AAN News
Editor & Publisher Decries 'The War on Alt-Papers'new
In the editorial of E&P's latest issue, the magazine rails against the "Soviet-style arrests" of Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin in the Phoenix New Times grand-jury subpoena fiasco and the "lavish waste of public funds" used by the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation to investigate and ultimately arrest Orlando Weekly employees for "aiding and abetting prostitution." E&P commends the local mainstream dailies in Phoenix and Orlando for sticking up for the alt-weeklies in these two cases. "But dailies too rarely make common cause with their local alt-weekly when they are targeted by the familiar harassments of police ad stings, library banishments, and 'litter' laws concerned more about free papers stacked in a store than candy wrappers on the sidewalk," the magazine says. "Usually that's because the mainstream paper's top people resent the snarky coverage they get from the alternative with its sneering cheap shots. But thuggish local authorities who believe they can act with impunity against alt-papers will soon wonder just how much they can get away with against the mainstream daily."
Editor & Publisher (subscription required) |
12-04-2007 9:22 am |
Industry News
MBI Releases Videos and Transcripts in Case Against Orlando Weeklynew
The Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation released yesterday hidden-camera videos and 258 pages of documents from its nearly two-year investigation into the Weekly's classified department, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The MBI says the videos, which show ad reps talking about how to best word escort ads, helped convince a grand jury to indict the paper and three of its employees for allegedly knowingly selling ads to prostitutes for sex services, according to Local 6 News.
The Orlando Sentinel |
11-09-2007 1:18 pm |
Industry News
Orlando Weekly Drops Adult Ads This Week; Cops Release Transcriptnew
"Adult services will not be running this week because Orlando Weekly cannot ensure that doing so will not result in additional arrests of its employees by local police," reads the page in the alt-weekly where such ads would ordinarily appear. Instead, the paper printed the text of the First Amendment. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation has released a transcript from the investigation that led to last week's arrests, but the Weekly's attorney cautions against reading too much into it. "We should not rush to judgment based on the release of a transcript from a single conversation from a two-year investigation," Bill Schaefer tells Local 6 TV. "We should examine the propriety of the release of potential evidence prior to judicial proceedings. It may deny the defendants a fair and impartial trial."
News 13 Central Florida | WFTV | Local 6 TV |
10-25-2007 11:43 am |
Industry News
Orlando Weekly Hits Back on Prostitution Probenew
The first thing you notice when you land on Orlando Weekly's home page these days is an audio stream of Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" -- a message the paper is clearly taking to heart. In a story nearing 5,000 words published late yesterday, the alt-weekly comes out swinging at the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI), which arrested three of its employees on Friday on charges of deriving proceeds from prostitution and aiding and abetting prostitution. (The MBI also got a grand jury indictment for criminal racketeering against the paper.) The Weekly says that the arrests were simply retaliation for publishing critical stories about the agency, and as proof points to a host of other publications that carry similar ads, yet have not been targeted by the MBI. "The MBI is an inept, inefficient police organization, answerable to no one," the paper writes. "And if you dare confront the agency on their appalling record, they will try to put you out of business."
Orlando Weekly |
10-23-2007 8:08 am |
Industry News
Were Orlando Weekly Arrests Retribution for Critical Reporting?new
"Orlando Weekly believes these arrests are an outrageous abuse of process and an attempt to censor the First Amendment rights of a newspaper that has reported critically on the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation," publisher Rick Schreiber
says in a statement. Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell seems to agree. "You'll have to forgive me if I'm a bit skeptical about the MBI's arrest of three staffers," he says, noting that the Weekly has "been all over the MBI like fleas on a dog in recent years." He continues: "And yet, in our story today, MBI director Bill Lutz seemed to deny that his department had a grudge against the paper. If that's what he's saying, it's a crock." For more coverage of the arrests, and links to past Weekly coverage of the MBI, check out the paper's blog.
Orlando Weekly | Orlando Sentinel |
10-22-2007 12:25 pm |
Industry News
Three Orlando Weekly Employees Arrestednew
Orlando police arrested the paper's classified advertising director and two account executives this afternoon on charges of aiding and abetting prostitution, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The Weekly's office was also "served notice on racketeering charges for contributing to the prostitution industry," according to the Sentinel. The charges stem from a two-year operation dubbed "Operation Weekly Shame." As part of the investigation, two female agents went undercover and presented themselves as prostitutes to three Weekly account executives, according to police. Criminal defense lawyer Daniel Aaronson says the Weekly did nothing wrong by taking adult-oriented advertisements. "The papers aren't doing anything illegal," he says. "They're taking ads. If an ad uses suggestive language, the stopping of these ads threatens the First Amendment."
The Orlando Sentinel |
10-19-2007 2:54 pm |
Industry News
OrlandoWeekly.com is Runner-up for EPpy Awardnew
The alt-weekly's website took placed second in the Best Weekly Newspaper-Affiliated Website category. Last year, first place in the same category went to Baltimore City Paper's website. Both papers are owned by The Times Shamrock Alternative Newsweekly Group. The awards, co-sponsored by Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek magazines, honor the best new media services from the newspaper industry. Winners were announced yesterday.
Editor & Publisher |
05-25-2007 8:10 am |
Honors & Achievements
Are Cops Overemphasizing Orlando Weekly's Role in Prostitution Sting?new
Orlando's Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI) tells WFTV-TV they used massage parlor ads in the Orlando alt-weekly to nab Li Ping Ding, a "ringleader" who was "running prostitution out of 10 locations in Central Florida." On the Orlando Weekly's blog, editor Bob Whitby smells something funny: He says the Weekly has been a thorn in the MBI's side for some time, and thinks it may be more than a coincidence that the Bureau included four pages of Weekly ads in the press release for Ding's bust. "Could this be part of the culture of retribution the MBI is so famous for?," Whitby asks.
WFTV-TV |
04-03-2007 8:15 am |
Industry News
Orlando Weekly Lauded for 'Why Metallica Sucks' Contestnew
Rolling Stone |
11-08-2006 10:27 am |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Orlando Weekly
Three AAN Member Web Sites Nominated for Awards
The Village Voice Web site is one of five finalists in the "Newspaper" category of the 2006 Webby Awards, it was announced April 11. Winners will be named on May 9. Orlando Weekly and Baltimore City Paper have also been honored for their online work: Their Web sites are two of the three finalists in the "Best Weekly Newspaper-Affiliated Web Service" category of the EPpy Awards, which are presented by Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek. (The third finalist is a Pennsylvania community newspaper, The Almanac.) EPpy Award winners will be announced May 19.
04-19-2006 1:24 pm |
Industry News
J.J. Marley: Keeping Visual Options Open
J.J. Marley likes to dabble in different creative fields, from illustration to photography to music. His varied background and his desire to "generate a good vibe" resulted in three very different Orlando Weekly covers that won a first-place 2005 AltWeekly Award.
This is the 36th in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
(FULL STORY)
Lindsay Kishter |
02-13-2006 10:41 am |
Association News
Former Orlando Weekly Publisher Diesnew
The Daily Progress |
01-18-2006 12:33 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Management, Orlando Weekly
Jeffrey C. Billman and J. J. Marley: Slicing Pie-in-the-Sky
Tired of political rhetoric that went unchallenged, the Orlando Weekly team of Jeffrey C. Billman and J.J. Marley set about creating an annotated version of a speech by the mayor. Their format-busting work earned them an AltWeekly Award, even though Marley was rooting for a different issue to be entered. This is the 33rd in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
(FULL STORY)
Marty Levine |
01-12-2006 2:23 pm |
Association News
