Arkansas Publisher Weekly: February 10, 2022

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Postal Reform bill passes the House of Representatives Guest Column: Needed legislation for journalism’s future

By The Atlanta JournalConstitution

Arkansas Press Association

Publisher Weekly Vol.17 | No. 6 | Thursday, February 10, 2022 | Serving Press and State Since 1873

APW president speaks about organization’s future Arkansas Press Women has caught its breath, and is charging into 2022 and beyond with energy, ideas and questions about how to strengthen itself as a resource for Arkansas journalists.

Kristin Netterstrom Higgins is president of APW. She says the past few years the organization has been almost singularly focused on the massive preparations needed to host the National Federation of Press Women’s annual conference, originally planned to be an in-person Little Rock conference in 2020, but which had to transform into a virtual conference in 2021.

“Our state hadn’t hosted since the 1980s,” Netterstrom Higgins says. “... and people still tell stories about that conference in Little Rock [which first introduced many journalists in the U.S. to Hillary Rodham Clinton, among other speakers], so it was a lot of pressure!”

The chapter pulled it all together. The conference the chapter had been planning for since 2018 featured speakers such as Michelle Duster, a descendant of trailblazing journalist Ida B. Wells and Little Rock Nine member Elizabeth Eckford. It was a success, but an exhausting one.

“We’ve been recuperating and recovering from that really intensive project,” Netterstrom Higgins says, adding that a focus of late is reframing what the “small group of passionate individuals” active in Arkansas Press Women today looks like going forward.

The organization was founded in Arkansas in 1949 to give women a greater voice in journalism. In that time “before the interstates and the internet,” it had a greater emphasis on its local

APW President Kristin Netterstrom Higgins with Alexandria Brown, recipient of the APW 2021 college scholarship.

organization in different regions of the state, Netterstrom Higgins says. “It was organized to have more regional events and regional directors. I would love to increase our regional participation outside of Central Arkansas.”

She says APW leadership has been asking questions like, “How do we continue to have a presence? What can we offer Arkansas communicators that they don’t

get somewhere else? Do we change our name? How do we stay relevant? How do we engage the next generation of journalists?”

Besides expanding regionally, she’d like the organization, which is open to men now, to increase its role in and interconnectedness with Arkansas’s communications community. A personal goal of Netterstrom Higgins’ is to build Continued on Page 2

APW president speaks about organization’s future Continued from Page 1

stronger relationships with organizations like Society for Professional Journalists, the local chapters of the National Association of Black Journalists and Public Relations Society of America, the Arkansas Broadcast Journalists Association, Arkansas Press Association and others. “A lot of what we do overlaps, but we still have our own niches,” she says.

“Being an organization established to give women a voice in journalism, it feels like we’ve come a long way when you look at newsrooms and see how many more women are involved in journalism,” Netterstrom Higgins says. “But still we see a need to focus on press women.”

Protecting the Freedom of Information Act is another priority, and Netterstrom Higgins says APW has been actively working with other groups to champion laws that protect the act from those who would weaken it. “We do have a seat at that table,” she says. “You can’t have too many organizations involved when it comes to the Freedom of Information Act.” One goal the organization has pursued of late is finding and digitizing its history, including its history of remarkable women in Arkansas. Some historical information from chapters of yesteryears is tucked into a file cabinet, she says, while other pertinent documents given by former APW members to their local libraries have to be tracked down.

An archival project already spearheaded this year by retired APW member Wendy Plotkin involves digitizing a 1970s-era publication created by APW, Horizons: 100 Historic Women of Achievement, featuring accomplished Arkansas women of that time, some of whom were in journalism.

With initial scanning now complete, APW is deciding how to best share the inspiring material with its members and make it accessible to the public.

Many of APW’s events will continue to be held on Zoom this year — for health safety, but also for the efficacy of connecting members and volunteers all over the state. Also in the plans is setting up a mentorship program with high school journalism students. “We’re always interested in opportunities to partner with other organizations, as well,” Netterstrom Higgins says.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

She says in many ways APW has been a model for other state affiliates of NFPW, but a major focus here is growing the Arkansas membership and getting more people involved. In 2021, APW gave its old, blog-style website a fresh, more dynamic overhaul, and the organization maintains an active presence through Facebook and Twitter. Netterstrom Higgins says APW would love to convert more of its fans to dues-paying members.

