AAN News
How the Santa Barbara Independent Beats the Local Daily Onlinenew
Alan Mutter says newspapers shouldn't charge for access to their websites unless they provide content that is "unique and valuable." As an example, he says the pay wall erected by the daily Santa Barbara News-Press has left the paper with less than half of the traffic generated by the much smaller Independent. When wildfires threatened Santa Barbara in November, Mutter says, "scant information" was available for non-subscribers on the daily's site, while the alt-weekly's site -- which won a 2008 EPpy Award for best weekly newspaper-affiliated website -- "brimmed with up-to-the-minute bulletins, first-person reports" and fire photos.
Reflections of a Newsosaur |
03-04-2009 10:34 am |
Industry News
Santa Barbara Independent Reporter Heads to Iraqnew
Against the advice of friends, family, and colleagues, The Independent's news reporter Ben Preston has embarked on a month-long embedded tour of Iraq with the U.S. Army's 425th Civil Affairs Battalion, which is based in Santa Barbara. Why? "I'm hoping to take a look at some of the economic work that is being done here," he explained. "I knew that coalition forces from all over the world were here, but seeing how many non-military people are working here, it becomes apparent that many people have become economically dependent upon the rebuilding process." Follow Preston's continually updated blog online at independent.com/iraq.
Santa Barbara Independent |
02-09-2009 8:48 am |
Industry News
New Ad Network Launched With Nonprofit Ad
AAN's new eighth-page display ad network, known as AAN BRAN, published its first network-wide ad the week of Dec. 8. The ad, from the charity Direct Relief International, ran in scores of papers across the country and was sold by Evan Wells of the Santa Barbara Independent. Click through to learn more about the new program.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
12-18-2008 11:41 am |
Association News
How I Got That Story: Nick Welsh
In the fourteenth installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, the Santa Barbara Independent's Nick Welsh discusses his award-winning media coverage of the local daily. In the midst of reporting on turmoil at the Santa Barbara News-Press, Welsh eventually became part of the story himself, as he was sued by the paper for copyright infringement. He tells Tess Martinez how he became the go-to guy for News-Press news, the chilling effect of being sued by another paper, and how the Independent has stepped in as the News-Press has essentially committed suicide. "Santa Barbara is a community trying to figure out how to live without a daily paper," Welsh says. "At the Independent, we're trying to figure out a way to become a de facto daily with the internet. We're doing OK, but we're still struggling."
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
11-06-2008 1:23 pm |
Association News
Correction: Another AAN Member Was Honored at California Press Awards
AAN News has been informed that we missed the fact that the Santa Barbara Independent won several California Newspaper Publishers Association awards when we reported on the awards last week. Indy publisher Randy Campbell notes that the press association for some reason omitted the "Santa Barbara" from the paper's name and simply called it The Independent. The alt-weekly won five awards this year, including first-place finishes in Feature Photo and Investigative/Enterprise
Reporting.
AAN News |
11-03-2008 8:06 am |
Honors & Achievements
Santa Barbara Independent Launches Emergency Alert Servicenew
IndyAlert will provide email, text message, and radio announcements (via partner station KCSB-FM) "during emergencies and public safety challenges." The service is free, but users must subscribe. "In the past two years we've been on the literal front lines of many of Santa Barbara's disasters and emergencies, with our website providing timely coverage we couldn't achieve with the weekly newspaper. But we sometimes found the immediacy of our website was inconvenient or unavailable," publisher Randy Campbell says. "By adding text messaging and email alerts, we can use the wide availability of cell phones to keep our subscribers informed. Add radio to the mix and we've got particularly valuable tools for communication during a power outage or on the go."
Santa Barbara Independent |
08-18-2008 8:52 am |
Industry News
Santa Barbara Named One of '10 That Do it Right' by E&P
Editor & Publisher has recognized the Santa Barbara Independent as one of 10 newspapers of note, in their annual "10 That Do It Right" feature. The Independent is the only AAN member on this year's list (the Bay Guardian made the cut last year), which showcases newspapers in the US that are "performing in one particular aspect -- from marketing to online video -- that merits consideration and maybe even emulation by their peers." E&P notes that the Independent has become the top source for local news in town by capitalizing on turmoil at the daily Santa Barbara News-Press and by focusing on its website. "When you talk about the paper of record, you really are assuming that's the paper that has the institutional memory," Indy editor-in-chief Marianne Partridge says. "The fact is, it's our paper that has all the institutional memory."
