Twelve former employees of the Cleveland Free Times have filed a lawsuit in Ohio against New Times and Village Voice Media, reports the San Francisco Bay Guardian. The suit is the latest fallout from an October 2002 deal between the two companies that shuttered Free Times and New Times Los Angeles. The deal led to a Justice Department antitrust investigation that culminated in a consent decree in which neither company admitted guilt. The suit alleges that the workers who lost their jobs when the two papers closed were terminated illegally; the lawyer who filed the suit is seeking class-action certification.

Continue ReadingNew Times and VVM Face New Lawsuit over L.A.-Cleveland Deal

A plaintiff who alleges the Observer wrongfully disclosed his HIV-positive status has sued the Dallas alt-weekly; its parent company, New Times; and other parties, Texas Lawyer reports. In "Fallen Angel," an article published last December, the Observer referenced the man by name. The plaintiff doesn't dispute that he's HIV-positive but contends that the paper didn't have the right to disclose his condition without his consent. By doing so, he claims, the paper violated the Texas Health and Safety Code. Miriam Rozen writes: "Most attorneys have assumed the statute applied to parties in the medical and insurance industries -- not media organizations." Three of the defendants are seeking the outright dismissal of the plaintiff's petition.

Continue ReadingDallas Observer Hit with $1.1 Billion Lawsuit

"No one knows what Nashville Scene publisher Albie Del Favero's announced resignation will mean for the city's alternative newsweekly," the Scene's Matt Pulle reports, "and that's as much a testament to the man as it is to the hazards of chain ownership." In 1999, Scene co-founders Del Favero and Bruce Dobie entered a complex business agreement that resulted in the formation of Village Voice Media, which owns a half-dozen alternative weeklies around the country. The Scene's next publisher will be named by the publishing group's CEO in New York, David Schneiderman.

Continue ReadingPublisher’s Decision to Step Down Augurs New Era at Nashville Scene

On July 30, Fran Zankowski is leaving his role as chief executive officer of the company that publishes the Hartford Advocate, the New Haven Advocate and the Fairfield County Weekly, all in Connecticut, and the Valley Advocate in Massachusetts. He has been CEO of New Mass. Media since 1999, when the company was purchased by The Hartford Courant. Zankowski chairs the AAN board's Organization and Bylaws Committee, whose proposed amendments to the AAN bylaws were accepted at the annual membership meeting in June. He is also a member of the Admissions Committee.

Continue ReadingAAN Board Member to Step Down as CEO of New Mass. Media

The alt-weekly has been advertising a text-messaging application known as txt2flirt, which is intended to appeal especially to young adults, Jennifer Saba reports in Editor & Publisher. Those who register can ask to be matched with someone else nearby and then tap out messages to communicate with a prospective friend or date. Each message costs 50 cents to send, and a share of the resulting income goes to the paper. The company that develops and handles the technology, g8wave, is a division of Tele-Publishing International, which is a division of Phoenix Media/Communications Group. The group owns The Boston Phoenix.

Continue ReadingThe Boston Phoenix Offers Text-Messaging Flirtation Service

NT Media of Phoenix, Ariz., has licensed iPIX AdPlus Prism software, a publishing tool offered by Publishing Business Systems. AdPlus allows advertisers to upload and edit their own photos and graphics, as well as proof their own layout for publication. NT says that the new online ad system will improve work flow and cut costs at its 11 papers by reducing support and maintenance needs in their advertising departments.

Continue ReadingNew Times Offers New Editing Tools to Advertisers

The Phoenix Media/Communications Group has purchased the monthly music magazine founded in 1987 and will begin publishing it again in May, the Portland Press Herald reports. Beginning last year, FACE had been distributed in The Maine Weekly (formerly Casco Bay Weekly). But in February the Weekly's owner, Maine Publishing, filed for bankruptcy. Media holdings of the Phoenix group include three AAN papers, The Boston Phoenix, The Portland Phoenix and The Providence Phoenix.

Continue ReadingPhoenix Buys FACE Magazine in Maine