As the Phoenix celebrates its 30th anniversary, Providence Business News looks at how the alt-weekly is flourishing "at a time when daily newspapers in Rhode Island and elsewhere are struggling." One University of Rhode Island professor says the paper provides a function "critical to political life in this state," and Phoenix associate publisher Steve Brown says the paper has succeeded by "knowing [its] audience and sticking with them." Ty Davis, who launched the paper (as The New Paper) in 1978, says he's not sorry that he sold his paper to the Boston Phoenix in 1988. "My objective was to give Rhode Island a solid alternative weekly," he says. "I succeeded and, from that standpoint, I have no regrets."
Tim Nelson, the Democrat challenging Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, is running a radio ad accusing Thomas of ordering the October 2007 arrests of Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey because they reported in Phoenix New Times that they had been served a sweeping subpoena from a special prosecutor demanding information about the paper's online readers, Editor & Publisher reports. The ad says Thomas is responsible for "arresting journalists in the dark of night in front of their families because of what they published," and accuses Thomas of using KGB tactics. (New Times reports that Thomas tried to get the commercial pulled from local airwaves.) "Make no mistake about it: the New Times subpoenas and arrests were a massive abuse of power and the public trust," Nelson said at a press conference yesterday. "They have brought ridicule to our county and its justice system."
To celebrate Halloween this year, the Phoenix has prepared a "field guide of sorts" to the "fire-breathing bloviators [who] are using political bogeymen, scare tactics, and scorched-earth ideology to rally their base." The paper argues that the impending likely takeover of the White House and Congress by Democrats will only serve to "make these conservatives angry -- and thus exponentially even more dangerous." Coming in at number one is the omnipresent TV and radio talker Sean Hannity. The rest of the top 10 is, as follows: Richard Lowry, Mike Pence, Matt Drudge, Bill Kristol, Roger Ailes, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Jon Kyl, and Jeb Hensarling. For the full list, check the Phoenix's website.
The paper is running a series of 30 interviews with 30 "local luminaries" to commemorate the occasion. The Phoenix, which started as The New Paper in 1978, was purchased by the Boston Phoenix and renamed in 1988. The Phoenix celebrated with a birthday bash this week, and the Providence Journal has posted some photos from the party.
The American Mustache Institute's (AMI) first ever "Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year" contest recognizes "the most impactful Mustached American of the past year." Among this year's nominees are Bob Barr, Jason Giambi, and the staff of the Boston Phoenix. The alt-weekly made the cut for implementing "a mandatory mustache policy" earlier this year, and for its overall "commitment to the Mustached American movement." Voting will be open to the public until Oct. 17, and the winner will be announced Oct. 25.
U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton this week dismissed some, but not all, of a suit filed in April over the arrests of New Times founders Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin last year. Bolton dismissed the allegations of racketeering and negligence against special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, in addition to dismissing County Attorney Andrew Thomas entirely as a defendant, New Times reports. However, she left claims of gross negligence, malicious prosecution, and false arrest and imprisonment to be handled by Superior Court, unless facts presented in an amended complaint persuade her otherwise (New Times has until Oct. 31 to file such a complaint). Saying that Bolton's ruling "is not a surprise," Lacey writes in a blog post that "her ruling in the current case is consistent with her scant regard for the First Amendment and the rights of a free press."
New Times filed a complaint in Maricopa County Court on Monday, asking that a judge order Sheriff Joe Arpaio to hand over public records that his office has refused to produce despite public records requests. The paper says the records include video footage of the final moments of an Juan Mendoza Farias' life. Farias, an inmate, died last December after an altercation with 11 jail guards, as the paper reported last month. New Times first filed a request for the video in July, but the paper has been stonewalled. The suit alleges that the withholding "is without merit, speculative, made in bad faith and insufficient as a matter of law to avoid compliance with the Arizona Public Records Law." The sheriff has 20 days to file a legal explanation for not releasing the records.
P.J. Corkery, who was editor of the Phoenix in the early 1970s, died Saturday at Stanford Hospital in California after fighting non-Hodgkins lymphoma for two years, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He was 61. After the Phoenix, Corkery went on to have a long and fruitful journalism career -- he was a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner, the author of the best-selling Carson: The Unauthorized Biography, and wrote for numerous newspapers and magazines. He also served as a judge for 2001's AltWeekly Awards.
Local law enforcement authorities want to determine whether to open an child pornography investigation as a result of photos published in the paper's current issue and on its website, according to the East Valley Tribune. The nude photos of artist Betsy Schneider's children accompany a story about her art, which is featured in a photography show that opened last week in downtown Phoenix. A spokesman in the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and an assistant city attorney in Phoenix's civil division confirm that the police have referred the case. The city attorney says the photos are unlikely to be found illegal, but adds that if they are, "Everybody who picked up one those issues (of the New Times) could be prosecuted for possessing child pornography."
- Go to the previous page
- 1
- …
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- …
- 31
- Go to the next page
