ALTERNATIVE PAPERS ADDRESS DAILY OWNERSHIP ISSUE

By: Lucia Moses New Rules Could Terminate Association Membership



PHOENIX - Responding to alternative newspapers' growing concern about daily ownership,
the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) has adopted a procedure to kick out
member papers that are bought by daily newspapers.



Previously, the AAN denied membership to papers owned by dailies but members bought by
dailies were grandfathered in. The bylaw amendment approved by the AAN at its annual
convention here on Saturday establishes a way to kick out members if they stop meeting
the association's editorial criteria. The policy also was designed to deal with papers
that are bought by non-newspaper companies.



Many alternative journalists fear that their papers will lose their edge if bought by a
daily newspaper chain. The issue intensified last year when the Advocate group of
weeklies in New England was sold to Times Mirror Co. and when non-newspaper companies
expressed interest in buying The Village Voice and its sister papers, which eventually
were sold to a group of investors.



Under the new procedure, a committee would be appointed to review a member paper if
one-third of the AAN's 123 members or three-fourths of its board of directors initiates
that member's termination. The committee would issue a recommendation and the full
membership would vote, with a two-thirds vote required to terminate membership.



Also at the convention, the AAN admitted four new members while denying membership to
eight. Admitted were the Ventura County (Calif.) Reporter, Urban View in Oakland, Calif.,
The Charleston (S.C.) City Paper, and Tacoma (Wash.) Reporter.