AAN News

Is it Against the Law to Use Unpaid, Non-Student Interns?new

It is in California, according to Stephanie Barrett of the state's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. "If you're not a student getting [academic] credit, you're not a true intern," she tells SF Weekly. "You're an employee and you should be paid like one." The unpaid internship has become standard practice in California, with SF Weekly reporting that San Francisco, 7x7, Diablo, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian all use them, with other publications like Dwell, Benefit and Yoga Journal offering below-minimum-wage stipends. The Bay Guardian's Editor and Publisher Bruce Brugmann denies his paper is violating labor law, saying it conforms to labor standards as interpreted by the California Newspaper Publishers Association -- and that it is helping budding writers to boot. "We're helping young people by giving them vocational training from expert editors and reporters," he says. "It's a wonderful opportunity for them."
SF Weekly  |  03-01-2007  1:24 pm  |  Legal News

Novel Casts 'Dark, Good-Looking' Alt-Weekly Staffer as Love Interestnew

Lauren Fox's debut novel, Still Life With Husband, follows Emily Ross, "an editor at a medical journal who married solid citizen Kevin right out of college," according to the Daily News. She soon meets alt-weekly staffer David Keller, and quickly begins an affair with the writer and editor. "File this adroit but placid debut under chick lit for early marrieds -- the ones who are not sure they want to be on the baby-house-'burbs track," Publishers Weekly writes.
New York Daily News  |  03-01-2007  8:43 am  |  Industry News

U.S. Newsprint Prices Continue to Erodenew

Editor & Publisher  |  03-01-2007  1:34 pm  |  Industry News

Senator Considering Proposal to Expand Espionage Act

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-AZ, has informed colleagues that he may introduce an amendment to the Espionage Act of 1917, to criminalize the communication or publication of any classified information "concerning efforts by the United States to identify, investigate, or prevent terrorist activity" and expand the penalty to 20 years in prison. The amendment, which Kyl has said he plans to introduce tomorrow in a Judiciary Committee markup of an unrelated bill, would give the government tremendous power to silence critics and to limit the debate and discussion on the techniques it elects to use in the "war on terror." AAN encourages members in states with a Judiciary Committee member to call their senator and urge them to oppose Kyl's measure. The Sunshine in Government Initiative, an open-government coalition of which AAN is a member, is circulating discussion points (PDF file) regarding the proposal.
AAN News  |  02-28-2007  1:16 pm  |  Legal News

Boston Phoenix Names New Editornew

Lance Gould, a veteran New York journalist, will begin his tenure in Boston in late April. Gould, formerly an editor at New York's Daily News and Spy magazine, was most recently a contributing editor at Radar magazine. He replaces Bill Jensen, who left the Phoenix to become director of online operations for Village Voice Media. Executive Editor Peter Kadzis says of Gould: "His recent work at Radar, where a premium was placed on the interdependence of print and online, will serve him particularly well at the Phoenix as we continue to work toward maximizing the convergence of our print, online, and radio content."
Boston Phoenix  |  02-28-2007  12:32 pm  |  Industry News

Dallas Observer Reports Pentecostal Minister Abused Womennew

In a blistering investigation, Editor Julie Lyons, aka "Bible Girl," dives into Fort Worth Pastor Sherman Allen's decades-long history of alleged sexual abuse. She reports that since late January, when local TV station KXAS broke the story of a lawsuit against Allen by former church member and employee Davina Kelly, seven other women have come forward with tales of paddling and degradation at the hands of the Pentecostal pastor. The victims have also told her that Allen "is involved in the occult, employing such tactics as hypnosis, magic or illusions and the use of healing potions." GetReligion, a blog covering religion in journalism, says: "Lyons is an articulate, opinionated evangelical Christian who is doing some of the most freewheeling, confessional first-person religion writing I have ever seen."
Dallas Observer  |  02-28-2007  11:03 am  |  Industry News

Is the Page View a Measurement Tool of the Past?new

Just as the "hits" metric became outdated as web use evolved, the page view may be on the road to obsolescence, according to E&P. As an example, the story looks at Ajax, software used by Yahoo and others that is "enabling flashier, more convenient sites," but also is "contributing to Yahoo's decline in page views." While experts quoted by E&P say that an attachment to page views may hurt a site's usability, representatives from measurement companies say they are sticking with page views, while developing supplemental metrics for interaction and brand loyalty. "People kind of cling to it, even if they know it's flawed," says comScore's Gregory Dale. "They want to see this familiar metric."
Editor & Publisher  |  02-28-2007  9:11 am  |  Industry News

