The Tennessean is reporting that Village Voice Media and SouthComm Communications are discussing the sale of the Nashville Scene, which VVM acquired in 2006. SouthComm, which is based in Nashville and run by former Scene publisher Chris Ferrell, also owns AAN member LEO Weekly and a handful of Nashville websites and publications.

Continue ReadingIs VVM Close to Selling the Nashville Scene?

We missed the news of the feature film WTC View when it was released in 2005, but this month Logo is airing the movie, which uses a Voice classified ad as plot springboard, so we figured we'd let you know about it. "[The] film is about a young gay man who places an ad in the Village Voice for a roommate the night before September 11," according to the Los Angeles Times' synopsis. "In the coming weeks, he desperately interviews potential roomies to share his pad that has -- you guessed it -- a WTC view."

Continue ReadingVillage Voice Classified Ad Sets Film Plot in Motion

The suburban paper won 15 awards -- almost twice as many as the publication that came in second -- when the winners of the Orange County Press Club's annual contest were announced last week. Gustavo Arellano was a veritable journalism-award vacuum cleaner, sucking up three first-place awards and two third-place finishes. R. Scott Moxley nabbed two first-place trophies, including best columnist, and one second-place award. Matt Coker and Nick Schou were also honored with multiple awards.

Continue ReadingOC Weekly Cleans Up in Local Press Contest

The first issue of the Voice was published on Oct. 26, 1955. Now we all can read that issue and every one that followed, courtesy of Google. The archives are hosted by the Internet juggernaut as part of the company's effort to digitize historical newspaper archives. "Get mad at our coverage of ancient history as well as of current events!" enthuses the Voice.

Continue ReadingComplete Village Voice Archives Now Online

Phoenix New Times and East Bay Express both made the cut this year. News Times got the nod (subscription-only) "for its long campaign to shine a light on Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a classic desert despot," says E&P. And East Bay Express made the magazine's annual list (subscription-only) as a result of its focus on "localization" and community-building. "It's a highly transportable idea," publisher Jody Colley tells E&P.

Continue ReadingTwo AAN Papers Make E&P’s ’10 That Do It Right’

As part of the Village Voice's education supplement, the alt-weekly talks to several 2009 graduates from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism about what it feels like to enter an industry that many are proclaiming to be near death. Surprisingly, they remain upbeat about the future and feel prepared to take part in the rebirth of the news industry. "If you look at it differently, it's an exciting time in journalism," one recent grad says. "People are trying to come up with solutions to find out what the future is going to be."

Continue ReadingColumbia J-School Grads Remain ‘Excited and Hopeful’

New Media Hub reports that Creative Loafing has trained some reps to buy and resell ad networks for key local display advertisers. CL joins Village Voice Media, which launched its Voice Local Network in June, in selling local ad networks. VVM new media director Bill Jensen says the company's network focuses on advertisers that align with the papers' main areas of focus, which helps set it apart from other ad networks. "When you are looking for music or a restaurant, things that are at the core of our business, you are looking for a little bit more than text ads," Jensen says. "We have the best food critics in the world. Its different if you are looking for a plumber."

Continue ReadingCreative Loafing, VVM Test the Local Ad Network Waters

Thomas Van Flein issued a four-page letter on Saturday denying there was a brewing scandal behind Palin's decision to resign her gubernatorial office a day earlier. What's more, the statement put the media on notice that the Palin team would file defamation lawsuits against media outlets that repeated allegations about a possible scandal centered around a building contractor with close ties to the Palins. In a footnote, Van Flein points out these "insinuations" were published in the "left wing Village Voice" in an October 2008 story by Wayne Barrett. The piece examined links between Palin and several contractors who worked on a sports complex as part of a deeper look at Palin's previous record. "Van Flein's statement -- which derides 'modern journalism' for 'abhorring' due diligence and factchecking -- is actually longer than the section of the Voice story that examined the connections around the complex," Barrett writes, "but he does not challenge a single fact actually presented in our story."

Continue ReadingSarah Palin’s Attorney Takes a Swing at the Village Voice