AAN News
Willamette Week Publisher: We're Enjoying Great Healthnew
In his annual report to readers, Richard Meeker says that despite "the gloom-and-doom reports" on newspapers across the country, Willamette Week's story in 2007 "is anything but a tale from the crypt." He notes that "this will be the paper's best year ever in display sales," with sales up 7.6 percent over 2006. And although classifieds continue to decline, with sales down about $115,000, total revenue at the paper is expected to be up 4 or 5 percent from last year, with pre-tax profit expected to be about 5 percent. "If [the paper was] owned by a media conglomerate, co-owner Mark Zusman and I would have been relieved of our responsibilities long ago for unsatisfactory financial performance," Meeker writes. "While we certainly could be a little more efficient, we feel it would seriously harm the culture of our operation to try to match national averages calling for profits two to three times greater than ours."
Willamette Week |
11-15-2007 9:08 am |
Industry News
Hey, That's Not an Alt-Weekly!
According to AAN executive director Richard Karpel, reporters often
mistakenly apply the term "alternative newspaper" to the wrong publications.
So in an effort to "make some small contribution to human understanding and
the brand equity of our member papers," he decided to note every time he
sees the term used incorrectly. In this first edition of "Hey,
That's Not an Alt-Weekly!" -- an irregular series devoted to the correct use of
the term "alternative newspaper" and all its variants -- Karpel explains what an alternative newspaper is and why The Sun News in Santa Fe, N.M., doesn't qualify.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
11-14-2007 8:07 am |
Industry News
Portland Phoenix Reveals Ugly Side of Verizon/FairPoint Merger
Fairpoint-Verizon Deal Depends on Union Workers Not Getting a Raise for Seven Years
(FULL STORY)
Portland Phoenix Press Release |
11-14-2007 5:39 pm |
Press Releases
Gateways Partner With Niche Sites to Battle Traffic Slippagenew
Wall Street Journal |
11-13-2007 10:39 am |
Industry News
House Ad Targeting Potential AAJ Applicants Now Available
It's time to recruit our next class for the Academy for Alternative
Journalism, the training program for long-form writing and
reporting that AAN funds every summer at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. To help spread the word, AAN is making available to members a display ad (PDF file) to run between and now and
the Feb. 8 deadline. Feel free to amend the size of this ad to support your
format, add your logo, or add additional language urging interested applicants to contact your paper directly about the
program. If you have any questions about AAJ, contact Donna Ladd at the Jackson Free Press or Debra Silvestrin at the AAN office.
AAN Staff |
11-12-2007 2:19 pm |
Association News
Former Mountain XPress Staffer Lands at Newly Launched Competitornew
Cecil Bothwell, who was fired from the XPress last month, is now a business partner in and news editor of Asheville City Paper. The paper, which is being started by the independent weekly Columbia City Paper, will be monthly at first and hopes to go bi-weekly by Spring. A press release posted at Bothwell's blog says the City Paper, "targeting an 18-45 liberal demographic, will feature hard-hitting investigative journalism and will cover national politics, local news and music." Managing editor Todd Morehead tells the Ashvegas blog: "We're all super excited and Cecil already has a gutsy investigative piece in the works that he says Mountain Xpress was 'too timid' to publish."
Mountain XPress |
11-12-2007 12:31 pm |
Industry News
Paid Partisans, Biased Bloggers, and Their Place in the Newsroomnew
In examining the "challenge that news organizations face as they look for new ways to engage the public in political discourse while trying to remain fair and balanced in their own coverage," Poynter talks to ethics experts and news editors about how they deal with the political activities of new media contributors. While the editor of Cleveland's Plain Dealer thinks writers can contribute to or work on campaigns as long as they aren't being paid, National Public Radio's news blogger says establishing written guidelines with contributors -- whether they are paid or not -- is critical. "I think the issue here is transparency," he says, recommending that if a contributor has supported a particular campaign, that needs to be noted on the blog or column (s)he writes.
Poynter Online |
11-12-2007 11:15 am |
Industry News
Norman Mailer, Co-Founder of The Village Voice, Diesnew
Mailer, who started the country's first alt-weekly with Daniel Wolf and Edwin Fancher in 1955, died early Saturday in Manhattan. He was 84. After he finished his third novel, Mailer put up $10,000 to launch the new weekly and came up with the name, the Voice reports. "Though Mailer wanted the paper to be 'outrageous' and 'give a little speed to that moral and sexual revolution which is yet to come upon us,' his partners, he said, were more interested in making it a successful, established venture," according to the Voice. He soon started writing a column in the paper, only to quit the paper four months later because he said there were typographical errors in his column. For more reflections on Mailer from around the world, visit Google News.