Upstart Challenging Yahoo and Google in Online Ad Marketnew

ESPN.com, FoxNews.com, and all of Cox Newspapers' sites are among the large media sites migrating from the two online giants to Quigo Technologies for contextual text ads, the small sponsored links that run next to related articles, the New York Times reports. The main reason, according to the Times, is that Quigo offers "transparency and control" by giving advertisers a list of sites where their ads have appeared and the option to buy only on specific sites. Google seems to be taking the competition seriously. A company spokesperson tells the Times that they will soon begin providing similar information to their clients.
The New York Times  |  02-28-2007  9:08 am  |  Industry News

Papers Underspending in Newsroom, Overspending in Advertisingnew

A new study done by researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia analyzes financial data from papers with a circulation of 85,000 or less and finds that "news quality most directly affects the bottom line," according to DM News, which covers direct and internet marketing. The study will be published in April's Journal of Marketing.
DM News  |  02-27-2007  10:30 am  |  Industry News

Chicago Alt-Weekly Enlists Readers as Poll Watchersnew

In today's citywide election, the Chicago Reader will "try a little experiment in citizen journalism" and have readers send in dispatches from the polls as election day unfolds, E&P reports. On Clout City, the paper's politics blog, Executive Editor Mike Lenehan tells readers: "Keep your eyes and ears open, ask questions if you need to, carry your camera or picture phone, and e-mail your anecdotes and photos." The best of this user-generated content will be posted on Clout City, along with reports from the Reader's regular bloggers. While Lenehan promises that editors "will be manning the inbox...until 8 pm at least, longer if it gets interesting," E&P says the biggest race will likely be a snoozer. "Mayor Richard M. Daley looks to be a shoo-in," E&P writes, before noting there are a few "spirited aldermanic elections" to watch.
Editor & Publisher  |  02-27-2007  9:27 am  |  Industry News

Village Voice Names New Managing Editornew

Deborah Kolben, most recently city editor of the New York Sun, will join the Voice in April, reports the New York Observer. The winner of two National Newspaper Association awards for investigative reporting, she becomes the third former Sun employee to join the alt-weekly's staff since ex-Sun TV critic David Blum took over as editor-in-chief, according to the Observer. "I grew up in New York reading the Voice and I'm looking forward to being a part of a newspaper that plays such a vital role for so many in New York and elsewhere," Kolben says.
New York Observer  |  02-26-2007  5:01 pm  |  Industry News

Military Recruiters Punished On Heels of Alt-Weekly Investigationnew

The Maryland Army National Guard's recruitment chief was stripped of his command and about a dozen other recruiters were punished after an internal investigation revealed misuse of government money, fraudulent enlistments and improper relationships among Guard members, the Washington Post reports. The probe was sparked by recent stories in Baltimore City Paper that "alleged deceptive recruiting practices aimed at meeting quotas," according to the Post.
The Washington Post  |  02-26-2007  4:29 pm  |  Industry News

Former Cincinnati CityBeat Columnist Adapts Book for the Stagenew

Kathy Y. Wilson has turned "Your Negro Tour Guide: Truths in Black and White," a collection of her columns written for the Cincinnati alt-weekly, into a one-woman play, according to the University of Cincinnati's student paper. Wilson, who teaches at the university, tells The News Record she hopes the seats are filled for this evening's one-time performance: "What can be more important for college students right now in America, in this time of political excitement, with a bi-racial man and a white woman running for president of the United States, than to hear some black woman stand up and talk about the shit that made that all possible: race, gender and class."
The News Record  |  02-26-2007  1:44 pm  |  Industry News

Arkansas Times' Associate Editor to Leave for University PR Postnew

Warwick Sabin, the alt-weekly's columnist, reporter and blogger, will leave next month to be associate vice president for communications for the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas Business reports. Sabin, who joined the Times in 2004 after working for the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation and played an important role in creating the Times' popular Arkansas Blog, will earn $92,000 in his new job, according to the Times.
Arkansas Business  |  02-26-2007  1:25 pm  |  Industry News

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