The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) is a diverse group of 129
alt-weekly news organizations covering every major metropolitan area and other less-populated regions in
North America. Members of AAN reach a print and online audience of more than 25 million active, educated and influential adults in the U.S. and
Canada.
AAN was founded in Seattle, Wash., in 1978. It began with 30 newspapers,
including San Francisco Bay Guardian, Creative Loafing, Phoenix New Times,
Willamette Week and The Chicago Reader. To meet the association's rigorous
membership standards, weekly newspapers must demonstrate that they produce high-quality journalism that offers a valuable alternative to the mainstream media in their area. As a result, only 30 percent of the papers that apply for membership are admitted to the organization. The 129 papers that now make up the association publish in 41 states and the District of Columbia in the United States, and in four Canadian provinces.
There are a wide range of publications in AAN. What ties them together are a strong focus on local news, culture and the arts; an informal and sometimes profane style; an emphasis on point-of-view reporting and narrative journalism; a tolerance
for individual freedoms and social differences; and an eagerness to report on issues and communities that many mainstream media outlets ignore.
AAN's editorial web portal --AltWeeklies.com-- brings an international
audience the best, most insightful, thought-provoking news and features
published by its member news organizations. Updated throughout the work
week, AltWeeklies.com features the latest news about politics, crime, social
issues, the environment, health, sex, food, film, music, art and books --
all with a different perspective than what is generally found on
wire-service and daily-newspaper websites.
