In an important ruling on Internet publishing, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a Virginia prison warden's lawsuit against The Hartford Courant and the New Haven Advocate. The court ruled that articles posted on the papers' Web sites were not aimed at a Virginia audience. The decision reversed a lower court's ruling that the warden could sue in his home state "because that is where he claimed his reputation was damaged," E&P reports.
After a dismal 2001, alternative newsweeklies are looking at year over year gains in sales, publishers tell AAN News. National ad sales are still languishing at the two main networks and at individual papers, but local display and classifieds are taking up most of the slack. In fact, the economic pinch has made some AAN papers take stock and get tougher, John Ferri reports.
SF Weekly columnist Matt Smith had a simple idea back on November 27. Angered by former Iran-Contra conspirator Admiral John Poindexter's proposed electronic data-base on all Americans--a frightening effort to compile the financial, medical, employment, school, credit and government records of all citizens -- he proposed in his column that people do a little snooping on Poindexter himself. Smith helpfully provided the phone number -- and two weeks later, his suggestion is snowballing into a bona fide crusade for civil libertarians. In his latest column, Smith provides a fascinating progress report, and learns that, in the Information Age, when it comes to messing with someone who wants to mess with you, calling their home phone number is truly just the tip of the iceberg.
Patrick Baikauskas was a rising star in the GOP when he arrived in the Illinois state capital. He had worked for a Republican Congressman, two Illinois governors, and the first President Bush. But after being outed on the front page of the daily State Journal-Register, he noticed a "palpable, icy" change in the way he was treated at the statehouse, especially by his fellow Republicans, Pete Sherman writes in Illinois Times. Undeterred, he ran for Dick Durbin's Congressional seat and later made a run for City Council. He started the city's first AIDS Walk and hosted a cable-access show for the gay and lesbian community of central Illinois. Then he decided to become a Catholic priest. As Baikauskas settles into Dominican life, there are rumblings that the Catholic church may ban the ordination of homosexuals.
The Missoula Independent has hired alt-weekly veteran Brad Tyer as its new editor. Tyer, a native of Houston, takes over from Interim Editor David Madison, who will become the paper’s Flathead Bureau Chief in Kalispell, Mont. Tyer was previously editor of the Texas Observer and before that a staff reporter at the Houston Press.
"Queer and Present Danger" by Ken Picard is among the finalists for Best Newspaper Article in the 14th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. "Diverse media images continue to display the broad spectrum of our lives and stories, and this year's Media Awards nominees testify once again to the culture-changing power of those images," said Joan M. Garry, executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in announcing the nominations.
