A new study by the Online Publishers Association finds that ads placed on individual websites outperform ads on networks and portal sites when it comes to traditional branding metrics like awareness, message association, brand favorability and purchase intent.

Continue ReadingStudy: Online Ad Networks Poor at Branding

Music editor Randall Roberts has been named one of six journalists to receive a 2009 USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Fellowship. "This year the Fellowship will focus on the visual arts and architecture of Los Angeles, with attention paid to the challenges confronting journalists working in the digital-media era," according to a press release. The three-week program begins in November.

Continue ReadingL.A. Weekly Editor Tapped for Arts Journalism Fellowship

The Creative Loafing CEO tells the Chicago Reader he is working on a bid for the company that consists of three components: Eason and his family; BIA Digital Partners, who CL owes $10 million; "and managers from all across the company." Eason says the idea is to couple the pay cuts taken by the 25-30 managers with an offer of equity in the company and a chance to join the bid. "If it loses, Eason says, they'll be paid their deferred salaries out of auction proceeds," the Reader reports. "Managers who remain on the sidelines will get paid back either way." The idea is one way Eason hopes to set his bid apart from the bid expected from Atalaya Capital Management, CL's main creditor. He hopes the show of unity will impress the bankruptcy judge, who will hold the auction for the six-paper chain on Aug. 25. "You've got managers clearly invested in the business, in continuing to run the business, and in looking to keeping it going," Eason says. MORE: In other CL news, a Chicago blogger gives his in-depth analysis of the company's value.

Continue ReadingBen Eason Offers CL Managers Equity If They Join Bid for the Company

Longtime PW staffer and well-regarded mental health columnist and blogger Liz Spikol has left the paper. Philip Dawdy reports that Spikol will return to blogging at some point, but is currently taking a bit of a break. Her departure comes on the heels of recently reported layoffs, pay cuts and furloughs at the paper, moves addressed by PW parent company Review Publishing's president and chief operating officer in a statement given to AAN News. "Like most organizations, we needed to take proactive and hopefully temporary measures to preserve as many jobs as possible while best positioning the organization for long term growth," George Troyano writes. "We remain very optimistic about the future and will continue to invest in new initiatives and technologies. We will maintain a strategic and creative approach to best maneuver through these challenging times."

Continue ReadingPhiladelphia Weekly Executive Editor Among Those Leaving the Paper

Byron Nilsson, who reviews restaurants and writes about music and theater for the Albany alt-weekly, will premiere Mr. Sensitivity during the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival opening this weekend. Nilsson tells The Ridgefield Press that the play, which is a comedy about a man who gives his wife an hour with a porn star for her birthday, "combines the antic humor of a Neil Simon play with potty-mouthed drollery too crude even for David Mamet."

Continue ReadingMetroland Contributor’s Play Hits NY Fringe Festival

In a lengthy Post Magazine feature, City Paper alums like Russ Smith, Jack Shafer and David Carr join current leaders Erik Wemple and Ben Eason in discussing the paper's history, its legacy and its future. Even former mayor Marion Barry, who recently appeared on a City Paper cover that incited some controversy, weighs in on the alt-weekly.

Continue ReadingWashington City Paper’s ‘Key Players’ Talk About the Past & the Future

Borrell Associates president Colby Atwood says in a new memo that he expects American newspapers to see a decline in 2009, then a mild rebound over the next five years. Although Atwood doesn't specifically discuss alt-weeklies, two of his key rebound factors seem to predict better times ahead for the industry. First, he notes that papers need to "reinvent themselves to serve smaller advertisers on the marketing side ... actively pursuing customers that have never done business with newspapers before" -- a client base that many alts have traditionally tapped in a successful way. Editorially, he says the future is local, a space alt-weeklies have focused on for decades.

Continue ReadingBorrell: Newspapers Will Hit Bottom This Year, Then Rebound