(FULL STORY)
Santa Barbara Independent Press Release |
07-30-2008 10:11 am |
Press Releases
Earthquake Hits Southern California, Alt-Weekly Offices Feel It
A little before noon yesterday, a 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit Southern California, with an epicenter 29 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake, which was the largest in SoCal in more than a decade but apparently caused no major damage, was felt in AAN-member offices from San Diego to Santa Barbara, judging by a quick perusal of blogs. "[It] felt like I was standing on a rocking waterbed for at least 12 seconds. The building swayed back and forth. A large corkboard fell off my office wall," the OC Weekly's R. Scott Moxley reports. "An energy drink can stupidly placed (by me) on top of a file cabinet flew three feet in the air. The staff quickly evacuated the building and found phone lines dead." Up in Culver City at LA Weekly's offices, Mark Mauer notes: "The new LA Weekly building shakes like a leaf (at least around my desk) every time a car enters or leaves our garage, so it took a few extra seconds to figure out this was an actual earthquake and not just an SUV trying to find a parking space." The Santa Barbara Independent's Matt Kettman reports feeling a "long, rolling sensation," while San Diego CityBeat's Kinsee Morgan wins the award for brevity, simply noting the quake was the "biggest one I've felt yet."
AAN News |
07-30-2008 8:30 am |
Industry News
AAN Board Member Gets Married by East Bay Express
The Santa Barbara Independent's Robby Robbins, who is AAN's Classified Advertising Chair, was married on July 2 to longtime partner Bryan O'Quinn as part of the Express' Wedding Wednesdays promotion. The paper chose six couples to be married to celebrate same-sex couples' newfound right to legally marry in California. In attendance at the July 2 ceremony were a number of Independent staffers who drove up from Santa Barbara, as well as Gloria Mock, advertising director of North Carolina's Independent Weekly, where Robbins previously worked. "Bryan and I are so grateful to the East Bay Express, [publisher] Jody Colley, and all
their partners/vendors for making this wonderful time more spectacular than
we could ever have imagined," Robbins tells AAN News via email. For more photos click here, and for a video montage of all six weddings, click here.
AAN News |
07-22-2008 1:38 pm |
Industry News
Former Daily Paper Editor Now Blogging at Santa Barbara Independentnew
Editor & Publisher |
07-01-2008 9:20 am |
Industry News
Santa Barbara Independent Wins EPpy Awardnew
Independent.com has won the EPpy for the best weekly newspaper-affiliated website in the country, Editor & Publisher, which sponsors the contest with Mediaweek, reports. The winners of the annual awards honoring online work were announced yesterday in Las Vegas, and publisher Randy Campbell was there to accept, thanking his staff "for their hard work in taking the website from a skeleton to a fully operational daily source of news for the Santa Barbara community," the Independent reports. "There are no secrets to publishing, either online or in print, so I'm thrilled the hard work and commitment of our web team has been recognized on a national level," said Campbell back in April when the site was first nominated.
Editor & Publisher | Santa Barbara Independent |
05-16-2008 9:21 am |
Honors & Achievements
Santa Barbara Independent Sales Manager to be Replaced by Two People
We're not sure how big they are, but after 15 years at the Santa Barbara Independent, Tom Morey has left two pairs of shoes to fill. According to a release from the paper, Jen Malkin and Robby Robbins will replace Morey by "dividing the awesome task of sales management." Robbins, who serves on the AAN Board as Classified Advertising Chair, "will concentrate on bringing sales in the door" while Malkin "lords over" production and marketing. And Morey isn't going anywhere: He will remain with the paper as part of the sales management team focusing on the local arts community.
(FULL STORY)
Santa Barbara Independent Press Release |
05-14-2008 10:25 am |
Press Releases
Santa Barbara Independent Settles Lawsuit With Daily Papernew
The Independent and the parent company of the Santa Barbara News-Press have settled a federal copyright infringement lawsuit, the Indy reports. The suit was brought against the alt-weekly in 2006 after a reporter for the News-Press wrote an article describing what occurred in the paper's newsroom the day a handful of top editors resigned. The story never made the paper; instead, the Independent got a hold of a draft and posted it on its website, which the News-Press claimed violated federal copyright law. Local media law blogger Craig Smith says that even though they won't admit it, the settlement is "a victory for the Independent."
Santa Barbara Independent |
05-07-2008 9:57 am |
Legal News
Santa Barbara Independent Website Named EPpy Award Finalistnew
Editor & Publisher |
04-29-2008 12:14 pm |
Honors & Achievements
Santa Barbara Independent Wins AAN CAN Contest
Doug Elder and Robby Robbins have been named the winners of the AAN CAN European Dream Trip contest, which ended on Friday. As the sales rep and sales manager who generated the most new business between Oct. 11, 2007 and March 21, they will each be awarded a 10-day trip for two that includes round-trip airfare and accommodations for three nights each in London, Paris and Rome. Elder and Robbins ended up with a final tally of $19,928, placing well ahead of the runner-up, John DeMartino of the Independent Weekly, who finished with $2,888.
AAN |
03-24-2008 11:16 am |
Association News
