AAN News
Weekly Planet Toasts Name Change with 'Best of the Bay' Beerfest
Creative Loafing Press Release |
09-22-2006 12:11 pm |
Press Releases
Weekly Planet Becomes Creative Loafing, No Other Changes Plannednew
Tampa Bay Business Journal |
09-19-2006 1:17 pm |
Industry News
Weekly Planet to Change Name, For Real, in Septembernew
Tampa Bay Business Journal |
06-02-2006 10:59 am |
Industry News
Weekly Planet Changes Name, Prematurelynew
Tampa's alt-weekly was formerly called Creative Loafing, and it will be called that again this fall, according to Editor David Warner. But a "universal brain fart'" led the paper to mistakenly make the change several months ahead of schedule and run its latest issue under the nameplate of its sister publications in Charlotte and Atlanta. "The error was partly due to the fact that while the editing staffs for Tampa and Sarasota are in Florida, design and production for all four papers in the Creative Loafing chain is done in Atlanta," Warner wrote last week on his paper's blog. "But such an error has never occurred before, and we here in Tampa should have been more alert."
Weekly Planet |
05-30-2006 12:09 pm |
Industry News
Tampa's Weekly Planet Deals With Circulation Problemsnew
In a story published Saturday, the alt-weekly and its parent company, Creative Loafing, Inc., announced that return figures had been inaccurate, possibly for years, under former Circulation Director Zarko Bajsanski. The paper has taken steps to correct the problem, including firing Bajsanski and at least one driver. "I feel like I'm a victim in this as well," says publisher Amber Abram. Bajsanski blames the drivers for providing inaccurate return sheets. The Weekly Planet has also dropped its print run from 95,000 to 85,000 copies and eliminated financial incentives for drivers to keep returns low. Advertising materials have not been changed, and the paper's management expects an upcoming Media Audit report to be consistent with the quality of readership figures provided to advertisers.
Weekly Planet |
11-14-2005 10:09 am |
Industry News
Weekly Planet Will Address Rumors of Inflated Circulationnew
St. Petersburg Times |
11-14-2005 9:22 am |
Industry News
In Harm's Way, Alt-Weeklies Weather Hurricanes
Readers of Gambit Weekly, New Times Broward-Palm Beach, Miami New Times, Weekly Planet (Tampa), Weekly Planet (Sarasota), Folio Weekly and Orlando Weekly have lately seen Mother Nature at her worst. Distributed in areas affected by the hurricanes that have pounded Florida and surrounding states since August, these alt-weeklies have come out on schedule -- thanks to determined staffers and contingency plans.
(FULL STORY)
Ann Hinch |
09-17-2004 6:06 pm |
Industry News
Faux Alt Debuts in Tampanew
The Times Publishing Co., publisher of the St. Petersburg Times, has launched tbt*, a weekly paper apparently aimed at asterisk-loving young adults. According to the Times, tbt* delivers news in short chunks with colorful photos and no attempt at serious analysis, and bills itself as "zippy news for time-challenged adults." Features also include entertainment listings, shopping tips, and advice on computers and romance. Paul Tash, editor and chairman of Times Publishing, tells reporter Helen Huntley: "There's nothing else like it on the market." AAN-member Weekly Planet (Tampa) is distributed in the same area.
St. Petersburg Times |
09-13-2004 6:11 pm |
Industry News
Weekly Planet (Tampa) to Replace Editornew
The outgoing editor, Jim Harper, told the St. Petersburg Times that Weekly Planet president and CEO Ben Eason "wants a different kind of editor" and is conducting a nationwide search. Harper will retain his post during the hunt for his replacement. He has been the Planet's editor for 15 months. Before that, he worked for more than 20 years at the Times.
St. Petersburg Times |
05-20-2004 11:59 am |
Industry News
FBI Wants to Know Alt-Weekly Reporter's Sourcesnew
John Sugg wasn't too pleased to receive a call from an FBI agent telling him he was "all over the wiretaps" the agency had made of fired University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian. Judging from the cover of Weekly Planet Tampa, Sugg even feels a little defiant; he's not naming any confidential sources. The former editor of the Planet and now senior editor of Creative Loafing Atlanta is on the FBI's tapes because he's been covering the investigation of the accused mastermind of terrorism Al-Arian for eight years. In a story for the Planet, Sugg reflects on disclosures he's made about officials working on the government's case.
Weekly Planet (Tampa) |
03-11-2004 12:03 pm |
Industry News
Doing a Drug Named Tinanew
In cities on both coasts, the stimulant crystal methamphetamine has become the party/sex drug of choice among gay men. They call it "tina," Eric Snider reports in Weekly Planet (Tampa). "Tina is attractive because it provides long bursts of energy, a sense of euphoria and well being, and it can make you (along with anyone else who is doing it with you) horny as hell," Snider writes. The downside is that it has the power "to drop its users into a cycle of dependence and depravity, to keep them up for days on end, partying and engaging in extreme, often unprotected, sex." The drug is implicated in the spread of AIDS.
Tags: Creative Loafing (Tampa)
FBI Questions Man Seen Reading Alt-Weekly Articlenew
Marc Schultz was grilled by FBI
agents acting on a tip from someone who
saw the dark, bearded freelance writer
reading something "suspicious" in a
coffee shop: After retracing his steps,
Schultz remembered what he had been
reading: a printout of an
article from Weekly Planet (Tampa) --
Hal Crowther's "Weapons of
Mass Stupidity." "(I)t seems like a dark
day when an American citizen regards
reading as a threat, and
downright pitch-black when the federal
government agrees," Schultz writes.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
07-17-2003 4:02 pm |
Industry News
Terrorism "Expert" Drops Case Against Weekly Planetnew
Steven Emerson, who promotes himself as an investigative reporter with special knowledge of radical Islamic terrorists, has abandoned his four-year-old libel suit against the Weekly Planet and former Editor John Sugg. In a 1998 article, Sugg, now a senior editor at Creative Loafing (Atlanta), questioned Emerson's assertions about terrorist plots against him. Emerson sued, saying the articles defamed him. "Emerson never had a case," Planet Publisher Ben Eason says.
Weekly Planet (Tampa) |
05-23-2003 1:06 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Creative Loafing (Tampa)
Weekly Planet Fires Threenew
Weekly Planet (Tampa) has laid off three editorial staffers -- News Editor Francis X. Gilpin and staff writers Trevor
Aaronson and Rochelle Renford -- citing flat revenue and a desire to shift focus from political to cultural coverage, the St. Petersburgh Times reports. Neil Skene, senior vice president, group publisher, of the Planet's parent company, Creative Loafing, says the weekly will now use freelance writers for political coverage.
St. Petersburg Times |
01-16-2003 1:35 pm |
Industry News
AAN Food Writers Spoon up Awardsnew
Three AAN papers were awarded first-place in under 200,000 circulation division of the 2002
Association of Food Journalists competition: Robb Walsh of
Houston Press for food news
reporting; Marty Jones of
Westword for food columns and
Bonnie Boots, former food editor for the Weekly
Planet (Tampa), for restaurant criticism. Willamette Week takes three
awards from
the foodie group, a
second for restaurant criticism for
Roger Porter and a second and
third
for special sections edited by Arts &
Culture Editor Caryn
Brooks.
Association of Food Journalists |
10-04-2002 5:09 pm |
Industry News
