Birmingham Weekly re-launched its website yesterday, a project it pulled off with assistance from Wehaa. The new website includes a digital version of the paper and an updated events calendar interface.

Updated July 6, 2010: In a column introducing the new website, publisher Chuck Leishman writes, "We believe that the combination of a free weekly paper integrated with a vibrant website is a viable model for delivering news and information to the community. Building communities is what we are all about, and the new integrated site greatly increases Birmingham Weekly’s ability to help further that goal."

Continue ReadingBirmingham Weekly Unveils Website Redesign

More details have come to light on the CL, Inc. decision to fire long-time Chicago Reader editor Alison True. Speaking to senior editor Michael Miner -- who on Friday described True's firing as a "tragic misjudgment" -- Reader publisher Alison Draper indicated that the paper's next editor will be expected to collaborate more often with the business side:

"The editor of the Reader," said Draper, "has to work closely with sales to find innovative ways to take our fair share of the dollars that are shrinking and shrinking quickly." She promised me that she wouldn't "blur" the line between editorial and advertising, but she would "push" it. The distinction was clearer to her than it was to me.
Miner goes on to explain that True was fired at a Starbucks after the paper's Best of Chicago issue came out. It was, Miner says, the "fattest, most successful issue in years, a triumph True and Draper should have been sharing in."

Continue ReadingPublisher Says Chicago Reader Will “Push” Line Between Editorial and Advertising

Alison True has been fired as editor of the Chicago Reader after twenty-six years with the paper. According to senior editor Michael Miner, the decision was announced during a staff meeting this morning by Reader publisher Alison Draper. Said Miner, "I consider this act unfathomable — a tragic misjudgment by two people, Draper and [Creative Loafing CEO Marty] Petty, whom I respect. I suppose they have a vision of tomorrow's Reader they think True is wrong for."

According to Chicago Business, True was caught completely off guard by the move.

Continue ReadingAlison True Out as Editor of Chicago Reader

Three male cast members of MTV's hit show 'Jersey Shore' grace the cover of Village Voice's annual Queer Issue, which hits the streets today. The New York Post reports that the cast members weren't told how their pictures would be used. In a tweet responding to critics of the Voice's decision to run the photos, editor Tony Ortega said, "It's only unethical if you think being a gay icon -- or gayness itself -- is somehow bad."

Continue ReadingJersey Shore Boys ‘Tricked’ Into Posing For Village Voice Queer Issue?

In a farewell column cloaked as a "Memo to Self," outgoing editor-in-chief of The Pitch C.J. Janovy tells readers (and herself):

Part of the reason you're handing over The Pitch to a new editor is because, after nearly 20 years as a journalist in this town, you've pretty much said everything about the city that you want to say -- for now, anyway.

. . . it's time for me to do something else — and it's time for me to see what someone else can do with The Pitch.
Janovy will be replaced by Westword web editor Joe Tone, who starts on June 28.

Continue ReadingC.J. Janovy Says Goodbye to The Pitch