Arkansas Publisher Weekly: November 5, 2020

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Arkansas voters reject Issue 3 by a healthy margin

Guest Column:

The man who sold hot dogs on the side of the road

By Peter Wagner

Arkansas Press Association

Publisher Weekly Vol. 15 | No. 45 | Thursday, November 5, 2020 | Serving Press and State Since 1873

APA newspapers reflect on election season Newspapers for centuries have been the primary source for comprehensive, accurate and fair election coverage.

Arkansas Press Association member newspapers this week finished an election season like no other – one conducted during a global health pandemic – during a challenging time for the newspaper industry Arkansas Publisher Weekly asked questions about the election season, advertising and coverage to several APA member newspaper publishers and general managers across Arkansas.

Thanks to Sandra Brand of the Osceola Times, Rusty Fraser of the Stone County Leader in Mountain View, Bob Moore of the Carroll County News in Berryville, Jim Perry of the Harrison Daily News, Britt Talent of the Cleveland County Herald in Rison and Tom White of the Advance-Monticellonian in Monticello for participating in the question-and-answer session.

Q) This year has been anything but normal, so how did your newspaper handle coverage of the 2020 election season compared to previous years?

BRAND: We handled the coverage the same as every other election. We gave each local candidate one free story. They then purchased ads. There was a huge early voting turnout and a slow election day.

FRASER: There was nothing different.

MOORE: It was no different. The only thing we did not do is that we did not get a sample ballot –we had 22 different ballots for Carroll County. You can’t run all of those in the newspaper. We don’t have

enough space in this COVID economy for that. We did run them online, but not in the newspaper.

PERRY: We expect to be having Election Day coverage continuing for at least a month. Republicans here in Boone County predict that Trump will stay in office whether he wins the popular vote or not. Officials will probably still be counting ballots this time next week while arguments persist about which ones to throw out (which ballots, not officials.)

TALENT: No changes from previous years - we had no contested local elections so our coverage centered on the local legislative races and how the national vote turned out locally.

WHITE: The election news and advertising was a few weeks earlier in the cycle than in the past due to the push for absentee

and early voting.

Q) What about advertising? How was the political advertising landscape in 2020, and did you do anything innovative or different in order to attract advertisers?

BRAND: All local candidates were contacted and asked about running ads.

The response was pretty normal, except we had no national ads this year. It was a little unusual. I feel like Arkansas was ignored on the national level.

FRASER: We did do a little better this year, but that was because we had some local races for city council and Quorum Court.

MOORE: It really wasn’t that different than what we’ve seen in the past.

PERRY: Although we had numerous local races in the county, political advertisements are at an all-time low.

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APA newspapers reflect on election season Continued from Page 1

TALENT: Without any local elections, our potential for political advertising was down. However, we still got some from the legislative races.

WHITE: We did add an election feature to our website that allowed candidates to post and update information about their campaign. The basic listing was free to the candidates but they also had an opportunity to upgrade to an enhanced listing for a small fee. The feature will also allow us to post updated totals to the site.

It is available through Creative Circle.

Q) Does your newspaper publish political endorsements? Why or why not?

BRAND: We publish public endorsements only as paid advertisement. This way everyone has the same opportunity and the newspaper is not in the middle of the debates.

FRASER: We don’t publish political endorsements. There was a time we used to make local political endorsements. I endorsed a man for sheriff who was a city policeman, and six months later he got arrested as a burglar. It’s bothered me ever since that, ‘What if I helped a burglar get elected?’

MOORE: No, we do not in local races. I’ve just never felt that in a small community like this, you’re going to make too many people mad. You’re going to alienate half your readership if you start endorsing for JP or city council.

PERRY: Although we generally do not publish endorsements on the local races, I did write an editorial urging voters to vote no on Issue 3. We also ran the APA ads against Issue 3 as well.

