The Maggie Awards, presented annually by the Western Publications Association, honor publishing excellence among magazines in the Western U.S. L.A. Weekly was selected as the best tabloid/consumer publication for its Sept. 7 issue, and also prevailed in two other categories: Best Fiction in the Trade & Consumer category for "One Hundred Percent," and Best News Story in the Consumer category, for "The End of Murder." Phoenix New Times won for Best Public Service Series or Article in the Trade & Consumer category for its investigations into Maricopa County's "assault" on the paper.

Continue ReadingL.A. Weekly and Phoenix New Times Win Maggie Awards

The company that owns The Stranger and Portland Mercury announces the release today of Foundation, "a highly customizable, fully integrated content-management system for alt-weeklies." The new system, which was developed in partnership with DesertNet, includes dynamic calendars, city guides, user profiles, and extensive editorial tools. "With its customizable layouts and components, Foundation will reduce alt-weeklies' reliance on expensive web development," the Index Newspaper press release says.

Continue ReadingIndex Newspapers & DesertNet Unveil New Content Management System

"We recently discovered that an art review by Nate Lippens published in The Stranger in August 2004 bears striking similarities to an art review by John Miller published in ArtForum in the summer of 2002," editor Christopher Frizzelle wrote last week. On advice from the Poynter Institute, the paper decided to take down and reexamine all of Lippens' stories, and will re-post the ones that are OK "as quickly as we can." When contacted by The Stranger by email, Lippens wrote: "I'm, of course, deeply embarrassed by this. I feel terrible." The next day the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported it was "looking at dozens of pieces written by Lippens" after editors discovered similarities between something he wrote for the daily and Art in America magazine. Lippens has also freelanced for Seattle Weekly, which has "found no evidence thus far of any plagiarism" in the handful of pieces he wrote for them, editor Mike Seely tells AAN News in an email.

Continue ReadingThe Stranger Removes Writer’s Stories Over Possible Plagiarism

As expected, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Marla Miller on Monday raised the amount the Weekly must pay in damages to the San Francisco Bay Guardian, from $6.3 million to $15.9 million. Miller also issued a 10-year injunction, barring the Weekly from selling display ads below cost, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. In the lawsuit, the Guardian accused the Weekly and its parent company Village Voice Media of selling ads below cost with the intent of harming the Guardian. A jury ruled in favor of the Guardian in March. SF Weekly still plans to appeal. Read more on the latest ruling from the Weekly and the Guardian.

Continue ReadingJudge Raises Damages and Issues Injunction Against SF Weekly

"A lot's changed since Hour's inaugural issue on Feb. 4, 1993, notably what constitutes an 'alternative' weekly," editor-in-chief Jamie O'Meara writes. "But a little soul searching is never a bad thing -- it makes you better and, hopefully, stronger." In her column introducing the special anniversary issue, O'Meara says the paper has come to be inextricably tied to the communities it serves. "In an era of mostly borderless, reflexive information sharing, it's more important than ever to have boots on the ground, and to remember that there are still smaller communities within this larger global community of ours that need tending to," she writes. "And that's where we at Hour find our strength."

Continue ReadingHour Magazine Celebrates 15th Anniversary

Canada's Print Measurement Bureau recently released numbers showing a 14.2 percent drop in NOW's readership over the past two years, according to the Globe and Mail. The Canadian daily uses the readership drop as a springboard to examine the state of Toronto's alt-weeklies -- NOW and its competitor Eye Weekly, which is in the same ownership group as the daily Toronto Star. "Alt-weeklies are a particular case. Entirely reliant on advertising revenues, their revenue is not augmented by subscriptions or newsstand sales," the Globe and Mail reports. "At the same time, they're threatened by a panoply of other free offerings." NOW publisher Michael Hollett shrugs off the latest numbers, and says the paper's health is strong. "It's just one of many ways of counting," he says. "Our boxes are empty and business is good." Indeed, the Globe and Mail reports that NOW's ad revenue was up in 2007, and Hollett notes that the paper continues to innovate -- and gain readers -- online.

Continue ReadingNOW Magazine Confronts Drop in Print Readership

The paper is holding two "Wedding Wednesdays" where it will conduct free group weddings for twelve same-sex couples, "in celebration of the long overdue right for homosexual partners to legally marry in the state of California," according to a press release. The ceremonies will be conducted by Express marketing director Terry Furry on June 25 and July 2, with help from a local wedding planning company. In addition to the ceremonies, the Express will provide the twelve couples with a catered reception, honeymoon prize packages, professional photos, a published wedding announcement, and local media publicity.

Continue ReadingEast Bay Express to Conduct Same-Sex Weddings

Washington City Paper and Santa Fe Reporter each add another finalist to their awards counts, bringing the papers' totals this year to seven. Click here for the Editorial Layout finalists or here for the full list of finalists. AAN and Medill will reveal the order of finish at the AltWeekly Awards luncheon on June 7 in Philadelphia.

Continue ReadingAAN and Medill Announce Editorial Layout Finalists in AltWeekly Awards