AAN News
Alt-Weekly in Legal Battle Over Synthetic Pheromone Ingredientsnew
Monterey County Weekly is being sued by the chemical company Suterra for referencing one of its product's "inert" ingredients, which the company claims are protected as trade secrets under federal law. The Weekly reported on health and environmental concerns related to two of the ingredients (first disclosed by the Santa Cruz Sentinel) in a story last week. On Tuesday, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge rejected the pesticide company's request for a temporary restraining order on the paper. The Weekly has counter-sued the company, asserting its First Amendment right to disseminate information in the public interest.
Monterey County Weekly |
10-19-2007 10:02 am |
Legal News
Village Voice Media Executives Arrested for Phoenix New Times Storynew
When New Times published a story yesterday revealing that it was the target of a grand jury probe, it acknowledged that it was exposing itself to potential criminal charges. It sure didn't take long for those charges to come to fruition. The co-authors of the piece, VVM executive editor Michael Lacey and chief executive Jim Larkin, were arrested last night at their homes in Phoenix on charges that the story revealed grand jury secrets, according to the New York Times. The East Valley Tribune reports that the arrests came at the request of the special prosecutor. "It is an extraordinary sequence of events," says Steve Suskin, legal counsel for VVM. "The arrests were not totally unexpected, but they represent an act of revenge and a vindictive response on the part of an out of control sheriff." In addition, New Times reporter Ray Stern was given a criminal citation on Thursday for disorderly conduct after an argument over taking photos of public records at the sheriff's office. "They're trying to muzzle us," editor Rick Barrs says. "This is retaliation against us. And it's not just retaliation against us, it's retaliation against the press." UPDATE: Lacey, upon being released from jail this morning, spoke with reporters. "The way that this operates is that they select someone to make an example out of, and they selected our organization," he says. "Hopefully, other media organizations will begin to speak up and speak out about what's going on here."
The New York Times |
10-19-2007 8:12 am |
Industry News
Alt-Weeklies Grab a Handful of Utne Independent Press Nominations
Utne Reader has announced the finalists for its 2007 Independent Press Awards, which honor the very best in independent media from the pool of more than 1,300 sources Utne uses to cull its content. Louisiana's Independent Weekly and Denver's Westword are nominated for Local/Regional Coverage; The Texas Observer and The Village Voice are nominated for In-Depth/Investigative Coverage; and L.A. Weekly is nominated for Best Writing. Winners will be announced in early 2008.
AAN News |
10-18-2007 5:24 pm |
Honors & Achievements
Tags: Editorial, Management
Phoenix New Times a Target of Grand Jury Probe
The alt-weekly revealed today that Maricopa County grand jury subpoenas are targeting its editors, reporters, and online readers. The inquiry stems from the paper's posting of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's home address on its site as part of a 2004 story on "America's Toughest Sheriff." By revealing the mere existence of this grand jury, New Times exposes itself to criminal penalties, but faced with what a judge deemed "highly inappropriate" behavior by prosecutors, the paper felt it had no choice but to go public. "We started this newspaper because we believed in the public's right to know," the paper's co-founders Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin explain. "Nothing has changed."
(FULL STORY)
Village Voice Media Press Release |
10-18-2007 3:09 pm |
Press Releases
Tags: Phoenix New Times
Richmond, Va., Faux-Alt Ousts Editor, Changes Directionnew
Brick Weekly founding editor Pete Humes and the paper's founding art director have been removed from their posts as part of a rethinking of the 13-month-old publication, Style Weekly reports. "It did not meet expectations, and this is obviously a business decision," says a spokeswoman for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Brick's parent company. "The paper will morph into something that is more of a life-stage, lifestyle publication."
Style Weekly |
10-18-2007 1:15 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Management
AAN Introduces HTML Newsletters
If you thought your daily AAN.org newsletter looked a little different this morning, you were right. AAN has transitioned the daily and weekly AAN.org emails from staid plain-text to rich HTML. Newsletters for AltWeeklies.com will soon make the same switch, once the site redesign is complete. To sign up for daily or weekly AAN newsletters or to update your preferences, click here (if you are an AAN member) or click here (if you aren't an AAN member).
AAN Staff |
10-18-2007 10:12 am |
Association News
Texas Observer Pushes for Public Records Withheld by State Police
Two years ago, the AAN member biweekly attempted to obtain security tapes to confirm that multimillionaire James Leininger was secretly lobbying for school vouchers at the state capitol. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) immediately blocked the release of the tapes, saying it would compromise "homeland security." The Observer appealed to the state attorney general, who agreed that the DPS was obligated to release the videos. But the story doesn't end there. Instead of complying, DPS filed suit in state court, lost, and appealed the court's decision. Now documents obtained by the Observer and posted online show the department has spent more than $160,000 on the suit. "Beyond this being a frivolous lawsuit, what I find a little depressing is the DPS is proceeding like there is this bottomless bag of money from which to draw," Observer editor Jake Bernstein tells the Austin American-Statesman. "It just never occurred to us that they would carry this as far as they have."
(FULL STORY)
The Texas Observer Press Release |
10-18-2007 8:40 am |
Press Releases
Tags: Editorial, The Texas Observer
New FCC Plan Would Ease Limits on Media Ownershipnew
New York Times |
10-18-2007 5:05 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Management
A Move to Let Logos Carry More of the Messagenew
New York Times |
10-18-2007 5:01 pm |
Industry News
Global Consolidation Brewing in Beer Biznew
Wall Street Journal |
10-18-2007 4:57 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Marketing, Retail Advertising
Another Round of Bad News for Daily Newspapersnew
Media Daily News |
10-18-2007 4:54 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Management
Dave Morgan Discusses the Future of Ad-Supported Online Medianew
Online Spin |
10-18-2007 4:52 pm |
Industry News
Washington City Paper's Production Department 'Celebrates' Last Daynew
Washington City Paper |
10-18-2007 9:08 am |
Industry News
Yahoo Takes Open-Network Approach to Online Ad Partnershipsnew
"While Google extends its reach to sell ads on sites all over the web, Yahoo is appealing to big-name publishers with a different approach: You sell ads on our portal, we'll sell ads on your sites," AdWeek reports. Partners in the Yahoo network, which so far include WebMD, Forbes.com, Cars.com and Ziff Davis Media, can sell ads on Yahoo sites, and Yahoo can sell ads on partner's sites. "Typical ad network relationships are one way," says Todd Teresi, senior vice president of Yahoo's publisher network. "The open approach is going to become a new paradigm of how partnerships are struck."
AdWeek |
10-17-2007 12:17 pm |
Industry News
Registration for AAN West Conference Now Opennew
This year's AAN West conference was organized a bit differently than years past: A committee of AAN members in Northern California did most of the heavy lifting, and they've put together a wonderful staff training program that includes business, design & production, editorial, and sales tracks. "The committee's focus was on staff training and providing an opportunity to network with others in the alt-weekly world," says the News & Review's Deborah Redmond, who chaired the committee that organized the event. The conference will be held Feb. 1-2 at the the First Unitarian Church in San Francisco. The early-bird registration rate is only $75 for AAN members and $150 for non-members (the rates increase by $25 after Dec. 7). Hotel options include the Cathedral Hill Hotel and the Kabuki Hotel (formerly the Miyako), which is also the site of the Web Publishing Conference that will immediately precede AAN West. (AAN members can also register now for the Web Publishing Conference, although the complete program won't be announced until next month.)
AAN Staff |
10-17-2007 9:27 am |
Association News
