The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies has hired Steve Davolt as editor of AAN.org and AltWeeklies.com. Working in the association’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, Davolt will be responsible for the content of AAN.org, a site for association and industry news, and AltWeeklies.com, an aggregator of news and arts features from AAN member newspapers.

Davolt has logged 15 years as a mostly Washington-based journalist, working for a plethora of trade and other publications. He served as an editor and writer at the Washington Business Journal from 1999-2005, followed by a brief stint at Employee Benefit News, a SourceMedia publication.

“Given the forces of darkness arrayed against the free press right now, this is an exciting time to support alternative newsweeklies,” Davolt said. “I’m happy I can put the ample experience I’ve gained at other types of publications to work for AAN members.”

Davolt began working at AAN earlier this week. Jon Whiten, who has edited AltWeeklies.com since January, will continue to help with the Web site at least through the end of October. Amy Gill, who has edited AAN.org since last fall, will assume other responsibilities, including technical management of both Web sites and other information technologies, and administration of the organization’s annual AltWeekly Awards contest.