New Times reveals its exclusive story claiming that antiglobalization anarchists planned to infiltrate the Republican Governors Association meeting in Boca Raton, Fla., was a ruse. Supposed author Greg O’Shube himself was a hoax; the name is an anagram for George Bush. O’Shube’s surrogate even created a Web site for the invented group, Anarchists for a Better State. “It’d be easy to say this story is about some bigger issue, like the fact that reporters all too often base stories on e-mails and websites, with little actual reporting…. But, hell, what it really was about was simply pulling one over on smarty-pants scribes and TV reporters,” O’Shube writes.
Newspapers in the Phoenix-based alt-weekly chain picked up seven of the 11 awards handed out last month in the under 150,000 circulation category of the National Association of Black Journalists' annual contest. Dallas Observer's Jim Schutze and Julie Lyons, Cleveland Scene's Thomas Francis and Riverfront Times' Jeannette Batz all were named first-place winners.
Dallas Observer won two first place awards in the 2003 Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards, and The Village Voice and Phoenix New Times each took one. East Bay Express won second place in the General Excellence category for papers with circulations 50,001 to 100,000, and New Times papers were finalists in nine other categories.
New Times Broward-Palm Beach columnist Bob Norman ignited the Internet last week when he revealed what is already common knowledge among "political and media types": That Palm Beach County Republican Congressman Mark Foley (see photo) is gay. The column was immediately posted on at least 20 Web sites, and the story was then picked up by gay newspapers and received a mention in Hotline, a popular inside-the-beltway political fixation. Now even mainstream local papers like the Sun-Sentinel appear to be closing in.
Six AAN member papers in the Southeast picked up 61 percent of the awards in SPJ's Green Eyeshade Awards' print (weekly/monthly) division. SPJ has announced the finalists for the awards, and the order of finish will be announced at the Green Eyeshade Banquet April 5. Creative Loafing Atlanta and New Times Broward-Palm Beach picked up six each, while Miami New Times snagged four. Memphis Flyer has two nominations, and Mountain Xpress and Creative Loafing Charlotte came in with one each.
Bob Norman, a staff writer for New Times Broward-Palm Beach, recently took home the 2001 Livingston Award for national reporting for his investigative series "Admitting Terror." The series revealed how incompetence and a skewed set of priorities at the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service helped set the stage for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Norman's recognition is the latest notch in New Times Media's belt in what they are calling a "banner year."
Bob Norman of New Times Broward/Palm Beach was the big winner in this year's Green Eyeshade competition, picking up three awards, including two first-places. Norman wasn't alone; AAN members captured 15 of the 24 awards handed out in the weekly/monthly category of SPJ's Southeast region contest: Miami New Times picked up six, New Times Broward/Palm Beach won five, Creative Loafing Atlanta took home three, and the Nashville Scene received one.
Four writers at AAN newspapers have won awards in the 2001 National Awards for Education Reporting from the Education Writers Association. They are: Nigel Jaquiss, Willamette Week, first prize in investigative reporting for "The Poisoning of Whitaker"; Margaret Downing, Houston Press, first prize in opinion writing for "But Who's Counting"; Emily Bliss, New Times Broward-Palm Beach, second prize in feature writing for " A Scout for Life"; Mike Mosedale, City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul), special citation for "Take Till It Hurts."
Two former New Times employees write in the Daily Business Review about staff unrest at New Times Broward-Palm Beach. According to Julie Kay and Harris Meyer, the NTB-PB staff wrote a "manifesto" to Editor Chuck Strouse asking for greater editorial independence, among other things.
