Alternative

Pittsburgh City Paper has hired Brentin Mock, a graduate of the Academy for Alternative Journalism at Medill. Each summer 10 minority journalism students go through the eight-week residential program, learning long-form feature writing with the alt-edge. Mike Lenehan, executive editor of the Chicago Reader and one of the founders of the Academy, says right now he's happy if one or two of its graduates are snapped up by alts. In the meantime, the Academy, which is funded by grants from AAN and its publishers, is building "a small army of future writers," Lenehan says.