UPDATE (3:17 PM EST): The membership committee's report as originally uploaded was incorrect when it said that See's owner, Great West Newspapers, was "the largest" media chain in Canada. It's a large company, but not the largest in the country. The document in the resource library has been updated with the correct information.
In this troubled economy, we've grown used to hearing bad news: struggling newspapers are laying people off, media companies are cutting costs, some publications are calling it quits for good.
Here's a bit of good news for you to consider: This year five papers applied for membership in AAN. Sure, that's a lower number than we're used to, but in this economy it's refreshing to hear from colleagues in the media world who feel confident enough in their endeavors to make a pitch for membership in our organization.
As usual, the Membership Committee was exhaustive in its evaluation of applying papers: We read and rated, we assessed and appraised. And finally we voted. This report reflects the vote and general sentiment of the Membership Committee, and you can use it as a guide to help you cast your vote on who to admit to the association at the Annual Meeting, which will be held on Saturday, June 27, at 3 p.m. All member papers are welcome -- encouraged, even -- to send a representative to the meeting to vote on membership and other AAN business.
The applying papers the Membership Committee evaluated this year were:
Anchorage Press,
Inland Empire Weekly,
Omaha City Weekly,
See Magazine, and
Volume One.
Of those, the committee recommends
See Magazine and
Inland Empire Weekly for membership. The committee also recommends that the six papers that have changed ownership recently be re-affirmed as members of the organization. Those papers are:
Chicago Reader,
LEO Weekly,
New York Press,
Valley Advocate, Cleveland's
Scene and
Washington City Paper.
You can read the
committee's full report and AAN's
Ownership Report in the Resource Library.
In addition, the committee recommends that AAN "explore the possibility of allowing web-only publications to join the organization." In order for this to be possible, it would require a change in the AAN bylaws, which would be voted on at next year's convention.
