AAN News
The Village Voice Gets Nod for Quick Freelancer Paymentnew
As part of Gawker's informal survey of which print publications are the "worst late payment offenders," the Voice gets props for paying freelancers quickly.
Gawker |
03-25-2009 9:02 am |
Industry News
VVM Papers Win Three Education Writers Association Awardsnew
Miami New Times' Francisco Alvarado, the Houston Press' Margaret Downing and The Village Voice's Elizabeth Green were all honored in the 2008 National Awards for Education Reporting. The competition, sponsored by the Education Writers Association, "honors the best education reporting in the print and broadcast media."
Education Writers Association |
03-05-2009 8:18 am |
Honors & Achievements
Creative Loafing Critic Finds Himself in Conflict-of-Interest Controversynew
St. Petersburg Times journalist John Fleming claims that CL theater critic Mark E. Leib faces a conflict of interest working as both a critic and a playwright in the Tampa Bay area, and that objectively reviewing plays at a theater that also happens to be staging one of Leib's works should be frowned upon. "I've been theater critic for Creative Loafing for more than ten years, and this is the first time that anyone has suggested that my opinions have been influenced by any sort of favoritism for any sort of reason," Leib writes. "I don't like it and I'm not going to sit back quietly while it happens." MORE: Village Voice critic Michael Feingold, who is also a playwright, offers his take.
Creative Loafing (Sarasota) |
01-27-2009 9:48 am |
Industry News
Year-Long Village Voice Series is Followed by Multiple Indictmentsnew
In July 2007 Graham Rayman revealed in the Voice that jail guards at Rikers Island were deputizing inmates "to beat up other inmates," sometimes paying them with cigarettes, and that internal reports were ignored, and at least one whistleblower was fired. "Young people tell me when they go in there, the culture is such that [youthful inmates] control the jail," a victim's lawyer told Rayman. When inmates beat 21-year-old Tyreece Abney to death, one of them was convicted of the crime -- but nothing changed, and in November Rayman reported on the death of 18-year-old Christopher Robinson by similar methods. Yesterday three guards were charged with conspiracy in Robinson's death.
"I feel like I'm one step closer to getting justice today," Robinson's mother tells the Daily News.
The Village Voice |
01-23-2009 2:48 pm |
Industry News
The Village Voice Releases 36th Annual Pazz & Jop Critics' Pollnew
The Village Voice |
01-22-2009 8:49 am |
Industry News
AAN's Executive Director Lets The New Yorker Know We're Herenew
In a letter published in this week's New Yorker, Richard Karpel tells the magazine that Louis Menand was bizarrely off the mark when he claimed in his recent story on The Village Voice that "after 1970, the alternative press died out" when "mainstream publications moved into the field."
Karpel writes: "The progenitors of the alternative press ... were founded by trailblazers so far out of the mainstream that forty years later even a scrupulous publication like The New Yorker seems to have forgotten that they exist," MORE: Texas Observer managing editor Brad Tyer weighs in on Menand's piece on his blog.
The New Yorker |
01-21-2009 12:03 pm |
Industry News
More Papers Tighten Belts
Louisiana's Independent Weekly reports that in 2008 it had to lay off one employee and that it recently instituted "a single digit, company-wide salary cut." The Nashville Scene says it is eliminating its books section, as well as News of the Weird and the New York Times crossword. Boise Weekly's publisher says that even though the "last quarter of 2008 was very disappointing ... it might have been the best we will see for awhile." Meanwhile, the Chicago Reader says goodbye to two of its departing editorial staffers, and Nat Hentoff talks to the New York Times about his plans post-Voice.
AAN News |
01-09-2009 10:30 am |
Industry News
Two Alt-Weekly Vets Say Goodbye
In this week's Village Voice, the recently laid off Nat Hentoff bids farewell with a column that touches on his time at the paper and his journalistic influences. "I came here in 1958 because I wanted a place where I could writer freely on anything I cared about," he writes. "There was no pay at first, but the Voice turned out to be a hell of a resounding forum." On the other coast, LA Weekly veteran Marc Cooper, who was let go a few months ago, has posted what he's calling an "autopsy" of the Weekly on his website. Cooper, who first joined the paper in 1982, pulls no punches in his nearly-6,000-word piece, but the gist can be found in one of the closing paragraphs. "If there was ever a time for an aggressive, irreverent, credible metro weekly to take on the [Los Angeles Times], it's right now, right here," he writes. "That requires investment, not layoffs."
