Fort Worth Weekly Editor Gayle Reaves, former investigative reporter Dan Malone and journalism professor Craig Flournoy were recently chosen as co-recipients of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas’ James Madison Award of 2006. The three were honored for their work on the Light of Day project, in which journalism students from several Texas universities filed hundreds of open records requests with local law enforcement agencies on their use of Tasers and other non-lethal measures. The best of the resultant stories were printed in the Weekly. The Madison award was presented Friday at the FOIFT annual convention in Austin.

Continue ReadingFort Worth Weekly FOI Project Wins James Madison Award

Having reached "the tweener stage," the Weekly is proud of its warts-and-all history, which is recounted in this week's cover story. From its early days as "a raucous conglomerate of gays, old hippies, cynical journalists, fresh-faced young writers, revolving-door sales reps, and tart-tongued receptionists" facing fierce opposition from the local daily, through its sale to New Times in 2000 and resale to Lee Newquist the following year, the Weekly has focused on "critiquing the emperor’s new clothes" and has stuck by a statement made in the first issue: "We're having fun. ... And we plan to be around for a long, long time."

Continue ReadingFort Worth Weekly: Ten Years and Going Strong

One of the secret weapons in Betty Brink's reporting arsenal is the way she looks. Because she cuts a grandmotherly figure, people can't help but confide in her. The reporter who started out at an underground paper in college now does award-winning news reporting for Fort Worth Weekly. This is the 17th in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.

Continue ReadingBetty Brink: Going From the Underground to the Alternative Press

In an unsigned column, Fort Worth Weekly bids farewell to its "fiercely independent and damn-the-torpedoes" editor John Forsyth, who was fired this week by new owner Lee Newquist. "We can only hope that Lee Newquist will make good on his promise to support the same kind of gutsy journalism that Forsyth did," says the author(s).

Continue ReadingFort Worth Weekly Says Goodbye to Its Axed Editor