Arkansas Publisher Weekly: January 14, 2021

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Guest Column:

Social media is more social than a source of news

By Peter Wagner

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93rd Arkansas General Assembly Legislative Report

Arkansas Press Association

Publisher Weekly Vol. 16 | No. 02 | Thursday, January 14, 2021 | Serving Press and State Since 1873

Journalist finds flexibility, support in new role A longtime central Arkansas journalist is returning to the newspaper industry this month, hoping to find some stability and career flexibility following a tragedy.

Mark Buffalo will begin a new job as sports editor at the Daily Citizen in Searcy next week, just a month after his wife, Linda, died of cancer. Buffalo had been away from newspaper work for several years and was a retail store manager before taking leave from that job to care for his wife.

He said in a telephone interview this week that he hopes his return to journalism may be a calming and comfortable decision as he grieves along with his 13-year-old daughter, Mary Elisabeth (“Emmy”).

“There’s so much change going on in mine and my daughter’s life right now, I want it to be happy, and working (in retail) full-time didn’t necessarily appeal to me,” Buffalo said. “I’m just trying to take everything slow, but at the same time have some flexibility for Emmy.”

Continued on Page 2

Better Newspaper Advertising Contest entries due The Arkansas Press Association is accepting entries all this month for its annual Better Newspaper Advertising Contest, which recognizes the best in ad content, production and design work among APA member newspapers.

best work of the 2020 calendar year. For category details and official rules, and to enter the contest, visit newspapercontest. com/arkansas.

The deadline for entering the contest is Jan. 31.

As with other years, the 2021 contest has separate divisions for smaller, medium and larger weeklies and smaller and larger dailies.

This year’s awards will recognize the

The winning entries will be determined

by members of the Michigan Press Association. The judges will review the submissions in February and winners will be announced at the APA’s annual advertising conference, which is tentatively planned for March as a virtual event.

APA members with questions about the contest or the online submission process should contact Terri Cobb at (501) 3741500 or terri@arkansaspress.org.

Journalist finds flexibility, support in new role Continued from Page 1

Buffalo is a native of Carlisle in Lonoke County. His wife, Linda, was originally from Lonoke, also in Lonoke County.

Linda taught middle school for 37 years before retiring in 2019. The couple was married for 21 years.

Buffalo said the hours of his retail job didn’t work well for raising Emmy, since he often had to be at the store in Jacksonville at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. With his new opportunity, he can do much of his work from home or even bring her along to ballgames.

Herald while he attended college at the University of Arkansas in the early 1990s.

After college, he was hired as a reporter for the central Arkansas newspapers then owned by the Magie family, and in 1997 he became sports editor for the Magie newspapers in Cabot, Lonoke and Carlisle.

Buffalo was about the same age his daughter is now when he began taking to news photography, acquiring his first SLR camera at age 14. He said he’s been fascinated with news photography and community journalism ever since.

Stephens Media acquired the newspapers in 2006, and he worked for Stephens for several years. He became editor of the three newspapers and also shot photographs of University of Arkansas football games for Stephens Media. In 2014, Buffalo went to work for the zoned editions of the Arkansas DemocratGazette. He left that job in 2019 to go full-time in retail, while still handling some freelance work for the Democrat-Gazette and the Grand Prairie Herald in Hazen.

He spent his FBLA career days in high school at the Carlisle Independent, and was a summer intern at the Cabot Star-

Until 2014, the only job Buffalo had ever had was with the newspapers in Lonoke County.

“I can make her take a camera. She likes doing that,” Buffalo said.

First legislative update included in this issue The 93rd Arkansas General Assembly convened on Monday, and there are already several proposals the Arkansas Press Association is monitoring on behalf of its membership.

Bills to add exemptions to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act or to change the transparency requirements of legal notices have been filed and are likely to continue to be filed throughout this session.

“I like being able to tell a story, and as far as local hometown newspapers, I worked for my hometown newspaper for years,” he said. “I liked being able to highlight the achievements of the athletes I covered, since I mostly focused on sports. It gave me satisfaction to be able to do that.”

Buffalo said Bruce Guthrie, general manager of the Daily Citizen and Batesville Daily Guard, is a longtime friend who asked Buffalo if he’d be willing to do some freelance work and become sports editor of the Daily Citizen.

Buffalo said he’ll be working for those newspapers while continuing to do some freelance for the Hazen newspaper.

“My goals right now are to get back to enjoying what I was trained to do and build relationships with the athletes and coaches up in Searcy,” Buffalo said. “I’m excited for this opportunity.”

