Last week, the New York Press got rid of its newly minted sex columnist after it was revealed that Claudia Lonow took the questions for her first column from old "Savage Love" columns. But Savage tells the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that he feels bad for Lonow, and that he thinks the "borrowing was an accident." In an interview with KING5-TV, the syndicated columnist and editor of The Stranger says that if Lonow would have just sourced the questions properly, there would've been no problem. "She just thought they were good hypotheticals and thought she could use them with impunity, and that's kinda not the way the media business works anymore," he says. Meanwhile, the Press is holding an open competition to become the paper's new sex columnist. Each week, the paper's editors will select one piece for publication, and those winners will become finalists in the quest. The new column will launch in the paper's 20th anniversary issue on April 23.
Yesterday, the Press was proudly announcing its new sex column, "Lip Service" by Claudia Lonow. Today, editor David Blum says her first column will be her last, after it was revealed that some of the questions in the column were taken from Dan Savage's "Savage Love" columns. "It had been our understanding that the questions for her first column came from friends," Blum says. "She has told us she was unaware that using questions from Savage's column was a breach of journalism ethics. She has offered her resignation, and we've accepted it. We apologize to our readers, and to Dan Savage, for this error in judgment."
Ellen Forney has for several years been illustrating and interpreting the most interesting ad in The Stranger's "Lustlab" classified personals each week. Now they are collected in a new book, Lust: Kinky Online Personal Ads from Seattle's The Stranger, released this month by Fantagraphics. In addition to the illustrations, the book has interviews with some of the advertisers conducted by Forney, plus an introduction by syndicated sex columnist and Stranger editor Dan Savage.
The Stranger editor and syndicated columnist's story about how he and his boyfriend became parents will get the Broadway treatment, The Village Voice's Michael Musto reports (see Web Extras at end of column). Musto hears that the adaptation of The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant will be directed by Scott Elliott. "That's one more reason to hope the stagehand strike ends," says Musto.
"I'm not leaving The Stranger, and I'm still in charge of The Stranger's editorial content," says Dan Savage in a blog post, adding some detail to Wednesday's item in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer announcing Christopher Frizzelle's promotion to editor. "So Frizzelle is taking over the day-to-day management of the editorial department as well as overseeing more to most of The Stranger's features," Savage says. "I am still going to be sitting in my coveted corner office, watching helmetless hipsters ride by on their brand-new fixies, posting obsessively to Slog, working with Christopher -- and the rest of the editorial staff -- to create, shape, and direct our editorial content online and in print."
Christopher Frizzelle is replacing Dan Savage as editor of the Seattle alt-weekly, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. The 27-year-old Frizzelle has also worked at crosstown rival the Seattle Weekly, where "he was fired for leaking internal tidbits to the Stranger and trying to get a job there," according to the P-I. His time at the Stranger has thus far included stints as books editor, and most recently, as arts editor. "I'll report to Dan, who is now editorial director, and everybody else reports to me," he says. Asked what changes he wants to make, he said none. "The paper's really good right now. I work with 20 of the most talented people I know."
All the finalists in the "Newspapers: Local Circulation Weeklies" category were AAN members, but Todd Spivak came out on top for "Run Over By Metro." The prestigious awards, given by Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc., recognize the most outstanding watchdog journalism of the year. Judges said Spivak's "compelling and vivid narrative writing gives extraordinary power to the victims' stories and fuels the outrage over the agency's misconduct." The other finalists were Sarah Fenske of Phoenix New Times (for "Cracked Houses"), Dan Frosch of the Santa Fe Reporter (for "The Wexford Files"), and Matthew Fleischer of LA Weekly (for "Navahoax").
At the Stranger's annual Valentine's Day Bash, the alt-weekly's editor and nationally-syndicated sex columnist destroyed sentimental artifacts from relationships gone awry, employing some unusual tools, including fire and urine. A video from the event was posted on the The Stranger's blog, where Savage recounts his favorite moments of destruction: "Melting down a wedding ring and chucking the little blob of melted gold into the street -- right up there with taking a hammer to a diamond engagement ring."
The addition of the widely syndicated sex-advice column to the Eugene Weekly is "stirring up controversy," according to KEZI-TV 9 News. The local ABC affiliate, which led with the story on Friday evening, took to the streets to get reactions; two of the three locals interviewed didn't have a problem with the column, with one woman offering, "I lived in New York City for many years. I'm way beyond ever being offended by anything." KEZI also talked to Eugene Weekly editor Ted Taylor (pictured), who wondered: "What's the big deal? They are just words about sex. Why not be outraged by what I consider the real moral issues?" Director of Advertising and Marketing Bill Shreve tells AAN News the paper picked up Savage Love in October, and e-mails and calls to the Weekly have been split about evenly between supporters and opponents of the column. He also notes that the whole thing has "been good for business."
PW performs a public service for local citizens this week by distinguishing between the editor of The Stranger and Philadelphia's "newly installed" city councilman Dan Savage. The former is the guy who writes Savage Love and thinks drugs and prostitution should be legalized. The latter is a judge's son who has never been asked for advice on strap-ons, vaginal farts or uncircumcised penises. "What's he look like?" asks our Dan about the politician with an identical name. "Does he have a gut? He's out there representing me. I don't want him to have a big gut. He's got to do his crunches."