“We’re a small group. We would love to be more robust, have more members, because having more members is more fun, and we like to have fun here,” she says. “I think our challenges are the same challenges organizations across the country have faced with people trying to figure out how to spend their limited time.

Do they give their time to this organization or this one or this one? But we’re trying to address that through virtual meetings, having that national affiliation, connecting through our social media presence.

“We still see a place for Arkansas Press Women in our state, still see it as an organization for all types of communicators to come together and enjoy each other’s company, grow our network, be able to compete, be able to give back to high school and college journalists and also watch over the state’s Freedom of Information Act.” Other ongoing ways people can help include offering venues for events, including luncheons, award ceremonies and professional development events; suggesting fascinating speakers who will pique the interest of Arkansas communicators; recruiting more APW members who have the bandwidth and capacity to get involved at a leadership level; helping with its college scholarship program; and spreading the word to members of the next generation that APW is a resource available to them.

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Netterstrom Higgins also welcomes feedback. She says APW would love to hear from more people – members or not – about what would be useful to them from the organization. “We want to know, what are you interested in? What would be helpful? How can we accommodate and encourage those interests?”

While APW was originally started for newspaper women (Arkansas Newspaper Women was its original name), and while newspapers remain a vital part of their work and membership, the organization welcomes more types of outlets, too, such as members from more weeklies and digital organizations. Just as the APW/ NFPW annual contest has categories far beyond newspaper reporting, the organization wants to maintain a diversity of types of media and communicators in its ranks.

“Nothing happens if no one gets involved, but amazing things can happen when you do. My main goal is to continue this organization into something that people want to participate in and support in the future,” Netterstrom Higgins says. “We want people to know you can be part of our organization, help build it. Because I’m not always going to be here, and our other members are not always going to be here, but we want it to be something that can continue for another 70 years.”

Reach Kristin Netterstrom Higgins at arkpresswomen@yahoo.com, and find more information, including how to join, at arkansaspresswomen.org.

INDUSTRY QUOTE “I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate shortterm weapon.”

– Tom Stoppard February 10, 2022

Postal Reform bill passes the House of Representatives On Tuesday the House of Representatives passed the bipartisan Postal Service Reform Act, HR 3076, by a roll-call vote of 342 to 92, sending a landmark postal bill to the Senate for consideration.

pursued by NNA since debate on saving universal mail service commenced in recent years. NNA was instrumental in the passage of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, but that

Brett Wesner, National Newspaper Association chair and publisher of Wesner Publications, Cordell, OK, said NNA was celebrating a long-awaited signal

by Congress that it was serious about preserving mail service in the United States.

“This day has finally come,” Wesner said.

“We greatly appreciate the hard work of Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and James Comer (R-KY) in crafting a bill that drew wide bipartisan support, despite some unaccountable resistance. These two leaders came up with a complex bill that will give the United States Postal Service some financial running room and, more importantly, demonstrate to the nation that we value this national treasure.

Now it is on to the Senate.”

The bill would accomplish several goals

only two years and then an ailing USPS transferred the obligation to debt on its balance sheet. The rising debt alarmed the Postal Regulatory Commission, which gave USPS authority to pass along substantial postage increases. In 2023, newspapers can expect two increases totaling nearly 10 percent in higher costs.

The PSRA would roll back the debt, requiring USPS to lower its retiree health costs by shifting about a quarter of its retirees into Medicare, for which Medicare taxes have already been paid.

legislation picked up a late amendment that saddled USPS with a $5 billion annual obligation to prefund retiree health costs for 75 years.

The prefunding requirement was met for

Other important provisions in the bill include a mandate for continued 6-day mail service. It also would allow community newspapers to use the mail to send sample copies to potential new subscribers.

Reps. French Hill, Bruce Westerman, and Steve Womack all voted “yea” in favor of the bill. Rep. Steve Womack was the lone “nay” of the Arkansas delegation.

Agriculture is

Essential Telling the story of our state’s #1 industry.

