In the first installment of AAN's new interview series, Amy Austin (pictured), Dave Nuttycombe and Tim Carman of Washington City Paper describe how reader-created restaurant reviews have forged a new relationship between the newspaper's print and Web products. They also explain the meaning of sporks. To suggest a topic for a future interview, contact Amy Gill at amyg@aan.org.
Ten aspiring journalists have been chosen to attend the seventh annual AAJ summer residency program at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. This year's class includes a former staff writer for Tampa's Weekly Planet and several other young writers who have experience freelancing for AAN papers. The ten fellows were selected from 420 applicants for the eight-week program, which is designed to train minority journalists in the fundamentals of long-form journalism.
It has been a week since Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee purged the alt-weekly from his official press notification list, but the governor (pictured) still has not provided a valid explanation for his decision. AAN sent a letter this morning on behalf of its member papers urging the governor to reverse his decision and put the Times back on the publicly financed list. The letter, signed by AAN President Kenneth Neill, reminds Huckabee that "as a public official," he is "legally forbidden from blackballing the paper based on its political content."
The 2006 convention is still more than a month away, but plans are already being made for next year. Keep June 14-16, 2007 clear on your calendar -- host paper Willamette Week is promising sunshine, pinot noir, and "a vigorous discussion about the future of independent journalism."
West Gold Editorial will help the association organize programming for its fall Web-publishing conference, which will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to the consulting work they handle for print publications and their Web sites, West Gold Editorial has experience in a similar, advisory role in connection with an annual Web-publishing workshop hosted by Stanford University. The firm's principals will also present two seminars at this year's annual convention in Little Rock.
To compete with Craigslist and other Web sites, AAN members are turning to different models of free online classifieds, most developed specifically for alt-weeklies. But what seems like a revenue loss can also be an advantage, publishers and marketers say. Some revenue can be gained from upselling and from the new business that a classifieds Web site attracts, and alt-weeklies are in a unique position to build online loyalty because they take their cues from the local communities that they serve.
There will be something for everyone in Little Rock, the just-announced seminar line-up reveals. Managers will find plenty of training to keep them busy, and a slew of Internet-publishing sessions should educate alt-weekly staffers of all job types. AAN has even made the registration process simpler with a new Web site enabling members to use their aan.org passwords to register for the convention. And, as if that's not enough meeting-related excitement: AAN will also be holding a Web-publishing conference in the fall.
