Willamette Week

Willamette Week

Cover
Type Alternative weekly
Format Tabloid
Owner(s) City of Roses Newspapers
Publisher Mark Zusman (2015–);
Richard Meeker (1984–2015)
Editor Mark Zusman
Founded November 1974
Headquarters 2220 NW Quimby St.
Portland, OR 97210
US
Circulation 70,000 (as of February 2015)[1]
Website wweek.com

Willamette Week (WW) is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business and culture.

Willamette Week is the only weekly newspaper to have one of its reporters, Nigel Jaquiss, win a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.[2] It was the first newspaper to win a Pulitzer for a story that it first published online. As of 2007, WW had more 18- to 34-year-old Portland-area readers than the weekly editions of The Oregonian and its weekly arts and entertainment publication, "A&E."[3]

History

Early history

Willamette Week was founded in 1974 by Ronald A. Buel, who served as its first publisher.[4] It was later owned by the Eugene Register-Guard, which sold it in the fall of 1983 to Richard H. Meeker and Mark Zusman,[5] who took the positions of publisher and editor, respectively. Meeker had been one of the paper's first reporters, starting in 1974, and Zusman had joined the paper as a business writer in 1982.[4] Meeker and Zusman formed City of Roses Newspaper Company to publish WW and a sister publication, Fresh Weekly, a free guide to local arts and entertainment. WW had a paid circulation at that time, with about 12,000 subscribers.[5] A major change was made in January 1984, when Fresh Weekly was merged into WW, the paper's print run was increased to 50,000 and paid circulation was discontinued, with WW thereafter being distributed free.[5]

Post-2010

In June 2015, Richard Meeker stepped down as Willamette Week's publisher, after more than 31 years in the position.[6][7] Editor Mark Zusman succeeded him as publisher, while also retaining the editorship.[7][8] Meeker planned to continue working for the City of Roses Newspaper Company, WW's owner.[6][8]

Features

Prior to the death, in 2010, of cartoonist John Callahan, the paper published his long-standing comic, "Callahan."

Finances

Since 1984, the paper has been free; it generates over 80% of its revenue through display advertising.[3] For 2007, its revenue is expected to be about $6.25 million, a four or five percent increase over 2006, a growth that occurred in spite of a significant decline in classified advertising that the publisher attributes to competition from Craigslist.[3] Its pre-tax profit is around 5%, a third to a half of what large mass-media companies require.[3]

Alumni

A number of notable journalists, writers and artists have worked at Willamette Week over the past three decades, including:

Notable stories

Notable stories first reported by WW include:

Wikinews has related news: Portland, Oregon mayor admits to sexual relationship he previously denied

See also

References

  1. "Newsweekly Directory - Willamette Week". Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  2. "The 2005 Pulitzer Prize Winners - Investigative Reporting". The Pulitzer Prizes. 2005. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "At Age 33, 'Willamette Week' Has Best Year Ever For Display Ads, Publisher Says". Editor & Publisher. November 16, 2007. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Bellotti, Mary (April 25, 1999). "Alternative success story". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 Nicholas, Jonathan (January 9, 1984). "Free, and fresh, weekly". The Oregonian, p. B1.
  6. 1 2 WW Staff (June 11, 2015). "WW Has A New Publisher". Willamette Week. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Meeker, Richard H. (June 17, 2015). "To Our Readers [editorial]". Willamette Week. p. 5. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  8. 1 2 Walker, Mason (June 12, 2015). "Willamette Week publisher steps down". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  9. "Phil Keisling". Hatfield School of Government: Center for Public Service. Portland State University. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  10. Griffin, Anna (January 25, 2009). "Sam Adams decides to stay put; can Portland move on?". The Oregonian. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  11. Slovic, Beth (September 10, 2008). "Señor Smith". Willamette Week. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  12. Boulé, Margie (January 31, 2011). "Neil Goldschmidt's sex-abuse victim tells of the relationship that damaged her life". The Oregonian. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  13. Jaquiss, Nigel (May 12, 2004). "The 30-Year Secret". Willamette Week. Retrieved November 17, 2013.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 12, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.