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Arkansas Press Women sponsor ANF internship
Guest Column:
The LJSA is no empty promise By Dean Ridings
Arkansas Press Association
Publisher Weekly Vol.17 | No. 15 | Thursday, April 14, 2022 | Serving Press and State Since 1873
Accidental publisher Keith finds role, value in journalism Mark Keith had not intended to be a newspaper publisher. But in September 2018, when it was announced the 89-year-old Hope Star would be shuttering in two weeks, Keith was upset. “I remember watching the man who came to town,” Keith said. “He sat there saying, ‘I’m sorry, but we can’t make it work here.’ And I thought, ‘You are not trying!’ “Let’s start a newspaper.” At the time, Keith owned a Hope furniture store and helped run a local radio show. The Magnolia native said the Hope Star closure really got under his skin. “I’m 59 years old, and I’ve lived in south Arkansas all my life. I’m of a generation that’s lost things. Department stores, mom-andpop stores, all sorts of little businesses, movie theaters, bowling alleys. We couldn’t lose the local paper, too.” A wild hare in his head, Keith went to run an idea by Wendell Hoover, a friend from Prescott who shared space in the same building as his store. “I said, ‘I’m going to start us a newspaper. I’m going to start us one for Hope. If you’ll go in with me, you’ve got Prescott friends, so we can do one for Hope and Prescott. And so we decided to start the Hope-Prescott News.” The two co-publish the newspaper. Both men had experience selling advertising – Keith had sold radio advertising for 11 years, so they decided to follow the radio model. The plan was for the newspaper to be free, wholly supported by the advertisers, and it would not offer Continued on Page 2
Deadline for Better Newspaper Editorial Contest approaching Arkansas Press Association member newspapers have just over a week left to submit entries to the 2022 APA Better Newspaper Editorial Contest. The annual contest is an opportunity to recognize the editors, reporters, designers and photographers who worked so hard over the last year, and recognizes the best work in reporting, writing, headline-writing, design and photography.
Monday, April 25. The contest is open to employees and freelancers of APA member newspapers, with work published in the 2021 calendar year eligible to win.
The deadline for submitting entries is
Entries will be judged by a panel of
This year a new category, Best Digital Presence & Audience Engagement, has been added so that member newspapers can showcase social media accounts and podcasts in addition to their websites.
journalists from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. Awards will be presented at the conclusion of the 2022 Tri-State Convention at the Sheraton Downtown Memphis on June 25. Complete rules and entry information can be found at newspapercontest.com/ Contests/ArkansasPressAssociation. aspx. If you have any questions please email Terri Cobb at terri@arkansaspress. org or call (501) 374-1500.
Accidental publisher Keith finds role, value in journalism Continued from Page 1
subscriptions. “I really thought charging for the newspaper, especially a startup like ours, was not a good idea,” Keith said, explaining the advertising base was there for a new weekly newspaper and that sometimes the people who most need a source for local news – rural families without reliable internet access – were the ones who could least afford a subscription. So, the men got a team together. Keith could write, and Hoover had a Prescott reporter. The vice president of the bank was a friend who could also do graphic design. The only thing no one they knew could do was paginate and print the newspaper. But after one visit to the Nashville NewsLeader, the Hope-Prescott News had a paginating and printing solution in place. “John Robert Schirmer said, ‘Well, yeah, we can print your paper. We want to help you in any way we can.’ And they have been nothing but helpful.” They kept the plans for their startup private, only announcing the Hope-Prescott News a day before the first issue came out. That was early October 2018, just days after the Hope Star had published its last issue. The community’s enthusiasm was skyhigh. That first issue’s print run was 1,000 copies and distributed in businesses around Hempstead and Nevada counties. Within two weeks they had to expand the printing, and have done so again and again. Today, the Hope-Prescott News prints 3,200 weekly copies. Then, in January 2021, he launched the Little River Journal in Ashdown, to fill the gap left by the closures of the long-time Little River News and its successor, the Little River Post. More than a year later, that newspaper is going strong with 1,100 weekly copies distributed. Keith laughs, “That’s how a man with no experience in the newspaper business got into the newspaper business. I guess I had no sense. But it’s been a tremendous amount of fun.” According to Keith, rural broadband internet is not yet widely available in the area. “That is changing, but there’s a whole audience of people who are not online. The newspaper is a lifeline to them in those counties. One thing I have learned is that the obituary for newspapers has Arkansas Publisher Weekly
Mark Keith’s PSA for Community Health Centers of Arkansas