TALENT: No. Since I also serve as the reporter for nearly all the news stories in

Sandra Brand

Rusty Fraser

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

the paper, I shy away from making political endorsements to maintain as sense of objectivity.

WHITE: We have published political endorsements for local races on a very limited basis where there was clear advantage for the community in one candidate over another. But we rarely make endorsements. We have not endorsed any candidates this year.

Q) What does an Election Day look like in your newsroom?

BRAND: Well, our newsroom was quiet.

Since I was on the ballot (Brand is on the Osceola City Council), I got most of the paper finished early. We were at the office until 1 p.m. getting the election results. We normally go to press at 5 p.m. Tuesday, we held the paper until 11:30 p.m. We did have to go to press without the absentee totals. They were still being counted.

FRASER: It doesn’t look a bit different.

Election Day is on Tuesday and that’s the day we publish the paper.

MOORE: It looks like a long day because generally we are finishing up our weekly edition, then we have election coverage.

It’s a very long and drawn-out event. Of course, this year’s been like no other with more mail-in ballots than we’re accustomed to seeing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

TALENT: I usually handle it all by myself since I pull double-duty and serve as the Associated Press stringer and report the returns as they come in at the courthouse.

I return to the newspaper office once the final tallies are made, write the story wrapping up the election and then manually enter in all the results for a large chart that provides totals for precinct in the county.

WHITE: We are currently operating with

Bob Moore

Jim Perry

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one person in the newsroom. She (was) at the courthouse (Election night) updating totals to our website. She (finished) the election stories Wednesday morning in time for printing before noon.

Q) What’s the biggest election story or “scoop” that your newspaper has ever had?

BRAND: Wow! I’m not sure. Probably just the usual - votes being bought. This year, we did have races on the wrong ballots and patrons from the wrong cities and wards were voting for the wrong people.

They straightened it out within a few hours.

FRASER: I had one in Texas when I was running a daily down there. We uncovered out-and-out corruption on the part of the mayor, the president of a local bank and the chamber of commerce. I had the Associated Press and the Fort Worth StarTelegram in my office wanting to know all about it. When the smoke had cleared, the mayor had resigned and a city council member was recalled. That was a direct result of our story.

MOORE: The Bill Clinton presidential election. He was well known and had lots of supporters in this area and this community.

He had people on both sides of the aisle that he could get along with and talk to.

There was a lot of cross voting when he ran for president.

TALENT: Nothing major but I’ve had a couple of one-vote decisions. One time a person running unopposed for a school board seat lost the election after he failed to vote for himself and the school board appointed someone else to that position.

WHITE: The biggest election story I remember is when a candidate for state representative was struck from the ballot for infamous crimes about four years ago.

Britt Talent

Tom White

November 5, 2020

Arkansas voters reject Issue 3 by healthy margin

Source: Arkansas Secretary of State

Thanks in part to the collective efforts of Arkansas Press Association member newspapers to oppose Issue 3, Arkansas voters rejected the proposed ballot measure on Tuesday.

According to complete but unofficial results, Issue 3 failed 56 percent to 44 percent. It was the only ballot measure of three to be voted down by Arkansans.

Issue 3, a proposed constitutional amendment, would have made it more difficult to obtain signatures and certify future ballot measures. It also would have eliminated language from the state constitution that requires public notice of proposed constitutional amendments to

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

be published six times in a newspaper in each county.

APA opposed this anti-transparency measure because it meant the General Assembly would likely greatly reduce or eliminate the frequency in which the full text of proposed amendments appears in newspapers. Without public notice, voters would be left with only the popular name and ballot title to digest at the ballot box.

Issue 3 itself has 45 words in its popular name and ballot title, though the entire text of the measure was more than 1,300 words.

APA produced house advertisements and a social media campaign to raise awareness

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of the problems with Issue 3. Many newspapers ran those advertisements throughout the election season. Several newspapers spoke out editorially against Issue 3.

