John Yewell (pictured) was fired last month for unspecified reasons and replaced for the interim by Managing Editor Ben Fulton. "I'll be carefully vague ... there were differences," Publisher John Saltas tells the Deseret News. According to the daily, "Some of the paper's freelance writers heaved a sigh of relief on hearing the news that Yewell was let go." Before taking the position in Salt Lake City, Yewell had been fired as editor of Independent Weekly.
Jim Rizzi has been named vice president of sales and marketing for Salt Lake City Weekly, Publisher John Saltas announced today. Rizzi has had a 20-year career with New Times Inc., most recently as publisher of New Times Los Angeles.
Four Utah news organizations, including Salt Lake City Weekly, have sued Gov. Mike Leavitt alleging he is illegally destroying official e-mails. The governor routinely destroys his e-mails after three days. City Weekly Managing Editor Christopher Smart tells E&P the demand that Leavitt save official records is "common sense and reasonable. ... It's clear we don't seek to know about his personal communications."
The Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City are boosting the Salt Lake City Weekly first-quarter bottom line. The alt-weekly is also producing its first City Guide for the games and plans to make it an annual publication. Publisher John Saltas expects a 20 percent circulation jump in the next couple of months helped along by a 10 percent increase in ad rates for the five Olympic issues.
Four Utah media organizations, including Salt Lake City Weekly, have threatened to sue Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt for his policy of routinely deleting official e-mails, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. Media attorneys argue Leavitt is destroying records of "the governmental present and historical past." Managing Editor Chris Smart tells the Tribune, "Those e- mails belong to the taxpayers and the voters. The fact that he has not recognized this is of great concern."
Utah has liberalized its liquor advertising laws, and Salt Lake City Weekly has lost no time in snagging a Jim Beam ad. It appears on page 7; on page 25, in a full-page ad donated by the paper, the Church of Latter Day Saints is given space to argue that alcohol advertising is a threat to society. Publisher John Saltas tells the Salt Lake City Tribune the timing was a coincidence.
