AAN News
Tim Redmond Responds to VVM Appeal
Tim Redmond |
06-12-2009 7:48 pm |
Letters to the Editor
VVM Sues Owners of East Bay Expressnew
Eastbay Express Publishing LP, an entity controlled by former Express owner Village Voice Media, has filed suit against two of the alt-weekly's current owners, Hal Brody and Stephen Buel, claiming they owe $500,000 under the terms of the 2007 deal in which the paper was sold. Brody admits they owe the money but says their debt is exceeded by the damage they suffered as a result of VVM's violation of a non-compete clause included in the original agreement. "The SF Weekly [also owned by VVM] is not supposed to solicit our advertisers in Alameda and Contra Costa, and they've been doing it, over and over," Brody tells the San Francisco Bay Guardian. "We have massive claims against them for violating those terms." But VVM's attorney disagrees: "(VVM) is not aware that it has violated the terms of any its agreements with the current publisher of the East Bay Express or with Mr. Brody or Mr. Buel," Randall S. Farrimond says. "We believe that any judge or jury who reviews the facts of this matter will conclude that Mr. Brody and Mr. Buel owe us the amounts stated in our complaint." More from the Express.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
06-10-2009 2:05 pm |
Industry News
Bay Area Alts Win Regional Awardsnew
Two alt-weeklies took home awards in the East Bay Press Club's 2008 Excellence in Print Journalism Contest. The East Bay Express won a total of five awards, with first-place finishes for Best Analysis, Best Opinion Piece and Lifestyle Feature. SF Weekly also took home one of the press club's awards, which were announced at a reception on Friday.
East Bay Express |
06-03-2009 8:47 am |
Honors & Achievements
Is Craigslist's New Adult Ad Policy Helping Alt-Weeklies?new
Washington City Paper classified manager Heather McAndrews says that in the first week of May, adult ads were up 38 percent over the same time last year; City Pages publisher Mark Bartel says adult ads there have "almost doubled;" and SF Weekly's adult ad count has jumped from 160 before Craigslist's new policy went into effect to 910 last week. One woman who advertises in both City Paper and Craigslist tells the alt-weekly that Craigslist's "standard is no good because you cannot really describe who you are."
Washington City Paper |
06-02-2009 3:25 pm |
Industry News
New Twist in VVM/Bay Guardian Case
While last year's verdict in favor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian in its predatory pricing lawsuit against SF Weekly and Village Voice Media is being appealed, the Guardian claims VVM is ducking its debts and hiding its assets in an effort not to pay the $15.6 million it owes in damages. VVM executive editor Michael Lacey says that's not correct. "The case is on appeal. You are not entitled to a penny," he writes in a blog post.
San Francisco Bay Guardian | SF Weekly |
04-14-2009 8:16 am |
Industry News
San Francisco Bay Guardian Lawyers Honored by Magazinenew
Among the 43 attorneys that California Lawyer magazine gave California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year Awards to are the three lawyers who worked the Bay Guardian's predatory-pricing case against SF Weekly and Village Voice Media. Ralph Alldredge, Rich Hill and Craig Moody "deftly made the case" for the Guardian, California Lawyer says in a press release.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
02-19-2009 10:30 am |
Honors & Achievements
Papers Continue to Cut Freelance Costs
Three alt-weeklies have recently cut back in freelancer-generated content areas. SF Weekly theater reviewer Chloe Veltman writes that the paper's weekly Stage setion "will drop from three plays -- my 1,000-word column plus two 200-word capsule reviews -- to just my column." Over at sister paper the Nashville Scene, books contributor Maria Browning says on her blog that the book page has been eliminated from that paper altogether. And up in Massachusetts, Worcester Magazine will stop running the local bi-weekly comic "Action Geek."
AAN News |
12-30-2008 9:17 am |
Industry News
California Alt-Weeklies Take Home Dozens of State Awardsnew
The California Newspaper Publishers Association announced the winners of its annual Better Newspapers Contest on Saturday, and nine AAN members won a total of 38 awards. The Sacramento News & Review won a total of nine awards, five of which were first-place finishes, including a General Excellence win. "The News & Review is a salty and irreverent weekly packed with excellent coverage of news and culture, multiple voices in columns and two pages of letters," the judges wrote. "Its colorful design is inviting and, praises to the sales department, it is packed with ads." In addition, Palo Alto Weekly also won nine total awards; the North Coast Journal won eight; Chico News & Review won four; the San Francisco Bay Guardian won three; Metro Silicon Valley won two; and the Pacific Sun, Pasadena Weekly and SF Weekly each took home one award. CORRECTION: The Santa Barbara Independent also won five awards.
