Erich Burnett has been named editor of the Cleveland Scene. Burnett is a Cleveland native whose background includes 12 years as an editor of Scene and corporate editor for Scene's previous parent companies, New Times and Village Voice Media. Burnett most recently served as senior editor for Village Voice Media. Burnett took over as editor on April 13. The Scene is part of Times-Shamrock Communications.

Continue ReadingCleveland Scene Names New Editor

The board members of Dane Buy Local, a coalition of local independent businesses, organizations and citizens in and around Dane County, Wisc., have selected Isthmus advertising manager Colin Murray as the organization's new Board Chair. The group, which includes more than 425 members, provides support and promotion for locally owned businesses.

Continue ReadingIsthmus Ad Manager Named Chair of ‘Buy Local’ Board

The lawyer for Democratic state delegate Joseph D. Morrissey says their $10.35 million libel lawsuit against Style Weekly set to go to trial yesterday has been resolved in their favor. The attorney says the settlement includes "a full, unreserved and unequivocal apology" from Style and "a significant cash settlement." Style publisher Lori Collier Waran says that the paper will "let the apology speak for itself," and that it is happy to have the suit -- "a distraction for our staff" -- over.

Continue ReadingPolitician, Style Weekly Settle $10 Million Libel Lawsuit

The Society of Professional Journalists' Rocky Mountain chapter presented its "Top of the Rockies" Excellence in Journalism Awards Saturday night in Denver. The contest, with participants from the four-state region of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming, attracted more than 500 entries. The Colorado Springs Independent took home nine awards, including first-place wins for Arts and Entertainment Reporting, Science/Environmental/Health Care Reporting, and Education Reporting. Salt Lake City Weekly won five awards, including first-place finishes in the General Reporting - Business and Investigative/Enterprise - Business categories. Boulder Weekly was given one award, a first-place finish in the Legal Affairs category.

Continue ReadingThree AAN Members Win at Rocky Mountain Regional SPJ Contest

While he didn't win the top prize, Michael Feingold was one of three Pulitzer finalists this year for criticism. Feingold was recognized by the Pulitzer board for his "engaging, authoritative drama reviews that fuse passion and knowledge as he helps readers understand what makes a play or a performance successful."

Continue ReadingVillage Voice Theater Critic Named Pulitzer Finalist

In what it calls "an admittedly awkward, after-the-fact effort in filling the gap," the Independent has laid out the rest of the story on the contract dispute between editor-in-chief and minority owner Marianne Partridge and publisher and majority owner Randy Campbell. "What we failed to cover ... were the arguments that Campbell and his attorneys provided in their responding papers," news editor Nick Welch writes. "As such, The Independent's coverage of its own internal struggle has been somewhat one-sided." To rectify the situation, the paper will not be covering the dispute in a traditional way as it moves along; instead, it will present readers with links to the relevant court documents themselves (this latest story includes 13 legal documents the case has produced to date).

Continue ReadingMore on the Legal Battle at the Santa Barbara Independent

Citing the need for new and younger leadership, Art Zimmer has sold the alt-weekly to local entrepreneur William Brod, who took over operations Wednesday morning. Zimmer, who is 71 years old, purchased the paper in 1984. In a letter to the staff, Zimmer says he's had "several opportunities to sell the paper (and for more money), but most included out of town people. I feel local ownership of media, especially like the New Times is very important." Brod says he doesn't expect any layoffs as a result of the ownership change; in fact, he says he plans to hire new staff soon to beef up New Times' web presence. "I think the New Times is in a unique and the most unique position to speak to the community in a way no other media organization can," Brod says. "We can be proactive, go to people, bring people together we can follow up and push politicians and heads of organization or in authority to do what they should do or said they were going to do."

Continue ReadingLongtime Owner Sells Syracuse New Times

As of April 7, the Georgia Straight was number one, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian number four, on the list, which is put together by the researchers and students at The Committee for Newspaper and Media Integrity. Oxford University law student Aron Ping D'Souza, one of the project leaders, says they initially combed the web looking for "key terminologies" about newspaper names, articles and links. "We surveyed millions of pieces of data and found where people were using language that would indicate reputability based on a theory called natural-language queries, and we developed preliminary data from that," he says. "Now that people can give rankings in supplement to that chatter-theory-based argument, we can verify the method in some ways, and also we can improve the method."

Continue ReadingTwo Alt-Weeklies Land on ‘Most Reputable Papers in the World’ List

Cartoonist and illustrator Jen Sorensen, whose "Slowpoke" comic strip graces the pages of several alt-weeklies, will receive a James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism -- specifically, the Cartooning with a Conscience Award -- next month. The Aronson award honors "journalism that measures business, governmental and social affairs against clear ideals of the common good," and Sorensen will be the first woman to receive the cartooning award. "Word that I'd won the award came at a time when I was feeling distressed about the future of political cartoons and news media in general, so it was very much a welcome ray of sunlight," she says. "Being the first female cartoonist to share this particular honor with the likes of Tom Tomorrow and Steve Brodner is especially cool."

Continue ReadingJen Sorensen Gets James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism