Peter Serafin spoke before the Hawaii County Planning Committee on Tuesday regarding the details of the Journal's recent closing. He said that a major source of financial difficulty for the Journal was that it had to be printed in Honolulu at the Star-Bulletin press, not on the island of Hawaii. "Stephens Media owns the only two Web presses on this island," Serafin testified. The Journal approached Stephens about getting the paper printed there, but their response was, "We'll only print the Journal if you sell us a controlling interest," he said. Serafin also said the paper was hurt by Stephens' launch of "Big Island Weekly, a copycat paper specifically created to drive the Journal out of business." He said that the Weekly sold ad space below cost in an effort to kill the Journal, and compared the situation in Hawaii to the one in San Francisco, where a jury ruled in favor of the Bay Guardian in its predatory-pricing suit against SF Weekly.

Continue ReadingFormer Hawaii Island Journal Editor Testifies About Paper’s Closing

LEO Weekly earned 19 awards at last Thursday's Society of Professional Journalists Metro Journalism awards ceremony in Louisville, including first place honors for Column Writing, Editorial Cartoon, Minority and Women's Affairs Reporting, and Reviews/Criticism. The paper swept the Column Writing and Reviews/Criticism categories.

Continue ReadingLEO Weekly Takes 19 Metro Journalism Awards

Pamela White, better known to romance-novel readers as Pamela Clare, is set to release two books this year: Unlawful Contact and Untamed. She talks to the Daily Camera about how she balances editing an alt-weekly, cranking out award-winning romance novels, maintaining relationships with fans of her books, and being a single mother. "I will say it's hard," White says. "I would only do this if I felt absolutely compelled to write. And I can't not write." She says she couldn't possibly manage it all without the help of her youngest son, who helps cook, clean house and keep the yard presentable. "I am absolutely so proud of her. I am so impressed with how much she manages to get done," he tells the Daily Camera. "She's daring enough to go after her dream at a time when that's really hard to do."

Continue ReadingBoulder Weekly Editor Lives ‘Secret Life’ as Romance Novelist

Independent Weekly staff writer Mosi Secret is leaving the paper to work for the self-described "non-profit newsroom producing journalism in the public interest," the Weekly reports. Secret, a 2004 Academy for Alternative Journalism fellow who recently won his second Casey Medal in as many years, will join former San Francisco Bay Guardian and SF Weekly reporter A.C. Thompson and former Texas Observer editor and Miami New Times scribe Jake Bernstein on the ProPublica staff.

Continue ReadingProPublica Snags Another Alt-Weekly Talent

When the Los Angeles Press Club announced the 50th annual Southern California Journalism Awards on Saturday night, five AAN papers and an Associate Member were honored. LA Weekly took home 16 awards, including first place in Editorial Cartoon, Entertainment Feature, Online Entertainment, News/Feature/Commentary and Signed Commentary. OC Weekly won a total of five awards, including first place for Entertainment Reviews/Criticism/Column, Group Blog, and Sports. Ventura County Reporter received a first-place prize for News Feature, while Los Angeles CityBeat won three awards and Pasadena Weekly won two. Associate Member Amy Alkon, aka the Advice Goddess, won four awards, including first place for Column.

Continue ReadingAlt-Weeklies Well-Represented in LA Press Club Awards