“This is a victory for the newspaper industry and a clear example that newspaper advocacy works. We would not have been able to defeat Issue 3 without the cooperative efforts of APA member newspapers,” said Ashley Wimberley, APA executive director. “We are so grateful for our members who took a stand against this bad proposal, and we look forward to working with our members to continue to protect public notice at the Legislature in January.”

November 5, 2020

SPJ, others send letter to law enforcement The journalism groups sent the letter to law enforcement membership groups such as the Fraternal Order of Police, International Association of Chiefs of Police and National Sheriff’s Association in an effort to reach peer groups that can influence their members by passing along important information and training opportunities.

The Society of Professional Journalists, along with 23 other groups, have asked law enforcement organizations nationwide to remember that journalists have a constitutional right to cover protests and news events without fear of harassment or arrest, SPJ announced in a news release.

The groups signed a letter to 28 law enforcement agencies across the country. The letter reads in part:

“We understand and respect the difficult job you are required to do every day. We see it up close. The scenes and situations that demand so much of your attention are often the same as ours.

We both have obligations, through our professions, to the American public: Yours is to protect. Ours is to inform.

“Yet our profession is the only one explicitly named and protected in the U.S. Constitution. Despite the time-tested First Amendment, law enforcement authorities nationwide have been targeting and arresting journalists with alarming

INDUSTRY QUOTE “Journalism is about results. It’s about affecting your community or your society in the most progressive way.”

-Anas Aremeyaw Anas Arkansas Publisher Weekly

frequency in recent years, and especially during this year’s protests.”

SPJ issued the letter the week before the election to remind law enforcement agencies that journalists would be covering protests if there were any. Journalists must be free to do their jobs without fear of harassment, assault or arrest, the letter stated.

“We urge you to speak out against the arrests of journalists in the field and to encourage better officer training. We would be happy to discuss all of these issues with you in further detail or take part in any training or discussions about best practices,” the letter says.

The signers of the letter represent thousands of print, broadcast and online journalists, photojournalists, editors, directors and managers.

Read the full text of the letter here: https:// www.spj.org/pdf/ldf/law-enforcementletter.pdf

About 2,800 newspapers gained PPP loans Close to 2,800 newspaper publishers obtained Paycheck Protection Program loans from the federal government this year, a Pew Research Center study found. The small business loans were a part of the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Of those loans, most were for less than $150,000; and those newspaper c o m p a n i e s employ a total of 40,000 people, the study said.

According to Pew, the 2,800 newspaper companies was “a sliver” of the 5.2 million PPP loans that were granted by the government, though it “represents a large

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segment of newspaper companies.” There were approximately 4,100 newspaper publishing companies in 2016, according to census data.

Smaller newspapers tended to receive the highest number of loans, the study stated.

Geographically, companies in larger states received loans.

One in five of all PPP loans to newspapers went to companies in Texas, California and New York. To read Pew’s full report, visit https://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2020/10/29/nearly-2800-newspapercompanies-received-ppp-loans/ November 5, 2020

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Guest Column: The man who sold hot dogs on the side of the road

By Peter Wagner The current thinking at many community newspapers reminds me of the tale of the man who sold hot dogs at the side of the road. The author is unknown, and you can find it on the internet. But I am reprinting it here because it calls all of us to a moment of reflection.

“There was once a man who lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs. He was hard of hearing, so he had no radio; he had trouble with his eyes, so he read no newspapers; and of course, he didn’t watch television. But he sold very good hot dogs. He put up signs on the highway telling everyone how good they were and stood at the side of the road and cried out to all that drove past “Buy a hot dog, they are the best you’ll ever eat.”

And people bought his hot dogs and he increased his meat and bun orders. He bought a bigger cooker to take care of all

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

the extra business. He finally got his son to come and help him with his business.

But then something happened, his son who had been well educated said, “Father, haven’t you been listening to the radio or reading the newspapers or watching television? There’s a big recession happening right now. The current business situation is terrible in this country and we have problems with unemployment, high living costs, strikes, pollution, the influence of minorities and majorities, the rich, the poor, drugs, alcohol, capitalism and communism.”

