On Friday, we told you that Baltimore City Paper managing editor Erin Sullivan was taking over the editor's spot at sister paper Orlando Weekly. What we neglected to mention is where the Weekly's current editor, Bob Whitby, was going. In a farewell column, he says he is taking "a job editing a paper out west," in Las Vegas. He had been the paper's editor since August 2002. Weekly publisher Rick Schreiber tells the Orlando Sentinel that Whitby will be joining the rest of his family in Vegas; they moved there last summer because Whitby's wife's education required her to relocate.
Sullivan, currently the managing editor of Baltimore City Paper, will take over as Orlando Weekly's editor June 1. Sullivan has been at City Paper since 2002, and currently sits on AAN's Board of Directors as chair of the Membership Committee. City Paper and the Weekly are both owned by Times-Shamrock Communications.
The daily paper stopped by this weekend's AAN Convention, and found "a shared belief that alternative weeklies will do just fine in the age of cyberspace and newsroom downsizing." Baltimore City Paper managing editor Erin Sullivan says that as the economy tanks, the paper is reallocating resources, concentrating "on investigative reporting and increasing our criticism. ... Things that the dailies can't or won't do with the same level of depth." Philadelphia City Paper founder Bruce Schimmel tells the Inquirer that competition from blogs and other media has pushed alt-weeklies to be even more aggressive. "Everyone has access to your morgue," he says, "so you better get it right."
All of the members who have announced their candidacies are thus far running unopposed. However, AAN bylaws do not require individuals to declare their intention to run in advance. Any regular members who are interested in seeking a seat on the board can be nominated from the floor at the annual meeting, which will be held on Saturday, June 7, during the association's annual meeting in Philadelphia. Read here to find out who has announced they are running, why they want to serve on the board, and what they view as the important issues facing AAN and its members.
Erin Sullivan (pictured), managing editor of Baltimore City Paper, is running for the membership chair position being vacated by Seven Days' Paula Routly, one of several spots on the AAN board that are up for grabs this year. Voting will take place on Saturday, June 17, during the annual meeting on the final day of the convention in Little Rock. AAN News put together this voting guide to help members get acquainted with the candidates.
Joe Sullivan, publisher of Metro Pulse for 10 years, has sold the Knoxville, Tenn., weekly to Brian Conley, a general contractor who has development contracts with the city. Conley, who was briefly a co-owner of the Pulse in the mid-1990s, pledges he will guard the alt-weekly's editorial independence, even as it investigates his own dealings with the city (see story link below). Sullivan stays on as editor in chief and columnist.
