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Agencies Tinkering with Media Mix Recipesnew

New York Times | 10-13-2005 7:07 am | Industry News

Direct Mailer Advo Lowers FY 2005 Expectationsnew

Editor & Publisher | 10-13-2005 6:34 am | Industry News

TV Newsman Resigns After Reporting Alt-Weekly Fiction as Fact

Nashville TV news reporter James Lewis recently ended a segment on an undercover prostitution sting by claiming that the Nashville police department arrested a McDonald's employee for selling a Big Mac to a hooker, thereby violating a law against "giving nutrition to a prostitute." Turns out Lewis was a victim of Google -- which he used to find the December 2004 Nashville Scene humor column in which the apocryphal anecdote was reported -- and his own credulity, which prevented him from recognizing obvious signs that the piece was a joke. Like, for instance, the fact that the column is called "The Fabricator." Lewis tells the Scene that it all worked out for the best since he wants to get into the real estate business anyway.

10-12-2005 2:50 pm | Industry News

Tags: Editorial, Nashville Scene

English Major Starts "Alternative Newspaper" at N.C. State

Mike Massey's column poking fun at students obsessed with their pickup trucks was rejected by the school paper for being "too liberal," so he decided to start a newspaper of his own. Splat! -- which aspires to be like Rolling Stone magazine in its early years, according to the News & Observer -- is scheduled to debut in November. "You aren't going to see stories about student government votes or trustee meetings in our paper," Massey tells the N&O. "I expect our stories to address the environment, women's issues, minority affairs, sex, student activism, drinking. This is what students talk about, but you don't see it in papers like the [North Carolina State school newspaper]."

10-12-2005 2:05 pm | Industry News

Tags: Editorial

The Stranger Sponsors Third Annual Genius Awards

"The Stranger is the Seattle weekly that sits in the back of the city in its black Chuck Taylors, snickering and swearing," according to Seattle Times columnist Nicole Brodeur. (Ed. note: And Seattle Weekly is the Seattle weekly whose managing editor is actually named Chuck Taylor.) Brodeur accepted an invitation to meet with The Stranger's arts editor, Christopher Frizzelle, even though she felt it was akin "to being invited into the bathroom by the Mean Girls ... You know you could come out with half your hair sheared off or your purse dumped, but you're intrigued." Turns out Frizzelle was merely flogging The Stranger's Genius Awards, in which the paper hands out $5,000 grants to four Seattle artists and an arts organization. The third-annual Genius Awards party will be held this weekend.

10-12-2005 1:20 pm | Industry News

Tags: Marketing, The Stranger

Columnist Calls Alt-Weekly an "Accomplice" in Prostitution Bust

Former University of Pittsburgh football star Bob Buczkowski was charged last month "with operating a prostitution and cocaine empire," and Tribune-Review columnist Mike Seate says Pittsburgh City Paper helped Buczkowski operate his "brothel-on-wheels." According to Seate, the indictment alleges that the defendant and his girlfriend placed ads in the AAN-member paper's classified section to recruit prostitutes and solicit customers. Editor Chris Potter tells Seate that authorities have not contacted anyone at City Paper's parent company to discuss the case.

10-12-2005 12:18 pm | Industry News

Tags: Classified Advertising, Management, Pittsburgh City Paper

Gambit Weekly to Return Nov. 1

Even though Hurricane Katrina left its office (pictured) submerged under more than two feet of water, co-owners Margo and Clancy DuBos always knew the paper would make a comeback. "We're about to celebrate our 25th anniversary [at Gambit]," says Margo. "How could I work that hard and get the company where it is and walk away from that?" The paper will initially operate from a temporary office space in Metairie, La., but it will have to do so without editor Michael Tisserand, who has made the difficult decision to relocate with his family to the Chicago area. (FULL STORY)

Joy Howard | 10-12-2005 8:27 am | Industry News

Tags: Editorial, Management, Gambit, Margo DuBos, Clancy DuBos, Michael Tisserand