Duane Swierczynski is the new editor of Philadelphia City Paper, filling the spot left vacant when Howard Altman was fired in June 2004. Adding an interesting twist to the hiring is that in 1999 the paper published a mildly scathing rebuke regarding the publication of a phony article Swierczynski wrote for Philadelphia magazine about a gay Mummer. (Mummers are blue-collar guys who paint themselves to look like super-mimes and march through Philly each Jan. 1.) Publisher Paul Curci tells Dan Gross of the Philadelphia Daily News that City Paper staffers deem the long-ago hoax "a nonissue."
Russ Smith, founder of Baltimore City Paper and co-founder of New York Press, talks to Gawker about the state of alternative papers. He thinks the industry is dealing with "the brain drain of talented youngsters who, 20 years ago, would be fresh blood but are now involved with Internet projects." Smith then tells writers Andrew Krucoff and Chris Gage that editors hoping to sustain alt-weekly success need to "focus on the quality of writing, rather than knee-jerk politics and Quentin Tarantino hagiography."
Freelance journalist Becky Oberg wanted to expand her reportage for NUVO, an Indianapolis alt-weekly, into a book. Carlo DeVito, publisher of Chamberlain Bros., a Penguin imprint, was looking for new projects. Despite the fact that Oberg was, in her words, "an unknown, unagented, first-time author," DeVito called her and asked if she'd turn her story about an Army private's desertion to Canada via an "underground railroad" into a book. Why was a publisher scouring alt-weeklies for book ideas? Says DeVito: "We're always looking for a good story and a new point of view, and that's what a lot of these papers express."
Chris Potter has been named Andy Newman's replacement as editor of Pittsburgh City Paper, reports Pittsburgh Business Times. "It was a huge surprise to me," says Potter, who has been the paper's managing editor since he and Newman came over from the now-defunct In Pittsburgh Newsweekly seven years ago. Potter will take over the position in November, after the City Paper's annual Best of Pittsburgh issue. "[Potter and I] have been conjoined for almost 10 years," Newman tells reporter Tim Schooley. "It's a very delicate procedure, but I think we'll both go on to lead productive lives."
Minnesota's Secretary of State, Mary Kiffmeyer, sent a letter to City Pages on Monday, warning the paper that its "I Will Vote" promotion might violate federal law prohibiting the payment or acceptance of payment for voting or registering to vote, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. At a City Pages booth at summer events, young voters were encouraged to register to vote and promise to turn out on election day as well as to sign up for a chance to win a free overseas trip. Kiffmeyer says her letter was prompted by David Strom, president of the Taxpayers League in Minnesota and City Pages' "Villain of the Year" for 2004, who issued a news release last week urging her to intervene.
Editor of the alt-weekly since 1998, Andy Newman will be leaving in November to try his hand as a freelance writer in New York City. "I've wanted to do this for a long time, and it seems like I should do it before they send the AARP card," he tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. City Paper will begin searching for his replacement immediately. Newman is currently working on a story for The Believer, and hopes to place a piece in The New Yorker within a year. He is vice president of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies' board of directors.
The satirical weekly will start circulating a free print edition in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sept. 2. In addition to carrying stories published on its Web site, The Onion will print local reviews and calendar listings, the same type of content for which City Pages, an AAN member in the same market, is known. The Onion president Sean Mills claims that readers of the humor paper are significantly younger than readers of alternative weeklies. According to the Star Tribune, The Onion is looking next to start papers in San Francisco, Boston and Austin, Texas.
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