Ken Neill Elected President of the AAN

By: E&P Staff Ken Neill, publisher/CEO of Contemporary Media, was named president of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) on June 18 at the organization's annual meeting in San Diego. Contemporary Media is the parent company of Memphis magazine and The Memphis Flyer. He replaces outgoing president Clif Garboden, senior managing editor at the Boston Phoenix.

Previously, Neill was vice president of the AAN. He was elected by unanimous vote for the two-year position.

As president, Neill plans to concentrate on the future of the print world. "The much-ballyhooed Internet revolution has finally hit our industry with the force of a hurricane," Neill said in a statement. "It's time for all of us to address the editorial and business challenges posed by this revolution, and to do everything we can as an association to help our members protect their formidable print-media franchises."

Additionally, it was announced that Bingo Barnes, editor and co-owner of Boise Weekly and Mark Zusman, editor and co-owner of Willamette Week, were elected to the AAN board. The board has 17 members.

During the meeting three papers in a field of 10 applicants were accepted into membership. Las Vegas Weekly, Bellingham (Wash.) Weekly, and Style Weekly of Richmond, Va., bring total membership to 125 newspapers.