Ted S. McGregor, who has served as editor and publisher since the paper's founding in 1993, will remain as publisher and president.
Creative Loafing Inc.'s former web editor will be responsible for overseeing the development of AAN's websites -- AAN.org and AltWeeklies.com. She will also share editing duties on both sites with Jon Whiten, the organization's senior editor. Fries got her start in journalism at the San Antonio Current, writing news and editing the food section. She also was the food editor of Tampa's Weekly Planet (now called Creative Loafing) for a short time before she was tapped for the web position in Atlanta.
While attending the AAN Convention two weeks ago, Creative Loafing's Laura Fries made regular blog posts about her experiences in the city of Little Rock. Arkansas Times posted a few of her pictures and a link to her coverage, but its readers were offended by Fries' failure to be impressed by the barbeque and her assertion that "Little Rock’s downtown ... consists of one street." "God have mercy on this idiot woman," one of the most generous commenters wrote. Fries then posted the meanest comments back on her own blog, under the title "HHHooo-wee! Little Rock bites back!"
Webmaster Aaron Karp and Online Editor Laura Fries turned their Loafing successes and failures into advice on the "Mostly ITP" podcast April 20. Their tips included making podcasts listenable (use segments, include interaction between two or more people, and have a pre-set structure), including advertising in podcasts and blogs (make sure it is inobtrusive and relevant to the audience) and the next big thing (social networking). The show is available for download here.
