the goddamn coffee -- there's just been no time to nurse grudges." He adds: "What matters most now is figuring out what to do with this rare opportunity -- in the Rust Belt, at least -- to leave behind the hand-to-mouth, week-to-week existence, the paranoia and bitterness, and figure out how to make the most of a more stable future."
Cleveland Scene |
07-24-2008 11:41 am |
Industry News
Emily Flake Talks About Cartooning and Her Creative Processnew
In a Q&A with The New Yorker's Cartoon Lounge blog, Flake, whose "Lulu Eightball" strip appears in many AAN papers and who also does spot illustrations for alts, says that, yes, Emily Flake is her real name. "All too real, my friend, all too real," she says. When asked to describe her typical day, she does thusly: "Drawing, pen chewing, staring into space, brooding, looking at websites of superior illustrators and dying a little inside, losing at computer solitaire, some more drawing, venturing out for coffee, seeing if a cigarette helps things along (things being 'ideas,' not 'fatal diseases,' God willing), some desultory fumblings at the Y, some more drawing and staring, dinner, lots of knitting, staring at the ceiling, merciful sleep."
The New Yorker |
07-24-2008 10:30 am |
Industry News
Reno News & Review's Editorial Staff Switches to Four-Day Work Weeknew
In an effort to "help the planet survive," the paper's editorial team is now on a 10-hour-day, four-day work week, with one of those days a work-at-home or work-in-the-field day. Editor D. Brian Burghart notes that "this should enable editorial to cut about 40 percent of our fuel costs and carbon emissions." Office hours won't change for the business end of the newspaper.
Reno News & Review |
07-24-2008 9:40 am |
Industry News
Shield Law Faces Hurdles in Congressnew
Senate Majority Leader Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has included the Free Flow of Information Act on a list of legislation he hopes to complete before the August recess, Politico reports. The bill passed the House and Senate Judiciary Committee late last year. But with the Bush administration's opposition to the federal shield law, the bill still faces an uphill climb, as many federal agencies have fallen in line and written letters opposing the legislation. According to Politico, a major point of contention in the Senate regarding the Shield Law is how it defines "journalist" -- some senators are concerned that the definition remains too broad.
Politico |
07-24-2008 9:09 am |
Legal News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Is Boston Phoenix Music Critic's Deal with Orchestra Unethical?new
Phoenix classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz has signed a contract with the Boston Symphony Orchestra to have some of his poems set to music, which he will be paid for. The Globe's Geoff Edgers thinks this crosses an ethical line, since Schwartz covers the orchestra. But Phoenix executive editor Peter Kadzis disagrees, telling the Globe that Schwartz, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994, "works in the now waning tradition of artist/critic, not unlike Virgil Thomson. That the Tanglewood fellows would choose to set his poetry to music is a mark of distinction, not a compromise." The Poynter Institute's Al Tompkins tells the Globe that, while the arrangement isn't that egregious, "it presents, if not a conflict, the appearance of conflict of interest. You can avoid this conflict by, at minimum, paying your own way or having the paper pay your way."
The Boston Globe |
07-24-2008 8:52 am |
Industry News
Pasadena Weekly Reduces the Paper's Physical Dimensionsnew
Pasadena Weekly |
07-24-2008 9:42 am |
Industry News
Birmingham Weekly Publisher Talks About His Weekly Card Program
This innovative program came to be after the young paper was having trouble selling restaurant ads for actual cash -- most establishments simply wanted to trade for food. Those meals are now sold via the Weekly Card, which is a sort of credit card for local businesses. Members pay the Weekly a flat fee of $24.95 when they sign up for a card, and then receive 40 percent off retail price at the participating businesses. Users can then add credit to the cards as they wish. Publisher Chuck Leishman recently talked to AAN News about the program's origins, its success, and his plans for other markets.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
07-23-2008 1:45 pm |
Industry News
Another Alt-Weekly Writer Weighs in on 'The Weekly'new
"Now I know how the line workers at a bottling plant must have felt when they heard about Laverne and Shirley!," Chris Packham of Kansas City's The Pitch writes in reaction to the sitcom "set in the office of a dishy alternative weekly publication and blog" that ABC is considering. "You totally know this thing will be like Sex and the City with nose rings and ironic T-shirts. TV is not always the worst -- for instance, it's awesome when it tells stories about Battlestars or Detective McNulty -- but this has the unmistakable whiff of horrible, usually depicted by cartoonists as wavy stink lines."
