AAN News
Are Alt-Weekly Chains Cutting News Coverage?new
San Francisco Bay Guardian
asks the question after reading L.A.
Times coverage of the New Times-Village
Voice antitrust investigation and speaking
with former LA Weekly political columnist
Marc Haefele. Haefele claims
"the LA Weekly to a large extent is being
edited under New York oversight" and
now reports on "new dresses and
rock
bands" instead of "things like
Governor
Gray Davis and City Hall." LA Weekly
Editor Laurie Ochoa
insists that VVM corporate headquarters
has maintained a hands-off approach to
the paper's editorial content and has put
"more resources into news coverage."
Los Angeles Magazine's Kit
Rachlis agrees there should be an
investigation but says "I don't think it's too
paranoid to say that (the Justice Dept. is)
looking into the alternative press for
political reasons."
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
12-31-2002 4:20 pm |
Industry News
Casco Bay Weekly to Return as Community Papernew
The former AAN-member paper was
acquired by eXit Capital Group,
the for-profit subsidiary of an educational
foundation that promotes career training
in the hospitality and service industries.
Roy Allen, executive director of
Endeavor Foundation, tells the Portland
Press Herald that when it reopens on
Jan. 15, Casco Bay Weekly will be a
community newspaper that focuses
on "good news" and features
contributions from writers representing
area schools, businesses and nonprofit
groups.
Portland Press Herald |
12-31-2002 9:58 am |
Industry News
Tags: Management
Swiping Trash to Make a Pointnew
Inspired by Portland police who searched the garbage of a fellow officer for evidence of drug use, Willamette Week reporters Chris Lydgate and Nick Budnick dig through the smelly trash of Portland's top brass and report what they find. Their stunt didn't bother DA Mike Schrunk much, but Police Chief Mark Kroeker and Mayor Vera Katz go apoplectic and issue press releases denouncing the paper.
LA Weekly Critic Questions Antitrust Investigationnew
In the conclusion of his year-end review of media events and trends, John Powers notes that "it's striking that two comparatively small chains should face the scrutiny of the same DOJ that notoriously gave Microsoft a cushy deal in its antitrust settlement, takes no steps against America's broadband monopolies, and does nothing to limit huge 'synergistic' empires like Fox, AOL Time Warner and Disney.
LA Weekly |
12-31-2002 7:01 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial
Casco Bay Weekly to Reopen
12-31-2002 9:25 am |
Press Releases
Inside the U.S. Roundup of Muslimsnew
Hundreds of Muslim men were arrested earlier this month when they reported to INS offices to comply with a "special registration" program which required most male noncitizens over 16 who were born in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Libya to be fingerprinted, photographed and questioned. Ben Ehrenreich reports that the INS wasn't prepared for the number of people who came into register and were forced to automatically detain hundreds of men, who were subjected to humiliating arrests.
New York Press is Soldnew
Founder and Editor-in-Chief Russ Smith yesterday sold his iconoclastic weekly to a pair of publishing entrepreneurs for "around $5 million," according to the New York Post. New owners Chuck Coletti and Doug Meadow say they don't plan to do much on the editorial front, besides firing vacationing Editor John Strausbaugh as soon as they can find him. Smith will continue to write his "Mugger" column.
New York Post |
12-24-2002 11:48 am |
Industry News
Omaha Weekly Publisher Buys Omaha Readernew
John Heaston told the Omaha
World-Leader that he is buying
the AAN-member Omaha Reader from
the family of the late Alan Baer.
Heaston helped to found the Reader
before selling his stake in 1999 and later
starting up the competing Omaha Weekly.
The two papers will merge and,
"for now," will be called the Omaha
Weekly Reader, according to Heaston.
Omaha World-Herald |
12-23-2002 3:53 pm |
Industry News
L.A. Testimony Scheduled in Antitrust Investigationnew
Prosecutors investigating the
New
Times-Village Voice Media deals in L.A.
and Cleveland have scheduled
depositions in Los Angeles
beginning the first two weeks of January,
according to The Los Angeles Times' Tim
Rutten. "Sources with firsthand
knowledge" tell Rutten that the probe has
focused increasingly on whether the
deal "influenced
both advertising rates and the
amount and quality of local news
in both cities."
Rutten also reports that those who have
been questioned say
"prosecutors appear keenly interested
in fashioning a
remedy, perhaps by way of a settlement,
that would restore competition to
both cities'
alternative press markets."
Los Angeles Times |
12-23-2002 12:30 pm |
Industry News
Marxism Alive and Well in Utahnew
Pop Quiz:
What state-sponsored university plays
host to one of the top Marxist econ
departments in the country? Bet you
didn't guess the University of Utah,
located in one of the most conservative
states in the union, where the
Mormon Church and Orrin Hatch
call the shots.
Putting Teens in the Pen Next to Adult Felonsnew
Eight years ago, Georgia lawmakers
decided that children of a certain age who
commit one of seven crimes are no
longer
children. Instead, they would be handed
to the adult court system; a juvenile judge
would have no say. If
convicted, they
would have to serve at least 10 years
alongside adult murderers, rapists and
molesters. Unlike the
adults, they
would never become eligible for
parole. All has gone according to
plan. That's exactly what many
feared.
Mara
Shalhoup looks at the
consequences of
the controversial law.
Willamette Week Trash Search Raises Ire of Public Officialsnew
Several months ago, the Portland police,
without getting a
search warrant, poked through the
garbage of a fellow
officer that they were investigating. They
did so because, they argued,
trash is public once the can gets
to
the street. They used evidence found in
the garbage to indict the officer.
Testing the "garbage is public" thesis,
Willamette Week searched through the
trash of Portland's
police chief and a couple of other
public officials -- and they aren't
happy.
The Oregonian |
12-20-2002 3:21 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Willamette Week
Suburbs Threaten Monasterynew
Fifty years ago, monks who chose to get
away from it all to get
closer to
god opened a monastery in the middle of
nowhere. Thanks to urban
sprawl, "it
all" is now poised to be their next-door
neighbor. Matt Coker wonders if Sri
Ramakrishna’s followers can stop
the bulldozers in their once-quiet
canyon.
