Has the Sierra Club become just another faction of the Democratic Party? Four Utah environmentalists find themselves in the forefront of a nationwide revolt against the leadership of the club for putting politics ahead of the environment. The primary object of their ire? Executive Director Carl Pope. "But critics say the 700,000-member strong organization with an estimated $80 million annual budget is now nothing more than a glorified hiking club that has sold out the environment to get buddy-buddy with Democratic politicians," Shane McCammon writes.
Long-time General Manager Amy Austin was promoted to publisher of D.C.'s alt-weekly, taking over from Thomas Yoder, who also has responsibilities in Chicago with CP's sister paper. "I think we've gotten to the point now where this is just a mature, strong paper with not only a great person in Amy, but a good management staff under Amy," COO Jane Levine tells the Washington Business Journal.
John Cole, co-founder of former AAN-member Maine Times, died Tuesday of cancer. He was 79. Co-founder Peter Cox describes Cole as "a beautiful writer and passionate about everything." Jay Davis, the crusading weekly's former editor, said that Cole occasionally made people angry, but he was passionate about issues affecting the state he loved. "People who read the Times admired his spirit," Davis tells the Portland Press Herald.
Editor Mark Zusman tells E&P's Joe Strupp that going through the trash of city officials was "a straightforward and simple way to hold their feet to the fire." After all, police had used evidence found in a police officer's trash to obtain a search warrant, saying that trash is public property once it reaches the curb. The Oregonian and Seattle Times disagree on whether the stunt was warranted, and journalism ethics experts are equally divided. The Poynter Institute's Keith Woods says it "borders on abuse of the tool of journalism." Tim Gleason, dean of the School of Journalism & Communications at the University of Oregon, however, finds it "quite appropriate."
