A guest column in the paper's May 4 issue apparently contained phrases from a sermon that has been widely circulated on the Internet, according to the L.A. Times. The column was written by Pasadena schools superintendent Percy Clark, Jr., who has been a frequent target of the alt-weekly's criticism. PW pulled the column from its Web site after questions were raised about several passages that were similar to those found in the 1991 sermon. In a response posted on the paper's Web site, PW Editor Kevin Uhrich says, "in hindsight, I suppose we should have checked every word, but we do not do that with the other leaders in their fields, who are supposed to write with the authority that their positions afford them." Reviewing the similarities between Clark's column and the sermon, Uhrich asks, "Is Clark guilty of plagiarism, or did he merely use material that he did not properly attribute?" Uhrich also criticizes the local activist who publicized the story, who, he says, "may have done something similarly unethical, at least from a journalism perspective," by failing to reveal his source.
This week, almost two dozen Association of Alternative Newsweeklies member papers published "Soldier's Heart," an article by freelance reporter Dan Frosch that casts a critical eye on the Department of Veterans Affairs' ability to properly treat Iraq War veterans with serious psychological problems. The article will appear in more than 40 AAN papers in coming weeks. Many of the participating weeklies will supplement the article -- AAN's latest collaborative story project -- with additional reporting to reflect the issue's regional and local impact. The collective stories can be found in a dedicated section of AltWeeklies.com.
Marc Brancaccio leaves New Times Los Angeles to become publisher of Pasadena Weekly, replacing Charles Gerencser, who has moved to San Diego to start up San Diego CityBeat. At Ventura County Reporter, Sharon McKenna, also an alt-weekly veteran, becomes editor, replacing David Rolland, who is editor at CityBeat.
Charles Gerencser, former publisher of New Times Los Angeles, has been named publisher of Pasadena Weekly, one of the seven papers that were admitted to AAN last month. Gerencser comes to the alt pub from NuSign Industries and will help lead Ventura Newspaper Inc.'s efforts in the Los Angeles suburbs, says Group Publisher David Comden.