California Newspaper Publishers Association (pdf) |
10-27-2008 9:09 am |
Honors & Achievements
SF Weekly Theater Critic Inspires Playnew
"I never saw myself as much of a muse; I tend to piss off theater people more often than I inspire them," writes critic Chloe Veltman. She says she "didn't know whether to feel flattered or alarmed" when she learned that Tore Ingersoll-Thorp's new drama was created partly in response to one of her essays. The press release for the play, titled March to November, declares, "Inspired by SF Weekly theater critic Chloe Veltman's January 9, 2008, article entitled 'Election Stage Left,' which challenged Bay Area playwrights and theater companies to create more 'political' works, Sleepwalkers answers the call to arms with a classic hero story that assesses the relevance of overtly political theater."
SF Weekly |
09-18-2008 10:03 am |
Industry News
SF Weekly Publisher a Reticent Witness in Antitrust Casenew
San Francisco Bay Guardian executive editor Tim Redmond reports that Josh Fromson "provided almost nothing" in his turn as a witness yesterday in the Bay Guardian-SF Weekly predatory-pricing lawsuit. Redmond suggests that Fromson feigned ignorance in response to questions posed by the Bay Guardian's attorney during a hearing designed to help the paper collect on its judgment against SF Weekly and its parent company, Village Voice Media. Earlier this year, a San Francisco Superior Court jury ruled in favor of the Bay Guardian, and the judge in the case set damages at $15.9 million. VVM announced last month that it plans to appeal the ruling.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
08-07-2008 7:06 pm |
Industry News
2000 SF Weekly Satire Has Come to Fruitionnew
California recently joined 10 other states in compelling Anheuser Busch to stop selling caffeine-spiked beer products like Tilt and Bud Extra. "The watchdogs might have saved steps by looking up a 2000 SF Weekly satire column, which facetiously predicted the introduction of an 'energy beer' that would be viewed as a public menace, and run into trouble with the law," columnist Matt Smith notes. The satire was part of a regular dot-com-boom-era feature called "South to the Future," in which the writers Becky Bond and Jose Marquez "concocted made-up news stories about improbable, absurd, yet somehow believable technological advances." Energy beer was one of those advances, and as Smith points out, "eight years later, the Bond and Marquez column reads like current news."
SF Weekly |
07-25-2008 10:23 am |
Industry News
SF Weekly Will Appeal Ruling in Bay Guardian Casenew
In a move that was widely expected, SF Weekly and Village Voice Media have announced they will appeal San Francisco Superior Court Judge Marla Miller's ruling in favor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian in the predatory-pricing case. Miller rejected arguments last week to overturn or modify the jury's March verdict. Calling the suit "economic terrorism," VVM CEO Jim Larkin claims "mom-and-pop advertisers in San Francisco will suffer from [Judge Miller's] handiwork, as will any aggressive new business in the city that attempts to challenge a larger, established competitor."
SF Weekly |
07-23-2008 11:05 am |
Industry News
Judge Denies SF Weekly's Motion for New Trial Against Guardiannew
With little comment, Judge Marla Miller on Friday denied requests from SF Weekly to overturn the verdict in favor of the Bay Guardian or to order a new trial, the Guardian reports. The ruling means the predatory-pricing case will likely head to the California Court of Appeal.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
07-21-2008 8:14 am |
Industry News
SF Weekly and Bay Guardian Argue Weekly's Motion for New Trial
The two papers were in San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday to argue the Weekly's motion for a new trial and its request that the judge overturn a jury verdict in the predatory-pricing suit. Judge Marla Miller has until July 18 to rule on the motions; if she rules against the Weekly, it will take the case to the California Court of Appeals. In dueling blog posts, the Weekly lays out the four chief arguments put forth by its lawyers and pokes a little fun at the Guardian's lawyers, while the Guardian details the Weekly's "at times highly technical" arguments, which "hinged on the finer points of the definitions of words."
SF Weekly | San Francisco Bay Guardian |
07-10-2008 10:01 am |
Industry News
Former Hawaii Island Journal Editor Testifies About Paper's Closingnew
Peter Serafin spoke before the Hawaii County Planning Committee on Tuesday regarding the details of the Journal's recent closing. He said that a major source of financial difficulty for the Journal was that it had to be printed in Honolulu at the Star-Bulletin press, not on the island of Hawaii. "Stephens Media owns the only two Web presses on this island," Serafin testified. The Journal approached Stephens about getting the paper printed there, but their response was, "We'll only print the Journal if you sell us a controlling interest," he said. Serafin also said the paper was hurt by Stephens' launch of "Big Island Weekly, a copycat paper specifically created to drive the Journal out of business." He said that the Weekly sold ad space below cost in an effort to kill the Journal, and compared the situation in Hawaii to the one in San Francisco, where a jury ruled in favor of the Bay Guardian in its predatory-pricing suit against SF Weekly.
HunterBishop.com |
07-03-2008 11:25 am |
Industry News
