Bob Norman of New Times Broward/Palm Beach was the big winner in this year's Green Eyeshade competition, picking up three awards, including two first-places. Norman wasn't alone; AAN members captured 15 of the 24 awards handed out in the weekly/monthly category of SPJ's Southeast region contest: Miami New Times picked up six, New Times Broward/Palm Beach won five, Creative Loafing Atlanta took home three, and the Nashville Scene received one.
The Creative Loafing chain is consolidating its entire layout, design and production operation in Atlanta. The move assures consistency of appearance and quality of design, and also will save the chain’s five papers as much as $22 per page, says CL’s CEO Ben Eason. Eight or nine jobs were eliminated but all affected employees were offered jobs in Atlanta, where the production staff will number about 24.
A major international espionage saga is unfolding across the United States. It's been hush-hush so far, largely because the implications could be a major embarrassment for the government. The spy story is even more touchy because it isn't Saddam, Fidel, Osama or even what passes nowadays for the KGB spying on America -- but our "friend" in the war against "evil," Israel. Creative Loafing last week obtained a copy of the 60-page Drug Enforcement Agency report that provides the basis of the allegations, and CL's John Sugg writes the story in his Fishwrapper column.
Debbie Eason, founder of the Creative Loafing chain of alternative newsweeklies, is planning a new venture after selling the chain to her children. She intends to launch a new paper, either weekly or biweekly, covering intown western Atlanta, appropriately called West Side Story, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. She tells the daily her new paper won't compete with Creative Loafing-Atlanta.
Alternative newsweeklies across the country have bucked the trend of unquestioned support for the president and the new war in Afghanistan. They’ve also paid the price for their criticism, with retribution ranging from yanked ads to death threats.
Across the country, alternative newsweeklies ditched their planned front pages as the awesome events of Tuesday unfolded. East Coast papers like The Village Voice and Washington City Paper are sharing stories and pictures with colleagues from Maine to California.
Ben Eason, president of Creative Loafing Inc., has sold Creative Loafing of Greenville, S.C. , a non-AAN alt pub, to his mother, Debby Eason, founder of the chain; Lori Coon, publisher of the Greenville paper; and Kyle Sims, publisher of the Savannah, Ga., edition of Creative Loafing. Ben Eason says his mother now owns 51 percent of the Greenville paper and that he wants to concentrate on bigger markets. Also, former Loafing writer Greg Land joins Time magazine as an Atlanta correspondent.
