"Slate is a rare publication in the online world: It is alive," Nina Shapiro writes for Seattle Weekly. Now the fourth most widely read entity on the Web, it focuses "on subjects that excite the chattering classes." Shapiro interviews Michael Kinsley, the gadget geek who founded the Microsoft-backed magazine, and Jacob Weisberg, who has doubled readership since taking over as editor two years ago. She reflects on what results when writers try to merge thoughtfulness with speed.
Errol Morris has been accused of being a misanthrope, but Weekly Dig Editor Joe Keohane writes that the director of the documentary about former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara obsesses too much over humanity to be judged guilty of hating it. Morris may think we're doomed by a combination of human folly and weapons of mass destruction, but he hopes awareness could keep us from engaging in endless wars. "People ask me if I would like this [film] to be shown to the current administration," Morris tells Keohane. "You betcha. Let's strap them down in seats and force them all to watch 'The Fog of War.'"
Andrew Scutro wanted to see how well American troops communicated with Iraqis when he went to the suffering Middle East nation but confronted some communication barriers of his own. He would have loved to accompany an Iraqi handyman to his neighborhood but was warned that being seen with an American could endanger the man. Freelance writer Whitney Joiner interviews Scutro about the weeks he spent embedded with a civil affairs unit.
Newsweekly readers tend to be single, educated and hot to party. This much we know. Now we also know what sorts of neighborhoods they live in and how they like to spend their money. Some of the papers' most loyal readers are suburban couples raising kids, urban immigrants in multi-racial communities, active older people who like to travel, single city dwellers of all ethnicities and lower-income African-American single parents. Research firm Claritas profiled our diverse readership for Alternative Weekly Network.
Two of the main rep firms for alternative newsweeklies had significant gains in national advertising in 2003, E&P reports following an announcement by AAN today. The Ruxton Group, which represents 28 newsweeklies, experienced a 17 percent increase over 2002. Alternative Weekly Network, which represents more than 100 newsweeklies, had a 6 percent increase in national sales over 2002.
A reporter known for his environmental coverage expressed concern in an article last March that alternative newsweeklies were criticizing mainstream press coverage of the war but hadn't sent their own reporters to Iraq. "If you want to go, go," Coast Weekly Editor Eric Johnson told his reporter, Andrew Scutro. Scutro left for Iraq on Dec. 15.
After getting fired from Larry Flynt's L.A. Free Press, Jay Levin founded L.A. Weekly and put out the first issue on Dec. 7, 1978. Seed money came from several investors, including actor-producer Michael Douglas. In an interview with Kristine McKenna for the paper's 25th anniversary edition, Levin recalls the grueling early days when the L.A. Weekly was undercapitalized and then grew rapidly. The paper, now owned by Village Voice Media, had a strong emphasis on international as well as local news and was more progressive than it is today, Levin says. But rumors that the office was a hotbed of drug abuse and interoffice sex are wildly exaggerated.
Ron Curran (pictured), a "dogged, award- winning investigator and unblushing idealist" died this week in his Southern California home, according to his former employer, the LA Weekly. Curran, who left the Weekly after ten years to work at the San Francisco Bay Guardian, recently founded the alternative wire service, Pulp Syndicate. "Ron was one of the best writers and reporters I ever worked with," Bay Guardian Executive Editor Tim Redmond tells the Weekly.
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