That's what sources tell Atlanta Magazine's Steve Fennessy about the first court date of the company's bankruptcy protection hearings. Next week, CL CEO Ben Eason has to submit his restructuring plan, which will then be discussed in court. In other CL-related news, The Sunday Paper's publisher and investor answer some questions about that paper's proposed expansion into two more CL cities (Charlotte and Tampa).

Continue ReadingCreative Loafing’s Day in Court ‘Was Pretty Humdrum’

After the news broke that Des Moines Register editorial cartoonist Brian Duffy was laid off as part of Gannett's nationwide cuts last week, Cityview editor/publisher Shane Goodman got in touch with Duffy and offered him a full page to publish whatever he wanted. Duffy took the alt-weekly up on the offer, and this week Cityview published his "farewell" editorial cartoon. "The Register lost an Iowa icon by dropping Duffy from their staff, and they are quickly finding that out ... the hard way," Goodman says in a note to readers.

Continue ReadingLaid-Off Daily Paper Cartoonist Publishes His Farewell in Alt-Weekly

The North Central Florida SPJ chapter has announced the winners of its 2008 Florida Awards of Excellence contest, and Village Voice Media's two papers in the state won 20 total awards. Miami New Times staff writer Francisco Alvarado was named Journalist of the Year, and in competition among non-daily papers, his paper took home ten awards, including first-place finishes in Education Reporting, Environmental Reporting, General Reporting (single story), General Reporting (series) and Series Column Writing. New Times Broward-Palm Beach won a total of nine awards, including first-place wins for Business Reporting, Feature (non-deadline), Humorous Column Writing and Sports Reporting (non-deadline).

Continue ReadingVVM Papers Win Big in State SPJ Awards

Cooper Levey-Baker took over as editor last month, after a stint as a field organizer for the Obama campaign in Sarasota County. Levey-Baker started at CL as an intern in 2004, and then worked as events editor, music writer, and arts writer until he left to work for Obama this year. "I'm really looking forward to engage more with local politics here in the area," he tells AAN News, "and to improve both our paper and the website so that we become the hub for the cool side of Sarasota."

Continue ReadingCreative Loafing (Sarasota) Has a New Editor

When Holden Landmark, a subsidiary of Cracked Rock Media, purchased the alt-weekly in August, the new owners were "taken off guard by the backlash," the Worcester Business Journal Reports. New publisher Gareth Charter and his boss Kirk Davis say that economics forced them to make deep cuts to their newest property, a move that was heavily criticized. Though some observers have thought of the deal as an odd fit, with Landmark's focus on suburban community papers, Davis says the acquisition makes perfect sense to them. "Worcester is the capital of Central Massachusetts," he says. "We've got a lot of Worcester business in our suburban titles, so it's not like this market was unknown to us." Davis and Charter also say that fears of a "suburbanized" WoMag are unfounded, and point to a recent story to prove that Landmark wants to keep the alt-weekly's edge.

Continue ReadingWorcester Magazine’s New Owners Talk Shop

"What does this mean for the Advocates? Who the fuck knows? We're so low in the Tribune food chain that we're not even mentioned in the annual reports," writes Christopher Arnott, who spent 17 years as an Advocate staffer before going full-time freelance. "The Advocate's sucked it up before and [stayed] alive in hard times. Let's hope the corporation gives it the chance to do it again."

Continue ReadingAdvocate Freelancer Weighs in on Tribune Bankruptcy Filing