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During the session, APA will update members each week in Arkansas Publisher Weekly about important bills, their current status and their sponsors.

APA members are encouraged to contact their local representatives or senators to ask questions or voice their concerns about any bill.

The first Legislative Update of 2021 can be found on page 9 of this newsletter.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

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January 14, 2021

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—30­— Second round of PPP loans available U.S. Small Business Administration Sonny Hildebrand The has released the application for the second round of Paycheck Protection Program loans for businesses that were impacted by the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In a news release earlier this week, the National Newspaper Association told its members the application for PPP relief can be downloaded at sba.gov/sites/default/ files/2021-01/PPP%20Second%20 Draw%20Borrower%20Application%20 Form%20%281.8.2021%29.pdf.

Businesses eligible for a second PPP loan must have fewer than 300 employees, unless they are covered by a rule that allows independently operated affiliates to obtain separate PPP loans (This affiliate rule could apply to newspapers with corporate ownership that are locally autonomous; the Arkansas Press Association supported this rule).

The businesses must also have lost at least 25 percent in gross receipts in any

Roy Harold “Sonny” Hildebrand of Fayetteville died Friday, Jan. 8. He was 72.

The Kennett, Missouri, native worked in media sales in northwest Arkansas for more than three decades. Hildebrand worked at the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette from August 2009 until his retirement in 2018.

He was a veteran of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. During his time in military service, he was stationed in several posts throughout the United States and Europe.

He served as the halftime and competition announcer for the Fayetteville High School and Ramay Junior High bands, and he was the announcer for Northwest Arkansas Winds.

quarter of 2020 compared to the same quarter of 2019.

For loans less than $150,000, businesses are not required to provide documentation of their gross receipts loss unless they are applying for forgiveness of the loan.

The SBA is accepting applications until March 31.

MEDIA DIRECTORY The APA has published its annual Arkansas Media Directory in digital format for the first time ever, and the digital edition of the directory is available in our APA online store, https://bit.ly/2KfVOgJ

2020-2021 ARKANSAS

Media Directory Arkansas Press Association

The directory is $40.

Printed versions of the directory are also available in limited supply.

To purchase both a digital and printed version, the cost is $60.

He was a member of Sequoyah United Methodist Church in Fayetteville.

Hildebrand is survived by his wife of fifty years, Shirley; one son, Garrick Hildebrand; one daughter, Stacey Chambers of Van Buren; and two grandchildren.

Services were Wednesday, Jan. 13, with burial at Fayetteville National Cemetery.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

Arkansas Media Directory | 1

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January 14, 2021

-30James Wesley “Wes” Tate

-30Richard Folds Sarah Perry, editor of the newspaper.

“As publisher of Malvern Daily Record’s sister paper in Benton, I had the pleasure of working closely with Richard for several years before his retirement. I enjoyed our many conversations about the communities we serve, the people we have the opportunity to work with and the challenges we face,” Kelly Freudensprung, current publisher of the Malvern Daily Record and The Saline Courier, was quoted as saying.

“Richard’s continuous upbeat attitude was contagious.”

Richard Folds

Wes Tate

James Wesley “Wes” Tate, 48, of a native of Collinsville, Oklahoma, died on Dec. 30, 2020, of complications of COVID-19.

Tate was a former reporter for the Madison County Record and a one-time member of the Huntsville Planning Commission.

Former Record Editor Preston Tolliver wrote on Facebook, “Wes was my first reporter at the Madison County paper.

He made sure to come in often and dish out compliments and good vibes after he quit the paper. His radiance, kindness and general goofiness will be missed.”

Tate worked as a sports reporter and features writer for the Madison County Record in 2016. He served as secretary on the Planning Commission in 2017 and became chairman of that organization in 2018.

A graduate of Collinsville High School, Tate lived in Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a singing career before moving back closer to home.

He is survived by his mother and two brothers.

A memorial service was held Jan. 5 in Collinsville.

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Richard Folds, the former publisher of the Malvern Daily Record, died on Monday, Jan. 4. He was 84.

Folds was publisher of the Malvern newspaper from August 2000 until his retirement in July 2018. Before that he worked as advertising manager for the Daily Record, serving the newspaper for a total of 27 years.

He spent most of his career in sales, having also sold automobiles and women’s clothing at one time. He had been a supervisor in the engineering department at General Dynamics in San Diego, and he left the Daily Record in 1997 to develop and implement Hot Spring County’s 911 system before returning to the newspaper as publisher.

