In this introspective piece published last week in the Los Angeles Times, former LA Weekly president and publisher Michael Sigman, who was hired in April to assume the same post at Creative Loafing, reveals why he left the job after only one week.

Ted Rall asks that question after attending the AAN Convention and finding "(m)eeting rooms at the Westin ... jammed with editors and publishers anxiously hatching plans to defend themselves from (Craig Newmark)". His conclusion? "The current standard formula for alternative weeklies -- youth-oriented pop culture plus local news features -- appears inadequate to meet the formidable challenge of vanishing classifieds." Rall (that's his illustration above) says alt-weeklies can survive by "banding together" to sell national ads, providing alternative coverage of national and international news, and charging a newsstand fee.

Dan Savage, editor of the Seattle alt-weekly and writer of Savage Love, the syndicated sex column, is running the show at the popular blog AndrewSullivan.com while Sullivan is on vacation. Savage promises "a few more pop culture references than Andrew might make, a smattering of double- and single-entendres, a little more sneering contempt for politicians and a little less devastating political analysis."