Carlton Hargro, editor in chief of Creative Loafing in Charlotte, N.C., was recently named as one of "The Root 100" by The Root.com.
In an op-ed, editor Mara Shalhoup tells readers, "We made a mistake."
Wendy Goldstein, a senior advertising executive with McClatchy Newspapers, has been named Associate Publisher of Creative Loafing Charlotte. As Associate Publisher, Goldstein will be responsible for all sales, marketing, and business functions of CL Charlotte, the Carolinas’ largest city weekly and Charlotte’s leading source of information about the arts, entertainment, dining, and other aspects of city life.
The Society of Professional Journalists announced the winners of its 2010 Sunshine State Awards earlier this month. Miami New Times won seven awards, including six first-place wins -- in the Light Feature Reporting, Religion Reporting, Medical/Health Care/Science Reporting, Serious Feature Reporting, Food/Beverage Writing and International Reporting categories. Creative Loafing won five awards, including a first-place finish in the Criticism category
This week the paper debuted its drastically redesigned print publication and also rolled out changes to its website. Editor-in-chief Mara Shalhoup says the process began about nine months ago, with questions like "What if we turned the paper into the type of publication that existed only in our imaginations?" and "What was to stop us from rethinking ... everything?" The print overhaul was led by newspaper designer/art director Ron Reason, who goes into detail about the process and the thinking behind a number of decisions in a blog post.
Creative Loafing (Sarasota) food writer and restaurant critic Brian Ries is taking over the top editor position at the paper, replacing Cooper Levey-Baker, who has left to edit the Florida Independent website. Ries says he will continue his food writing, which leads to an interesting conundrum: he will try to maintain his anonymity while performing a much more public role as the paper's editor. "Soon, there will be plenty of pictures online that restaurants could use to identify me, if they want to go to the bother," he writes. "In my experience, restaurants don't perform well when they know a critic is in the dining room, perhaps because the pressure gets to them. And I won't make it easy for them -- I'll continue to make reservations under another name, use an alias credit card, and shave my legs to match the summer dresses I plan on wearing as a disguise."
Creative Loafing, Inc. has named Alex Kam its chief digital officer to oversee the digital operations of the company's six publication. Most recently, Kam was vice president of digital media for ALM/Incisive Media North America (publisher of The American Lawyer and other journals), and he has also served as general manager of new media for Major League Baseball. "It's not about building something and they will come. It's about understanding what users want and bringing them to you," Kam says in a note to employees. "Digital allows you to do this in many different ways ... but it's driven first and foremost by content." He will work out of D.C.
Henry E. Scott, who joined Creative Loafing, Inc. as vice president and chief marketing officer in February, has been named the publisher of the company's Atlanta paper. He replaces Luann Labedz, who announced her departure in March, and will be the paper's eighth publisher in six years. "With the declining circulation of the city's only daily, and its decision to move its newsroom [outside the Perimeter], we have emerged as Atlanta's largest-circulation hometown newspaper," he says. "That means we have an even greater responsibility to Atlantans who want to learn how to make the most of life in this sophisticated and cosmopolitan city."
As we noted two days ago, the local branch of the Church of Scientology was in talks to buy the building that Creative Loafing recently settled into in Tampa's Ybor Square area. This morning CL's David Warner is reporting that the building was indeed sold to the church, per a letter sent last night to CL's CFO.
Just as CL settles into its new permanent office space in a historic former cigar factory in Tampa's Ybor Square, the alt-weekly has learned that The Church of Scientology is looking to purchase the building from its current owner. The paper, which signed a 5-year lease for the new digs last fall, wasn't aware that the building was to be sold. "If the deal does come to fruition, Creative Loafing will enjoy, if that's the word, a unique vantage point: a next-door-neighbor's view of what goes on at the Tampa facilities of one of the most controversial religious organizations in the world," CL editor David Warner writes.