been written prematurely.” He foresees his newspapers having at least a few more good years ahead. “Are my newspapers going to be in business in 20 years? I have no idea. Technology’s changing, media’s changing so fast, I don’t know. But for right now, we’ve had a good 3 1/2 year run with Hope-Prescott with no signs of let-up, and Little River’s doing great. I think the newspapers have been a great thing.” Avoiding COVID collapse Keith said his fledgling newspapers have made it through the pandemic thus far, with a few bumps as people on his small staff were out with the virus or in quarantine. Some had it bad, though Keith reports his own bout with COVID-19 around the 2020 election was relatively mild. Since he couldn’t make it to the County Clerk’s office to report on election returns while he was sick, they called him with the updates. While he was ill, Keith would go to the newspaper at night, when no one else was there, to get his work done. Several times the newspapers had to be printed at the Mena Star instead of at Nashville, because the Nashville News’ press operator was quarantining. But contrary to expectations, Keith’s 2
newspapers didn’t lose advertising, even during the weeks many businesses were closed for shutdowns. “Surprisingly enough, I don’t know that we lost anything,” he mused. “And certainly because of the employee shortage, we have even gained business doing the employment ads.” For Keith, one of the hardest parts of the pandemic was the pervasive uncertainty and dread about what was going to happen and who might die of the virus. “It cuts down perfectly healthy people,” Keith said of COVID-19. “I’m 5’4” and weigh 200 pounds, so you can see I live a good life. I should probably have had a worse case of it. But perfectly healthy people in our community, young people who exercise, who were very trim, were cut down.” Working on obituaries was particularly tough in their small community. Keith said sometimes as he put together the obituary section he would just have to sit there a moment and think, “Oh, dear God.” “We lost several good folks in our town. Some days working on obits, you’d see someone you knew had died. That was really, really hard,” he said. “The hardest one for me was a businessman who was only 40 years old; I’d known him since he was a kid. I had to go speak at his funeral, Continued on Page 4
April 14, 2022
A DAY OF DEBATES AND LUNCHEON Hosted by the Arkansas Press Association
Thursday, April 21, 2022 Little Rock Union Station | 1400 W Markham Street Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General and Gubernatorial Debates Moderated by Rex Nelson of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Roby Brock of Talk Business & Politics. Debates begin at 9:00 am | Luncheon at noon
TICKETS $100 each for all four debates and luncheon VIP Reserved Stage-Front Table For Eight - $1250 (one available) Order online at arkansaspress.org/event/APADebate or by phone at (501) 374-1500 Ticketholders may come and go as needed during the day. Working media please contact ashley@arkansaspress.org for credentialing. Sponsored by:
Accidental publisher Keith finds role, value in journalism Continued from Page 2
seeing his five kids out there and knowing they’d grow up without him. That was tough.” He said, “At the paper, we were able to work through the pandemic in all capacities, but it was a scary thing. I don’t want to die of COVID. I want to die from liking Twinkies too much! So, as soon as we all could get vaccinated, we did.” Trusted news sources Keith is a deep believer in the science of vaccines, and is frustrated by the skepticism. So, he participated in a PSA from Community Health Centers of Arkansas (viewable at youtube.com/ watch?v=PeryAi4l16Q) that encourages people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. “I don’t know what it is about this country
that people will not trust scientists anymore, but will trust some stranger on the internet,” Keith said. “I tell those people, you’re crazy. You’re nuts. One of my friends said about the vaccine, ‘You’re not afraid you’re going to grow horns?’ I said, ‘So what if I do? As long as I’m not sick, I can get those things sawed off!’”
widely read, and considered reliable sources for long-form news. Short-form news was “what you heard on the radio, or what Walter Cronkite said.” He believes now, in contrast, there are so many options claiming to be reliable news sources that it can be hard for people to know what is true.
He continues, “This is small-town Arkansas, and unfortunately people are skeptical of the government. I can be skeptical of the government, too. But when vaccinations came out, I told people, ‘I’m going to be the first in line, pushing little old ladies out of the way, saying, ‘Excuse me ma’am, I’ve got to get vaccinated. I run the newspaper!’”
That’s one of the reasons he believes that local, trusted news sources are so vital for rural counties like his. Keith feels citizens have higher trust in news that comes from within their community rather than from some far-off corporation.
Keith said when he was growing up, the local newspaper along with the Arkansas Democrat and Arkansas Gazette were
“I know our value here, and I feel good about the future for our papers,” said Keith. “Three and a half years ago I made it my life’s mission to prove that man [who closed the Hope Star] wrong, and I have, and I’m proud of that.”
