Commenting on the ongoing battle between San Francisco Bay Guardian and SF Weekly, Jonathan Weber of The Bay Citizen writes that alt-weeklies with a strong local focus will be better positioned to maintain reader loyalty.
San Francisco Bay Guardian editor Tim Redmond says California's Unfair Practices Act protects small businesses and competition. Reason magazine calls it "nauseating."
California's First District Court of Appeal upheld a 2008 verdict which awarded the San Francisco Bay Guardian over $16 million in damages.
Palo Alto Weekly was a big winner at the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club's annual awards dinner on Saturday. Competing in the Non-Daily division, the paper took home three first-place awards (General Excellence, Technology Story, Entertainment Review) and received nine honors overall. San Francisco Bay Guardian picked up two first-place awards (Editorial, News/Political Column) and four overall; and SF Weekly was also a first-place winner in two categories (Light Feature Story, Serious Feature Story).
The California Court of Appeal heard oral arguments Friday in the SF Weekly/San Francisco Bay Guardian predatory-pricing case. The Weekly is asking the court to throw out the multi-million damage award the jury gave the Guardian in the case. A ruling is due from the appeals court within 90 days, and both sides have reportedly said they will ask the California Supreme Court to review the case if they lose at this level. The San Francisco Chronicle covered the hearing, as did both the Guardian and the Weekly.
The California Superior Court has appointed a receiver to investigate the finances of SF Weekly and its parent company, with an eye towards developing a plan to pay the San Francisco Bay Guardian the $22 million it is owed in the predatory-pricing lawsuit. "This is a very significant step forward in our collection efforts," Guardian editor and publisher Bruce Brugmann says. The Weekly has said all along it won't pay any damages until it has exhausted its appeals. As we noted earlier in the week, the California Court of Appeals has scheduled a June 11 hearing to hear the Weekly's case.
The California Court of Appeals has scheduled a June 11 hearing on SF Weekly's appeal of the San Francisco Bay Guardian's $21 million judgment in the 2008 predatory-pricing case.
The fake Twitter stream of San Francisco Bay Guardian publisher Bruce Brugmann is "drunken, outrageous, [and] rails against Village Voice Media executive editor Mike Lacey," the SF Weekly reports. "Once upon a time, if you wanted to roast your newspaper editor, you would make a drunken speech at an office party or draw a funny cartoon," the Weekly notes. "But that was back in the bad old days, before fake Twitter accounts created the perfect medium for a constant stream of homage/mockery." The Weekly adds that it is not behind the account, which has the handle "Bossy_Brugmann," despite its ongoing public battles with the Guardian and its founder.
The California Newspaper Publishers Association recently gave out 480 first and second place awards in its 2009 Better Newspapers contest, and nine alt-weeklies received at least one. The Sacramento News & Review won ten awards, including firsts for Public Service, Columns, Sports Story, Front Page, Freedom of Information. SF Weekly won seven awards, including first-place finishes for Writing, Investigative/Enterprise Reporting and Environmental/Ag Resource Reporting. The North Coast Journal won six awards, including firsts in the Writing, Local News Coverage, Business/Financial Story and Environmental/Ag Resource Reporting categories. Palo Alto Weekly took home five awards -- all first-place wins -- in the Editorial Comment, Local News Coverage, Sports Coverage, Feature Photo, Best Website and General Excellence categories. Chico News & Review won two awards, both firsts, for Editorial Pages and Special Issue. Pacific Sun also took home two awards, both firsts, for Feature Story and Lifestyle Coverage. Metro Silicon Valley, Pasadena Weekly and the San Francisco Bay Guardian each took home one award.
The San Francisco Bay Guardian's Tim Redmond and Salt Lake City Weekly's John Saltas are joined by Amy Mitchell of the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism for a wide-ranging discussion on the alt-weekly industry on Salt Lake City public radio station KUER. Among the topics covered: how alt-weeklies are faring on the web, the future of the industry and competing with the daily press.
