Despite MediaBistro's speculation that the hawkers were sent out in response to the recent D.C. launch of The Onion, City Paper staffers were just helping to promote the redesign yesterday as they braved chilly temperatures to hand out free papers. On the City Paper's blog, reporter Jonathan York notes his lack of preparation compared to the hawkers of free dailies the Washington Examiner and Express. "These guys were pros," he says. "As the wind brought snowflakes, my hands were bare, and Messrs. Examiner and Express wore gloves."
Not because alt-weeklies are important, mind you, but because "other news outlets rely on them to do news gathering." Joan Stewart, the author of The Publicity Hound's Blog, seems to have picked up this sage piece of advice in this week's PR Week. We shouldn't be too hard on the consultants, though: They also note that "these newspapers devote a lot of space to a story, (so) they might be your best opportunity to explain your side of the story in some detail."
Knute Berger says over the last few years he was at the Weekly, a stalker constantly harrassed him with letters and packages containing threats, hypodermic needles, and, once, even a bullet. Most of the packages came to the Weekly's office, but some were delivered to his home as well. He says the stalker also sent mail threatening to blow up places like Starbucks, with Berger's name on the return address. Eventually, after he left the Weekly, Seattle police apprehended a suspect, who is being charged with one count of stalking. "People in journalism are used to getting angry calls and nasty letters and e-mails," but this campaign clearly went beyond that, Berger says. "My writing was putting my family at risk."
The politically conservative Sacramento Union has purchased two pages of ad space for 13 weeks in the Sacramento News & Review, according to the Sacramento Business Journal. The two pages will be original editorial content, meant to expose the alt-weekly's audience to the Union's ideas. In a press release, the Union's publisher thanks the News & Review for "thinking outside the box and having the courage of their convictions to print another opinion." In the same release, News & Review president Jeff von Kaenel anticipates potential criticism and takes it head on: "The Sacramento Union's pages will contain plenty of content that we will strongly disagree with," he says. "But does that paper have a right to buy space and get those opinions heard? The answer is yes."
Chet Hardin's topics "are provocative, contemporary and often important," judges for the Association's annual Better Newspaper Contest say. "It is hard to distinguish his hard news stories from features, and that's a great compliment," they write. AAN members were well-represented in the rest of the contest as well. Metroland won one additional first-place and one third-place award; the Ithaca Times received one first-place and one second-place as well as three third-place awards; and Syracuse New Times took home four first-place and two second-place awards.
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