Arkansas Press Women sponsor ANF internship On Monday, Arkansas Press Women donated $3000 to the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation to fund a student internship at the Dumas Clarion in the name of Charlotte Tillar Schexnayder. APW At-Large District Director Angie Faller and APW President Kristin Netterstrom Higgins presented the donation to Arkansas Press Association Executive Director Ashley Kemp Wimberley, who accepted on behalf of ANF. The funds had been collected in early 2020 for the purpose of funding a Welcome Reception during the annual conference of the National Federation of Press Women, which was scheduled to be held on June 18, 2020 in Little Rock. Schexnayder, who was one of the earliest members of Arkansas Press Women, was to have been honored at the reception. Unfortunately, the in-person conference was replaced with a virtual event due to the pandemic. Schexnayder died on December 11, 2020, two weeks before her 97th birthday. Funds for the reception were donated by the Dumas Chamber of Commerce, Dumas Economic Development, Merchants & Farmers Bank of Dumas and the Arkansas Press Association. Along
with
her
husband,
Arkansas Publisher Weekly
Melvin
Schexnayder, Schexnayder owned and published the Dumas Clarion for 44 years, from 1954 to 1998. She was the first woman elected to the Little Rock chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and its first female president. She also served as president of Arkansas Press Women, the Arkansas Press Association, the National Federation of Press Women and the National Newspaper Association. She was the first female president of the Dumas Chamber of Commerce as well as the first woman to serve on the Arkansas Board of Pardons and Parole. She also served in the Arkansas House of Representatives for fourteen years and
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was inducted into the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame in 2019. The paid internship is designed to help aspiring college-age journalists get started in their newspaper careers. In a 2018 interview with APA, Schexnayder said, “I believe the small-town newspaper will remain a part of our lives. It will survive in the future in some form, and will continue to document news along with births, deaths, funerals, commencements and weddings. A free press is the guardian of our democracy. In whatever form, it must be preserved.”
April 14, 2022
A nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring every K-12 student in Arkansas has equal access to receive a world-class education.
Partnering with parents and community leaders so every conversation and policy decision about education starts and ends with how it impacts our kids. P.O. Box 1162, Little Rock, AR 72203 || 501-244-9028 info@thereformalliance.org || thereformalliance.org
Arkansas Press Association selects Column as tech partner The Arkansas Press Association has become the 14th association representing the 16th state to partner with Column, a collaborative public notice platform, for the advancement of transparency of public notices in Arkansas. The Column team will be working with APA on a redesign of its statewide public notice website, making critical improvements to the accessibility of the site as well as adding improved search and alert functionality for the public. Arkansas joins alongside associations representing Arizona, “As we work to preserve public notice in Arkansas, it’s California, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Idaho, imperative we have a strong tech partner to make them even Kansas, Florida, Maryland, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South more accessible to our state’s citizens. Our association found Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. that in Column,” said Ashley Kemp Wimberley, executive director of APA. “While we remain steadfast in our belief public notices should remain in printed newspapers, adding a cutting-edge website that aggregates all of the notices in one location allows Arkansans to easily search for any notice published.”
Column’s Founder & CEO, Jake Seaton, commented, “We are big fans of Ashley at the APA. Since our earliest days as a company, she has routinely provided constructive feedback on how we can build a tool and form partnerships that best serve the industry. We look forward to working with APA and their member publications to help modernize public notice in Arkansas.”
Mountain Home’s Baxter Bulletin drops Monday editions The Baxter Bulletin in Mountain Home published its final Monday edition on April 11.
Effective Tuesday, April 12, the publication schedule will be Tuesday through Saturday. The Bulletin was acquired by Phillips Media in September 2021, with full operations taken over from Gannett in mid-December. The Harrison Daily Times, Phillip’s other Arkansas daily newspaper, already is on a Tuesday through Saturday publication schedule. “When The Bulletin was acquired by Phillips, it became the only property in the
portfolio with a Monday edition,” explained General Manager/Managing Editor Sonny Elliott in an article announcing the change. “The Monday edition has been produced in advance and printed on Friday evenings. The production schedule limits the material that can be used in a Monday edition, and we feel we can better use our resources to produce Tuesday through Saturday content.” Fans of the beloved “jumble” puzzle on the classified pages will continue to get their six puzzles weekly, as Tuesday editions will be a “double jumble” day. Crossword addicts will be able to work two puzzles in the Tuesday paper as well. Breaking news
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“We’ve rebuilt the newsroom with two reporters, a managing editor, a newsroom administrative assistant, added a local advertising representative and a customer service representative, and have reopened the doors at The Bulletin,” said President of Phillips Media Jim Holland. “We’re investing in The Baxter Bulletin and look forward to being an integral part of the community for years to come.”
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Also in the announcement it was mentioned that Phillips Media has made significant investments in The Baxter Bulletin since assuming ownership.
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coverage will be available on Mondays at baxterbulletin.com.
