"If the vote was 5 to 1 against Nick, the discussion would pause for a respectful second and then proceed as though no vote was taken until we all came around to Nick's point of view or reached a new compromise." That's how decisions were made in the early days of the Austin Chronicle, according to Editor Louis Black, who says Founder and Publisher Nick Barbaro was almost always right, and more importantly, "had a vision of how this paper should relate to the community and how a business should conduct itself." Twenty years later things still "happen when they happen, get done when they get done, and every Thursday morning" newcomers are "both pleased and astonished to find the piles of issues stacked in the hallway."
Columbia Journalism Review delves into newsroom morale in its latest issue. Among the views presented are two from alternative newsweeklies. Former TV reporter Tom Grant is positively euphoric about his new job at The Local Planet Weekly . Meanwhile, over at East Bay Express, there's quite a different outlook.
Bruce B. Brugmann, publisher of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, is one of four International Press Institute delegates who went to South Korea to investigate the arrest of three newspaper owners/publishers. The IPI "press freedom mission" met with members of the South Korean government and legislature, and held a news conference in Seoul on Sept. 6.
A Boston judge has temporarily blocked a ban on news boxes in the Back Bay. The local ordinance, which went into effect August 9, was challenged by the non-AAN alt pub Weekly Dig and the paid circulation weekly, Editorial Humor. The judge issued a restraining order, and now other publications, including the Boston Phoenix, are joining the lawsuit. (Click here to download a copy of the Weekly Dig's Aug. 29 story on the newsrack ban.)