Public Relations Contacts Steve Eddington 501-228-1383 | steve.eddington@arfb.com

Rob Anderson 501-228-1640 | rob.anderson@arfb.com

For photos, video, news, commentary and more, visit www.ArFB.com

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February 10, 2022

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Ostendorf returns to APA Advertising Conference as featured speaker and ad directors in 23 countries on a wide range of topics, will discuss ways to more fully understand the needs of your advertisers and how to create effective ads that will bring both readers and response.

Ostendorf’s company, Creative Circle Media Solutions, provides custom web design and programming for newspaper clients, as well as hosts hundreds of media websites. They launched the industry’s first integrated paywall and first user-contributed content platform in 2005.

Over the years Creative Circle has helped redesign more than 700 print publications and 350 websites.

Popular speaker Bill Ostendorf is returning to the 2022 APA Advertising Conference as the keynote speaker.

Ostendorf, who has led thousands of training sessions for journalists, publishers

This year’s conference will be held via Zoom on Friday, March 11, and will also include the Better Newspaper Advertising Contest awards ceremony. Registration is open at tinyurl.com/2022AdConference.

Support the future of Arkansas journalism through the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation.

Your donation will help: • Promote the welfare of the community

newspaper industry.

• Fund legislative efforts to protect

transparency in state government.

• Cultivate educational opportunities for future

journalists.

• Ensure the viability of the newspaper industry

for years to come.

Donate securely at: arkansaspress.org/page/aboutanf or mail a check to: Arkansas Newspaper Foundation 411 South Victory Street | Little Rock AR 72201 The Arkansas Newspaper Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization.

All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowable under law.

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Be careful to include required language on political ads As we enter into primary election season, APA member newspapers are reminded to be careful to include the required disclaimers on political advertising.

Regarding political advertising for Arkansas elections, including advertising placed by or for candidates running for local or State office, political action committees, ballot issues, or in regard to local issues such as taxes or millage increases, Ark. Code Ann. §7-1-103(7)(A) states: (i) All articles, statements, or communications appearing in any newspaper printed or circulated in this state intended or calculated to influence the vote of any elector in any election and for the publication of which a consideration is paid or to be paid shall clearly contain the words “Paid Political Advertisement,” “Paid Political Ad,” or “Paid for by” the candidate, committee, or person who paid for the message. (ii) Both the persons placing and the persons publishing the articles, statements, or communications shall be responsible for including the required disclaimer.

If ads are run without the required language, the newspaper can be held at fault, even if the ad copy was supplied ready to run by the candidate, PAC or their ad agency, or approved by the candidate.

Although not defined by Arkansas code, the Federal Election Commission says that required disclaimers must be “clear and conspicuous”. A disclaimer is not considered clear and conspicuous if it is difficult to read or if its placement is easily overlooked. 12-point black type on a white background is recommended by the FEC.

February 10, 2022

RJI Fellow offers tips for supporting Journalists of journalists of color in the newsroom Color invited to that,’ one person told me,” Carew Grovum writes.

She says, “One journalist reported that their boss used these opportunities to berate them about what they haven’t done/ tried/achieved, and so they’ve actively begun avoiding these conversations and meetings.”

But, she says, journalists of color aren’t willing to wait forever forever for these conversations to get started.

Emma Carew Grovum

Newsrooms can take steps to better support journalists of color, concludes a Feb. 3 editorial from the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri by current RJI fellow Emma Carew Grovum.

Carew Grovum interviewed 14 journalists of color working in local news, varying in seniority, experience, medium and newsroom type from across the United States.

She says many described a lack of opportunity for growth. Some had managers who rarely spoke to them about their ambitions beyond the day-to-day job. Others were members of small or flat teams with little room for promotion or advancement. In some cases, the journalist had already left one local newsroom for another, either because they were getting a salary bump they couldn’t get internally or were ready for a change in manager and team.

“But in speaking with these varied journalists of color, I found fire and I found passion,” she writes. She found key takeaways for conscientious newsroom leaders who want to support and retain their minority journalists to keep in mind: Direct managers need to be driving the conversation about growth and development.

“Several of the folks I spoke with said they didn’t have regular check-ins of any kind with their direct manager, and that conversations about growth and professional development were few and far between, if the conversations existed at all. ‘I’ve never had a conversation like

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“One journalist I interviewed said after their paper went through the Tables Stakes program, they felt that leadership had an eye on them as a potential editor.

