AAN News

East Bay Express is Moving Officesnew

East Bay Express  |  04-17-2009  9:13 am  |  Industry News

The East Bay Express Announces the Angel Business Builder

The alt-weekly is rolling out a program "designed to help exceptional businesses get off the ground in exchange for a share in the growth." Once a business is chosen, it will be officially paired with the Express as a marketing/community partner. The paper will subsidize the local marketing of the business in exchange for seeing a return when it grows. (FULL STORY)
East Bay Express Press Release  |  04-15-2009  11:06 am  |  Press Releases

Yelp to Let Businesses Comment Publicly on Reviewsnew

In an email sent to some of the review website's most active users Thursday, Yelp solicited feedback about an upcoming feature that will let businesses post replies to user reviews, the Associated Press reports. As the East Bay Express reported earlier this year, many business owners complained that they were essentially being extorted by Yelp, whose sales representatives told them that the company could move or remove negative reviews only if they advertised.
The Associated Press  |  04-10-2009  10:03 am  |  Industry News

East Bay Express Staff Stars in Music Video on How to Save Newspapers

You'll have to watch the video, which features Express staffers doing their best lip synching, to hear some new ideas on how to save print media.

AAN  |  04-07-2009  12:35 pm  |  Industry News

More Business Owners Step Forward with Accusations Against Yelpnew

Following up on its story last month in which business owners said that sales reps from the popular user-generated review site promised to move or remove negative reviews in return for advertising, the East Bay Express talks to six more business owners who allege similar practices. Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman complained about the original article's use of anonymous sources (even though "Yelp is a review site based entirely on anonymous sources," as reporter Kathleen Richards notes) so this time the Express relied only on sources who were willing to go on the record. "Several said that the reps would offer to move negative reviews if they advertised; and in some cases positive reviews disappeared when they refused, or negative ones appeared," the Express reports. "In one case, a nightclub owner said Yelp offered positive reviews of his business in exchange for free drinks."
East Bay Express  |  03-19-2009  10:03 am  |  Industry News

East Bay Express Helps Recreate Andy Warhol's Silver Factorynew

On Friday night, the alt-weekly teamed up with record store Amoeba Music, art collective Off Space and the de Young Museum to bring the pop artist's famed Manhattan art studio to the East Bay for a free party attended by "as many as 4,000 people." Rotating crews of 15-30 people spent more than a month transforming the recently vacated warehouse -- Express sales and marketing director Terry Furry himself spent two weeks building the red couch, and another week making a proto-disco coffee table from 1,800 tiny mirrors. "When I was in art school, Warhol was mainly frowned on for being commercial and marketing himself," Furry says. "But he kind of set the tone for what artists need to be to thrive. They need to market themselves as well as their art."
The San Francisco Chronicle  |  03-10-2009  11:39 am  |  Industry News  |  Comments (1)

Yelp Responds to East Bay Express Storynew

"Today the East Bay Express ran a lengthy story that accuses Yelp of manipulating review order for money," the user-generated review site's CEO Jeremy Stoppelman writes. "As we've said many-a-time we do not do this." He criticizes the story for relying heavily on anonymous sources and adds that the piece essentially overturns its "accusatory thrust" at the end.
Yelp.com  |  02-19-2009  11:35 am  |  Industry News

East Bay Express Article Helps Save the Plug-In Hybrid Industrynew

The California Air Resources Board backed away last Friday from strict new regulations that would have put Berkeley startup 3 Prong Power out of business and dealt a severe blow to the nascent plug-in hybrid industry, the Express reports. 3 Prong president Daniel Sherwood credited an Express cover story published a little more than a week before the air resources board meeting with helping save the rapidly-growing industry. After the story came out, the board received more than 130 comments on the proposed strict new rules, the vast majority of which were opposed to them.
East Bay Express  |  01-29-2009  9:08 am  |  Industry News

East Bay Express Releases Promo Video for 'Shop Local' Campaign

To help promote the Shop Local campaign that publisher Jody Colley is spearheading, the Express has made a public service announcement video featuring a number of local merchants. Editor & Publisher's Mark Fitzgerald notes that "there's an appropriately indie-folk soundtrack, though I'll confess I'm not hip enough to identify the uncredited singer."

AAN News  |  12-03-2008  11:24 am  |  Industry News  |  Comments (2)

East Bay Express Writer Wins National Science Journalism Awardnew

Kara Platoni has won first place honors in the "small newspapers" category in this year's American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science Journalism Awards for stories in the Express about efforts of local scientists to determine whether there is life elsewhere in the cosmos. Platoni "did a marvelous job of bringing the faraway questions surrounding astrobiology down to Earth and particularly important to the readers in her region," judge Andrew Revkin of the New York Times says. She will receive $3,000 and a plaque at the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting in February.
American Association for the Advancement of Science  |  11-13-2008  8:23 am  |  Honors & Achievements

East Bay Express Crowns Winner of Sarah Palin Songwriting Competitionnew

"The Sarah Palin song competition that we launched four weeks ago drew in seventeen submissions," the Express writes. The paper's music critics graded them for concept, lyrics, humor, style, musical depth, and aesthetic quality, on a scale of 0-5 bloody moose heads. The winner was "Sarah Palin vs. the Flobots" by M. Spaff Sumison (watch it below). The Express runs down the rest of the best -- and, well, the worst -- in this week's paper.

East Bay Express  |  10-30-2008  9:50 am  |  Industry News

East Bay Express Circ Manager Nabs Newspaper Thievesnew

Express president Hal Brody tells the Berkeley Daily Planet that the paper's circulation manager saw two men in a white van stealing free circulation newspapers from street racks on Wednesday morning and made a citizen's arrest. After the Berkeley police arrived and processed the arrest, the two suspects were charged with theft of free publications, driving on the wrong side of the road and driving with expired plates.
The Berkeley Daily Planet  |  10-17-2008  10:44 am  |  Industry News

The East Bay Express Turns 30new

East Bay Express  |  10-15-2008  1:58 pm  |  Honors & Achievements

East Bay Express Announces Sarah Palin Songwriting Competition

The Express is currently accepting submissions for songs with original lyrics (the music doesn't need to be original) in any genre inspired by the Republican vice presidential candidate. The paper's music critics will review all of the submissions in the special Oct. 29 election issue, and the winner will be featured on the paper's podcast, "Radio Express," and win other prizes. Email your submission by Thursday, Oct. 23 to music (at) eastbayexpress.com.
UPDATE: Express publisher Jody Colley tells AAN News that they've already received their first submission:
(FULL STORY)
East Bay Express Press Release  |  10-01-2008  9:22 am  |  Press Releases

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