The City Council President posed for a photo with a bong in his hand and another Council candidate was the lucky recipient of a lap dance during a candidate forum sponsored last week by "Seattle's cheeky weekly." The Seattle Times also reports that candidates who appeared at the forum "faced serious questions" about local issues, and that Jack Pageler, who stood in for his wife, veteran Councilwoman Margaret, "suffered the indignity of being called 'Margaret' repeatedly by Dan Savage (pictured), editor of The Stranger and master of smackdown ceremonies."

Continue ReadingThe Stranger Hosts Local Election “Smackdown”

In 1987, Ted S. McGregor, Jr. was an intern at the Seattle Weekly. Six years later he started his own alternative weekly on the other side of the state, with his brother Jeremy and mother Jeanne, in their hometown of Spokane. After 10 years at the helm of the family- owned weekly newspaper, McGregor looks back on what it took to "become an important part of the lives of more than 100,000 Inland Northwesterners ."

Continue ReadingPacific Northwest Inlander Turns 10

With the deadline for first-round bids closing next week, CEO David Schneiderman tells the New York Post that VVM, with backing from investment firm and VVM part-owners Weiss, Peck & Greer, may be interested in buying the original city magazine. Now owned by Primedia, the magazine was founded in 1968 by Clay Felker, who also owned and edited The Village Voice (second item).

Continue ReadingVillage Voice Media “Looking at” New York Magazine
Read more about the article AAN’S Smallest Paper Publishes in Rock ‘n’ Roll Time

Brad Nelson, the 33-year-old founder, editor and publisher of Duluth, Minnesota’s Ripsaw News, moonlights as the drummer for the blues-rocking Black-Eyed Snakes. Although he occasionally leaves the paper for weeks at a time to join the band on tour, Ripsaw has helped revitalize the city’s small indie scene and raised its political awareness.

Continue ReadingAAN’S Smallest Paper Publishes in Rock ‘n’ Roll Time

The launch of the Cincinnati Enquirer's free weekly is the news hook around which the Wall Street Journal wraps its look at the daily newspaper industry's efforts "to hook the MTV generation on newspapers." WSJ reports that in a recent conference call, the Tribune Co.'s CFO said that its RedEye has attracted about 250 new advertising clients that haven't previously advertised in the Chicago Tribune.

Continue ReadingGannett’s CiN Weekly Debuts

Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade on advertising featuring a host of ex-jocks, a quirky guy named Dick and a bevy of brawling babes, Miller Brewing Co. has accepted that its name means little to the average beer drinker.

Continue ReadingMiller Changes Ad Strategy

Sexy mass media like network TV, consumer magazines and the Internet seem to occupy much of Madison Avenue's attention, but it is the relatively staid medium of newspaper ad inserts that prove to be the best a motivating consumers to make actual buying decisions, according to findings of a new consumer research study released Wednesday by insert specialist Vertis. More than a quarter (28 percent) of consumer surveyed said they consider inserts the most influential medium for purchase decisions, followed by television (22 percent), newspaper display advertising (18 percent).

Continue ReadingInserts Surpass Radio in Weekly Reach

These are tough times for national marketers. Pressure to demonstrate a return on their media spending is huge. Yet research shows that half the population uses more than one medium at a time, suggesting that marketers may be wasting ad dollars on people who aren't fully engaged in one medium. According to a new Simultaneous Media Usage Survey by BIGresearch in Columbus, Ohio, 94% of people who say they go online while watching TV regularly, or occasionally, tune out mentally when a commercial comes on.

Continue ReadingNationals: Can Newspapers Get More?