The Village Voice |
11-12-2007 8:25 am |
Industry News
The Art of Widgetry: A Primernew
iMediaConnection |
11-12-2007 9:41 am |
Industry News
Krist Novoselic Starts Blogging for Seattle Weeklynew
Novoselic, best known for being Nirvana's bassist, began what will be a weekly blog column yesterday with a post on the origins of the title "Smells Like Teen Spirit," anarchy, and the WTO riots of 1999. Weekly web editor Chris Kornelis tells AAN News that he approached Novoselic with the idea, and it developed from there. "Expect his columns to focus heavily on politics, culture, and music -- but really, he's going to be writing about whatever is on his mind," Kornelis says in an email. "We feel very fortunate to have his perspective on our daily website."
Seattle Weekly |
11-08-2007 2:39 pm |
Industry News
AAN Membership Application Process Begins
AAN is now accepting applications for the 2007-08 membership year. Alternative newspapers that are interested in applying for membership in the association can download an application here (PDF file). Applications must be received in the AAN office in Washington, D.C. by Dec. 31 to be eligible. As papers that have run the gauntlet know, the AAN membership process is rigorous. To learn more about how the association determines whether a paper qualifies for membership, we encourage potential applicants to read our membership guidelines -- there is a short version and a long version (Word doc). For questions about the process, papers should contact Debra Silvestrin at 202-289-8484 or debra (at) aan.org.
AAN Staff |
11-08-2007 11:25 am |
Association News
Village Voice Writer's Tapes Put Confidentiality in the Spotlightnew
As we mentioned yesterday, Tom Robbins' decision to make public the tapes that led to the dismissal of a FBI mob trial was not an easy one for him to make. In today's New York Times, he explains further his decision to break his pledge of confidentiality to star witness Linda Schiro. He tells the Times he came forward, rather than his colleague Jerry Capeci, because Capeci's entire career hinges on writing about the mob. "I don't face the same kind of jeopardy," Robbins says. "Jerry spends his life reporting on people who commit murders. The last thing in the world he wants to do is to be brought to the stand and asked about his sources." Capeci says the pair felt comfortable breaking their pledge of confidentiality since Schiro had broken it herself by testifying. "It wasn't a question of hurting her by violating the confidentiality," he says. "She had already discussed the material that she told us in confidence."
The New York Times |
11-02-2007 8:44 am |
Industry News
Village Voice Reporter's Tapes Derail FBI Mob Trialnew
Prosecutors and defense lawyers met yesterday with the Voice's Tom Robbins to listen to his taped interviews that brought into question the testimony of the star witness in the trial of Lindley DeVecchio, a former FBI agent accused of helping the mob commit murder. By the end of the day, prosecutors said the recordings gave them no choice but to drop the case, the New York Times reports. Robbins, who had interviewed Linda Schiro in 1997, says he struggled with the decision to make the tapes available. "Tell me what else I could have done?" Robbins asks the Daily News. "If you sit silent, then someone could go to jail for life. I chose not to live with that." UPDATE: The Voice has digitized the tapes and made the files available online.
The New York Times | New York Daily News |
11-01-2007 10:36 am |
Industry News
Village Voice Staff Writer Subpoenaed in Mob Trialnew
Lawyers for both the defense and prosecution subpoenaed Tom Robbins Tuesday night after the Voice published his story that questions key testimony of a star witness against Lindley DeVecchio, a former FBI agent accused of helping the mob commit murder, the Voice reports. Robbins reported to court this morning with his notes and his lawyer. In 1997, he interviewed Linda Schiro, the former companion of Greg "the Grim Reaper" Scarpa. In those interviews, Schiro contradicted testimony she's given in this trial, when she said DeVecchio had a hand in four mob murders. "The story that Linda Schiro told us in three of four of the murders is diametrically opposed to the testimony she is giving in court," Robbins tells the Daily News. "She's lying to somebody."
The Village Voice |
10-31-2007 1:31 pm |
Industry News
New York Press Story Leads to Disclaimer on NYT Magazine Columnnew
A few weeks ago, the Press published a cover story claiming that the author of the New York Times Magazine's "Questions For" column had repeatedly broken the paper's code of ethics by reshuffling her Q&As and even making up questions. The story was batted around the internet, and ultimately Times public editor Clark Hoyt argued in his weekly column that Deborah Solomon's column should come with a disclaimer. Now Gawker reports that Solomon told students at Columbia University last week that the column will indeed come with a disclaimer, though the Times has not yet announced such a move and the column was disclaimer-less this past weekend.
Gawker |
10-31-2007 11:04 am |
Industry News
