In a neck-and-neck race for Colorado's 5th Congressional District, Democratic candidate Jay Fawcett took out a full-page ad in the Colorado Springs Independent, the Rocky Mountain News reports. The ad campaign -- one of the biggest campaign expenditures ever by a Democrat in the district, according to the News -- may give Fawcett the edge he needs to wrest away a seat the Republicans have owned since 1972.
Colorado Springs Independent Managing Editor Vanessa Martinez is leaving the paper to help launch the Rocky Mountain Chronicle, an alternative newsweekly scheduled to debut in Fort Collins this October. With her departure, the Independent seeks to fill "one of the most important, challenging and fun jobs in the Pikes Peak region: editor of Colorado's second-largest locally owned media enterprise." Because the paper is hoping to find a new editor with local ties, it is turning to its readership for suggestions. As incentive, the individual "who persuades the right candidate to apply" will be given $1,000. Application information is available on csindy.com.
As the result of a cooperative investigation with the alt-weekly, the "CBS Evening News with Bob Schieffer" aired a series this week about current and former Fort Carson soldiers who claim that the base failed to treat their post-traumatic stress disorder. The CS Independent features its investigation in today's cover story, penned by staff reporter Michael de Yoanna.
A recent survey of AAN papers revealed that the applications alt-weeklies are using to track circulation are as diverse as the newspapers themselves. A few papers rely on their in-house wiz for a custom-made program, but for the rest of the industry, a commercial package is the only sophisticated option. Alt-weekly circulation insiders describe their woes, successes, and dreams of better uses for the numbers.
You never know where a search engine will lead you. For Terje Langeland, a reporter for the Colorado Springs Independent, it was straight into a web of connections among local people who had backed pro-voucher candidates for the school board and national pro-voucher groups. His award-winning series, "Command Performance," lays out the details. This is the 23rd in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
Nader-supporting alt-weekly readers living in 10 swing states will see full-page ads next week urging them to vote Kerry in 2004. The ads promote a statement by more than 70 former Nader supporters -- including Noam Chomsky, Ben Cohen and Susan Sarandon -- who endorse voting for Kerry in states where he's running neck and neck with Bush. Colorado Springs Independent publisher John Weiss, who organized the campaign, says, "Our goal is to reach voters who have been almost entirely neglected in this campaign: swing voters on the left."
They need to make a living but can't afford to let the conformity demanded by some day jobs sap their creative spirit. Independent Weekly's Leslie Land, Tucson Weekly's Marc Desilets and others explain the migration of musicians to the classified sales departments of alternative newsweeklies. What's the appeal? Good pay, good vibes -- altogether a decent daylight gig for a breed that Cincinnati CityBeat's Chuck Davis has dubbed "rawker-ad-hawkers."
After Colorado Springs Independent Publisher John Weiss received a Small Business Person of the Year award from the local Chamber of Commerce, an office-supply store owner named Ed Bircham took out newspaper ads questioning whether Weiss deserved it. Responding to allegations made in Bircham's ads, Weiss admits in his latest column that, yes, the Independent had indeed used profanity in the paper recently when it quoted what Vice President Dick Cheney said to Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy. Weiss also pleaded guilty to running same-sex personal ads in the paper. But the alt-weekly publisher didn't sound the least bit remorseful.
