AAN News
Politician Resigns After Alt-Weekly & TV Station Reveal Alleged Affairnew
Republican Michael D. Duvall has resigned from the California state Assembly amid the scandal uncovered on Tuesday by OC Weekly and KCBS/KCAL. The staunch conservative was caught on video talking graphically about two affairs, one of which was with a lobbyist whose clients had business before a committee on which Duvall sat. Weekly reporter R. Scott Moxley and TV reporter Dave Lopez were both chasing the story at the same time on Tuesday -- literally -- as they followed Duvall around the capitol, trying to get him to respond. In a statement, Duvall says his resignation "is in no way an admission that I had an affair or affairs," adding that his only "offense was engaging in inappropriate story-telling."
OC Weekly |
09-10-2009 11:21 am |
Industry News
OC Weekly Cleans Up in Local Press Contestnew
The suburban paper won 15 awards -- almost twice as many as the publication that came in second -- when the winners of the Orange County Press Club's annual contest were announced last week. Gustavo Arellano was a veritable journalism-award vacuum cleaner, sucking up three first-place awards and two third-place finishes. R. Scott Moxley nabbed two first-place trophies, including best columnist, and one second-place award. Matt Coker and Nick Schou were also honored with multiple awards.
OC Weekly |
08-04-2009 7:42 pm |
Honors & Achievements
L.A. Weekly Wins Big in Southern California Journalism Awardsnew
The Weekly, competing with other large-circulation newspapers, won a total of 13 awards in the annual competition sponsored by the LA Press Club. Staff writer Christine Pelisek had a big night, winning first-place honors for Feature, Hard News and Investigative/Series (where she also received an Honorable Mention). Pelisek also finished second for Journalist of the Year. The Weekly placed first in three additional categories: Columnist, Entertainment News or Feature and Political Coverage. Syndicated "Advice Goddess" columnist Amy Alkon also took home a first-place win for Headline Writing in the large-circ category. Amongst the smaller papers, three AAN members were recognized for their work. OC Weekly won three first-place awards, for Design, Entertainment News or Feature and Entertainment Reviews/Criticism/Column. Pasadena Weekly won three awards, and the late LA CityBeat won one.
LA Press Club (Word Document) |
06-16-2009 8:48 am |
Honors & Achievements
Former OC Weekly Staffer and AAN Diversity Intern Diesnew
On Friday, Nguyen Huy Vu's family decided to take the 34-year-old reporter off artificial life support following a Mother's Day heart attack that had left him brain dead, OC Weekly reports. In 2001, Vu was one of the first two journalists to receive an internship under AAN's Diversity Grant Program. MORE: A number of current and former Weekly staffers remember Vu fondly in the comments of this blog post.
OC Weekly |
05-18-2009 8:48 am |
Industry News
Pasadena Weekly Editor Gets Annenberg Fellowshipnew
Deputy editor Joe Piasecki was chosen last month for the Annenberg Fellowship at the University of Southern California, which requires two semesters of study in USC's graduate-level Specialized Journalism program and includes a $20,000 stipend. In addition, a number of Pasadena Weekly writers, along with scribes from sister papers LA CityBeat and Ventura County Weekly, have been been nominated for the Los Angeles Press Club's 51st Annual Southern California Journalism Awards. L.A. Weekly and OC Weekly also have a large number of nominees in the awards contest.
Pasadena Weekly | L.A. Weekly |
05-18-2009 7:58 am |
Honors & Achievements
Former Sheriff Dogged by OC Weekly Sentenced to 66 Months in Prisonnew
OC Weekly |
05-05-2009 2:23 pm |
Industry News
AAN Members Fare Well in 'Best of the West' Awardsnew
Westword's Adam Cayton-Holland finished first in Arts and Entertainment Writing, while fellow Westword scribe Jared Jacang Maher finished third in the same category. Phoenix New Times took a second place win for Environment and Natural Resources Reporting and a third place win for Growth and Development Reporting, while OC Weekly's (not the Orange County Register's, as the award announcement says) "Navel Gazing" blog finished second in the Blog Writing category. The annual contest is open to newspapers and news websites in 13 western states.
Best of the West Contest |
04-30-2009 8:37 am |
Honors & Achievements
L.A. Weekly and OC Weekly Circulation Director Diesnew
Mike Menza, who had been at the L.A. Weekly for more than 19 years, died on Tuesday after battling cancer. "Menza led a tireless staff in one of publishing's crucial but little-known fields, one requiring physical stamina, intimate demographic intelligence and a head for quick calculation," the Weekly's Steven Mikulan writes. "Mike was our secret weapon," Weekly editor-in-chief Laurie Ochoa says. "One of the big reasons we're still alive and kicking, even [in] this economy, is Mike's genius at knowing exactly where we need to be on the streets -- and how to keep readers hungry for the paper."
L.A. Weekly |
04-23-2009 9:53 am |
Industry News
OC Weekly Debunks Claim That it Practices Payolanew
"We don't praise restaurants simply because they buy ads, even though our very nice ad reps constantly leave menus on my desk insinuating I should review their clients and even though I've had many run-ins with corporate over the years because of the type of restaurants I review," Weekly staff writer Gustavo Arellano writes in response to one restauranteur's charge that the paper "gives great reviews for people who advertise." Arellano pulls out the statistics to prove his point. "According to records given to me by the Weekly's advertising department of every restaurant that advertised in our rag in 2008, only three restaurants of the 51 that I reviewed last year ever bothered to place an ad."
