Gary Webb is the newest reporter at the Sacramento News & Review, where he will cover politics and state government. Webb has won more than 30 journalism awards, including a Pulitzer Prize given to the editorial staff of the San Jose Mercury News for its coverage of the 1989 Bay Area earthquake. He is the author of "Dark Alliance," a book based on his series of articles for the Mercury News in which he exposed connections between Los Angeles crack dealers, Nicaraguan Contra rebels and the CIA.

Continue ReadingWebb Joins Sacramento Alt-Weekly

Kevin McKinney, editor and publisher of Indianapolis's NUVO, subscribes to the tenets of reduce, reuse and recycle. Such thinking led to the alt-weekly's recent move to print on paper with nearly 80 percent recycled content. "We had gotten all our process worked out, so now we could look at more environmentally friendly options," says production manager Mike Fox (pictured). A box of factoids on NUVO's table of contents page lists the resources saved annually by printing on this paper, 6,256 trees and 442,777 gallons of water among them. And, says McKinney, "there's no noticeable difference in photos or art and no change in cost."

Continue ReadingRecycled Paper Eases Alt-Weekly’s Eco Impact

Editor of the alt-weekly since 1998, Andy Newman will be leaving in November to try his hand as a freelance writer in New York City. "I've wanted to do this for a long time, and it seems like I should do it before they send the AARP card," he tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. City Paper will begin searching for his replacement immediately. Newman is currently working on a story for The Believer, and hopes to place a piece in The New Yorker within a year. He is vice president of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies' board of directors.

Continue ReadingNewman to Leave Pittsburgh City Paper

The summer of scandal in the newspaper circulation business has left advertisers and agencies worried about what could possibly be next. Most say they are placing increased scrutiny on audience statements and newspaper ad budgets, though they believe the power of the medium will protect it from any immediate advertiser backlash.

Continue ReadingDailies Struggle to Rebuild Confidence With Advertisers

Experts predict the brand-ad rebound is more sustainable than the boom that buoyed dot-coms in 1999 and 2000, in part because it's being led by the offline world's big brand builders -- including Coca-Cola (KO ), Nike (NKE ), and Visa. While paid search advertising, where companies buy placement in search results from sites such as Google (GOOG ) and Yahoo, was all the rage in 2003, online branding is gaining steam this year and may become the strongest growth story of Net advertising in 2005.

Continue ReadingOn the Web, Branding is Back

Craig Kapilow is a busy man. By day, he's a senior account executive and associate music editor at Boston's Weekly Dig. By night, he spins at highly marketable DJ nights, thus building relationships with venues around town -- many of which are clients of the paper. One of the longest running events, taking place each Saturday night, was profiled in the Aug. 19 edition of the Boston Globe (see below). Here Kapilow answers a few questions about his multiple roles at the alt-weekly and his side-career behind the turntables.

Continue ReadingDig’s Associate Music Editor Plays Extra Roles Promoting Paper

Owner, publisher and editor of the Sun since 1966, Steve McNamara addresses his sale of the paper to Embarcadero Publishing in this message to his readers. He writes, "Being editor and publisher of the Sun has been a dream job, way better than working the oars at the dailies in North Carolina, Miami and San Francisco where I started out." And he's leaving his legacy in good hands. About the paper's new owners, McNamara says, "In the newspaper business there are some real egomaniacs and general nut cases, but these guys are at the other end of the scale."

Continue ReadingMcNamara Says Farewell to Pacific Sun Readers

Advertising sales at alt-weeklies varied from region to region during the first half of 2004, in large part following the path of the spotty economic recovery. Happily, the second quarter of the year was an improvement over the first, both for national sales overall and for local sales at selected alt-weeklies. Freelance writer John Ferri reports for AAN News on the state of the business.

Continue ReadingSome Alt-Weeklies See Improvement in Second Quarter

Two AAN newspapers serving different parts of the San Francisco Bay Area became part of the same organization today as the owner of the Palo Alto Weekly, Bill Johnson, purchased the Pacific Sun of Marin County. The sale coincides with the 70th birthday of Sun owner, publisher and editor Steve McNamara, who purchased the paper in 1966 and grew it into an award-winning newsweekly. McNamara said, "Once the decision [to sell the Sun] was made, it seemed natural to pass the responsibility to my old friend Bill Johnson and his associates at the Palo Alto Weekly." Said Johnson, "Steve and I have known each other and shared our challenges and ideas with each other for the last 25 years, and this seems like a natural outcome of that relationship."

Continue ReadingPacific Sun Sold to Owner of Palo Alto Weekly