‘It’s something that might create an opportunity if I stay for 10 years,’ they told me. Meanwhile, they’ve watched peers from their fellowship program ascend to bigger jobs and newsrooms.”

She urges, “If you see potential in a young journalist of color, tell them. If you are seeing them display leadership-like qualities, invite them into a conversation and ask if you can help them develop those skills.”

Managers need to be creating regular (e.g.: annual and quarterly) goal-setting opportunities to review progress and gain feedback.

“JOCs told me that their jobs and roles are constantly changing, especially during the pandemic and periods of high turnover.

This makes it difficult to measure success and progress, and means folks aren’t able to clearly understand how to level up,” Carew Grovum writes. “If you aren’t meeting with your direct reports for weekly or biweekly 1:1s, now is a great time to start having them, so that you are better prepared to have discussions about goal setting and giving tough feedback.”

Mentorship of JOCs, especially as they are just starting in their careers, but also continuing with them as they grow into the next and more advanced phases of their work, is absolutely crucial.

While several journalists mentioned having outside mentors, few said they had found mentors within their organizations.

apply for Minority Fellowship America’s Newspapers and the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation are inviting nominations for a new Minority Fellowship opportunity designed to bolster racial diversity and increase engagement by employees of color at newspapers.

This Minority Fellowship is open to employees from any newspaper in the United States. Candidates may be nominated by their employer, or selfnominated. The deadline for nominations is Feb. 28.

This fellowship has been developed for publishers, senior managers and emerging managers of color to attend the 2022 Mega-Conference in Orlando, Florida, on April 10-12, 2022. Scholarships include the conference registration, valued at $495, and the reimbursement of travel and hotel expenses relating to attendance at the Mega-Conference, up to $1,000.

Dean Ridings, CEO of America’s Newspapers, expressed his gratitude to the SNPA Foundation for funding these fellowships and encouraged newspapers to nominate deserving executives of color. “America’s Newspapers and the SNPA Foundation believe that increasing diversity in newspaper leadership needs to be an industry focus,” he said.

“Giving these executives the opportunity to connect with their peers at a major industry conference like the MegaConference is a great way to help them develop professional relationships as well as to exchange best practices and ideas.”

Ten minority fellowships will be awarded.

The application form can be found at jotform.com/220265387079159.

Those selected for the Minority Fellowships will be notified by Friday, March 4.

Questions about this Minority Fellowship program should be addressed to Greg Watson, chief marketing officer, America’s Newspapers, at gwatson@newspapers. org or 847-282-9850, ext. 104.

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“If you can, pair staff with a mentor, ideally another journalist of color, internally. If

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February 10, 2022

Tips for supporting journalists of color in the newsroom Continued from Page 6

you can’t find the right fit within your own newsroom, use your network externally to find someone who might be a good match,” she recommends.

Managers need to make paths for JOCs to ascend into leadership roles and support them in their growth.

“I’ve definitely thought about it, because I wish that I had a manager of color,” one journalist of color told her. “I wish I had someone in leadership who was a person of color, and I know I could probably be that person for other people someday.”

Carew Grovum says the prospect of being “The Only Person of Color at the Table” feels daunting. One journalist said ascending into management would only create a new level of emotional exhaustion from having to convince the others at the table of their positions on race or diversity.

“It’s not enough to simply tell the journalist of color that you see them ‘someday’ ascending into leadership,” Carew Grovum says. “It’s time to take action: give them

those stretch assignments, recruit other leaders of color so they’ll have peers and mentors, clear the way for new, exciting and flexible roles to be created with them in mind.”

Pay for journalists of color working in local news tends to be low, burnout high.

One journalist reported making $28,000 in a previous job, which they ended up having to leave for financial reasons. “I felt like I was doing good work, I felt like I deserved more, but there was really nowhere for me to go,” this journalist told Carew Grovum. She says even though they’ve been in a newer and better-paying job for almost two years, they still feel a lack of growth and opportunity. “I don’t know what the next step is,” they told her.

Carew Grovum recommends seeking to give raises and promotions internally when possible, especially for strong journalists who are likely to get poached by competitors.

Editors and managers of color can

make a huge difference when it comes to retention.

Grovum says some journalists of color she interviewed had exclusively worked for white managers, and only a few had experienced working with a manager of color. In some situations, these journalists reported having a better sense of alignment with their managers of color: “We’re totally on the same page, we can be honest about things, and we can talk to each other about things when we think something is wrong.”

