The ''New Times'' is a locally owned weekly alternative newspaper that serves for the city and surrounding county of

San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...

. It is distributed free of charge in print and on the web. It has a circulation of 35,000 copies. This publication is a member of the

Association of Alternative Newsmedia The Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN) is a trade association of alternative weekly newspapers in North America. It provides services to many generally liberal or progressive weekly newspapers across the United States and in Canada. A ...

(AAN). Camillia Lanham is the editor. The paper is owned by New Times Media Group, which also owns the '' Santa Maria Sun''.

History

The ''New Times'' weekly newspaper was originally founded and owned independently by Steve Moss in 1986, with help from friends Bev Johnson and Alex Zuniga. In 1987, Moss launched a short story contest, 55 Fiction, which required authors to write a short story in 55 words or less. The winner were published through the New Times weekly, which received thousands of short stories from around the world. The contest also led to plays and movies based on the short stories, as well as two books of short story compilations. Bob Rucker joined the ''New Times'' in 1998 from Sonoma County Independent. In 2000, the New Times launched the ''Santa Maria Sun'', an independent paper serving northern Santa Barbara County. Tragedy struck the paper in 2005, when owner Steve Moss died unexpectedly from complications due to epilepsy. After Moss' death, ownership of paper transferred to Bob Rucker and Alex Zuniga.

Controversies

In 2002, the New Times was criticized by local community members for publishing an article about the lewd behavior conviction of a local television personality and producer. In 2006, Jim Mullin became editor of the paper. Mullin's tenure was short, as he had to resign soon thereafter due to controversy about a story on methamphetamine labs titled, "Meth Made Easy." The story, which included a recipe for meth, drew national attention and threats to boycott the weekly.

Awards

California News Publishers and Newspapers Association Awards

{, class="wikitable" , + !Year !Award !Place !Recipient , - , 2017 , Agricultural Reporting , 2nd , Peter Johnson , - , , In-depth Reporting , 3rd , Camillia Lanham , - , , Land-Use Reporting , 2nd , Camillia Lanham , - , , Public Service Journalism , 1st , Chris McGuinness, Peter Johnson , - , , Writing , 3rd , Chris McGuinness , - , , General Excellence , Finalist , New Times , - , 2016 , Coverage of Education , , Peter Johnson , - , 1998{{Cite news, url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25270092/santa_maria_times_garners_two_state/, title=Santa Maria Times garners two state awards - Newspapers.com, work=Newspapers.com, access-date=2018-11-10, language=en , Public Service , 1st , New Times , - , , Feature Story , 1st , New Times , - , , Comments, Commentary, Criticism , 1st , New Times , - , , Sports Story , 1st , New Times , - , , Environmental Reporting , 2nd , New Times , - , , Special Issue , 2nd , New Times , - , , Arts and Entertainment Coverage , 1st , New Times

References

Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States San Luis Obispo County, California Publications established in 1986