Arkansas Publisher Weekly: February 6, 2020

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Arkansas Press Women contest deadline Feb. 11

Guest Column:

Will press associations survive when needed more than ever?

By Peter Wagner

Arkansas Press Association

Publisher Weekly Vol. 15 | No. 6 | Thursday, February 6, 2020 | Serving Press and State Since 1873

Registration open for 2020 APA Ad Conference Register now for the Arkansas Press Association’s annual advertising conference, scheduled for March 12-13 at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain near Morrilton.

Register at www.arkansaspress.org.

Registration for the two-day conference is $125. The registration fee covers conference materials, meals, breaks and a Thursday evening reception.

This year’s speaker is Bill Ostendorf, a self-described “highly critical optimist” who has helped newspapers across the country grow revenue and circulation. An expert in newspaper redesign, he has led redesign for more than 650 newspapers and 300 websites. He is president of Rhode Island-based Creative Circle Media Solutions.

Ostendorf will lead two sessions, one on

improving ad design to increase revenue and another on classified advertising revenue growth. Both those sessions are Thursday, March 12.

The conference on March 12 also includes an evening reception and dinner.

The Friday, March 13, schedule includes the ever-popular “Hot Ideas!” discussion where publishers and advertising directors can share with other APA members their best ideas for advertising growth.

The conference concludes that day with the annual luncheon to recognizing the winners of the 2020 Better Newspaper Advertising Contest.

Participants who wish to reserve a hotel room at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute may do so on their registration forms.

Rooms are $115 per night.

Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain

APA Ad Conference keynote speaker Bill Ostendorf

Vote now in APA special election to amend bylaws Ballots have been distributed to the designated voter at each Arkansas Press Association member newspaper in a special election to amend the association’s constitution.

APA Executive Director Ashley Wimberley encouraged voters to return their ballots by mail by the March 2 deadline.

“All voting members should have their voices heard, so we ask every designated voter to take the time to mark a ballot and return it as soon as possible,” Wimberley said. “Passing this amendment will allow us to further amend our constitution and

bylaws going forward so that we can adapt to the changing landscape of the newspaper industry.”

The amendment proposed by the APA Board of Directors would streamline the method for approving future changes to the association’s governing documents.

The APA constitution currently requires an affirmative vote of two-thirds of all APA members to modify the constitution and bylaws. In recent elections, though, it’s been difficult just to obtain enough returned ballots from two-thirds of membership.

The proposed amendment allows changes with a two-thirds vote of members who submitted ballots. This amendment reflects a typical election process where results are decided based on the total number of ballots cast, rather than by the total number of registered voters.

The change also encourages increased voter participation. As it is now, any vote not submitted has the same effect as a “no” vote.

Members with questions should contact Wimberley directly at (501) 374-1500 or ashley@arkansaspress.org.

Camden News Judge keeps gag order in Collins murder case; won’t open records celebrates court judge in Randolph County overseeing the case after multiple other centennial year Alastcircuit week rejected efforts by the Arkansas judges recused, told APA’s attorneys that The Camden News is observing its 100th anniversary this year with weekly glimpses back to the archives and several planned special events.

The Ouachita County newspaper was founded in 1920 by Curtis B. Hurley. It is currently owned by WEHCO Media.

“The Camden News wouldn’t have made it to the century mark without support from our readers and advertisers,” the newspaper’s editorial board said in a recent editorial. “We hope you’ll help us celebrate 100 years of community news by sharing memories you have of the newspaper, either reading it or delivering it.”

The board asked readers who have old photos or articles to share to send them to cslinkard@camdenarknews.com to potentially be published.

The newspaper is celebrating with a new flag published throughout the year as well as a feature called “From the Archives.”

The board said it would share details about other centennial events throughout the year.

INDUSTRY QUOTE Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault.

It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.

—Henry Anatole Grunwald

Press Association and the ABC television network to unseal records in former State Sen. Linda Collins’s murder case.

