Former Village Voice Media President Art Howe is now CEO of a holding company formed by the Mead family of Erie, Pa., which owns the daily Erie Times-News, to pursue purchases of alternative newsweeklies. Cleveland Free Times is the first investment the company has made in an alt-weekly. The management team headed by former Free Times Publisher Matt Fabyan "has been made significant partners," Howe said.

Continue ReadingPennsylvania Newspaper Family Invests in Cleveland Free Times

A group of investors, including former Cleveland Free Times Publisher Matt Fabyan, Editor in Chief David Eden and former Village Voice Media President Art Howe, has purchased the assets of Cleveland Free Times from VVM and plans to resume publishing in early May. Most of the former staff has been offered jobs and many plan to return, Fabyan says in a news release. Free Times was shuttered as part of a deal between VVM and New Times that closed papers in Los Angeles and Cleveland, ending head-to-head competition between the two chains.

Continue ReadingCleveland Free Times to Publish Again

Six AAN member papers in the Southeast picked up 61 percent of the awards in SPJ's Green Eyeshade Awards' print (weekly/monthly) division. SPJ has announced the finalists for the awards, and the order of finish will be announced at the Green Eyeshade Banquet April 5. Creative Loafing Atlanta and New Times Broward-Palm Beach picked up six each, while Miami New Times snagged four. Memphis Flyer has two nominations, and Mountain Xpress and Creative Loafing Charlotte came in with one each.

Continue ReadingAAN Papers Dominate Green Eyeshade Awards

Still on the alternative weekly beat, Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times critiques former mayor Richard Riordan's new weekly prototype and finds the LA Examiner aimed at the people who elected him -- affluent, educated and mostly white. Rutten, who reported on the antitrust investigation of Village Voice Media and New Times, takes a last slap at the two chains for "a sad and venal chapter in an otherwise vigorous -- often courageous -- history" of the alternative press in Los Angeles.

Continue ReadingRiordan’s Weekly Prototype Aims at Affluent

Tom Finkel, editor of City Pages (Twin Cities) until mid-2002, returns to his hometown of St. Louis and to New Times as the new editor of Riverfront Times. He replaces Jim Nesbitt. Before taking the position to Minneapolis, Finkel was managing editor of Miami New Times. "I'm thrilled to be able to move back to my hometown and be a part of the Riverfront Times," Finkel says. He starts March 3.

Continue ReadingFinkel Heading to St. Louis

That's what The Village Voice's Cynthia Cotts asks when she looks at the consent decree signed by Village Voice Media and New Times that settled an antitrust investigation of their agreement to close competing papers in Los Angeles and Cleveland. She suggests the settlement, which requires the companies to resell assets to groups attempting to start new weeklies, "might represent a violation of the First Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, and/or the prohibition on selective prosecution."

Continue ReadingNT-VVM Investigation: Does It Strike You as Fishy?

After only a year on the job, Jim Nesbitt steps down as editor of Riverfront Times, the St. Louis Business Journal reports. The business journal also reports other changes in staffing at the New Times paper in St. Louis, including canceling the column "Short Cuts" and making Associate Editor Randall Roberts a staff writer.

Continue ReadingEditor Leaving Riverfront Times