The non-profit Inter American Press Association will host its 61st General Assembly Oct. 7-11 in Indianapolis. "This is a great group, doing extraordinary work in the Americas (from Canada down to Argentina) and of particular interest to the alternative press for a lot of good editorial and business reasons," writes San Francisco Bay Guardian editor and publisher Bruce Brugmann. "Among them: a snapshot of the action in the Americas, lots of good news and editorial ideas, entree into the latest in technology and business developments, and most important a direct way to really lend a hand to supporting a free press in these critical countries." Registration information is available through the organization's Web site; the association has more than 1,300 members from newspapers and magazines throughout the Americas.
AAN announced today that it had established a multi-pronged effort to provide immediate relief to employees of its New Orleans-based member paper who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The centerpiece of the effort is a special fund that the association has established in its Alternative Newsweekly Foundation to accept charitable contributions from members who want to provide immediate assistance to Gambit Weekly employees. Several AAN-member companies have already announced significant contributions to the fund.
While San Francisco Bay Guardian's Bruce B. Brugmann was railing against a New Times-Village Voice Media merger that is still merely a rumor, his competitors at the New Times-owned SF Weekly were commissioning a handwriting analysis of the outspoken publisher. The handwriting expert says that B3's penmanship suggests that he's smart, respectful, and generous, and that he's "very much in control of himself and .... confident in how he impresses himself upon his environment." She also says he's a few other things as well.
On Feb. 18, a judge ruled that the paper's predatory-pricing lawsuit against New Times Media may proceed, and gave New Times 30 days to answer the complaint or appeal the ruling.
Tim Redmond got a call from Bree Hocking, a reporter for Roll Call, asking his opinion about House minority leader Nancy Pelosi. He told Hocking that Pelosi isn't the typical "San Francisco liberal" that some have called her, and Hocking included his comments in an article. The article drew the attention of a producer for Fox News Channel's Hannity & Colmes, who invited Redmond to appear on the show. His appearance went so well that he was later invited to discuss politics on Laura Ingraham's radio program.
In an article in this week's edition of SF Weekly, Editor John Mecklin suggests that the San Francisco Bay Guardian is facing financial problems brought about largely from the purchase of a new office building, and that these problems might be behind the Bay Guardian's suit against SF Weekly, East Bay Express and New Times, Inc. In order to counter the suit's claim that New Times' Bay Area papers are discounting ads below cost, Mecklin offers accounts of the Guardian engaging in those very practices.
Editor John Mecklin takes aim at a "smelly BS-offensive emanating" from the San Francisco Bay Guardian, which, he says, contains "huge doses of distortion, some outright falsehood, and very little truth." Mecklin says the "capper" to this offensive is the predatory-pricing lawsuit that Bay Guardian filed last week against SF Weekly and its sister publication, East Bay Express. The Bay Guardian has long tried "to convince San Francisco of the dangerous evil that a New Times-owned SF Weekly represents," writes Mecklin. "Over that time, SF Weekly has sailed ahead, and the Bay Guardian has foundered." (Second item on linked page.) Also addressed: SF Weekly's response to Puni-comic controversy. (Main item on linked page.)
The San Francisco Bay Guardian filed a lawsuit in the city's Superior Court against SF Weekly, East Bay Express and New Times Media, LLC, which owns the two weeklies. The suit alleges that New Times repeatedly sold ads at less than the cost of producing them and offered secret deals to advertisers to keep them from advertising in the Bay Guardian. Both activities would violate California law. New Times owns 11 alternative papers, all of which, like the Bay Guardian, are members of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.
