In case the seminars, parties and after-parties aren't enough to fill your days at the Convention, our sponsor GPTMC has created special guided morning experiences (from 7:30-9 am) just for convention attendees. On Friday, June 6, you have a choice of a trip that includes a visit to Philadelphia's Magic Garden (and a soft pretzel fresh out of the oven), or Punk Rock Boot Camp, a fun and effective fitness alternative. Saturday morning offers a running or walking loop on the Schuylkill River Trail, as well as a private tour of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall -- including a trip to the rarely visited second floor of Congress Hall. All tours are limited to 25 participants. To register, please email Debra Silvestrin at debra (at) aan.org. Please visit the Special Events page on the Convention website for full descriptions. And if you're looking to explore on Sunday morning after the Convention is over, GPTMC has created a handy guide of potential self-guided tours, including "Brewadelphia," "Philly: A Green Kind of Town," and seven others that you can check out in this PDF.

Continue ReadingMake the Most Out of Your Mornings in Philly

Washington City Paper and Santa Fe Reporter each add another finalist to their awards counts, bringing the papers' totals this year to seven. Click here for the Editorial Layout finalists or here for the full list of finalists. AAN and Medill will reveal the order of finish at the AltWeekly Awards luncheon on June 7 in Philadelphia.

Continue ReadingAAN and Medill Announce Editorial Layout Finalists in AltWeekly Awards

"While search advertising remains strong, there are signs that the growth in online advertising -- particularly in more elaborate display ads -- is slowing down," the New York Times reports. The prices for online display ads are falling as well: The prices paid for ads bought through networks dropped 23 percent from March to April, according to one index. Search ads remain popular since "they are considered cheap and effective among marketers -- even in a potential recession," according to the Times. One analyst thinks recession fears might actually help some media companies, as marketers move their budgets online. "People switch their advertising budgets out of traditional advertising formats -- TV, radio and print -- and move more online because it's got higher performance, it's cheaper and it's more measurable," Sanford C. Bernstein senior analyst Jeffrey Lindsay says.

Continue ReadingOnline Ad Growth Slows with Economic Downturn

Matt Coker, who came to Sacramento from the OC Weekly last Spring, was dismissed earlier this month, the Sacramento Bee reports. In addition, the paper's arts editor, Jonathan Kiefer, has resigned. News & Review CEO Jeff von Kaenel tells the Bee that Melinda Welsh will serve as interim editor until a permanent replacement is found. "(Melinda and I) have worked together for 20 years and we'll continue to make sure we're putting out a great paper," he says.

Continue ReadingSacramento News & Review Editor Ousted

"Thanks primarily to a rather sensationalistic story on WREG Channel 3 Wednesday night, John Branston's City Beat column from this week's Flyer seems to be generating some controversy," writes editor Bruce VanWyngarden. In the column, Branston asks who should be "the HNIC" of Memphis City Schools, a term meaning "head [N-word] in charge" that refers to the film Lean on Me. VanWyngarden writes that, as editor, he takes responsibility for the column and the phrase. "I apologize to those who were offended by the use of the term in John's column. It was not intended as a racial slur but as a cultural reference to a very real and important decision facing our school board," he writes. "Lost in the controversy is the fact that in his column Branston asks some very pointed and relevant questions of potential superintendent candidates -- questions we ought to be asking." Nevertheless, the one source the TV station has that is upset about the whole thing is still calling for Branston to be fired.

Continue ReadingMemphis Flyer Columnist’s Use of ‘HNIC’ Creates a Stir

"Following the lead in other cities, the [city's] administration has been working in voluntary cooperation with the News Sentinel [Metro Pulse's parent company] and other publications" to create Knoxville's first unified distribution center, replacing a string of existing news boxes, according to Metro Pulse. If the program goes well, the city is looking to expand it downtown. "Right now Knoxville has no ordinances or restrictions on placement of publication distribution boxes," Metro Pulse reports, but if the voluntary program doesn't work, the city has already examined legislation in other cities to emulate, if necessary.

Continue ReadingKnoxville, Tenn., Embarks on Pilot News Box Program

The Weekly's winnings in the annual awards "designed to reward journalistic excellence" in the 13 states West of the Rocky Mountains included two first-place awards: Nikki Finke's "Deadline Hollywood" column in Special Topic Column Writing, and Tim Foley's "The Case of the Dogged Detective" in Illustration. "Nikki Finke is a badass. Period," say the judges comments. "Good stuff, written with passion and an utter disregard whether any of the studio heads, or anyone in 'the industry,' will ever buy her lunch." The judges say Foley's "stylistic comic book illustration, creative use of color and the comic book-like typography all worked so perfectly well together in this illustration ... Foley did a fantastic job of bringing it all together."

Continue ReadingL.A. Weekly Wins Five Best of the West Awards

Independent.com has won the EPpy for the best weekly newspaper-affiliated website in the country, Editor & Publisher, which sponsors the contest with Mediaweek, reports. The winners of the annual awards honoring online work were announced yesterday in Las Vegas, and publisher Randy Campbell was there to accept, thanking his staff "for their hard work in taking the website from a skeleton to a fully operational daily source of news for the Santa Barbara community," the Independent reports. "There are no secrets to publishing, either online or in print, so I'm thrilled the hard work and commitment of our web team has been recognized on a national level," said Campbell back in April when the site was first nominated.

Continue ReadingSanta Barbara Independent Wins EPpy Award

Ten fellows have been chosen from a field of about 330 hopefuls to attend the Academy for Alternative Journalism summer residency program at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, to be held June 22 to August 15. The academy trains young journalists in long-form feature writing with the aim of recruiting them into the alternative press. "This class has a lot of career-changers, including a flight attendant, a former truck driver and an elementary school teacher," says program director and Northwestern journalism professor Charles Whitaker. "It's one of the most diverse classes we've had in several years."

Continue Reading2008 Academy for Alternative Journalism Fellows Named