Give them respect.

Grovum asked everyone she interviewed what it would take, in terms of money and role/responsibilities, to keep them in their current local news market. She says one interviewee summed it up best: “It would be respect,” they said. “That’s it. Just have someone be respectful of the work that I do, and acknowledge how much effort I put into it. That’s what it would take to keep me in this current place.”

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Guest Column: Needed legislation for journalism’s future By: The Editorial Board, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution This nation’s founders deemed the news business so important an underpinning of democracy that they included protection of it in the very first amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Some 230 years later, the necessity of a robust news reporting industry to a free society is as important as ever. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Editor Kevin Riley has called our work “an irreplaceable public service.”

In recognition of that importance, Americans relentlessly and routinely seek out accurate news and information to help them better live their lives – and best inform the decisions and actions they undertake as citizens and community members.

According to industry group the News Media Alliance, online traffic to the top 50 news sites is up 39% since 2014. The group says news organizations reach about 136 million U.S. adults each week.

It might seem surprising then that the news industry has struggled financially for years. Nationally, the alliance says newspaper circulation is down 48% since 2002.

The rise of the Internet age has made it much harder for news providers to compete financially. In large part, that’s because digital giants such as Google and Facebook are distributing the news industry’s journalism product on a massive scale while paying far too little for its use.

The math essentially works like this: For every dollar earned from digital advertising, the digital mega-platforms take as much as 70 cents. That leaves publishers working hard to do original news reporting with the remaining 30 cents on a dollar. That can become even less once an “ad-tech tax” is subtracted.

The result of this revenue squeeze has been the layoffs of thousands of dedicated journalists nationwide in recent years.

Local newspapers in some communities have even closed as dollars that had supported their work disappeared.

As the number of reporters keeping watch Arkansas Publisher Weekly

on your behalf over government and other entities has shrunk, it’s created a vacuum that’s enabled the rise of misinformation.

Many of us recognize the damage that’s causing to the American way of democracy whose strength we had been lulled into thinking was unassailable.

The alliance comprised of many of the news organizations that work for you has proposed a path toward building a sustainable financial model for journalism.

A bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers is sponsoring the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. It was the subject of a U.S. Senate committee hearing this week.

Its premise is this, as explained by News Media Alliance President and CEO David Chavern in a 2020 opinion piece: “It is simply not possible for any individual news publisher to change the basic terms offered by the online behemoths. They are simply much too big and much too influential.” His is a common-sense point, given the ubiquity of social media and online search brands in our daily lives.

The JCPA proposes a solution that would provide “power in numbers” as Chavern wrote. It would do so by creating an antitrust “safe harbor,” limited in time and scope, for struggling news organizations.

The bill calls for a four-year window that would allow news publishers to collectively negotiate with Facebook and Google for fair compensation for the platforms’ use of news content. The alliance says the JCPA would “help develop pro-competitive, business-led solutions that would flow subscription and advertising dollars back to publishers and help to protect quality news and encourage competition.”

The group of news publishers goes on to explain that “market-based legislation is the only appropriate way to correct the competitive imbalance that our existing antitrust laws are unable to address.”

Many of you reading this are aware of the importance of robust journalistic work, thanks in good part to The Atlanta JournalConstitution’s “Press On” information 9

campaign we began in 2021. Press On showcases our important duties – and the journalists who work hard to keep you informed about critical issues affecting our lives, such as the impact of COVID-19 or the steep rise in violent crime.

As editor Riley wrote at the launch of Press On, “Journalism is a fundamentally human endeavor. That is what sets us apart from the automated, repetitive news cycles that seem to have taken over. Across all our products, readers can expect to consistently find the extensive in-depth reporting of our journalists — the kind of hard work that only real journalists can do.”

Journalism can only achieve this important mission if the enterprises supporting this work are financially healthy. A big step toward helping ensure this outcome would be for Congress – and Georgia’s congressional delegation – to vote to pass the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. The time for that is now – and passage should come without further delay.

Given good journalism’s role as an underpinning of the American way of representative democracy, we have much to lose as a free society if this bill does not quickly make its way into law.

This editorial first appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Reprinted with permission.

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February 10, 2022