Local marketers who advertise on the Internet shouldn't be too quick to abandon newspaper, television, and other forms of traditional media--at least going by the results of the recently released Dieringer Research Group report, "How Consumers Use Media To Make Local Purchase Decisions."

Continue ReadingStudy: Local Shoppers Turn to Web, TV, Newspapers

The Society of Professional Journalists announced the 2004 Green Eyeshade Award finalists yesterday, and AAN papers received 17 of the 27 nominations in the weekly/monthly division. According to SPJ, the Green Eyeshades "have honored the best in professional journalism in 11 southeastern states for 55 years." New Times Broward-Palm Beach and its sister paper, Miami New Times, did particularly well, receiving eight and five nominations, respectively. (NTBPB swept the nominations in the sports reporting category.) Independent Weekly's FEMA story, which ran in over 20 AAN papers this fall as part of an editorial joint project, was nominated in the investigative reporting category. Here's SPJ's announcement.

Continue ReadingAlt-Weeklies Dominate Green Eyeshade Nominations

The independent nonprofit magazine's gratis offer includes a recurring graphically-oriented feature called Exhibit, which presents an intriguing array of statistics on different subjects each issue. The current piece, from the magazine's March/April issue, is This New House, which overlays a series of factoids about the environmental and social footprint of huge suburban homes on a cutaway illustration of a McMansion. (The only charge for this particular piece is a $50 or $75 illustrator's fee.) For an example of how one AAN paper used the piece, see the City Newspaper story, "Supersizing the American Home," which is featured this week on AltWeeklies.com. For more details on the program, contact Richard Reynolds at reynolds@motherjones.com.

Continue ReadingMother Jones Offers Free Content to AAN Papers

Spurred by the lobbying effort of Missoula Independent publisher Matt Gibson, a bill extending legal-notice advertising to free-circulation newspapers passed the Montana state legislature yesterday. The bill must now be signed by Governor Brian Schweitzer to become law. Ironically, Gibson's primary opposition was the Montana Newspaper Association, for which he serves as a member of the board of directors. According to Gibson, a former member of the AAN Board, "AAN publishers need to be alerted to the practical reality that a periodical mailing permit, as commonly required in legal notice statutes, accomplishes very little to protect the people’s right to know. It does not ensure minimum reach or distribution, nor does it require independent verification of circulation. It's superfluous, and legislators can be convinced to change to law."

Continue ReadingMontana Close to Passing Legal-Notices Law

Financial consultant Seija Goldstein reports that the number of papers participating this year in AAN's annual financial benchmarking study declined slightly from the previous year's total of 69. Since 1999, the number of AAN members participating in the survey has held relatively steady, from a high of 73 papers in 2002 to this year's low of 66. Survey results will be mailed to participants two weeks prior to the AAN Convention in San Diego.

Continue Reading66 Papers Participate in Financial Standards Survey