The departure of Harmon Leon, who wrote the paper's regular "Infiltrator" column, was announced in a Jan. 18 Editor's Note (here, last item). In last week's column, Leon wrote about "infiltrating" the Adult Video News awards show, but as local Web site SFist later noted, he misidentified the city in which the show was held. According to the Editor's Note, Leon initially claimed that he had written about a previous AVN show, but the paper later discovered that he was actually at a different adult-entertainment awards show and that he had already written about that event for another magazine. Following the publication of the Editor's Note, SFist criticized the Weekly for its handling of the incident, and said that morale at the paper "may be in decline after the departure of (former editor) John Mecklin."

Continue ReadingSF Weekly Drops Columnist Over Misrepresentations

John Saltas pokes fun at Warchol, a former Dallas Observer journalist, in his Jan. 19 Salt Lake City Weekly column, claiming that a recent photo of Warchol reveals the true age of the alt-weekly business. Writes Saltas, "I can't speak for my peers .. but if the face of AAN is the face of Glen -- who by the looks of things can no longer "Do the Hustle" -- we're toast. If Glen's old, I'm old, and all my friends are old. Alternative papers are old. At least, thank God, I have my hair."

Continue ReadingIs Glen Warchol the (Old) Face of Alt-Weeklies?

The Current kicks off its 20th anniversary year with a Jan. 18 retrospective of the paper's two decades, from breaking news about then-Mayor Henry Cisneros' adulterous affair, to the phallic cartoon that prompted businesses to ban the paper, to award-winning stories about media ownership. Journalist Steven G. Kellman writes of the newspaper culture in San Antonio: "Though the entire editorial staff of the Current is outnumbered by just the sports department at the Express-News, they keep the Hearst daily on its toes often by stepping on the toes of the powerful." The Current will auction framed digital prints of its most notable covers at four anniversary events over the course of the year.

Continue ReadingSan Antonio Current ‘Grows Up, But Not Old’

This week's issue contains a defense of former Baltimore Sun columnist Michael Olesker by former Sun writer David Simon. Olesker was asked to retire earlier this month after City Paper's Gadi Dechter found that Olesker had lifted language from other writers at the Sun, the New York Times and the Washington Post. Simon argues that "most reporting -- unless it utilizes confidential sources or results from some investigative effort or special project -- has a short shelf life before it becomes nonproprietary," and says that if Olesker is a plagiarist, so are all journalists.

Continue ReadingBaltimore City Paper Publishes Rebuttal of Olesker Charges

The Stranger recently took a unique approach to address a significant error made by Theater Editor Brendan Kiley: Kiley confused Eugene O'Neill and Neil Simon, so The Stranger administered a "Eugene O’Neil Simon Quiz." Kiley was asked to identify photos of the two men, as well as biographical facts and excerpts of dialogue. Kiley achieved a perfect score, although The Stranger failed him on his essay (which could be summarized as "big deal"). The "correction" was picked up by Romenesko and Regret the Error, and the latter praised The Stranger's quiz as "fun, interactive, and it demonstrates that the paper takes accuracy seriously enough to do something innovative."

Continue ReadingThe Stranger’s Unusual Corrections Draw Praise