Attorneys for APA and ABC argued that the court’s decision to block access to all records regarding the investigation of Collins’ death harmed the public’s right to know. The clampdown on information violates the First Amendment, and without knowing more information about the investigation, the public must rely only on rumors and innuendo.

Information about the case was initially sealed immediately after Collins’s murder last June. Special Judge John Fogelman,

he would review all the documents that previous judges had sealed and would make his own determination as to whether they should be sealed. He also kept in place a gag order to prevent parties from discussing the case, according to a report in the Jonesboro Sun. Prosecutors argued that any information released about the case had the potential to taint a jury pool.

Further, Fogelman ordered investigators to turn over any new documents in the investigation to him for the judge to make a determination as to whether those documents should also be blocked from public view.

Headlight’s Larry Miller retires after 50 years in the newspaper industry Larry Miller, who in 2019 was a recipient of the Arkansas Press Association’s “Golden 50” Service Award, has retired from his long-time role as editor of the Petit Jean Country Headlight in Morrilton.

Miller stepped down from the post on Dec. 31.

Miller started full-time at the newspaper two weeks before he graduated high school in May 1969 and has continuously served the Conway County community ever since. Even before 1969, he delivered newspapers and submitted his photographs to the Headlight. He earned the nickname of “Flash” Miller in high school because of his love of photography.

In a farewell column in the newspaper, Miller said this about the drastic changes to the industry over the course of five decades: “Seeing the progress the newspaper industry has made through the years can be compared to riding in a horse-drawn buggy to getting into a jet airplane. Technology is both a wonder and a curse.”

Larry Miller

County Sheriff Marlin Hawkins and of the late Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller, who lived on Petit Jean Mountain.

After hiring on as a photographer and dark-room technician, Miller worked almost every possible job at the Headlight.

“You can’t stay with something for 50 years and not have a heart for it,” Miller said last year when he received his Golden 50 award. “ … The newspaper business is an interesting career. I’ve always been a nosy kind of guy. It’s nice to be nosy and get paid for it.”

He also worked as a freelance reporter for the Arkansas Gazette, covering the devastating 1982 flood in Clinton. During his career, he covered legendary Conway

He will continue to serve as pastor of Morrilton Christian Center, which he founded. Miller also owns a local television station.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly 2 February 6, 2020

Arkansas Press Women contest deadline Feb. 11

—30— Edward Jay Friedlander Edward Jay Friedlander, 74, of Tampa, died Friday, Jan. 31. Friedlander was a journalism educator for more than 50 years, and was a journalism professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for two decades, from 1975 to 1995.

Tuesday, Feb. 11, is the last day to enter the annual Arkansas Press Women Communications Contest. The early deadline for entry was in late January, so late entries will be assessed a one-time fee of $25.

Arkansas communicators may enter a diverse sampling of work in the contest, with eligible entries being work completed at any time during the 2019 calendar year.

First-place winners from Arkansas are eligible to compete in the national contest, with those honorees being recognized during the 2020 National Federation of Press Women conference held in Little Rock in June. This marks the first time in three decades that Arkansas has hosted the national conference.

For rules, categories and to submit entries, visit https://nfpwcontest.secure-platform. com/a/organizations/AR/home For additional information, or if you have questions, contact Helen Plotkin, communications contest chairwoman, at haplotkin@outlook.com

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Friedlander, a native of Maine, was a reporter for daily newspapers in Wyoming, Pennsylvania and Colorado, a White House and Capitol Hill reporter for the U.S.

Information Agency and a film publicist for Universal Pictures in New York before he started teaching.

After joining the journalism department at UALR, he was later named department chair and was a professor emeritus at the school. He moved to the University of South Florida in 1995 and was director of the School of Mass Communications at that school until his retirement.

Friedlander co-authored a number of textbooks used by more than 250 colleges and universities across the country. His work has been in more than 40 newspapers.

He is survived by one daughter.

