Arkansas Publisher Weekly: April 16, 2020

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Letters ask for relief to newspapers, other media

Guest Column: Newspapers are essential to our American dream

By Peter Wagner

Arkansas Press Association

Publisher Weekly Vol. 15 | No. 16 | Thursday, April 16, 2020 | Serving Press and State Since 1873

Legislature gives governing bodies authority to meet by electronic means during pandemic The Arkansas General Assembly’s Joint Budget Committee last week tacked on temporary language to a routine budget bill that provides guidance to public entities about how to conduct meetings during the coronavirus pandemic.

The amendment to HB 1082, the Department of Finance and Administration budget bill, was adopted on voice vote by the committee. The full House and Senate are expected to adopt the measure this week as the Legislature wraps up a truncated fiscal session.

The amendment gives governing bodies the authority to meet by electronic means in the event the governor declares a disaster emergency. The entity must give notice of the meeting to the public and must record the meeting in whatever fashion it was conducted, whether by audio or video. Those recordings must be maintained for at least a year.

The new language establishes in law the practice that most all Arkansas municipalities have began since the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic. It is

also consistent with court rulings over the years about how entities may conduct open meetings via teleconference or video conference.

“In this time of crisis, we must remain safe and do our part to protect public health, but recognize that the workings of government must continue and must be conducted in an open and transparent manner,” amendment gives governing bodies the authority to meet by electronic said Arkansas Press The means during a disaster, while recording the meeting.

Association Executive Director Ashley Wimberley. “It’s the APA’s the Arkansas Code. It expires on Dec. 31 unless the governor suspends the disaster position that this amendment protects emergency earlier.

Arkansans’ rights under the Freedom of The measure was sponsored by Sen. Information Act during this difficult time.”

Lance Eads, R-Springdale; Rep. The provision is included in temporary, Lanny Fite, R-Benton; and Rep. Robin special language that will not be part of Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs.

APA launches Arkansas Newspaper Connection The Arkansas Press Association is responding to the rapid changes in the newspaper industry by expanding its weekly jobs bulletin to include advertisements from freelance and independent writers, editors, designers and photographers.

offering information about individuals seeking opportunities and organizations

This week, the APA retooled and renamed the Jobs Bulletin. Now known as “Arkansas Newspaper Connection,” the weekly listings will be enhanced by

searching for workers to handle shortterm, freelance projects. As always, the weekly email to APA members will continue to include advertisements for news and

communications industry organizations seeking full-time or part-time workers

charge.

Individuals or organizations that are not APA members may place an advertisement in Arkansas Newspaper Connection for $10 per week. Ads for APA members will continue to be included at no

To submit an ad, arkansaspress.org.

email

info@

Letters ask for relief to newspapers, other media The Arkansas Press Association in coordination with the Arkansas Broadcasters Association and newspaper trade organizations across the country are pressing the federal government to provide a lifeline for local media companies by directing federal money for advertising to community news outlets.

money “tailored to benefit aid recipients who make a long-term commitment to high-quality news.”

The organizations asked Congress to make certain that local media may obtain assistance under the Paycheck Protection Program.

They said eligibility should be measured at a local level, regardless of whether organizations are part of larger chains of newspapers (The Paycheck Protection Program is limited to small businesses with fewer than 500 employees.)

The APA and ABA today asked Arkansas’s congressional delegation to sign on to a letter being drafted by a bipartisan coalition in Congress. The letter will be sent to President Donald Trump.

That letter asks the president to direct his Cabinet secretaries to spend federal agency advertising budgets on new and existing advertising in local media. Further, it calls for stimulus dollars to go to private businesses who pledge to use the money for advertising in local media.

Federal agencies spend about $1 billion for advertising.

Last week. America’s Newspapers, the News Media Alliance and the National Newspaper Association wrote to congressional leaders seeking action in order to aid news organizations whose news and information delivery during the coronavirus epidemic is essential to Americans.

