In a story about the media industry's woes in the Daily Emerald, the University of Oregon's student paper, the Weekly's director of sales and marketing Bill Shreve says the poor national economy seems to have only recently began to catch up to the Eugene economy. He tells the Emerald that "retail is off a little bit" in the last month, and that while the Weekly hasn't been hit as hard as some other media outlets, the staff is "extremely cautious."
At the paper's regular Friday meeting, Sally Freeman asked the staff to take a 10 percent cut in pay through the end of March to help ward off damage done by weak ad sales. "After the quick announcement, Freeman cried a little and then offered to meet with each of her workers individually," Weekly editor Nathaniel Hoffman reports. Freeman tells Hoffman that the paper's annual revenue is down 4 percent compared to 2007, and it came in $90,000 below budget in the last six to seven weeks.
In August, in an envelope with a fake name and address, the Weekly received the piece of paper pictured at left, the paper reports in last week's cover story. "After sharing the letter's twisted contents with Deputy Editor Joe Piasecki and City Reporter Andre Coleman, we duplicated it for our own investigation and possible use in a future story, and then turned all the evidence over to the cops," editor Kevin Uhrich notes. "They, in turn, turned all of that over to the Secret Service. The cops took all our names, phone numbers and emails for federal agents, but the Secret Service has not called us and will not comment now when we call them with questions. Apparently they are very busy these days with all sorts of open or veiled threats being made against our new president."
I Love You Phillip Morris, starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, is based on a series of stories by former Press reporter Steve McVicker about relentless con man Steven Russell. The film "will be showing at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, and publicity is starting to build," the Press reports. McVicker, who now works for a Houston attorney, makes a cameo in the film as a judge.
The embattled Tribune Company, which owns three AAN papers, has hired an investment bank and law firm in recent days to advise the company on a possible trip through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to the Wall Street Journal. Tribune owns the Fairfield County Weekly, Hartford Advocate and New Haven Advocate. Sources tell the Journal that a filing could come as early as this week. UPDATE (4:05 pm): The company did indeed file for bankruptcy protection today, and will stop making interest payments on $12 billion in debt as it attempts to restructure its loans, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The Sunday Paper publisher Patrick Best announced his plans on Friday, citing the troubles of Creative Loafing -- which owns papers in Atlanta, Charlotte and Tampa -- as a major reason. "While we planned to go to both of these markets in the next few years, the troubles of the parent company of the major newsweeklies in both cities have convinced us to accelerate our plans," he says. Best, who was Creative Loafing (Atlanta)'s advertising director before launching The Sunday Paper, recently offered CL CEO Ben Eason $1 million for the Loaf's Atlanta publication. Best's expansion plans are being helped by funding from Brian Conley, the former owner of Knoxville, Tenn., AAN member Metro Pulse and current shareholder of Sunday Paper Publishing. Meanwhile, Atlanta Magazine's Steve Fennessy reports that Eason's main creditor filed a motion (PDF) on Friday claiming CL has not been forthcoming in explaining budgets and cash flow forecasts. The CL bankruptcy protection case is scheduled to go before a judge on Wednesday.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is requiring that all news boxes on its property be easy to check visually for security concerns. Boston Phoenix circulation director Jim Dorgan tells AAN News that the policy goes into effect next Friday, Dec. 12. He says that, as a result of the new regulations, the Phoenix and its related publications had to purchase more than 200 new boxes, which each cost $85 more than a regular news box. He also says the MBTA is requiring the boxes be chained, and that 12 inches of space separate each box. The Weekly Dig's Jeff Lawrence tells us that while his paper will eventually buy some clear boxes and put them in MBTA stations, for the most part, distributing outside on city streets is still cheaper and the best strategy for the Dig.
"Though handling subpoenas is nothing new for most publishers, this particular subpoena trend raises unique legal issues and should prompt newsrooms to carefully consider the circumstances in which they will fight to protect information," media lawyer Thomas R. Burke writes in a column now available in the Resource Library. As one of a few examples, he cites the case that both Portland alt-weeklies were embroiled in earlier this year, when an individual took the papers to court to gain an anonymous commenter's information. In that case, a judge ruled that the comment was protected under Oregon's Shield Law. The bottom line, Burke writes, is "that reader comments and postings to news websites are fertile sources of information and consequently, exponentially stronger magnets for subpoenas and litigation."
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