Scott Hassenflu will leave the News & Review and the board of the Alternative Weekly Network (AWN) on May 18. In a letter sent yesterday to his AWN colleagues, Hassenflu says his "short term plans" call for "some much needed R & R" and a more active role in a home-furnishings store he co-owns. Hassenflu has served on the AWN board for the past 10 years, and has had a long career in the alternative press, including stints with the Dallas Observer and San Francisco Bay Guardian.
In its December newsletter, the Alternative Weekly Network announced that "each of the five [Village Voice Media] markets already boasts existing or new publications locked up and ready to include on AWN sales presentations." The new publications include Minneapolis' The Rake, New York's L Magazine, and Nashville's Gannett-owned All The Rage. In addition, AWN hopes to land Seattle's The Stranger, which is currently a Ruxton Media Group paper.
Alternative Weekly Network executive director Mark Hanzlik reports that audited returns from a group of 96 Verified Audit Circulation clients, who are also members of AWN or Ruxton, have declined from 6.9 percent in 2001 to a current level of 5.7 percent. Hanzlik bases his findings on a spreadsheet analysis of recent VAC data, which he compares to a previous VAC report encompassing 76 alt-weeklies. "We sometimes use this return figure in conjunction with the circulation audit information and readership reports to reinforce the value of alternative newspapers on the street!" says Hanzlik. The spreadsheet can be downloaded by AAN members from this page in the AAN Resource Library.
