The Maryland Army National Guard's recruitment chief was stripped of his command and about a dozen other recruiters were punished after an internal investigation revealed misuse of government money, fraudulent enlistments and improper relationships among Guard members, the Washington Post reports. The probe was sparked by recent stories in Baltimore City Paper that "alleged deceptive recruiting practices aimed at meeting quotas," according to the Post.
Admitting it "has had a rather checkered history when it comes to our commitment to the Web," the paper announces it is moving into "the mid-2000s" with its newly reconfigured site. Among the changes: the blogs are no longer using Blogger, i.e., an open-source software solution; a "toolbox" with listings and classifieds has been added to each page on the site; and the previously pay-for-access editorial archives are now free.
Mediaspan, which calls itself "the leading provider of digital content management and national advertising solutions for over 4,000 local media properties," yesterday announced the addition of several new clients, including AAN members Philadelphia City Paper, Austin Chronicle, San Antonio Current, Salt Lake City Weekly, Arkansas Times and Jackson Free Press. "Our drive to deliver new, national revenue for our affiliate partners goes hand-in-hand with our goal of meeting the demands of national advertisers who want to reach a specific local audience, in markets large and small, across multiple types of media," says a Mediaspan executive. "Whether advertisers seek online display ads on newspaper websites, pre-roll video on TV websites or online radio audio streams, we can deliver."
In an interview discussing his sophomore effort, The Blonde, Duane Swierczynski says his journalism career has made him a better writer. "It has beaten some of the bad writing out of my system," he tells the Journals. "Journalism teaches you to be concise; space, after all, is precious." But fiction has also helped make him a better editor and journalist. "I think writing fiction has helped me realize that story is king, even in non-fiction. When I edit stories for the City Paper, I find myself mostly looking for structure flaws -- hiccups in the storytelling -- and craving strong narratives that unfold like a novel. After all, journalism is just storytelling with the truth."
Having been allowed to read an advance draft of a critical story about him that the Washington City Paper is apparently preparing to publish, investigative reporter Murray Waas (pictured) beats D.C.'s alt-weekly to the punch with a rambling indictment on Huffington Post. Waas accuses the City Paper of baiting him to get juicy quotes for the story; making "degrading comments" about his experience as a cancer survivor; and using the newspaper as a tool to wage personal battles. "I believe that I have a clear obligation to other cancer survivors not to remain silent about such acts of prejudice and intolerance," Waas explains in defending his decision to go public.
On Monday, a federal grand jury returned an 18-count indictment accusing three individuals -- including a woman named Ho -- of operating brothels in the Denver area. Court documents suggest the defendants drummed up business by purchasing ads in Westword. Several hundred miles east in Indianapolis, a woman was arrested this week on prostitution charges after an undercover officer responded to her ad in Nuvo that said, "For An Afternoon So Sweet to Treat, Call Candy." And last month in the nation's capital, the feds seized the assets of a woman accused of running a prostitution ring. According to court documents, the alleged madam spread her ad dollars among several local media outlets, including the Washington City Paper.
Peripatetic reporter Lacey Phillabaum blazed a trail through the alternative press even after sending the University of Washington's Institute for Urban Horticulture up in blazes on behalf of the eco-terrorist group Earth Liberation Front in 2001. Besides working as a staffer at The Source Weekly and C-Ville Weekly, Phillabaum contributed freelance pieces to sundry alternative newspapers and AAN. "I knew she was very interested in environmental stories from the clips she had," Washington City Paper Senior Editor Mike Debonis tells Baltimore City Paper, "But I didn't have an inkling that she had any radical tendencies."
The 160-page anniversary issue, published today, is "an idiosyncratic mashup of 25 years of city journalism," writes editor Duane Swierczynski. "We've selected 25 'memorable' stories, from investigative epics to little goofy items that made us smile." Co-founder Bruce Schimmel provides details of the paper's "ugly, lovely birth" as an offshoot of a local community radio station, and Publisher Paul Curci looks toward the alt-weekly's future: "As a reader, expect to have more access, to our writers and to the stories themselves. Expect more new voices and new features. As an advertiser, expect more innovative ways to reach new customers. Above all, expect the unexpected."
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