In a lengthy Q&A with the Comics Reporter largely about her new book What It Is, Lynda Barry says she's "gone from being in over 70 papers to being in seven papers." She says consolidation has been the main factor, and that comics are often the first casualties. "My comic is often axed the minute the sale is complete. And I can understand why," Barry says. "The papers aren't as alternative or freaky as they once were, and having a comic strip in the paper that is often weird and sad just leaves editors with question marks over their heads. There was a time when it wasn't that strange, but now it is strange to have that kind of strip in a paper."
LEO Weekly earned 19 awards at last Thursday's Society of Professional Journalists Metro Journalism awards ceremony in Louisville, including first place honors for Column Writing, Editorial Cartoon, Minority and Women's Affairs Reporting, and Reviews/Criticism. The paper swept the Column Writing and Reviews/Criticism categories.
Pamela White, better known to romance-novel readers as Pamela Clare, is set to release two books this year: Unlawful Contact and Untamed. She talks to the Daily Camera about how she balances editing an alt-weekly, cranking out award-winning romance novels, maintaining relationships with fans of her books, and being a single mother. "I will say it's hard," White says. "I would only do this if I felt absolutely compelled to write. And I can't not write." She says she couldn't possibly manage it all without the help of her youngest son, who helps cook, clean house and keep the yard presentable. "I am absolutely so proud of her. I am so impressed with how much she manages to get done," he tells the Daily Camera. "She's daring enough to go after her dream at a time when that's really hard to do."
The San Francisco Bay Guardian executive editor offers his take on the deal announced last week that will merge the Cleveland Free Times and Cleveland Scene under new owners Times Shamrock. He wonders why "VVM couldn't create a monopoly, [but] another newspaper outfit apparently can." He's referring to when the Justice Department nixed a similar 2002 deal between New Times and Village Voice Media (then two separate companies) that shuttered the Free Times. Justice forced the sale of Free Times to a group of investors, and the paper reopened in May 2003. "I'll leave it to you to speculate on why we couldn't do this deal, but Times Shamrock could," VVM executive editor Andy Van De Voorde says. Redmond says the Justice Department has yet to respond to his request for comment.
The Associated Press Managing Editors association selected winners for its annual awards this week in New York, and the group cited New Times in the First Amendment category for "for aggressively investigating and reporting on grand jury subpoenas seeking notes, tapes and confidential sources related to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, an investigation that expanded to other citizens." The awards will be presented during the group's September conference in Las Vegas.
The Missoula Independent tapped arts and entertainment editor Skylar Browning to be its next editor and hired freelance contributor Erika Fredrickson to take over the arts desk. Browning, who has edited the arts section for four years, will replace Brad Tyer, who left late last year. "Skylar was the guy we wanted from the start," says Independent publisher Matt Gibson. "He's very, very good at the work he does -- smart, funny, ambitious. And he exudes personal confidence and professional cool. He's a truly admirable colleague, and I'm thrilled he agreed to step up."
Outgoing editor Liz Garrigan reports that she had "openly recommended Scene managing editor Matt Pulle for [her] job, and he was seriously considered." But in the end, Village Voice Media brought Pete Kotz over from the soon-to-be-defunct Cleveland Scene, a move that was criticized by some of the paper's staff. "Bypassing Matt sent exactly the wrong message to the city: It said that the Scene is just another interchangeable cog in a big corporate wheel," one staffer says anonymously. Former Scene media critic Henry Walker agrees. "The idea of an alternative weekly paper importing an editor would have been almost unthinkable just a decade ago," he says. "[But VVM] has pioneered the adoption of a cookie-cutter news and design formula and the employment of fungible editors among the alternative weeklies." VVM executive editor Michael Lacey, for one, isn't buying Walker's critique. "For nearly 40 years, we, like most alternative newspaper owners, have selected editors, writers and columnists based upon their skill, not their birth certificate," Lacey says. "Walker's simplistic comments reflect parochial jingoism."
The two sides are trying to reach an agreement on a new contract before June 30, when the unionized Voice employees' current contract will expire, the New York Post reports. "The battle lines have already been drawn, and, not surprisingly, health care is a major focal point," says the Post. Staff writer and shop steward Tom Robbins says that the unionized employees are being asked to join a contributory health plan for the first time. He estimates the plan could cost each employee up to $5,500 per year, and notes that the union has put forth a wage increase proposal, but he isn't sure that will work. "There is no way they are going to give us a pay increase to match that [health care cost increase]," Robbins says. There has been talk that a strike is possible if the contract isn't in place by the end of June, but editor Tony Ortega is hopeful a deal can be reached. "I've been told these things always go to midnight on June 30," he tells the Post. "We value their work and hope to make an amicable settlement."
- Go to the previous page
- 1
- …
- 205
- 206
- 207
- 208
- 209
- 210
- 211
- …
- 968
- Go to the next page