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Send your staffing changes to info@arkansaspress.org to be updated online and included in the Arkansas Publisher Weekly.
April 14, 2022
E&P’s “Shooting Stars” competition open for nominations
Nominations are now open for Editor & Publisher magazine’s “Shooting Stars” photojournalism contest. The winners will be featured in the June issue of E&P. Photojournalists tell a story with pictures, communicating information and inspiring emotion, whether through a single image or hours of video footage. If you know an exemplary visual journalist who has the instinct to capture the essence of a story, or work with a colleague with creative vision, courageous spirit and a passion for journalism, All visual journalists, from any size newsroom working in print, digital or both, will be considered. Information and the nomination form can be found at editorandpublisher.com/stories/nominate-your-candidate-eps-photojournalism-competition-shooting-stars-class-of2022,223289?newsletter=223311 The deadline is Friday, April 29, 2022.
INDUSTRY QUOTE “The duty of journalists is to tell the truth. Journalism means you go back to the actual facts, you look at the documents, you discover what the record is, and you report it that way.”
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April 14, 2022
Guest Column: The LJSA is no empty promise — it’s a bridge for newspapers that would otherwise close By Dean Ridings | America’s Newspapers The Local Journalism Sustainability Act has sometimes been characterized as a government handout that will provide more profits to wealthy hedge funds. That is like saying that pizza (with or without the mozzarella cheese) provides sustenance to criminals and fuels their activities. Sure, criminals may occasionally eat pizza, but so do a lot of other people, including me. Saying that pizza is abetting criminals is just plain silly. The LJSA is a bill that would provide tax credits to newspapers and other journalism organizations that are providing local news and information to their communities. The most recent budget reconciliation act, Build Back Better, included a key provision of the LJSA that would provide tax credits for newsrooms that meet the criteria. Those credits are 50% of the employees’ salary (capped at $50,000), or up to $25,000 per qualifying newsroom employee in year one, and up to $15,000 in years two through five. The organization receives the refundable tax credits (they get the dollars whether they owe taxes or not) based on qualifying newsroom employees, so the more newsroom employees they have, the bigger the tax credit. But, there are specific criteria that the news organization must meet that make it difficult for partisan outlets or those that don’t really cover local news to qualify. The criteria also include a provision that the organization must have been in existence for at least a year. The bill provides incentives to retain and even hire more newsroom employees, so the return on newsroom investment is more apparent than ever. The monetary
Arkansas Publisher Weekly
impact of retaining and hiring newsroom employees will be obvious, even to those who might be math-challenged. The smallest independent rural newspapers with just a couple of employees to the largest newspaper groups, even if they are owned by a hedge fund, will be eligible for the tax credits. They all will be incentivized to maintain or grow their newsroom staff. Without getting overly wonky, it is important to note that there are provisions in the bill that would limit the amount that any one organization can receive, so the largest groups will have some caps. Plus, national organizations like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal will not qualify. These tax credits are tied directly to local news, and local news organizations, from the small rural weekly to large daily metro newspapers, will receive tax credits based on their total number of newsroom employees. More than 2,000 newspapers have closed across the U.S. in the past two decades, and more than 100 have closed since the beginning of the pandemic. While the exact number of closed papers is not clear, no one would argue that local newspapers and other providers of local news, including radio and TV, aren’t experiencing incredible challenges and many are not expected to survive the decade. There is increasing recognition of the value of local newspapers by members of Congress, and they have been responsive in filing bills to help the industry. They understand that when a newspaper in their district closes, the community suffers in multiple ways. It has also been said that newspapers
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shouldn’t be supported by the government and that newspapers need to be independent. Newspapers have accepted advertising from local merchants for hundreds of years, and they don’t hold back on reporting accurate local news, even if it means offending an advertiser. That is their job, and whether the revenue comes from the local car dealer or government tax credits, publishers and editors know that the truth can’t be bought. Newspapers also receive discounted rates for using the U.S. Postal Service, and they certainly don’t hold back on reporting on problems about the mail. There are now rumors in Washington that a new smaller budget reconciliation bill might be introduced. Senior leadership in the House and Senate have indicated their desire to include the tax credits for newspapers and other local news organizations in the next budget bill. America needs strong local journalism, and the LJSA is a giant step forward for the industry while it continues to evolve. We encourage our leaders in the House and Senate to continue their support for local journalism. On behalf of its approximately 1,500 newspaper and associate member companies, America’s Newspapers is committed to explaining, defending and advancing the vital role of newspapers in democracy and civil life. We put an emphasis on educating the public on all the ways newspapers contribute to building a community identity and the success of local businesses. Learn more: www.newspapers.org
April 14, 2022