Publisher Mike Crystal tells Crain's that as part of its redesign plans, the paper will distribute just one edition to both the city and suburbs starting this week. The suburban edition -- a smaller version of the paper called the Reader's Guide to Arts & Entertainment -- was launched in 1996. Crystal says the decision is part of the switch to a tabloid format (scheduled for the first week of October), and it likely would have happened with or without the paper's recent ownership change. The Reader's new circulation total of 135,000 will be the same as the combined circulation was for the two editions, but the paper is calling it a 15 percent increase in circulation for the main product and is raising ad rates six to seven percent, Crain's reports.

Continue ReadingChicago Reader Ends Suburban Edition

Twenty-four alt-weeklies will publish a story this week investigating the murder of independent video journalist Brad Will and the apparent cover-up by Mexican authorities. The story, commissioned by AAN, was reported by John Ross, a veteran journalist and author of eight books examining Mexican politics, and edited by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. While those who fired shots at Will are easily identified in the footage he took of his own death, as well as in contemporaneous photographs of the scene, they have not been brought to justice. Ross's story identifies the likely perpetrators as Mexican law enforcement officials associated with the Party of the Institutional Revolution, or PRI. "Who Killed Brad Will?" marks the sixth editorial project commissioned by AAN.

Continue ReadingAlt-Weeklies Investigate the Murder of Indy Journalist Brad Will

As we reported yesterday, the group behind the killing of Oakland Post journalist Chauncey Bailey waged a campaign of intimidation against then-East Bay Express writer Chris Thompson after he wrote a series critical of the group. Thompson, now with the Village Voice, recounts his experience being stalked by the group's followers. They tried to follow him home, so he'd have different colleagues drive him so they wouldn't recognize the cars, he writes. They repeatedly called him with greetings like "Mr. Thompson, I just want to say that your days are numbered," and "You fucked up for the last time, and your time is up." The death threats -- and the lack of response to his complaints by the Oakland Police Department -- forced him out of the Bay Area. "I spent several months out in the countryside of Northern California, reporting and writing my Metro column from an old hunting lodge ... [until] the goons got bored with hunting for me, and I slowly returned to the office full-time. Chauncey Bailey wasn't so lucky, but he fought the good fight against bad men."

Continue ReadingAlt-Weekly Writer On His Run-ins With the Yusef Bey Family

In June, North Carolina's Independent Weekly released an issue featuring a transgendered individual on the cover, which ultimately caused the paper to be pulled from some Raleigh-Durham area Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurants. "The picture on the front cover ... was eye level of children in our waiting area," the local franchise owner explained to the Bull City Rising blog. "We have carried the Indy for so long I forgot it was there until a soccer mom complained about it. After a few more comments/complaints we removed them." Local bloggers publicized the decision and blog commenters vowed to boycott the restaurant and placed calls to the owner, and eventually the Mellow Mushrooms reversed course. "I absolutely regret the decision to remove the Indy from the restaurants," he wrote in a comment on Bull City Rising yesterday. "On Monday I was in contact with the Indy to bring it back to our stores. They want to bring it back as well and it will be there any day. The last thing we intended to do was discriminate against anyone."

Continue ReadingRestaurant Franchise Removes Alt-Weekly from Stores … for a Moment

New owners Manhattan Media told the New York Observer last week that the Press would no longer accept "explicit" advertising, and the decision is being praised by the local chapter of the National Organization for Women, the New York Times reports. "[Manhattan Media CEO] Tom Allon is a trailblazer," Sonia Ossorio, president of NOW in New York City, says in a press release. "He sees the future of the newsprint business, and that future isn't reliant on the fast, cheap money of the prostitution industry." Believing that adult ads foster human trafficking, NOW's New York City chapter is asking publications to stop running the ads and sign an antitrafficking pledge called "Trafficking Free, NYC!" (Manhattan Media has signed on). The Times says the Village Voice hadn't yet returned calls for comment on the pledge.

Continue ReadingNOW Applauds New York Press’ Decision to Drop Adult Ads