Friends and colleagues remembered Folds as a “gentle giant” for his kindness and personality, according to an article by

Folds was an ardent supporter of Malvern’s athletic programs and was featured on the Malvern High School Wall of Honor. He kept statistics for 16 years for Malvern’s high school teams, was the president of Malvern Little League Baseball and was coach of youth baseball and football teams.

He was a member of the Lions Club, serving as president, and was twice selected as Lion of the Year. He served on several local boards, including the Malvern/Hot Spring County Chamber of Commerce Board and the library board.

A native of Atlanta, Folds was a Navy veteran and a member of First Presbyterian Church.

He is survived by two sons, John Richard Folds and Wesley Thomas Folds; daughter Laura Jane Folds, four grandchildren; and two stepgrandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Jo Payne Folds, and five brothers and three sisters.

Arkansas Press Women

Encouraging communicators since 1949 Host of 2021 National Federation of Press Women Conference Professional Development, Networking & Contests Follow us 5

@ArkansasPressWomen January 14, 2021

Affinity Publisher webinar on Friday webinar on Friday, Jan. 15, to discuss Affinity Publisher.

The software, an alternative to InDesign and QuarkXPress, has a one-time cost rather than monthly fees like Adobe products. Slimp’s webinar will help publishers, editors and designers learn more about the product.

Slimp will show attendees the features of Affinity Publisher, how to open and edit InDesign files in the application and discuss the best methods for creating PDFs from Affinity. Slimp said the goal of the session is to demonstrate how Affinity Publisher could work for newspapers.

Kevin Slimp, a frequently featured speaker in newspaper training sessions and CEO of the Newspaper Academy, will host a 70-minute

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The cost of the webinar is $49. To register, visit NewspaperAcademy. com.

January 14, 2021

Guest Column: Social media is more social than a source of news

By Peter Wagner Community newspaper publishers shouldn’t worry that social media will force them down the road of last century’s buggy whip factories.

Buggy whips were manufactured for just one purpose. There was little demand for them when automobiles replaced the horse-drawn buggy.

Community newspapers, however, serve many needs and provide their most essential service far better than any independent website or social media page.

Hometown publications are credible. All the information published in a hometown paper is carefully researched, written and edited by committed professionals who put reporting facts ahead of being popular influencers. Those newspaper reporters and editors are local community members who are easily accessible walking down the street, in the coffee shops, at Friday night’s high school game and in church on Sunday. They interact with their readers every day and cannot afford to purposely make a misstatement or draw a wrong conclusion. Readers of the newspaper are fast to point out any errors, omissions or half-truths.

That accessibility is not always available with the blog writers and paid influencers pouring their words and undocumented ideas into the community. They often color their so-called news with personal opinion, misdirection or information favorable to their sponsors. Fortunately, many progressive, profitable, hometown publications operate in communities too small to have any serious social media information sites.

I’d like to offer four different reasons why community newspapers and shoppers should and could exist through any number of future digital revolutions.

1.Hometown newspapers create community.

History, scripture and human experience have proved that man was never meant to live alone gazing at a computer screen. Life can be best

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

enjoyed and effective when members of a community interact face-to-face visiting, working, relaxing, worshipping and achieving together as one body.

Community newspapers encourage that face-to-face involvement by keeping readers updated on the important local happenings that are discussed each morning around the office water cooler.

More notably, local newspapers promote interaction by drawing attention to the efforts of the local high school teams, sharing what will be new and exciting about an upcoming city celebration or perhaps through the announcement of the opening of a new business. Social media, with its multitude of competing messengers can’t do those things. Only the local paper, lovingly nurtured and published, reaches a broad enough audience to accomplish such magic.

2.Community newspapers assure consistency. It is difficult, if not impossible, to retrieve a message once heard on the radio, seen on television or discovered on the internet. But finding something earlier read in the hometown paper is easy. Many homes keep their copy up to two weeks after it is published. School and public libraries keep file copies anywhere from a month to a full year. Most newspapers still archive copies in bound volumes that are made available to the public at no charge.

Got a question about a city motion, huge fire or big game 10 years ago? It isn’t easy to obtain the information at the radio or television studio. It is possible to find it online, although it might require hours of searching. But if it was printed in the hometown paper, and just about everything that happens is, the details can quickly be found in a saved clipping in a desk or file drawer or by obtaining a photocopy from the newspaper.

