Read more about the article Latino Coverage Is Crucial for Many Alt-Weeklies

According to the latest U.S. census, Latinos are now the country's largest minority group. With this in mind, the question of how alt-weeklies serve this important segment of the population becomes one of increased urgency. Marty Levine reports for AAN News on how papers from Miami, Fla., to Columbus, Ohio, to Orange County, Calif., are addressing the issue of Latino coverage in their area. It may surprise no one that, for each paper, the questions -- as well as the answers -- are unique to the community they serve.

Continue ReadingLatino Coverage Is Crucial for Many Alt-Weeklies

As advertising springs back, here's something newspapers should keep in the back of their minds: Sixty-seven percent of marketers surveyed indicated that newspapers and magazines could do a better job selling themselves against other media, especially television, according to the Association of National Advertisers, which released its findings today.

Continue ReadingSurvey: Papers Could Do Better with Ad Sales

Citing economic reasons, the general manager of Indiana Printing and Publishing Co. Inc. told Pittsburgh Business Times that the last issue of the arts and entertainment paper is on the streets this week. The two-year-old Pulp was unable to compete successfully for advertising with the larger and more established Pittsburgh City Paper, an AAN member owned by Steel City Media.

Continue ReadingPulp, a Pittsburgh Arts and Entertainment Weekly, Is Extinguished

The newspaper industry is starting to feel the effects of a rebound as overall spending on equipment and technology is expected to go up 74.1%, according to the Newspaper Association of America's annual Capital Equipment Expenditures Survey. The total amount projected for 2004 is $623.8 million, up from $358.3 million of actual spending in 2003. A total of 179 newspapers responded to the survey.

Continue ReadingRise in Tech Ad Spending Expected

These days, advertisers brand interactive games to promote their wares, the U.S. Army uses them for recruitment, and police departments employ them to run virtual drills. Now, some groups are educating with Web games to promote social and policy issues. Serious Games themes range from HIV/AIDS and poverty to public policy and New York City's budget.

Continue ReadingVideo Games for Social Change

The Denver alt-weekly writer won a 2004 medal in the nondaily newspaper category for her story “Nowhere Boy,” which chronicles the struggle of an adoptive family to obtain mental health services for their severely emotionally troubled son. The article "touches on funding of the mental-health system, high-risk adoption and the various mental disorders and conditions linked to fetal alcohol syndrome. It’s a compelling subject done nicely," the judges commented. The awards are sponsored by the Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families.

Continue ReadingWestword’s Laura Bond Wins Casey Medal

The Denver alt-weekly's Julie Jargon, 29, tied for first in the national reporting category for "The War Within," a series on rape of female cadets at the United States Air Force Academy. The Livingston Awards are given only to journalists under the age of 35. The $10,000 awards are the largest all-media, general-reporting prizes in the country.

Continue ReadingWestword Writer Ties for a First in Livingston Awards
Read more about the article Columnists Cover Media’s Dark Underbelly and Successes, Too

Someone's got to keep an eye on the Fourth Estate. Media columnists at AAN papers, like The Village Voice's Cynthia Cotts and Westword's Michael Roberts, tackle the challenge of covering the local journalism scene without coming across as too tedious or self-absorbed. John Dicker reports for AAN News on several columnists who make meaty stories of plagiarism scandals, stiffed freelancers and toppled editors.

Continue ReadingColumnists Cover Media’s Dark Underbelly and Successes, Too

Judges have chosen finalists in the Cover Design category for the 2004 Alternative Newsweekly Awards. For newspapers with circulation under 50,000, finalists are Tak Toyoshima, Boston’s Weekly Dig; Gregory Dickens, MetroBEAT; and Julie Barnett, San Antonio Current. For papers with circulation of more than 50,000, finalists are Joe MacLeod, Baltimore City Paper; Andrea Diaz-Vaughn, Larry Dalton and James McHughes, Sacramento News and Review; and Tim Silbaugh and Johanna Goodman, Seattle Weekly. The AAN News article about the contest has been updated to reflect the announcement.

Continue ReadingFinalists in Cover Design Contest Announced

Advertising expenditures rose to $31.5 billion in the first quarter of 2004, an increase of nearly 10% over the same period the year before, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR.

Continue ReadingAd Spend Up 10% in Q1