Whereupon his father thought, “Well, my son has been well-educated, he reads the papers, listens to the radio and watches television, so he ought to know.” So, the father cut down on his meat and bun orders, took down all his advertising signs and no longer bothered to stand by the

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side of the road to promote and sell his hot dogs and his hot dog sales fell almost overnight.

“You’re right, son,” the father said, “we certainly are in the middle of a recession.”

For years the newspaper and free publication industry has stood by and listened as all of the competitive media scream and shout that “Print is dead.”

Potential subscribers and traditional advertising buyers have come to believe it is true because we’ve failed to make a strong response. Some of us have come to believe it ourselves and like Chicken Little. We have hidden under our desks with our heads covered.

I subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN and watch far less over-the-air television programs than a few years ago.

I also have SiriusXM in my vehicle as well

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November 5, 2020

The man who sold hot dogs on the side of the road

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as a receiver in my office. Between that and Pandora I hardly ever listen to any commercial radio stations.

But strangely, I never see a CBS “60 Minutes” program pronouncing “Traditional television is dead.” Nor am I aware of any announcement from my local radio station admitting that its audience numbers are down.

Too many community papers are going out of business attempting to save themselves by cutting costs rather than by expanding their service and reach.

The truth is survival can only happen if we, as an industry, forge ahead and reinvent ourselves wherever necessary to continue to win the support of our subscribers and advertisers.

A recent study by the University of Northern Iowa suggested there are several reasons why some papers are thriving, or at least surviving, while others are facing difficult times.

The most important, perhaps, is local ownership and hands-on management.

Local owners, the study reported, are more responsive to the community, the paper’s needs and have a stake in the overall economy.

Second might be whether newspaper publishing is a core business interest or only one of many investments purchased simply for its revenue capacity.

Other factors listed were the health of the local economy, little or no reduction of the news staff and the level of local competition.

I would add that successful editors and publishers must make every effort to keep their papers local, logical and lively.

Local, complete and balanced continues to be the printed publication’s most powerful weapon. Newspapers can figuratively be at a dozen places at one time, physically or through follow-up interviews. Unlike electronic media operating on limited time schedules and where breaking news becomes “old news” minutes after it happens, community newspapers can regularly report all the details as part of their weekly, easy-to-navigate, welledited, permanent printed package.

It’s sometimes good to remember that pioneer newspapers flourished with nothing to print but local news because they included the names of as many local residents as possible.

But management also must be logical.

Newsprint, ink, a credible staff and distribution don’t come cheap. There is little value in printing news releases that can be found in every other paper. Nor is it wise to publish a paper that even remotely duplicates the information already provided by another publication.

That’s why it is important for editors and publishers to converse with current and

potential subscribers and advertisers. I once had an editor who insisted on taking part in the morning coffee break at the local cafe, even though he didn’t drink coffee. “It is where I learn all the local gossip and still breaking news,” he told me, “and often learn what the community liked and disliked in last week’s paper.”

Today’s paper has to be lively. Nobody buys a black and white television anymore and few go to a website that looks exactly the same every day.

The future of newspapers and shoppers depends on tight editing, creative headlines, multiple points of entry to every story longer than three inches, lots of photos, brilliant color and exciting, artistic layout.

Times are uncertain, and none of us know exactly how long COVID will last or how it will be resolved. Rather than hunker down, wise editors and publishers will be on the attack. The future of print is much better than competitive media suggest. But remaining on top requires determination, hard work, a love of the printed word and a bold response to all those naysayers who need to look first at their own media’s future first.

Peter W. Wagner is founder and publisher of the award winning N’West Iowa REVIEW and 13 additional publications.

Wagner can be contacted by emailing pww@iowainformation.com or calling his cell at (712) 348-3550.

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November 5, 2020