After talking pop culture on MSNBC's Countdown from a remote location for four years, the Village Voice columnist got to meet Olbermann in the flesh last week when the TV news anchor was awarded the first annual Molly Ivins Award by AAN. "The patron saint of skeptical liberals turned out to be as appealing as he is on the tube," he says in his La Dolce Musto column.

Continue ReadingMichael Musto Meets Keith Olbermann … Finally!

That's his take after picking up a copy this week, though he says he has "hurt feelings" about City Pages "running the Twin Cities Reader [a now-defunct AAN paper he used to edit] out of business." Carr, who also served as editor of Washington City Paper and is now a reporter for the New York Times, tells the Minnesota Monitor: "I share newspaper approaches with [Village Voice Media]. I've always been equal opportunity in terms of choosing opponents and choosing targets." He adds that VVM papers "in general are far superior to most weeklies, and they fund great journalism, pay a living wage, pay healthcare."

Continue ReadingDavid Carr: City Pages is ‘A Great Paper’

In response to last week's Voice cover story, which raised questions about whether the presidential candidate's four New York Yankees World Series rings were obtained in a legal and ethical manner, Giuliani told an Alabama crowd that Wayne Barrett "sticks pins in a doll of me every night" and "almost never gets his facts right." The story quoted appraisers who approximated the rings' value at $200,000, while Giuliani only paid $16,000 for them. More importantly, the article called into question the timing of the deals, alleging that he received them while still mayor -- a violation of law that could still be prosecuted. The Voice's allegations, which Giuliani says are "totally untrue," have sparked a new round of criticism of his administration, especially given his last-minute approval of a $400 million new stadium for the Yankees.

Continue ReadingRudy Giuliani Says Village Voice Reporter is ‘Obsessed’ With Him

Houston Press picked up three first-place awards, for Best Feature Article, Best Public Service Series or Article, and Best Cover. Two other VVM papers took home first place awards: Phoenix New Times for Best Series of Articles and SF Weekly for Tabloids/Consumer, which is the category for best overall publication. The Maggies, given out by the Western Publications Association, "recognize the hard work, dedication and creative talents working in the publishing industry today."

Continue ReadingVillage Voice Media Papers Win Five Maggie Awards

Former South Florida Sun-Sentinel writer Buddy Nevins has sued the New Times Broward-Palm Beach writer and VVM for defamation and invasion of privacy/false light, the Sun-Sentinel reports. Nevins claims that Norman falsely stated that he was forced out from the daily paper over a story that later had to be corrected. Nevins also alleges that Norman falsely claimed he had an "unholy alliance" with lobbyist Ali Waldman that "ruined" him as a reporter. "This may get interesting, but there is no joy in Pulpville tonight," Norman writes on his blog, the Daily Pulp. "I like Buddy and believe he's done awesome work in his career ... but I stand by my work and wish Buddy the best."

Continue ReadingBob Norman & Village Voice Media Hit With Lawsuit

The VVM "channel," which includes all of the paper's sites, was the 27th most popular online newspaper destination in February, according to a Nielsen/NetRatings report. VVM's sites had 5,205,000 pageviews; a unique audience of 1,377,000; and the average user visit lasted four minutes, seven seconds.

Continue ReadingVillage Voice Media Cracks Top 30 Newspaper Websites