A fair-housing group has sued the Web-based matching service Roommates.com over allegedly discriminatory real-estate ads, leading New York Times legal columnist Adam Liptak to question the efficacy of congressional attempts to strike a balance between fair housing and free speech. Under the Fair Housing Act of 1968, Liptak notes, discrimination itself is not necessarily illegal when choosing roommates and tenants, but advertisements that suggest as much are. And the Communications Decency Act of 1998 immunizes Web publishers from lawsuits for the same kinds of discriminatory classified ads that land print publishers in hot water.
That's the rhetorical question PopMatters asks in an article lamenting the "sad trajectory" of arts coverage at the paper since it was taken over by New Times. In a somewhat less-than-thorough investigation, the Web site turns to two former Voice music critics for answers. Robert Christgau says Michael Lacey is "a philistine who hates New York City” but admits that Village Voice Media's executive editor cares about writing; it's just not the kind of writing that Christgau does. Meanwhile, Eric Weisbard claims the new owners hate "what the Voice stood for," i.e., "the idea that you should write about pop music with the same depth and the same number of cultural references that you would talk about a novelist in the New York Review of Books."
After five years of doing a little bit of everything at Missoula Independent, Andy Smetanka now works as a baker when he's not taking classes toward a Master's degree in creative non-fiction or drafting silhouette animation for the Decemberists. New West profiles Montana's Renaissance man. CORRECTIONS: According to the Independent, Smetanka was the paper's arts editor, not the art director, as New West reports. In addition, Smetanka, who left his full-time position at the Independent almost two years ago, still reviews film for the paper on a regular basis.
Syndicated sex columnist Amy Alkon knows how to get her man -- and manners. Recently, when a cafe patron sitting within earshot chatted too loudly on her cell phone, Alkon recorded and published details of the conversation, including the woman's name, telephone number, and plans for the afternoon. When the Wall Street Journal reported the incident but disguised Alkon's identity, Alkon wrote about that, too, taking credit for her coffeeshop intervention. She is scheduled to appear tonight on ABC's Nightline to discuss the "undermannered" and how to deal with them.
The Indianapolis alt-weekly "relaunched" this week with an expanded news section incorporating a "new secondary focus on practical issues that affect readers' everyday lives," and a new A&E section that consolidates the paper's fine arts and pop culture coverage, according to its new advertising newsletter. The paper also is reducing ad rates and applying a full-volume discount to all ads to coincide with the redesign. Other elements of the revamped NUVO include larger font, new featurettes, and a crisper presentation.
Unique visitors to blogs affiliated with the top 10 U.S. newspaper sites rose to 3.8 million in December 2006, from 1.2 million the previous year, according to data released this week by Nielsen//NetRatings. Those same blogs increased their share of page views at the papers from 4 percent to 13 percent in the same period.
The world's most famous satiric newspaper is gearing up for its Washington launch, reports the Washington Post, which will be partnering with the Onion to sell local ads. "We believe that The Onion will be very well-received among young Washingtonians," says the Post Co.'s Christopher Ma, who sees crossover readership potential between the Onion and the Express, the free Post Co. tabloid he helped launch in 2003. Washington will be the Onion's 10th city with paper distribution.
Jim Mullin, who edited the South Florida alt-weekly for 17 years, signed a letter of intent yesterday to buy the 25,000-circulation monthly The Biscayne Times, reports the Miami Herald (second item). Mullin, who has never owned a paper before, admits he has much to learn "about running the business from the business side. I have to learn to interact with advertisers in a way that I haven't before.'' The Biscayne Times, which has four full-time staffers, in 2005 was named ''best neighborhood newspaper'' by Miami New Times.
iDate, the annual conference of the Internet dating industry, kicked off at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Monday, reports the Miami Herald. One of the meeting's major themes will be how to win over (and win back) users of youth-oriented social networking sites like Facebook and iLike, which are being used by young people to find dates. ''Traditional online dating sites (like Match.com) are feeling the pinch,'' says one conference participant.
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