The Pitch |
07-23-2008 12:25 pm |
Industry News
SF Weekly Will Appeal Ruling in Bay Guardian Casenew
In a move that was widely expected, SF Weekly and Village Voice Media have announced they will appeal San Francisco Superior Court Judge Marla Miller's ruling in favor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian in the predatory-pricing case. Miller rejected arguments last week to overturn or modify the jury's March verdict. Calling the suit "economic terrorism," VVM CEO Jim Larkin claims "mom-and-pop advertisers in San Francisco will suffer from [Judge Miller's] handiwork, as will any aggressive new business in the city that attempts to challenge a larger, established competitor."
SF Weekly |
07-23-2008 11:05 am |
Industry News
Another Paper Touched by Bob Thomas Marks His Passingnew
"Bob was a good man. Steady, confident, generous, and quick to smile beneath his salt and pepper 'stache," writes Chris Thompson in the East Bay Express. Thomas, who passed away July 12, ran the business side of the Express for six years in the 1990s. "Bob was the grownup who made sure the ads got sold, the circulation was working, the numbers got crunched; he took care of all the things our rumpus room needed," Thompson writes. "It wasn't fair that disease took his life so soon."
East Bay Express |
07-23-2008 10:17 am |
Industry News
Tags: Management, East Bay Express
Former Music Editor of The Stranger Returns as Staff Writernew
Dave Segal, who resigned as The Stranger's music editor in 2006 after secretly allowing an employee from ad sales to write pseudonymously for the paper's Line Out blog and music section, has been hired as a music writer. "Whatever Segal's missteps as an editor, he remains an impeccable music writer -- passionate, knowledgeable, diverse in his tastes -- and so, after several rounds of musical chairs, we're bringing him back as a staff writer," writes current music editor Eric Grandy. "He'll have no managerial responsibilities -- to the point, he won't be hiring any freelancers -- but he'll get to do what he's best at, which is writing about music." Segal was most recently music editor at OC Weekly.
The Stranger |
07-23-2008 10:08 am |
Industry News
AAN Members Fare Well at SPJ's Green Eyeshade Awardsnew
In the non-daily print division, both the Memphis Flyer and Miami New Times won four first-place awards in the annual contest which "recognizes outstanding journalism in 11 southeastern states." The Flyer placed first in disaster coverage, editorial writing, feature reporting, and political reporting. It also tacked on two third-place finishes. Miami New Times finished first in consumer reporting, courts and law reporting, criticism (a category swept by alt-weeklies), and non-deadline news. New Times added one third-place finish as well. In addition, New Times Broward-Palm Beach took home two awards, including a first-place win for sports reporting; while both Mountain XPress and North Carolina's Independent Weekly went home with a second-place award. Winners were announced Saturday in Atlanta.
New Times Broward-Palm Beach |
07-23-2008 8:39 am |
Honors & Achievements
San Antonio Current Names New Publisher
Chris Keating, who was publisher of SF Weekly from 2004-2006, will relocate to San Antonio and take over as the Current's publisher effective Aug. 1, AAN News has learned. He replaces Chris Sexson, who took the publisher spot at the Current's Times-Shamrock sister publication Metro Times in mid-June.
AAN News |
07-23-2008 8:13 am |
Industry News
North Coast Journal, The Venue Project Add Roller Derby To Live Webcasts
North Coast Journal Press Release |
07-23-2008 9:18 am |
Press Releases
