Village Voice Media announced this afternoon that Erik Wemple (pictured) had "changed his mind" and decided to remain in his current position as editor of the Washington City Paper: "Although Wemple accepted the job of editor-in-chief of the historic Voice -- even introducing himself to the staff -- subsequent discussions revealed disagreements over newsroom management," VVM explained. Executive Editor Mike Lacey said Wemple's reservations were "not unreasonable." Wemple released his own statement, saying that he continues "to believe that the people at Village Voice Media are committed to a great editorial product, as evidenced by the great newspapers that they publish across the country."
"Given The Voice's devotion to the New York political and cultural scene, Mr. Wemple is an unorthodox choice," writes Motoko Rich of the New York Times, who notes that the Washington City Paper editor-in-chief has spent his entire career in the capital. "(New York) is a huge place I know very little about, and it's important for me to be very upfront about that," Wemple admits. Nevertheless, he isn't shy about criticizing the work of his future employees: "There's not enough evidence that people are thinking about innovative and fun ways to craft and present journalism," he claims. "(I)t just doesn't seem like the staff has enough fun producing a newspaper." The Schenectady, N.Y. native, who is scheduled to start his new job in July, also tells the Times that he plans to bring a non-ideological approach to news coverage at the Voice.
On May 21, Dan Savage wrote a post on Slog, the Stranger's blog, drawing attention to what he believed were misleading tactics used by volunteers for Jamie Pedersen, a candidate for state representative in Seattle's 43rd District. According to Savage, Pedersen's volunteers at a local street fair were "making it sound like Jamie was the only candidate running in the 43rd who supports marriage equality"; Pedersen is the only gay candidate, but all six Democratic candidates support marriage for same-sex couples."You got my attention, Jamie -- and lost my vote. Way to be a weasel, Pedersen," Savage wrote. A subsequent story in the Post-Intelligencer said the rant created a "teapot tempest" that is "a window into the complex world of gay politics in Seattle and reflects the power wielded by a man known as much for his explicit sex advice as for his iconoclastic punditry and journalism." Pedersen denied being deceptive and told the daily that he still hoped to get the Stranger's endorsement. Expressing surprise at the hoopla, Savage said, "If I really wanted to put a knife in Jamie Pedersen, I would have put all this crap in the paper," adding that he wrote the blog post while drunk.
Former Gambit Weekly Editor Michael Tisserand won first place in the Individual Feature Writing Category of the 2005 Louisiana Press Association journalism competition, the LPA announced this weekend. Tisserand won for an entry from his "Submerged" series that also ran as a cover story for Lafayette's Independent Weekly, which competes in the Free Circulation/Special Interest Publication category against other weeklies in the state. Tisserand's ten-part series chronicling the Katrina-evacuee experience was commissioned by AAN and ran in dozens of AAN member papers and Web sites. The Independent, a three-year old publication applying for AAN membership this year, earned 50 awards in the competition, including 21 first-place honors. Gannett's competing weekly in Lafayette, the Times of Acadiana, picked up 27 awards.
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