AAN News
Another Former AANie Rises to Power
Laura Miller, new mayor of Dallas, is the third politician with a strong connection to the alternative newspaper business since November to become mayor of a major American city. "There is definitely a trend in urban
politics to be more progressive,” says John Rowley of the national
political consulting firm Fletcher &
Rowley in Nashville, Tenn. This shift makes urban voters “more receptive to
the kinds of issues alt-weeklies like to belabor,” Matt Pulle writes for AAN News.
(FULL STORY)
Matt Pulle |
02-25-2002 10:50 am |
Industry News
Fired Editor Launches Rival Weeklynew
"Finally, a newspaper war," writes Carlos Santos in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "Journalistic headbutting. A scramble for ads. Recruiting skirmishes. It's a grudge match to boot. Start the presses. Since earlier this month, two hip, breezy, irreverent, free weekly alternative newspapers have been locked in a bitter battle for advertising dollars and readers in a small market likely to sustain only one." In this corner, AAN-member C*Ville Weekly, and in the opposite corner, The Hook, launched by C*Ville's co-founder and former editor, Hawes Spencer.
Richmond Times-Dispatch |
02-25-2002 9:40 am |
Industry News
Pet Shop Murdernew
It first appeared to be a simple stickup gone bad, but police investigating the killing of pet-shop owner Sarkis Antonyan found much more than that. Christine Pelisek and Charles Rappleye writing for LA Weekly, discovered that for more than a decade, Antonyan had run scams and opened new enterprises for a burgeoning Armenian crime scene, including massive rip-offs from the $450 million state recycling program. Antonyan's rise and fall provide a rare window on the life behind the suburban facade of one of L.A.'s most anonymous immigrant communities.
National Ads Take Cliff-Dive
National advertising in alternative
weeklies nosedived the first few
weeks of 2002. "We're kind of on a
shoestring now, but that's how we
started," says AWN Executive Director
Mark Hanzlik. At least one AAN
paper
is pulling out the stops to shore up the
local ad base: Chicago Reader has restructured its ad rates so that some advertisers now are paying 15 percent less.
(FULL STORY)
Seth Wharton |
02-22-2002 12:17 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Financial, Retail Advertising
Memphis Flyer Publisher Sends Heart Wake-Up Callnew
Scott Ware, editor of The Sun of Bremerton, Wash., recalls his days marathoning with Ken Neill, publisher of the Memphis Flyer. Neill recently underwent quintuple heart bypass surgery, and now Ware is running again and watching the biscuits. "Now, let's start thinking about running the Dublin
again — even if this time, it's only the 10K," Ware concludes.
The Sun (Bremerton, Wash.) |
02-21-2002 4:49 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Kenneth Neill
Slavery's Price
Sometime this fall, a group of the most influential black lawyers in the country
-- including Harvard's Charles Ogletree and O.J. Simpson's attorney Johnnie Cochran -- are expected to walk into a federal courthouse and file suit against the people of the United States. The Hartford Advocate's Alistair Highet looks at the arguments for and against reparations.
"What the lawsuit will say is a matter of conjecture, but it is expected to go like this: From 1619 until 1865, the white people of this country enslaved more than four million people of African descent who were bought and sold in this continent like farm animals. The white people of the country made a lot of money from them. Now the descendants of these Africans want some of that money back," he writes.
SF Weekly Reporter Wins George Polk Awardnew
Lisa Davis joins writers from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker
in winning a prestigious George Polk Award. Her two-part series, "Fallout", which won in the environmental reporting category, exposed mishandled radioactive waste at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard at Hunter's Point.
Associated Press |
02-20-2002 2:31 pm |
Industry News
Artvoice Buys, Closes Blue Dog Press
Artvoice Publisher Jamie Moses buys and closes rival Blue Dog Press in a deal announced today. Blue Dog prints its last run Thursday, ending alt-weekly competition in Buffalo. Former staffers at Blue Dog, once called Buffalo Beat, lament the demise of the scrappy paper, but Moses has the last word: "This market can support two weeklies, but not two successful weeklies."
(FULL STORY)
02-19-2002 4:08 pm |
Industry News
Miller Wins Mayoral Election in Dallasnew
Laura Miller, firebrand ex-Dallas Observer columnist, wins the runoff mayoral election in the Big D. "She is intelligent, articulate and dedicated to her
goals," says The Dallas Morning News in an editorial. "And the fact that she is a former investigative reporter is certain to attract national attention."
Dallas Morning News |
02-19-2002 10:08 am |
Industry News
Tags: Dallas Observer, Laura Miller
Pakistan's Slave Tradenew
The Boston Phoenix reports on a flourishing trade in human flesh. Andrew Bushell reports that Afghan refugees in Pakistan are sold into prostitution, while indentured servitude flourishes. Bushell goes inside a opulent Eastern Pakistan home where "untouched" virgins, meaning they have not had anal sex, are sold for thousands of dollars.
