National Rifle Association member and right-wing firebrand Bob Barr was hired recently to write a regular column for the Creative Loafing chain's flagship paper in Atlanta. Editor Ken Edelstein hopes that publishing Barr will broaden readers' perspectives -- and spice up the paper. "Alternative newspapers tend to be a bit predictable, and having a guest columnist who adds another dimension is a good thing," he tells AAN News.
Marc Schultz was grilled by FBI agents acting on a tip from someone who saw the dark, bearded freelance writer reading something "suspicious" in a coffee shop: After retracing his steps, Schultz remembered what he had been reading: a printout of an article from Weekly Planet (Tampa) -- Hal Crowther's "Weapons of Mass Stupidity." "(I)t seems like a dark day when an American citizen regards reading as a threat, and downright pitch-black when the federal government agrees," Schultz writes.
The Board of Directors of Creative Loafing, Inc., announced that it will investigate two of its directors from Cox Newspapers, Inc., owner of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The question is whether the two directors used the confidential board meetings to learn enough about publishing alternative newsweeklies to launch "accessAtlanta" as a direct competitor to Creative Loafing (Atlanta).
Steven Emerson, who promotes himself as an investigative reporter with special knowledge of radical Islamic terrorists, has abandoned his four-year-old libel suit against the Weekly Planet and former Editor John Sugg. In a 1998 article, Sugg, now a senior editor at Creative Loafing (Atlanta), questioned Emerson's assertions about terrorist plots against him. Emerson sued, saying the articles defamed him. "Emerson never had a case," Planet Publisher Ben Eason says.
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.
Weekly Planet (Tampa) has laid off three editorial staffers -- News Editor Francis X. Gilpin and staff writers Trevor Aaronson and Rochelle Renford -- citing flat revenue and a desire to shift focus from political to cultural coverage, the St. Petersburgh Times reports. Neil Skene, senior vice president, group publisher, of the Planet's parent company, Creative Loafing, says the weekly will now use freelance writers for political coverage.
Three AAN papers were awarded first-place in under 200,000 circulation division of the 2002 Association of Food Journalists competition: Robb Walsh of Houston Press for food news reporting; Marty Jones of Westword for food columns and Bonnie Boots, former food editor for the Weekly Planet (Tampa), for restaurant criticism. Willamette Week takes three awards from the foodie group, a second for restaurant criticism for Roger Porter and a second and third for special sections edited by Arts & Culture Editor Caryn Brooks.
"Because I am most decidedly not a politician, I am best qualified for political office," says John Sugg, senior editor, Creative Loafing Atlanta, in announcing his candidacy for the 7th Congressional District. Sugg, who is running a write-in campaign as a Whig, says fellow journalists shouldn't question his political activism. "Your bosses have neutered real journalism by creating the cult of objectivity -- passionless journalism that is beholden to the status quo." Sugg is challenging "ho-hum" Democrat Mike Berlon and John Linder, "a water-carrier for the most corrupt elements of corporate America," he writes in his "Fishwrapper" column.
“This book, I hope, is a book of encounters, none of them predictable,” novelist and music writer Jonathan Lethem writes in his introduction to “Da Capo Best Music Writing 2002.” Seven of the 28 articles in the collection were originally published in alternative newsweeklies, including The Village Voice, Chicago Reader and City Pages (Twin Cities).
Independent Weekly's acquisition of Raleigh's alt-weekly the Spectator will allow the newly merged Independent to beef up its A&E coverage and leaves Creative Loafing with more cash for its four AAN-member papers. "One of us ultimately had to give in to create a single financially successful paper, and we yielded to local ownership," said Ben Eason, CEO of Creative Loafing Inc.
