Voice art critic Jerry Saltz (pictured), dance critic Deborah Jowitt, and film critic J. Hoberman each took top honors in a poll of artists and industry insiders commissioned by Time Out New York and conducted by Samir Husni, chairman of the department of journalism at the University of Mississippi. Critics were rated in eight different categories; the Voice was the only New York publication to win three first-place awards.

Continue ReadingThe Village Voice Grabs Three Golds in NYC Critics Round-Up

The first president of the Czech Republic, who won Off-Broadway's highest honor for plays he wrote in 1968, 1970 and 1984, was feted this week at New York's Public Theater. "Havel was previously unable to collect his Obie Awards in person," says the Voice, "because, following the New York opening of (his 1968 prizewinner) The Memorandum, he returned to his home in Prague, where he was almost immediately placed under house arrest by the then Soviet-controlled government of Czechoslovakia." The Voice's chief theater critic and current Obie committee chairman, Michael Feingold, presented Havel with a special certificate attesting to the three awards.

Continue ReadingVaclav Havel Finally Picks Up His Village Voice Obies

For 32 years, the Village Voice's annual music poll has "enjoyed an almost unchallenged run" as the gold standard of year-end Top 10 lists, says the New York Times. But the angst created by New Times' takeover of the paper, and the ensuing departure of music critic and poll organizer Robert Christgau, has emboldened a music blog to mount a challenge to Pazz and Jop's hegemony. After Christgau turned them down, Gawker Media's The Idolator hired former Seattle Weekly music editor Michaelangelo Matos to organize the competing poll, which "will largely be modeled after Pazz & Jop," according to the Times.

Continue ReadingAnnual Pazz & Jop Poll May Have Competition

Village Voice Media has replaced news editor Alan Mittelstaedt with political columnist Jill Stewart, LAObserved reports. Editor-in-Chief Laurie Ochoa will remain at the helm of Los Angeles' largest alternative weekly, but co-managing editor Tim Ericson has been jettisoned, along with the paper's fact-checking department, a music editor and a layout artist. Ochoa announced the changes in a Wednesday afternoon staff meeting, according to the media-watching blog.

Continue ReadingAlt-Weekly Vet Stewart Hired as LA Weekly News Editor

In its Sunday metro column "Reading New York," the New York Times plugs "Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11" (second item), co-authored by Village Voice veteran Wayne Barrett. Barrett teamed up with CBSNews.com Producer Dan Collins to take a hard look at the New York City mayor's performance before, during and after the terrorist attack. "Given all the hagiography that has been generated by the subject," writes Sam Roberts, “'Grand Illusion' is a welcome and overdue corrective, one that amplifies the gaps in preparedness, management and communications, and challenges the post-9/11 legend."

Continue ReadingVoice Scribe Pens Unflinching Account of Giuliani and 9/11

Bill Jensen is leaving Beantown to take command of Web operations for Village Voice Media. The math is simple: Jensen's departure is a loss for the Phoenix and a gain for VVM. "It's always a disappointment to lose solid talent,"says Peter Kadzis, executive editor of Phoenix Media/Communications Group. VVM Executive Editor Mike Lacey seems to have had his sights set on Jensen; according to the Phoenix, Jensen was offered, and declined, the job of editing the Village Voice earlier this year. “Like Vito Corleone, Mike Lacey must have made Bill an offer he couldn’t refuse,” Kadzis says. In a press release, Lacey and CEO Jim Larkin announce that Jensen's "arrival coincides with a major expansion of staffing as we move to hire a new group of dedicated Web editors and designers."

Continue ReadingBoston Phoenix Editor to Lead VVM Web Operations