The family asks that memorial contributions be made to the Poynter Institute or “any other organization which promotes excellence in journalism and journalism education.”

FAA publishes proposed drone ID rule The Federal Aviation Administration has published its proposed rule to require most drones to have “electronic license plates” that provides identification information while they are in the air. The proposal will require unmanned aircraft systems larger than 0.55 pounds to transmit an ID signal while flying, according to Stacey Woelfel, director of aerial journalism at the University of Missouri.

The digital ID will identify the latitude and longitude of the drone as well as that of the drone pilot.

restrictions on drone flying in order to make newsgathering better.

Now, drones cannot fly out of a pilot’s line of slight or fly over people. The FAA has specifically said it is considering allowing flights out of the line of sight of the flyer and over crowds, he said.

The rule is in a 60-day comment period.

If the FAA moves forward, it could be fully implemented by 2023, Woelfel said.

Woelfel said the proposal “has plenty for journalists to cheer.”

He said the skies now have a kind of Wild West feel, with unregistered, noncommercial drones that can’t be tracked.

Commercial drones and their flyers must still be registered with the FAA and all hobby flyers must register each of their drones individually, he said.

He said journalists should hope the rule change means the FAA will ease some existing 3

February 6, 2020

Guest Column: Will press associations survive when needed more than ever?

By Peter Wagner “By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall,” wrote Pennsylvanian activist John Dickinson in 1768.

Those words held true for the American colonies then and hold true for our free and paid paper industry today.

The newspaper and shopper business is often difficult today. One out-of-state publisher friend sent me a discouraging Christmas message this year. He wrote “with the economy hovering near a depression, and our farmers saved only by a bumper crop two years in a row, business has been tough. We’ve downsized our operation again and again and both my wife and I have taken outside jobs part of the time.”

But if times are tough with press associations, how would our business be without them?

Trade groups have always banded together to create a bigger voice in Washington and provide better opportunities at home.

Our state and national press associations have lobbied for better postal rates, a greater understanding of the need for legal notices, more transparent open meetings, improved independent contractor laws and most importantly, among many other issues, “Freedom of the Press.”

Many state associations, and at least one national press association, have regularly made an expert available to offer specific advice on how to handle problems with local postal officials.

Others in that same national association have time and again traveled to Washington to testify before post office hearings in regard to mailing costs ontime delivery and difficult, sometime unnecessary, postal regulations.

Additionally, paid and free paper press associations have helped both young

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

and experienced editors and publishers find needed staff members, connect with professors and administrators at nearby journalism schools and obtain unbiased information regarding new ideas in management and changes in publishing equipment.

Without press associations, many papers would find it difficult to purchase libel insurance, afford a reliable attorney who understands newspaper issues, embark on industry-organized international tours or benefit from organizational sales of regional, state or national advertising sales.

Most importantly, without press associations, many current and future independent publishers would find themselves without the value of volunteer one-on-one peer mentoring, the sharing of much-needed new revenue ideas, the joy of receiving publishing profession awards and recognition and the enduring social and professional relationships so important to us all.

Unfortunately, press associations are an endangered species. The nation’s large publishing chains are often no longer joining state and even national press associations. Others, when they do join, are requiring membership fees at greatly reduced per-publication rates.

“We have our own training, legal and lobbying departments,” the large groups say. “We can’t justify paying for the same services twice. Besides, we want our people at home, at work, and not off at some convention or conference.”

Smaller papers, too, are also not renewing their membership in local associations.

“We just can’t afford it,” they claim.

But the truth is, “You cannot save yourself into success.” Publishers, like

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all businesses, need to invest in their knowledge and expand their connections to grow and profit. Press associations still provide solid roads to exceptional profit.

Having worked with almost all the press associations in America and Canada over the last two decades, I am worried about the future of press associations. I often tell participants at my seminars “when I make any paper better, I increase the value and longevity of my publications.”

