In November, the Sacramento News & Review launched its Face to Face Video Ad project. The ads, which have also been rolled out at the company's paper in Chico and will soon hit its Reno paper, are serious, in-depth recorded interviews with vendors about their products and services. News & Review president and CEO Jeff von Kaenel says the idea was inspired by a vacation to India with his teenage daughter, who was shooting and editing video of the trip. "The video technology had gotten so easy to use," he says, it got him thinking about how the paper could take advantage of the technological leaps. So far, the initial reaction to the project has been promising, according to Susan Cooper, sales development manager at the Sacramento paper. In this Q&A with AAN News, she talks in more detail about the project.

Continue ReadingAdding Online Video to the Sales Toolkit

A closer look at one of the icons of Christmas, "Jingle Bell Rock," unveils a tale of dastardly deeds and a lengthy dispute between the family of the song's claimed coauthor and the Nashville music industry. A lot of patient listening and research allowed Folio Weekly staff writer Susan Cooper Eastman to unfold the drama in her award-winning arts feature, "Jingle Bell Crock." This is the 20th in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.

Continue ReadingSusan Cooper Eastman: Exposing the Dark Side of a Christmas Classic

Nobody seems to have questioned Clay County, Florida, Sheriff Scott Lancaster about his spending until Susan Clark Armstrong started nosing around his records. What were all those extra cars being used for? The airline tickets? The underwear? After Armstrong's story "Booty Call" appeared in Folio Weekly, an investigation ensued, and the sheriff lost in the Republican primary. This is the fifth in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.

Continue ReadingSusan Clark Armstrong: Getting the Goods on the Sheriff

Part 2 of Susan Goldsmith's series on LA's Mexican Mafia tells the "Greek Tragedy" story of Max Torvisco, a "nerdy kid" who grew up to become one of the underworld's most feared and sadistic capos. Using exclusive documents obtained from the FBI and Torvisco's testimony against other gang members, Goldsmith spent two months researching and writing the series for New Times Los Angeles..

Continue ReadingNew Times LA Opens Chilling Window into LA Underworld

In a New Times LA exclusive, Susan Goldsmith obtains chilling court-sealed FBI documents that have never seen the light of day until this week’s edition of the alternative newsweekly. Using internal FBI reports and transcribed recordings made by FBI informants and agents in meetings with members of the Mexican Mafia, Goldsmith’s 6500-word story of mob violence questions why the FBI failed to make arrests with such ample evidence of conspiracy to commit murder.

Continue ReadingNew Times LA Breaks Mafia Informant Murder Story