"About five years ago, Carolyn [Fernandez, the paper's production manager] and I began to craft a succession plan for the newspaper," publisher Judy Hodgson writes. "What would the ownership look like when we are no longer actively working? Who will be at the helm for the next 20 years?" To answer that question, the two co-founders did not have to go far. On Jan. 1, editor Hank Sims, sales manager Mike Herring and A&E editor Bob Doran became co-owners of the Journal; they are now minority stockholders while Fernandez and Hodgson retain majority control.

Continue ReadingNorth Coast Journal Adds Three Co-Owners

"Just about every print publication in America is in hunker-down mode nowadays, trying to hang on and ride out the recession," News & Observer music critic David Menconi writes. "It takes real courage to launch anything bold and expensive in an environment like this, and The Independent Weekly is launching something that's plenty ambitious this fall: a music festival featuring around 120 bands playing in 10 venues around downtown Raleigh." The festival, dubbed Hopscotch, is scheduled for Sept. 9-11. Look for an official launch of the festival's website, some preliminary band announcements and the beginning of ticket sales in mid-February.

Continue ReadingThe Independent Weekly Launching Three-Day Music Festival This Fall

As we've noted recently, the San Francisco Bay Guardian has been going after the assets of SF Weekly as it tries to collect the millions of dollars it was awarded in 2008's predatory-pricing trial against the Weekly and parent company Village Voice Media. This week, the Guardian upped the ante, asking a court for permission to seize all property belonging not just to the Weekly but to all of VVM. An attorney for the Guardian tells the San Francisco Chronicle that it has been tough collecting anything since SF Weekly doesn't actually have much property, which is why they are now going after the rest of the company. But VVM continues to maintain it doesn't owe the Guardian anything until it has fully exhausted its appeals. The ruling on this could come down as early as today. READ MORE from The Stranger.

Continue ReadingBay Guardian Hopes to Expand Collection Efforts to Other VVM Papers

Andrew Cash is the New Democratic Party's candidate for the Davenport electoral district, located in Toronto's west end. Cash, who is also a well-known singer-songwriter, was named the candidate of the social democratic party back in October but is gearing up his campaign with an initial fundraiser set for later this month. If elected, he would become a caucus colleague of his former bandmate Charlie Angus, who has served in Parliament since 2004. Due to the intricacies of Canadian electoral law, the date of the election is not yet set, but Cash tells AAN News that it will most likely happen in either the spring or fall of 2010.

Continue ReadingNOW Magazine Writer Running for Canadian Parliament

In his latest Society of Publication Designers blog post showing alt-weekly art directors some love, Robert Newman singles out Tom Carlson of Riverfront Times, calling him "one of a number of alt-weekly art directors who are doing amazing, creative work with their designs, crafting cover after cover from scratch, on super-low budgets, with limited deadlines, using primarily stock imagery and self-created artwork." Carlson, who has won several AltWeekly Awards in recent years (including a first-place win in 2007), says he employs an "object-oriented" method. "I like to go for visual solutions with clarity and directness that render text all but unnecessary," he says. "I tend to avoid decorative type choices and use type that just is, and let the words (when we have them) do their job."

Continue ReadingSPD Highlights Riverfront Times’ ‘Smart, Cool’ Cover Design Work