In a time when so many metro papers are declining and even disappearing, I see a good future for smaller, homeowned papers. Those publications, with a continued investment in providing local, credible information not available anywhere else, will still be desired and needed for a long time.

And with the growth of local digital publishing, combined with traditional printed papers, that positive future can extend far beyond anyone’s speculation or expectation.

Even the strongest independent publisher cannot stand alone. We need, and will continue to need, our press associations to be the united “grassroots” voice in our communities, state legislatures and in Washington, DC. Encourage your friends and neighboring publishers currently wavering on the sidelines to join in and support the future of the “free press.” Let’s keep our press associations healthy and effective.

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.

February 6, 2020

Arkansas Press Association

2020 Ad Conference March 12-13 Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Petit Jean Mountain

Conference Schedule THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2020 1:00 PM 1:30 PM

Registration Opens Welcome, Introductions & Announcements Session One: Better Ad Design Will Drive Your Revenue

This session will review some principals of good ad design that need to be applied to print and web advertising, give you tips about how to get the right information from advertisers, explain the role of ad size, visuals and headlines in readership and conversion and address issues of ad layout in print and online.

Presented by Bill Ostendorf

3:00 PM 3:30 PM

Break

Session Two: Why Classifieds Could Be Newspapers’ Next Big Thing You will leave this session with a new perspective that will help you re-energize your classified revenue, both in print and online. We’ll show you new ways to make more money with classifieds.

Presented by Bill Ostendorf

6:00 PM

Reception Lodge Great Room

7:00 PM

Group Dining River Rock Grill

8:30 PM

Group Gathering Lodge Great Room

FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2020 8:00 AM 8:30 AM 10:00 AM 10:15 AM NOON

Breakfast HOT Ideas!

Break Panel Discussion 2020 Better Newspaper Advertising Awards Luncheon

Guest Speaker Bill Ostendorf is president and founder of Creative Circle Media Solutions, a network of talent he has been building for more than 30 years. An energetic and entertaining speaker, he has been featured at hundreds of industry conferences in 23 countries. He has a BSJ in magazine writing and an MSJ in newspaper reporting and management, from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and was trained as a reporter. He aspired to be a columnist, but quickly moved from reporting to editing to design.

“My bosses kept asking me if I could take pictures, manage the photo department, design pages or redesign papers,” he said. “I kept saying ‘yes’ to these new assignments when I probably should have said ‘no.’ But I developed a passion for helping people avoid all the mistakes I had to suffer through learning on the job.”

Bill has become an innovator in finding new ways for newspapers and other media companies to grow their revenues, especially online. He has led redesigns of more than 650 publications and more than 300 web sites. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Fran.

Arkansas Press Association

2020 Ad Conference Sign Up Today!

Newspaper:________________________________________________________________________________ Mailing Address:_____________________________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip:_______________________________________________________________________________ Phone:_______________________ Fax:__________________________ Email: _________________________ Attendee Name: 1. _____________________________________________________________________________________ 2. _____________________________________________________________________________________ 3. _____________________________________________________________________________________ 4. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Please list any additional names on a separate sheet.

Conference Fee ($125) Includes: Reception, Thursday Dinner, Breaks, Friday Breakfast, Awards Banquet, and all Conference Materials.

Total Attendees:

x $125 Full Conference Fee $

x $115 Hotel Room $

x $40 Awards (Lunch Only) $ TOTAL $

Room 1: Double / King

Person 1:

Payment Options:

Check Enclosed Credit Card # Expiration Date

Person 2:

Bill Me

Circle One

Person 1: Person 2:

Room 2: Double / King

Room 3: Double / King

Circle One

Circle One

Person 1:

VCN#

Person 2:

Please list any additional names on a separate sheet.

Register online at http://www.arkansaspress.org/event/2020AdConference or send registration and payment by Friday, March 6 to: Arkansas Press Association, 411 South Victory, Little Rock, AR 72201 or Fax 501.374.7509.