Jeff Lawrence (pictured) could care less that some law enforcement officials think escort ads are a front for prostitution. According to a recent piece in E&P, the president of Boston's Weekly Dig decided to remove the ads from his paper because he thought they were attracting too many 50-year-old white male suburbanites. "It's no different than if we started running ads for Geritol or Depends adult diapers," Lawrence tells E&P. "In terms of attracting readers, content is one thing, but the advertisements, too, are huge part of determining whether your readers are going to respond to your paper." Lawrence says the Dig also is considering whether to drop a couple of other categories that may not belong in the paper. "Advertisers like that you're protecting your demographic," he says, "They say, 'You're willing to give up revenue to stay on mission -- that's fantastic.'"
Jon Keller, a political analyst for the local CBS affiliate in Boston, gives high praise to the Weekly Dig in an April 8 post on his blog. Keller calls the newspaper "indispensable" and points readers to a recent Dig story on Keno as a must-read in Massachusetts' legalized-gambling debate. According to his bio on the station's Web site, Keller also broadcasts morning drive commentaries on WBZ NewsRadio 1030 and contributes weekly to The Boston Herald and monthly to Boston Magazine, which is owned by the same company that owns the Dig.
Eight of the prospective members are previous applicants, and two are owned by alt-weekly veterans who had been members during a previous association with different papers. AAN members will also be asked this year to evaluate Boston's Weekly Dig and Des Moines' Cityview, the first two post-sale newspapers whose membership will be reviewed under a process established in 2004 when the association's bylaws were amended. The fate of all of these papers will be determined at the organization's next Annual Meeting, which will be held in Little Rock on Saturday, June 17, the last day of the 29th annual AAN convention.