3. Newspapers provide encouragement as well as criticism. Newspapers don’t just report the news, they support ideas that are good for the community. They also question ones that seem to fall short. Those comments are published on the editorial pages which often endorse

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and cheerlead wise decisions as well as question those that appear bad. It’s those opinions and editorials that help drive community thought and consensus. While some single-idea blogs and websites work to split the town apart, the newspaper, of all media, is the only one committed to bringing all citizens to having one mind regarding the making of the best decision for the majority of the community.

4. Newspapers follow a story to its completion. Unlike most other media which focuses on breaking news and hot topics, the community newspaper follows a story to the very end. Subscribers get the what, where, who and why from the newspaper even if the final chapter doesn’t happen for months. Radio, television and the internet sites don’t do that. Their news jumps from hour to hour like a child’s balloon in the wind. With the electronic media, breaking news often becomes old news before another hour passes.

So, what do those who still believe in the printed newspaper do to improve the current situation and to secure a positive future?

The truth is it is going to take a great deal of work. Overall, the publishing industry has let the naysayers shout their untruths for too long without making an adequate response. Television networks, most especially CBS, have boldly reported the decline of print numbers while hiding their huge loss of viewing numbers under a bushel basket. The newspaper industry lacks a national voice like “60 Minutes” to shine a light on the traditional network viewer’s deflection to a still growing number of cable channels.

Advertising on Facebook is limited by Facebook to as few as 25 percent of those who have “liked” that business.

Only newspapers can provide a certified list of what homes actually receive a client’s message any specific day or week.

Still, sharing that message with the local community is not enough to save Continued on Page 8

January 14, 2021

Guest Column: Social media is more social than a source of news Continued from Page 7

and grow the newspaper industry. The competition in local communities has grown immensely since newspapers had an exclusive lock on local advertising in the 1950s. Publishers are going to have to invest more in their news, creative and advertising sales teams to succeed.

No company has ever saved itself into success.

Advertising managers are going to have to create more fresh and unique promotions, packages and special sections to get their share of local advertising dollars.

Salespeople are going to have to stop

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

selling by sending out email and get back on the street where big decisions are made, and it is possible to sense a shift in the local marketing direction before it happens.

Newspapers aren’t dead, and they never will be. There will always be proud grandmothers who appreciate clippings of their family to hang on the refrigerator.

There will always be fans who want all the details of Friday’s game. There will always be watchdogs who want to know what is happening at city hall and the schools in an organized, edited package.

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It is true that newspapers can’t compete with Google and Facebook in their bigger world. But it is also true Google and Facebook don’t have the connections or influence of hometown papers in their market.

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.

January 14, 2021

93rd Arkansas General Assembly

Legislative Report APA is monitoring the following filed bills of interest to our industry and the public: Bill No. / Author

Short Description

APA Position

Current Status

HB 1007 Rep. Love

Creates a hotline and database for reported allegations of police civil rights abuses, but shields that database from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act https://bit.ly/35EM3A4

Pending

Awaits initial hearing in House Judiciary Committee

HB 1027 Rep. Cavenaugh

Eliminates the publication requirement for sale or removal of personal property in self-storage units https://bit.ly/2XIfWeK

Opposes

Awaits initial hearing in House Insurance and Commerce Committee

HB 1051 Rep. Eubanks

Requires private investigators to display a license number, company name or statement referring to a website or tollfree number on any advertisements. https://bit.ly/2LoYGIV

Neutral

Awaits initial hearing in House State Agencies Committee

HB 1056 Rep. L. Fite

Amends the FOIA to allow for governing bodies to meet virtually during emergencies. https://bit.ly/35H6xZ2

Neutral

Awaits initial hearing in House State Agencies Committee

HB 1139 Rep. Vaught

Provides an FOIA exemption for investigations and audits by the State Board of Embalmers, Funeral Directors, Cemeteries and Burial Services https://bit.ly/2XMCRVX

Opposes

Awaits initial hearing in House Insurance and Commerce Committee

HB 1140 Rep. Vaught

Amends publication requirements for notice of construction of a crematorium to allow for publication in the digital edition of a legal newspaper https://bit.ly/3qyJt75

Neutral

Awaits initial hearing in House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee

SB 64 Sen. Irvin

Removes the requirement for publishing school district annual reports in a local newspaper https://bit.ly/35GcSEg

Opposes

Awaits initial hearing in Senate Education Committee

SB 84 Sen. B. Davis

Makes minor changes to style and contents of a notice of abandoned property https://bit.ly/35CchU3

Neutral

Awaits initial hearing in Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee

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January 14, 2021