Literary publicist Bev Harris sounded the alarm about the integrity of voting software after she discovered that Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., had an ownership share in Election Systems & Software, one of the big three companies that make electronic voting machines. She posted that revelation on her Web site, following it with other evidence that raised doubts about the reliability of vote-counting software. George Howland Jr. describes in Seattle Weekly Harris's evolution from Web advocate to media darling. He questions whether she and her allies will be successful or "like presidential candidate Howard Dean—an online tiger and an analog kitten."
"Slate is a rare publication in the online world: It is alive," Nina Shapiro writes for Seattle Weekly. Now the fourth most widely read entity on the Web, it focuses "on subjects that excite the chattering classes." Shapiro interviews Michael Kinsley, the gadget geek who founded the Microsoft-backed magazine, and Jacob Weisberg, who has doubled readership since taking over as editor two years ago. She reflects on what results when writers try to merge thoughtfulness with speed.
After declaring his split with conservatives and the administration's war policy in Seattle Weekly, Philip Gold, an old-line right-wing intellectual, has resigned his post as a defense analyst at Seattle's conservative Discovery Institute, Seattle Times reports. Gold, who has also been on talk radio debating Dan Savage, editor of The Stranger, says, "Conservatives have lost their soul," but he can't join the "blame-America-first-crowd" either.
Knute "Skip" Berger signs on with Seattle Weekly after a two-year hiatus from his job as editor in chief. He says he brought over Chuck Taylor from Seattle Times as managing editor because he was so impressed with Taylor's work on the strikers' version of the daily in 2000-2001. Seattle native Berger says he's a "mossback with no intention of moving anywhere else," and glad to be back in the alternative world.
Terry Coe, former publisher of Riverfront Times, is the new publisher of Seattle Weekly, David Schneiderman, CEO of Village Voice Media announced today. Coe resigned from the St. Louis newsweekly in May after 17 years with the New Times organization.
Darrell Oldham, a co-founder of Seattle Weekly and one of AAN’s founders, passed away early Saturday morning after a battle with lung cancer. Oldham, who also spent a decade at the Seattle Times, was a beloved and respected mentor to many in alternative newsweekly and Seattle publishing circles.
