On Oct. 3, New Times published a short news article about the lewd behavior conviction of Kevin Graves, a producer and television personality at KSBY-TV in San Luis Obispo. The conviction, handed down seven months earlier, never made it into the news until it appeared in New Times. Graves is married to Sharon Graves, a popular weather forecaster on the same station. When the New Times story broke, Sharon Graves abruptly quit her job and left SLO County with her husband and children. The public response to the family's sudden departure was overwhelming, with most callers and letter writers decrying New Times decision to publish the story. In this week's issue, New Times asks several journalists and local personalities: Was the furor the downside to aggressive journalism in a small community? Or was it a case of a newspaper publishing something that should rightfully have remained a secret in the interests of individual privacy?
"The co-opting of the 'underground' tradition of journalism into the more socially responsible and sales-friendly 'alternative' press is now virtually complete," Miami New Times' John Lombardi writes in response to a letter to the editor from Dan Sweeney, calendar editor of New Times Broward-Palm Beach. The '60s gonzo journalism was "a rancid upchuck onto the desks of the reactionary old fart editors of those times." Now he suggests that young writers like Sweeney should look at Al-Jazeera, the independent Qatar-based television station that doesn't ask permission to make everybody furious.
As the start of hoops season nears, well over 50 percent of NBAers sport tattoos. David Shields reads what's written on the body. "A tattoo is ink stored in scar tissue," Shields writes in The Village Voice. Shields asks the heavily decorated NBA stars whether they'd let a company buy a tattoo on their bodies and the NBA if it would let them sell such ads.
Several daily newspapers are planning to target youth with new publications aimed at 18-to-34-year-olds, but will they succeed? Editor & Publisher offers pro and con views: an unsigned editorial from this week's issue suggests why "da chainz" just might succeed; and E&P intern Chris Nammour argues that you can't teach a young dog old tricks.
Breast cancer awareness month and races for cures gloss over the hidden agendas and conflicts of interest in the so-called fight against breast cancer. Fairfield County Weekly's Mary Ann Swissler looks at the intense marketing of breast cancer awareness and the medical industry it actually benefits.
Erstwhile media critic David Shaw mourns the passing of New Times LA, "even if it was often shrill and sometimes irresponsible," he says. While admitting that it's "difficult to generalize about the alternative press since some of the papers ... are so idiosyncratic as to defy categorization," Shaw reflects on how alternative weeklies have changed.
