Trey Graham, a City Paper theater critic since 1995, is the winner of the 2003-04 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. The awards committee -- composed of the chairs of the English departments of Cornell, Princeton, and Yale, among other experts -- commended Graham for writing "with sensitivity and flair about the individual masterworks of the British and American canon," calling him "adept at linking these and other works from the past with the best the present has to offer." Past winners of the award include Walter Kerr and Hilton Als.

Continue ReadingWashington City Paper Critic Wins Prestigious Award

The Chicago Reader's 2004 circulation of 119,486 was down from 129,437 in 2003, reports Chicago Business. According to the report, Reader executives attribute the dip to chain retailers limiting or removing papers from their stores in an attempt to reduce clutter, and to new restrictions on the size of sidewalk news boxes.

Continue ReadingRetail Crackdowns, News Box Limitations Hinder Reader Circulation

While some marketers have long feared that the Internet would cut into the time consumers spend with other media--such as television and print media--it appears that the opposite is true. Adults who go online most frequently also watch more shows and read more newspapers than their less wired counterparts, according to a Carat Insight analysis of data from Mediamark Research, Inc. and Multimedia Scan. The report, based on personal interviews and surveys of 23,000 U.S. adults conducted over a period of several months during the end of 2003 and beginning of 2004, found that adults who go online at least daily watch 46 more minutes of television a day than those who go online less frequently. The daily Web habitues also reported reading at least 16 magazine issues and 27 newspapers in the prior month

Continue ReadingStudy: Web Users Also Fans of Print Media

Wick Communications Co., owner of AAN member paper Tucson Weekly, has sold Las Vegas CityLife and two other Nevada newspapers to Stephens Media Group, reports Las Vegas Review-Journal. According to the report, Stephens Media will fold its alternative weekly, the Las Vegas Mercury, into CityLife and publish under that name. Both weeklies applied for membership to the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies this year.

Continue ReadingTwo AAN Applicants to Merge

Journalism.org has released its annual "The State of the News Media" report. Among the findings: "Alternative weeklies are still relatively strong, especially considering the troubles many print outlets have had in recent years, but the competition has grown" -- in the form of free daily tabloids and faux alts produced by daily papers targeting young adult readers. The "older alternative weeklies," says the report, differ from faux alts in "what they are trying to do in terms of politics, culture and values of the cities in which they appear" and whether alts ultimately fend off the challenges posed by imitators "will be an important barometer measuring urban culture."

Continue ReadingAlts Hold Fast in Competitive Climate, Report Finds