KOMO-TV says it "has received several viewer e-mails" complaining about this week's Seattle Weekly cover (pictured), which features an illustration of a kid wearing a T-shirt that reads "Fuck School." The TV station assumes "the paper made the bold move to make people pick up the paper," and talks to a few angry Seattle residents, but finds others who certainly don't seem to mind. Managing editor Mike Seely explains the decision to KOMO, saying "I took a look at the guy on the cover and I thought, 'what is this guy thinking?' And it was crystal clear." On the Weekly's blog, editor-in-chief Mark Fefer writes that the paper didn't go with the cover "just to get attention or stoke controversy." He adds: "I take no pleasure whatsoever from knowing that many people -- mostly (I think) people who aren't the paper's readers -- took offense."

Continue ReadingSeattle Weekly Makes Waves with F-Bomb on the Cover

If you've been drowning in the alphabet soup of web metrics and analytics, have we got a lifeboat for you! Executives from the Overland Agency -- one of Portland's leading brand marketing and interactive advertising agencies -- will teach AAN convention attendees how to talk "letters" and "numbers" with online media planners/buyers, as well as how to align their presentations with advertisers' objectives.

Continue ReadingDon’t Know the Difference Between ROI, RoAS, CPM, and CPA?

This week, Denver's Curious Theatre Company put on their annual "Denver Stories" benefit show, and Act One featured the story of longtime Westword editor Patricia Calhoun. In Dee Covington's "The Showdown at Straight Creek, Or How the Westword Was Won," Martha Harmon Pardee "played a raucous Calhoun, getting Westword off the ground between saloon stops," the Denver Post reports. Calhoun, who served as AAN President in 1999-2000, currently chairs the association's Editorial Committee.

Continue ReadingWestword Editor’s Life, Adapted for the Stage

In February, Observer editor Julie Lyons reported on her "Bible Girl" blog that Pentacostal Minister Sherman Allen had a decades-long history of alleged sexual abuse. Her investigation also revealed that several women have alleged that the minister, who is being sued by a former employee and church member, is also involved in the occult. Now, the Church of God in Christ has suspended Allen "from all national and local pastoral roles and activities" until his trial is settled, according to the Observer. The Church of God in Christ is the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States, as well as the fourth-largest Christian church organization in the country, with some 6 million members.

Continue ReadingMinister is Suspended Following Dallas Observer Reports of Sexual Abuse

That's what we'll be doing in the editorial stream on the opening day of the convention, when Pulitzer winner Jonathan Gold joins a panel of AAN editors to chew over the best ways to write about food and cover the restaurant industry. Also on the panel's menu: reader reviews and restaurant blogs. Two days later, panel moderator Kelly Clarke, arts & culture editor at Willamette Week, will lead a morning stroll through Portland's bustling, delicious Farmers Market, where AAN foodies can graze on gratis samples from some of Oregon's finest farmers, cheesemakers, bread bakers and sweets makers.

Continue ReadingTalking ’bout Food in Portland