Chris Rohland, publisher of the non-AAN member alternative Las Vegas Weekly, is recovering from surgery to repair broken bones suffered in the April 14 accident that killed two people. Rohland's SUV was struck when a Ford Mustang crossed the center line into on-coming traffic. The two occupants of the Mustang were killed. Rohland had been scheduled to moderate a session at the AAN Convention on "How and Why To Do a Readership Study."

Continue ReadingChris Rohland Injured in Fatal Car Accident

Bob Norman of New Times Broward/Palm Beach was the big winner in this year's Green Eyeshade competition, picking up three awards, including two first-places. Norman wasn't alone; AAN members captured 15 of the 24 awards handed out in the weekly/monthly category of SPJ's Southeast region contest: Miami New Times picked up six, New Times Broward/Palm Beach won five, Creative Loafing Atlanta took home three, and the Nashville Scene received one.

Continue ReadingAAN Papers Bat .625 in SPJ-Southeast Contest

Two New Times investigative series were selected as winners in the 2002 John Bartlow Martin Awards, sponsored by Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. First place went to "Fallout," a look at the U.S. Navy's radioactive legacy in the Bay Area by SF Weekly's Lisa Davis. Phoenix New Times staff writer Amy Silverman captured third place for her special series "Slammed," which exposed abuses in Arizona's juvenile justice system. Sandwiched between them was Katherine Boo, former managing editor of Washington City Paper, for her story in The New Yorker on welfare mothers.

Continue ReadingNew Times Dominates John Bartlow Martin Awards

Andy Newman, editor of Pittsburgh City Paper, interviews John Backderf, "known to everyone but his mother simply as Derf." Derf's comic strip "The City" strip appears in more than 50 AAN member papers. Newman asks Derf about two comic books he just published, one called "My Friend Dahmer" about being high school pals with serial cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer and another about working on the back of a garbage truck.

Continue ReadingDerf on Growing Up with Dahmer

Under a settlement with the city, Bay Area newspapers have agreed to let the city erect pedmounts in high-traffic areas. Problem is, a subsidiary of media conglomerate Clear Channel Communications will control those pedmounts, who gets to use them and what's advertised on the back. "The idea of giving Clear Channel exclusive control over newspaper distribution -- and ad space on the back of the news racks -- in the city is extremely troubling," the San Francisco Bay Guardian writes.

Continue ReadingClear Channel Empire To Control SF News Racks