The Audit Bureau of Circulations' interactive unit, ABCi, is teaming with Verve Wireless to audit newspapers' mobile content delivered via the Verve publishing platform. As a result, ABCi says it is now able to provide newspaper publishers and advertisers with independently verified mobile usage data generated from apps, e-readers, and mobile browsers. "It's clear that mobile represents the next generation of publishing," says Art Howe, CEO of Verve Wireless. "In order for advertisers to have confidence in the medium, there has to be accountability and verifiable usage statistics. ABC's interactive audit services are ideally suited to audit user data across all mobile technology platforms, all devices and all networks."

Continue ReadingABC Interactive Working with Verve Wireless on Mobile Stats

The Fort Worth Weekly, Houston Press and San Antonio Current took home a total of 10 first-place awards in the SPJ Fort Worth First Amendment Awards. Fort Worth Weekly took home leading honors for Defending the Disadvantaged, Green News, Reporting on Open Government, Opening the Books and Student Work, while the Press, competing in the higher-circulation division, won firsts for Defending the Disadvantaged, Green News and Opening the Books. The Current, which like the Weekly was competing in the small-circ division, took home first-place honors in the Investigative and Opinion or Commentary categories.

Continue ReadingThree Texas Alt-Weeklies Honored with SPJ Awards

Sacramento News & Review and the Chico News & Review today announced a partnership with eVoter, a website that connects Sacramento and Chico voters to polling place locations, election information, candidate profiles and endorsements prior to California's Primary Election on June 8. "Our readership is involved and interested in local and state politics," says Deborah Redmond of the News & Review. "eVoter will provide information about local candidates and their positions in an easy-to-use format."

Continue ReadingTwo News & Review Newspapers Partner with eVoter

Local sustainability advocate Stacy Mitchell writes that independent business groups across the nation have brought the "bank local" message into their already existing push to urge people to "buy local." She points to an campaign the Express was a part of last year that highlighted the benefits of using a local credit union or bank, and also produced a guide to community-conscious financial choices.

Continue ReadingEast Bay Express & Others Pushing ‘Bank Local’ in Addition to ‘Buy Local’

The former Village Voice art director (she left in January of this year) is the latest alt-weekly designer spotlighted by Robert Newman on the Society of Publication Designers blog. "She used bold photography and strong original illustration to give the covers a unique sense of power and imagination," he writes, adding that the look she cultivated was informed by "low budgets, [a] quick production schedule, and [her] own street smart design." Simones tells Newman her influences include NYC street art and Village Voice Media design director Michael Shavalier. "His work in the past 10 years for numerous alt-weeklies across the country blew my mind! I feel our craft in editorial design is one of a kind, and he set the bar," she says. "I used to spend hours just looking at his past covers for ideas."

Continue ReadingNewman: Ivylise Simones’ Voice Covers Were ‘Brash, Graphic, Funny, Provocative, and Immediate’

The San Francisco Bay Guardian's Tim Redmond and Salt Lake City Weekly's John Saltas are joined by Amy Mitchell of the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism for a wide-ranging discussion on the alt-weekly industry on Salt Lake City public radio station KUER. Among the topics covered: how alt-weeklies are faring on the web, the future of the industry and competing with the daily press.

Continue ReadingRedmond, Saltas Discuss the State of the Alt-Weekly World