Earlier this month. Hawes Spencer, editor and co-owner of C*Ville Weekly in Charlottesville, Va., was ousted from the paper by the other two owners, Bill Chapman and Rob Jiranek. The two remaining C*Ville owners are quiet on the subject, but Spencer plans to launch a new weekly, The Hook, on Feb. 7 and has taken four C*Ville staff with him..

Continue ReadingOusted C*Ville Editor Starting New Weekly

The Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City are boosting the Salt Lake City Weekly first-quarter bottom line. The alt-weekly is also producing its first City Guide for the games and plans to make it an annual publication. Publisher John Saltas expects a 20 percent circulation jump in the next couple of months helped along by a 10 percent increase in ad rates for the five Olympic issues.

Continue ReadingSLC Weekly Goes for Olympic Gold

Jill Mogen, advertising director of the Seattle Weekly, has left her position, David Schneiderman, CEO of Village Voice Media, says. Mogen had been at the newspaper for more than 11 years and was the first president of the Alternative Weekly Network in 1996-97. It is the second management shakeup at a West Coast VVM paper this month and follows Alisa Cromer's resignation as publisher of Seattle Weekly in November. Schneiderman has said he wants to spend more time personally managing Seattle Weekly and LA/OC Weekly. Cromer is now with Metro Newspapers on an interim basis.

Continue ReadingSeattle Weekly Ad Director Steps Down

Four Utah media organizations, including Salt Lake City Weekly, have threatened to sue Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt for his policy of routinely deleting official e-mails, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. Media attorneys argue Leavitt is destroying records of "the governmental present and historical past." Managing Editor Chris Smart tells the Tribune, "Those e- mails belong to the taxpayers and the voters. The fact that he has not recognized this is of great concern."

Continue ReadingUtah Media Challenge Governor Over Deleted E-mails

Michael Sigman, president/publisher of LA/OC Weekly, announces that the papers have brought veteran advertising executives on board at the two Village Voice Media papers. Dar Brown has been named associate publisher/advertising for LA Weekly, and Melissa Fisher has been named advertising director for OC Weekly.

Continue ReadingLA/OC Weekly Announce Ad Department Positions

Utah has liberalized its liquor advertising laws, and Salt Lake City Weekly has lost no time in snagging a Jim Beam ad. It appears on page 7; on page 25, in a full-page ad donated by the paper, the Church of Latter Day Saints is given space to argue that alcohol advertising is a threat to society. Publisher John Saltas tells the Salt Lake City Tribune the timing was a coincidence.

Continue ReadingSalt Lake City Weekly Gives Mormons/Jim Beam Equal Time

Seattle Weekly Publisher Alisa Cromer has resigned, citing disagreements with Village Voice Media management about how the paper should be run. VVM CEO David Schneiderman tells AAN News Cromer's resignation "did not have to do with any financial, budgetary, or personnel issues." The shake-up means Schneiderman will spend time out West to oversee Seattle Weekly and LA Weekly, while Group Publisher Albie Del Favero will concentrate on papers in Minneapolis, Cleveland and Nashville.

Continue ReadingSeattle Weekly Publisher Quits

The path between journalism and politics is well worn, and now two pols with alt-press connections have taken over City Halls. R.T. Rybak, erstwhile publisher of the defunct Twin Cities Reader, was elected mayor of Minneapolis, and Charles Meeker, brother of Willamette Week publisher Richard Meeker and a former Independent Weekly shareholder, seized the reins in Raleigh, N.C. Not since former Pacific Sun reporter Barbara Boxer was elected to the U.S. Senate have AANies made such political hay.

Continue ReadingErstwhile AANies Elected Mayor in Minneapolis and Raleigh