In its summer issue, Columbia Journalism Review tenders "laurels" to three AAN members – The Village Voice, the Nashville Scene, and Tampa’s Weekly Planet – for “good old-fashioned criticism of the big boys in town.” The journalism-mag crowns the beneficiaries with a left-handed compliment: “Who says the alternative press has sold its birthright for a mess of personal ads and restaurant reviews?”

Continue ReadingCJR Extends Laurels to Three AAN Members

Ben Eason, president of Creative Loafing Inc., tells the Atlanta Business Chronicle that John Sugg will "set [Atlanta] on fire" when he arrives later this month. Sugg is moving to Atlanta from Tampa, Fla., to help improve Creative Loafing Atlanta's investigative writing and to write his own column, Eason tells the business paper.

Continue ReadingBen Eason Says Sugg Will Set Atlanta “On Fire”

A photo of the marquee of a local nudie bar ("Breast of Seattle") graces the covers this week of both Seattle Weekly and The Stranger. For the Weekly, the photo illustrates the paper's annual "Best of Seattle" reader survey; for The Stranger, it fronts for "the Best of Kevin Jones' Apartment." Weekly publisher Alisa Cromer tells the Seattle Times, "It's like having an annoying younger brother repeating everything you say."

Continue ReadingThe Stranger Parodies Seattle Weekly Best-Of

The folks at Willamette Week have agreed to sell the paper to Mark "Bingo" Barnes, and his wife Sally Gay Barnes, according to a report in today's Boise Weekly. Bingo, director of creative services for the Greenspun Media Group’s newspaper division (which includes the non-AAN alternative Las Vegas Weekly), is a familiar face to those who have attended the last few AAN conventions.

Continue ReadingBoise Weekly to be Sold to Owner-Operators (third item)

John Sugg will leave Tampa in late August to become senior editor at the company’s flagship paper, Atlanta’s Creative Loafing. Senior editor “in our lexicon means that I’ll be the lead writer and that I’ll be building and leading the writing team,” says Sugg, who is "second on the masthead" under the paper's editor, Ken Edelstein.

Continue ReadingWeekly Planet Editor Going To Creative Loafing

The Village Voice reports that a libel suit originally filed by anti-terrorism expert Steven Emerson against Tampa, Fla.'s Weekly Planet, its editor, John Sugg, and former Associated Press reporter Richard Cole, has reached New York in an assault on that state's media shield law. Sugg wrote stories in 1998 and 1999 calling Emerson a fanatic who had, among other things, tried to link respectable Muslim scholars in Florida to the World Trade Center bombing. Emerson claims these and other media stories have damaged his credibility.

Continue ReadingLibel Suit Against Weekly Planet Spreads its Tentacles

The founders of the Missoula Independent are back together again. Eric Johnson has been hired as editor of Coast Weekly in Monterey, Calif., and his cohort Erik Cushman was promoted from vice president and director of operations to publisher. Founder Bradley Zeve will concentrate on community relations and grassroots social projects.

Continue ReadingEric and Erik Reunited at Coast Weekly