The confidential survey (click here for PDF copy) covers a broad range of topics, including financial info, web traffic, staffing, software, marketing, email newsletters, blogs and multimedia. It was emailed to AAN publishers today. The results will be compiled by AAN staff; Jackson Free Press' Todd Stauffer will analyze the results and present the findings in a closed session at the AAN Convention in Philadelphia. Only those papers that substantially complete the survey by the close-of-business on May 12 will receive a copy of the results and be allowed to attend Stauffer's presentation at the convention.
The websites represented by the cooperative now represent 8.735 million unique visitors monthly, AWN says in a release. That's an increase of roughly 200 percent over last year. AWN now handles national sales for 91 AAN member websites, as well as the sites for many non-AAN newsweeklies and magazines. "It's nice to see this kind of growth in our network, whether it's from increased visitors on alt-weekly sites, or by adding additional sites to our cooperative network," executive director Mark Hanzlik says. "Either way, we're now making an impressive imprint in the digital world, and can now take our product to market more effectively."
The PEN American Center named Laura Berg as the recipient of this year's prestigious PEN/Katherine Anne Porter First Amendment Award. Berg, who faced a sedition investigation after writing a letter to the editor of the Alibi criticizing the Bush Administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq War, will receive the $10,000 prize at a gala tonight in New York City. "When Laura Berg sat down to write her letter to the editor, she was enacting her most basic constitutional right and affirming our national faith that exercising this right is an act of patriotism and civic engagement," PEN Freedom to Write program director Larry Siems says in a release. "That her letter was greeted instead as a threat to overthrow the government shows just how far we deviated from our national values in the years following 9/11." The New York Times applauded the PEN Center's decision, editorializing this weekend that Berg was "well chosen" to receive award.
"In some sense, getting fired from the Voice was maybe the best thing to happen in my career," Nathan Lee tells Rotten Tomatoes. "Before I wrote for the Voice, a certain number of people were familiar with my work ... But I think having been able to write at the Voice for about a year and a half, I got to show a lot of people what I could really do. Because you can write at length and it's very unfettered; you can sort of say whatever you want, and I did." He says he's been fielding a lot of freelance offers since he was dismissed in March. When asked about the nationwide trend of the "disappearing critic," Lee doesn't mince words. "I mean, it's really sad that all these film critics are losing their jobs, but I think most film criticism is terrible. And not useful. And frankly, really boring."
Luke Y. Thompson has a role in Wicked Lake, a horror film premiering this weekend in Hollywood. According to IMDB's roll call of cast members, Thompson plays "Half-Idiot." The film was written by Adam Rockoff, directed by Zach Passero, and features music by Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen.
In a letter from the editor celebrating the milestone, Bruce VanWyngarden traces the history of the Flyer, from its February 1989 debut to this week's issue. VanWyngarden gives props to previous editors Tim Sampson and Dennis Freeland, as well as Flyer publisher and former AAN Board President Kenneth Neill, and the staffers who rarely get such recognition. "The people who do count are those who create your weekly Flyer -- the writers, editors, art directors, ad sales folks, and others who make this publication possible," he writes.
"The New York Press' early years involved a lot of tough slogging, making pitches to recalcitrant advertisers (most of whom are out of business today), attracting writers for minimal fees and continually missing the deadline for our printer in the Meatpacking District," writes founder Russ Smith. "But mostly, we had a lot of fun." He talks about the history of the paper, the future of alt-weeklies, and how his conservative political commentary often got the paper -- which also ran pieces by liberal stalwarts Alexander Cockburn and David Corn -- mislabeled as a "Republican paper." As part of the cover package, the Press also published a timeline of notable events in the paper's history.
Jackie Walker, a Knoxville-area high school football star and all-American linebacker at Tennessee in 1970-71, will be posthumously inducted into the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame July 17. "The city and the university were reminded of his distinguished career last fall," the New York Times reports, after an article in Metro Pulse "introduced Walker to a new audience and asked a pointed question: Had his sexual orientation denied him Hall of Fame recognition?" Metro Pulse editor Coury Turczyn tells AAN News that the original piece, by Betty Bean, "most definitely put things in motion," adding that "several of the interview subjects were made aware of the issue in the process of being asked about it," including people "who nominate athletes for various halls of fame." Read more on Walker's induction from Metro Pulse.
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