The Village Voice | MarcCooper.com |
01-07-2009 4:10 pm |
Industry News
The New Yorker Botches the History of the Alternative Pressnew
In a passage in Louis Menand's piece on the Village Voice, the New Yorker critic claimed that "after 1970, the alternative press died out" after "mainstream publications moved into the field." Russ Smith corrects the record: "Menand is apparently unaware that radical 'underground' papers like The Los Angeles Free Press and Berkeley Barb begat a new kind of weekly, papers like The Chicago Reader, Phoenix New Times and L.A. Weekly, which, until recently, were staples in their respective cities and not only produced excellent journalism but made a lot of money as well," Smith writes on his new website, Splice Today. The "sloppy article ... certainly muddies the history of not only The Village Voice, but also the weeklies that it inspired."
Splice Today |
01-06-2009 12:20 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Management, The Village Voice
Scammers Looking for Free Food Impersonate Village Voice Criticsnew
A Brooklyn restaurant "got a surprise visit by two Italian-looking guys claiming to be Village Voice food critics, and asking for some free food from the kitchen. When asked for their names, the men replied that they couldn't say because they're 'anonymous' (natch)," the Voice's Sarah DiGregorio writes. The restaurant owner "continued to chat the guys up, which apparently made them more and more nervous, until they got up and left just before their food was ready."
The Village Voice |
01-06-2009 9:22 am |
Industry News
The New Yorker: The Village Voice 'Changed Journalism'new
The Voice "is one of the most successful enterprises in the history of American journalism," New Yorker critic Louis Menand writes in a lengthy piece tracing the early history of the paper. "Impersonality and objectivity are part of the ethic of journalistic identity," Menand writes. "The Voice showed that you could disrespect those idols and still sell newspapers." He ends by arguing that the Voice of 50 years ago did what the blogosphere does now. "We say that's still true -- click around and see if you agree," the Voice's Roy Edroso writes. "As to the continuing relevance of the mission of our forebears, we're aware of it, and we do our best. The Voice covers the Village, and the Village, so far as we're concerned, is everywhere."
The New Yorker (subscription required) |
12-31-2008 11:25 am |
Industry News
Tags: Management, The Village Voice
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
How I Got That Story: Rob Harvilla
In the fifteenth installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, Village Voice music editor Rob Harvilla talks to Ling Ma about his winning columns, which included a memorable Venn diagram-based breakdown of a breakout hip-hop hit. While Harvilla doesn't take himself too seriously (he says his career choice is "pretty frivolous"), you can tell he is serious about music by reading his work. In this Q&A, he discusses the rock critic's lexicon, how blogs and the web have impacted music criticism, and the distinct absence of rock-critic groupies. "It's a great job and I love it, but I don't think women are generally attracted to rock critics on the basis of them being rock critics," Harvilla says. "It's usually in spite of that fact."
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
11-11-2008 1:08 pm |
Association News
The FBI Tracked Village Voice Co-Founder Norman Mailer for 15 Yearsnew
According to FBI documents obtained by the Washington Post via FOIA, the bureau "closely tracked the grand and mundane aspects of the acclaimed novelist's life" from 1962-1977. It all started when notorious FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover read a Mailer essay on Jacqueline Kennedy in Esquire in 1962, and decided that he needed more info on the author and social critic, who helped start the Village Voice in 1955. The Post obtained 165 pages of the FBI's 171 pages on Mailer, many of which were stamped CLASSIFIED and SECRET and SUBV. CONTROL, apparently referring to a program to watch suspected subversives, the Post reports.
The Washington Post |
11-11-2008 10:03 am |
Industry News
Ex-Village Voice Publisher Rallies the Troops for McCainnew
Former Voice publisher and RFK aide Bartle Bull "embraced Republican John McCain for president, hurled Barack Obama under the bus, and then backed it slowly over the Democratic nominee" at a Saturday rally in Manhattan, the National Review reports. Bull, who proved to be a controversial figure at the 1970s-era Voice, used his Democratic cred to attack Obama.
"I had the privilege of serving as Robert F. Kennedy's New York campaign manager when he ran for president in 1968," Bull said. "But in honest conscience, I cannot support the Democratic ticket in this campaign." MORE: The Huffington Post has Voice co-founder Ed Fancher's take on the election and Obama: "A black president would be a wonderful thing for racial healing," he says, "but not at the cost of putting someone who may not be qualified in [the White House]."
The National Review |
11-03-2008 7:46 am |
Industry News
Tags: Management, The Village Voice
