Village Voice Media CEO Jim Larkin tells Forbes that for web revenues, the company is continuing to focus on its "Voice Local Network," which sells ads on niche websites that partner with VVM. Larkin also says that VVM is on track to pull in $120 million in ad revenue this year (down from $141 million last year), and that the company is running at a profit.
Nashville-based SouthComm purchased the Scene from Village Voice Media last month, and has swiftly been making changes. Former managing editor and longtime staffer Jim Ridley has taken over as editor, and the paper rolled out a glossy look this week. In addition, SouthComm has brought all editorial staffers of its Nashville properties (it owns The City Paper, NashvillePost.com and a handful of smaller print publications) under one roof, and done the same -- in a different building -- for business-side staff. Scene writer Bruce Barry says Nashville is "the alpha test" of SouthComm's publishing theory, which involves owning a unique blend of niche publications in a single market. Barry also points out that many SouthComm higher-ups are "very conservative" and wonders how that might affect the alt-weekly going forward.
Small Society, the company whose work on iPhone applications for the Obama campaign, Whole Foods and Zipcar has earned wide recognition and praise in the growing app development field, is partnering with Pre1 Software and the parent company of Willamette Week and Santa Fe Reporter to develop an iPhone publishing platform which they hope to make available to AAN publishers by late 2009. "We think this may be the killer app for alt weeklies," Willamette Week editor Mark Zusman says.
The State Bar has dismissed the final two complaints pending against Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, including one about his handling of the 2007 investigation of Phoenix New Times that ended with the arrests of Village Voice Media executive editor Michael Lacey and CEO Jim Larkin. "No one in their right mind has ever looked to the Arizona Bar as a beacon of courage, and it has certainly upheld its longstanding reputation with this dismissal today," Larkin says.
Holly Mullen left on Wednesday after nearly two years at the alt-weekly, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Neither Mullen nor publisher Jim Rizzi would disclose the reason for Mullen's departure, which she described as a "mutual decision to part ways." Rizzi says Mullen has been replaced by Jerre Wroble, who joined the paper as a copy editor in 2002 and has been managing editor since April 2005.
Proponents of the California ballot initiative to mandate parental notification before teen abortions tell the Oakland Tribune they will likely try a fourth time after this year's attempt, Proposition 4, was narrowly defeated last week. The ballot measures are funded in large part by San Diego Reader publisher Jim Holman. "Talking to Mr. Holman, he was commenting about how close it was, and I think he was feeling a little down as if a little extra effort might have put it over," Proposition 4 spokesman Albin Rhomberg tells the Tribune. "When you see it's that close, it sort of increases that sense of obligation to follow through."
LEO Weekly founder John Yarmuth was re-elected to Congress yesterday, where he'll continue to serve Kentucky's 3rd District. Today's Louisville Courier-Journal reports that with 99 percent of precincts reporting, unofficial vote totals had Yarmuth, a Democrat, with 59 percent of the vote and Republican challenger Anne Northup with 41. In California, San Diego Reader publisher Jim Holman once again bankrolled a ballot measure that would require doctors to notify parents before performing an abortion on a minor, and the Los Angeles Times reports that it remained too close to call Tuesday night. With four-fifths of precincts reporting last night, 52.8 of voters were opposed to the measure while 47.2 favored it, according to the AP, which says the initiative "appear[s] headed for defeat." Holman contributed more than $1.3 million of the reported $2.6 million raised for the measure, the AP reports. UPDATE (4:55 pm EST): A number of news outlets are now reporting that the ballot measure was indeed defeated.
Tim Nelson, the Democrat challenging Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, is running a radio ad accusing Thomas of ordering the October 2007 arrests of Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey because they reported in Phoenix New Times that they had been served a sweeping subpoena from a special prosecutor demanding information about the paper's online readers, Editor & Publisher reports. The ad says Thomas is responsible for "arresting journalists in the dark of night in front of their families because of what they published," and accuses Thomas of using KGB tactics. (New Times reports that Thomas tried to get the commercial pulled from local airwaves.) "Make no mistake about it: the New Times subpoenas and arrests were a massive abuse of power and the public trust," Nelson said at a press conference yesterday. "They have brought ridicule to our county and its justice system."
U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton this week dismissed some, but not all, of a suit filed in April over the arrests of New Times founders Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin last year. Bolton dismissed the allegations of racketeering and negligence against special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, in addition to dismissing County Attorney Andrew Thomas entirely as a defendant, New Times reports. However, she left claims of gross negligence, malicious prosecution, and false arrest and imprisonment to be handled by Superior Court, unless facts presented in an amended complaint persuade her otherwise (New Times has until Oct. 31 to file such a complaint). Saying that Bolton's ruling "is not a surprise," Lacey writes in a blog post that "her ruling in the current case is consistent with her scant regard for the First Amendment and the rights of a free press."
