The Minneapolis native is telling his clients the strip will be discontinued after next week's edition, City Pages reports. The weekly cartoon began in 1995 as "Schlock 'n' Roll" and now runs in many AAN papers. "Sutton denies this is the end of his political cartooning career," Corey Anderson writes. "But after nine years, it will be a much-needed break from weekly deadlines."

Continue ReadingWard Sutton Retires ‘Sutton Impact’ Comic Strip

The OPEN Government Act will now head to the full Senate for debate, according to a statement released today by the Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition of media groups that includes AAN and has promoted FOIA reform since 2005. Last month, the House of Representatives passed a similar bill by an overwhelming margin. Both bills would restore meaningful deadlines for government agencies; require agencies to create hotlines and tracking systems for requests; create an ombudsman to resolve disputes and avoid litigation; ease the recovery of legal fees if a requester is forced to sue; and penalize agencies for delays. AAN members are encouraged to contact their senators to voice support for the bill.

Continue ReadingFOIA Reform Bill Approved by Senate Judiciary Committee

"Hey, this is cool," Matt Brunson remembers thinking when he was offered the opportunity to write for the alt-weekly in 1988. "I'll be able to earn a couple of extra bucks before this paper folds within the year." Twenty years later, he's Creative Loafing's associate editor and A&E editor. "When this paper started, hardly any of us really knew what we were doing," writes former editor-in-chief John Grooms. "It was [Creative Loafing's] first expansion into another city, and the nuts and bolts of how to do it, more often than not, were up in the air." He says the paper has succeeded because it's "been a source of good writing and quality information, speaking to the reader directly and urging readers to talk back as loudly as they want."

Continue ReadingCreative Loafing (Charlotte) Celebrates 20th Anniversary

AAN launched a web publishing news blog at web.aan.org last month. For more information on the blog, visit the about page, the editorial policy, and the blog style guide. Recent posts include:

Continue ReadingRecent Coverage on Web.AAN.org

Last year, 50 percent of total online video ad revenue went to local newspaper sites, while 20 percent went to TV-station sites and the remainder was spread among other local sites, according to a new Borrell Associates report. While video accounted for only five percent of local online advertising this year, Borrell expects that figure to increase to 35 percent by 2012, for a total of more than $7.7 billion.

Continue ReadingBorrell: Newspapers Nab Largest Share of Local Web Video Ads