Peter Serafin spoke before the Hawaii County Planning Committee on Tuesday regarding the details of the Journal's recent closing. He said that a major source of financial difficulty for the Journal was that it had to be printed in Honolulu at the Star-Bulletin press, not on the island of Hawaii. "Stephens Media owns the only two Web presses on this island," Serafin testified. The Journal approached Stephens about getting the paper printed there, but their response was, "We'll only print the Journal if you sell us a controlling interest," he said. Serafin also said the paper was hurt by Stephens' launch of "Big Island Weekly, a copycat paper specifically created to drive the Journal out of business." He said that the Weekly sold ad space below cost in an effort to kill the Journal, and compared the situation in Hawaii to the one in San Francisco, where a jury ruled in favor of the Bay Guardian in its predatory-pricing suit against SF Weekly.
The trade magazine Chain Leader talks to a number of "upstart operators" of chain food businesses, who "share their tactics for recruiting and retaining general managers as they grow." Matt Phillips, the founder, president and CEO of California-based Blendz, says he buys ads in the center of alt-weeklies to find GMs. "It does a dual purpose. It obviously is branding, whether it's an offer or a special that you're promoting," he explains. "But it also gives you the ability to say 'Now hiring. Looking for great people.' And it's in a unique position in the newspaper that people aren't necessarily expecting it, but everybody is looking at because they're looking at what to do that weekend or where's the new hot restaurant to go to."
The Phoenix and ThePhoenix.com have unveiled the inaugural "50 Bands/50 States": a declaration of the Best All-Time Band, Best All-Time Solo Artist, and the Best New Band from each of the 50 states. The project also includes an interactive component, with three "people's choice" awards, in which readers can cast ballots via mobile phone or the internet to determine the winner in three undecided contests. "I'm feeling bloodied and bruised," says Phoenix editor Lance Gould. "This list led to so many arguments, hurt feelings, and actual skin abrasions that we could use some medical attention. Luckily, California's Dr. Dre made the list."
The unionized Voice employees averted a strike early this morning, forging an agreement with Village Voice Media for a new three-year contract, the New York Press reports. "We got a deal. 3 o'clock this morning," Voice staff writer and shop steward Tom Robbins tells the Press. "We won a good victory for unions." Under the new contract, which was unanimously ratified this morning, union members will not be expected to pay any portion of the premium of their health care, and Robbins says the new contract calls for a raise.
Felker, 82, died in his home this morning. Felker founded New York magazine and exerted a seminal influence in new journalism. He owned and edited The Village Voice from 1974-1977, and also founded California-based alternative magazine New West. But as the Voice points out, Felker "proved to be an unpopular editor" at the paper. "Felker did found New York magazine, and he had some great writers there," Nat Hentoff says. "He had one of the most distinguished staffs in magazine history. He started that vogue for weekly city magazines around the country. But his tenure at the Voice was very unpleasant -- because he tried to turn it into New York magazine."
In a lengthy Q&A with the Comics Reporter largely about her new book What It Is, Lynda Barry says she's "gone from being in over 70 papers to being in seven papers." She says consolidation has been the main factor, and that comics are often the first casualties. "My comic is often axed the minute the sale is complete. And I can understand why," Barry says. "The papers aren't as alternative or freaky as they once were, and having a comic strip in the paper that is often weird and sad just leaves editors with question marks over their heads. There was a time when it wasn't that strange, but now it is strange to have that kind of strip in a paper."
LEO Weekly earned 19 awards at last Thursday's Society of Professional Journalists Metro Journalism awards ceremony in Louisville, including first place honors for Column Writing, Editorial Cartoon, Minority and Women's Affairs Reporting, and Reviews/Criticism. The paper swept the Column Writing and Reviews/Criticism categories.
- Go to the previous page
- 1
- …
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- …
- 102
- Go to the next page
