Interactive in Milwaukee

Tribune works with public schools in Chicago

Andy Vogel — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:23:43 +0000

TheMash, the paper’s collaboration with Chicago Public Schools on a weekly newspaper for and largely written by Chicago teens, is scheduled to make its debut Sept. 4 with an initial distribution of 100,000 copies in the city’s 130 public high schools. Student contributors will receive training and guidance from Chicago Tribune employees, and the product will deliver advertisers a vehicle to reach an elusive demographic. Verizon Wireless and Nike have signed on as “presenting sponsors.” Participating students receive a stipend for the work, said Tran Ha, TheMash’s editor. 40 students representing 20 schools have signed on and the paper is looking to recruit more contributors by the end of the month. (http://wwww.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-thu-themash-0904-sep04,0,6088001.story 9/4)

We did something similar to this in the early 90’s in Detroit where the Detroit Newspapers NIE Dept. coordinated with now defunct Michigan National Bank to set up “learning banks” in elementary schools.

Washington Examiner dumping

Andy Vogel — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:38:02 +0000

There are plenty of people in the Washington area who’ve cursed out the Examiner for its penchant to throw papers willy-nilly on lawns and stoops. Yet Shepherd Park resident Don Squires came up with perhaps the most original protest. At an advisory neighborhood commission meeting earlier this year that addressed the unwanted deliveries, Squires showed up with a bag of Examiners that’d landed on his front lawn. He proceeded to dump them in the meeting room, provoking a commissioner to declare him out of order. Squires responded that he was just making a point: No one wants a pile of trash in their space. Watching all of this was Examiner Publisher Michael Phelps. Phelps also absorbed some blows on the very candid Shepherd Park listserv, which boiled over with nastiness about the free newspaper.

(http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2008/09/02/shepherd-park-man-examiner-delivery-finally-stopped 9/2)

Tampa may go to one section

Andy Vogel — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:36:52 +0000

The Tampa Tribune is said to be considering publishing as a one-section broadsheet newspaper weekdays, with very few stories “jumping” or continued off the front page.

(http://blogs.tampabay.com/media/2008/08/will-the-tampa.html 8/29 via http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45)

Book coverage alive and well in Milwaukee thanks to the Shepherd

Andy Vogel — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:34:36 +0000

City Paper arts editor on the state of book coverage at alternative weeklies. (http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/2008/08/guest-post-mark-athitakis-on-state-of.html 8/27 via http://aan.org)

Good thing for Milwaukee that the Shepherd Express both reviews books and publishes extended author interviews.

Shepherd Express Books

Shepherd Express Authors Voices

Alt cuts

Andy Vogel — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:31:23 +0000

More staff cuts are coming for Washington City Paper. According to a newsroom insider, parent company Creative Loafing told City Paper staff that they would need to cut the publication’s budget by $170,000. (http://dcist.com/2008/08/27/more_staff_cuts_at_the_washington_c.php 8/27 via http://aan.org)