The indictment accuses Nels Noseworthy of promoting prostitution by coordinating the placement of adult ads for the Nashville Scene, reports the Tennessean. The investigation leading to a grand jury's indictment lasted more than a year, and included undercover officers placing ads in the paper that, police contend, Noseworthy knew to be for prostitution. Scene Publisher Albie Del Favero calls the arrest retaliation for a story the paper recently ran about a DUI received by the police chief's son. A police spokesman brands that accusation "ridiculous."
Effective Jan. 1, Chris Ferrell will take over as publisher of Nashville Scene, replacing founding publisher Albie Del Favero, who announced his retirement in July. "I hoped we could find [a successor] who was passionate not only about this paper but also about this community," says Del Favero, calling Ferrell "the ideal person for the job." Ferrell is a Nashville businessman and former Metro Council member. His hire comes on the heels of Pacific Sun's announcement regarding the appointment of another former politician, Sam Chapman, as that paper's new publisher. Chapman was chief of staff to U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and a former member of the Napa County Board of Supervisors. He succeeds Steve McNamara, who recently sold the Sun after owning and operating the paper since 1966. "[Chapman] has an extraordinary varied background in journalism, law and politics, plus a longtime attachment to Marin County," says McNamara.
Bruce Dobie, co-founder and editor of Nashville Scene, will be leaving the paper next month. The 46-year-old father of two tells the Nashville Post that alt-weeklies "need to be young" and that he doesn't have as firm a grasp on how best to cover the city for a young audience as he once did. To adapt to the 24/7 news cycle favored by many 18-35-year-olds, he believes that the paper must establish an online presence and be willing to continually reinvent itself. Dobie's successor will be current associate editor Liz Garrigan, who's been at the Scene for eight years. "The Scene's a great paper now," she says. "With new energy and more aggressive reporting, it will be better."
It began innocently enough. Nashville Scene editor Bruce Dobie ran a generally positive review of Warren St. John's new book on football fans. St. John, in town for a book tour, read the review, but it was the caption under his photograph -- "Warren St. John uses race in the worst kind of way: to make himself look honorable" -- that caught his attention. The New York Times writer called Dobie to complain. He called again (and again and again). Finally, he wrote a piece for Slate in which he trashed Dobie, the paper and the reviewer. Dobie responds with an open letter to St. John: "You really are capable of offering only part of the truth, the part that burnishes your own image of yourself."
"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.
Reporters with a great scoop no longer have to sit tight trying not to burst while they wait for the next week’s paper to roll out, freelance writer Charlie Deitch reports for AAN News. It’s possible to publish online 24/7. Several AAN papers are moving away from the static Web site that remains the same for seven days and then has its contents refreshed all at once. A few alt-weeklies post new material daily, and others turn first to the Web whenever they’ve got an especially hot story.
The San Francisco Bay Guardian wins two first place awards in the National Newspaper Association's 2002 Better Newspaper Contest: Tali Woodward for Best Health Story, and Dan Zoll for Best Education/Literacy Story. Willy Stern of the Nashville Scene takes a first in Best Investigative or In-Depth Story or Series for his five-part dissection of The Tennessean.
Nashville Scene Editor Bruce Dobie has discontinued "Desperately Seeking the News," a hallmark of the Nashville Scene since its inception, the Nashville City Paper reports. Dobie reportedly says the column, which has traditionally served as a launching pad for strikes on The Tennessean, has gotten stale. Matt Pulle and Henry Walker, the two writers who have alternated weekly columns in the past year or so, say they're disappointed but defer to Dobie's judgment.