OC Weekly |
01-22-2009 9:10 am |
Industry News
The Village Voice Lays Off Three in Editorial, Including Nat Hentoffnew
The Voice parted ways yesterday with Hentoff, who has worked for the paper since 1958, as well as Lynn Yaeger, who has been there for about 30 years, and staff writer Chloe Hilliard. The 83-year-old Hentoff tells the New York Times that he will keep writing his weekly column for the United Media syndicate and contributing pieces to The Wall Street Journal. Layoffs are also being reported at one of the Voice's sister papers on the other coast. Mediabistro reports that OC Weekly has laid off managing editor Rich Kane, clubs editor Nate Jackson and staff writer Vickie Chang.
The New York Times |
12-31-2008 9:28 am |
Industry News
Will Swaim Named Publisher of LA CityBeat
Will Swaim has been named publisher of LA CityBeat and New Angeles Magazine, effective Nov. 10. Swaim was most recently the founding editor and publisher of The District Weekly, a non-AAN weekly in Long Beach. Prior to that, he was OC Weekly's founding editor in 1995, and went on to become publisher of that paper as well, before stepping down in January 2007. At CityBeat, he'll be reunited with former Weekly colleague Rebecca Schoenkopf, who is now CityBeat's editor. "LA CityBeat and New Angeles are terrific publications," Swaim says in a release. "I'm thrilled to have this chance to use what I've learned in Orange County and Long Beach to help them reach their enormous potential."
(FULL STORY)
Southland Publishing Press Release |
10-31-2008 3:16 pm |
Press Releases
How I Got That Story: Gustavo Arellano
In the sixth installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, OC Weekly staffer and ¡Ask a Mexican! columnist Gustavo Arellano discusses his column, which for the second time in three years won a first-place AltWeekly Award. He also talks to Elena Brown about getting hate mail, the immigration debate, and what he likes about writing for alt-weeklies. "At a daily newspaper, they ask you to do one thing and one thing only. I'd get so bored so fast I'd quit my job," Arellano says. "Here, I could write about anything, so long as it's good. That freedom is so intoxicating I can't see why anybody would not want a job like mine."
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
10-07-2008 12:53 pm |
Association News
Four New Alt-Weekly-Related Books Hit the Shelves
OC Weekly staff writer and ¡Ask a Mexican! columnist Gustavo Arellano's second book is due to be released on Sept. 16. Orange County: A Personal History is a memoir that examines the history of Orange County as seen through four generations of his family moving back and forth between Mexico and Anaheim. Ed Zotti, longtime editor of the syndicated Straight Dope column, also has a new memoir, which was released this week. His The Barn House: Confessions of an Urban Rehabber is a "memoir about fixing up an old house in the city and pursuing the urban version of the American Dream." Check out an excerpt on the Chicago Reader's site. Another memoir on the horizon is Prince Joe Henry's Princoirs. Henry is the longtime author of the "Ask a Negro Leaguer" column in the Riverfront Times, and the book is an extension of the column. If you're not into memoirs, some of Seattle Weekly cartoonist Scott Meyer's "Basic Instructions" comic strips have been collected in the new Help Is on the Way: A Collection of Basic Instructions, which was released this week.
AAN News |
09-05-2008 8:08 am |
Industry News
Alt-Weeklies Honored in Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awardsnew
Two AAN members placed in the overall General Excellence categories: Louisiana's Independent Weekly finished second in the Class I division and OC Weekly finished third in the Class III division. In addition, both Riverfront Times (Special Sections and Arts and Entertainment) and Westword (Consumer Affairs and Food and Nutrition) were finalists in two story-topic categories. More than 1,100 entries were submitted to the annual contest administered by the Missouri School of Journalism, which calls it "the oldest and best-known feature writing and editing competition in American newspapering."
Missouri School of Journalism |
08-21-2008 8:12 am |
Honors & Achievements
Earthquake Hits Southern California, Alt-Weekly Offices Feel It
A little before noon yesterday, a 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit Southern California, with an epicenter 29 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake, which was the largest in SoCal in more than a decade but apparently caused no major damage, was felt in AAN-member offices from San Diego to Santa Barbara, judging by a quick perusal of blogs. "[It] felt like I was standing on a rocking waterbed for at least 12 seconds. The building swayed back and forth. A large corkboard fell off my office wall," the OC Weekly's R. Scott Moxley reports. "An energy drink can stupidly placed (by me) on top of a file cabinet flew three feet in the air. The staff quickly evacuated the building and found phone lines dead." Up in Culver City at LA Weekly's offices, Mark Mauer notes: "The new LA Weekly building shakes like a leaf (at least around my desk) every time a car enters or leaves our garage, so it took a few extra seconds to figure out this was an actual earthquake and not just an SUV trying to find a parking space." The Santa Barbara Independent's Matt Kettman reports feeling a "long, rolling sensation," while San Diego CityBeat's Kinsee Morgan wins the award for brevity, simply noting the quake was the "biggest one I've felt yet."
AAN News |
07-30-2008 8:30 am |
Industry News