Several Democratic senators also called for help for local journalism. Eighteen Democratic senators sent a letter to Senate leadership encouraging any forthcoming stimulus legislation to include

“Unlike many industries, the business proposition for locally-focused media — and local journalism in particular — was challenged before the pandemic. That situation has only worsened,” the letter stated.

In the trade associations’ letter to members of Congress, the groups said journalists “are working, often in dangerous conditions, to provide reliable, critical and timely news and information during the pandemic even as the coronavirus has decimated the local businesses that are their source for advertising revenue.”

The groups said the sharp decline in advertising is a threat to operations of many local news organizations. The public health crisis coincides with difficult economic times already for the newspaper industry.

The groups, too, asked the federal government to spend advertising budgets on local media.

Federal advertising campaigns initiated by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others, could use local media as an important tool for providing information to communities.

The groups asked for an additional $5 billion to $10 billion to fund local advertising.

“These ads could carry information on medical resources, status of testing sites, data from the Centers for Disease Control, access to small business loans and other critical governmental information,” the letter stated.

Google establishes Journalism Emergency Relief Fund

Google this week announced the creation of a Journalism Emergency Relief Fund to “deliver urgent aid to thousands of small, medium and local news publishers globally.”

According to Google, local news organizations producing original content for their communities are eligible for grants ranging from thousands to tens

of thousands of dollars, depending on newsroom size and region.

The application period runs to Wednesday, April 29. Google officials said the application process is streamlined so that the process is easy and convenient for publishers. To apply, visit https:// newsinitiative.withgoogle.com/journalismemergency-relief-fund/apply

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April 16, 2020

INDUSTRY QUOTE “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”

—Anne Bradstreet

Arkansas newspapers face layoffs, furloughs during coronavirus crisis Employees at the Arkansas DemocratGazette are being asked to voluntarily take furloughs and other Arkansas newspapers have enacted job cuts as the coronavirus epidemic enters its second month.

the Courier in Russellville and the Daily Citizen in Searcy. The Sun laid off its assistant managing editor, a reporter and two sports reporters. The sports editor was placed on furlough.

According to an article in Arkansas Business, leaders at the DemocratGazette earlier this week said they were seeking volunteers to take furloughs in order to potentially avoid “mandatory reductions” later. In a letter to employees, it was noted that federal unemployment relief associated with the pandemic may mean that furloughed employees could receive more in unemployment benefits than their normal paycheck.

The report, citing a trade publication, said the pandemic has caused newspapers across the country to cut advertising revenue projections by 50 percent.

This comes as advertising continued to shift to digital platforms even before the COVID-19 crisis.

Arkansas Business reported that staff reductions were implemented at Paxton Media Group-owned newspapers in Arkansas, including the Jonesboro Sun,

However, the economic downturn has greatly impacted many other economic sectors. U.S. unemployment claims are at their highest levels and even hospitals are furloughing workers as elective and nonessential procedures are being cancelled in the wake of the crisis.

NYT makes content Democrat-Gazette creates online newsletter; available to students Monticello newspaper highlights businesses The New York Times is providing all high school students with three months of digital access to its content and archives.

With most students studying from home because of the coronavirus epidemic, the Times is attempting to help students stay connected while learning remotely.

Arkansas Press Association member newspapers on the front lines of delivering vital, accurate and timely information about the coronavirus pandemic to their readers are also creating new ways to engage with readership and grow their audiences.

Students may receive unlimited digital access to the newspaper’s content on its website and app as well as lessons from The Learning Network.

This week, the Arkansas DemocratGazette launched “ADG Families,” an online resource for children and parents. This resource is available at arkansasonline.com/families.

It focuses on a number of learning tools

For students to receive the content, teachers and administrators must first register at nytimes.com/highschool access. They will be verified on that portal where they will upload a list of student email addresses. Students will then receive an emailed invitation to sign in for the content.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

and activities that children and parents can do during the coronavirus crisis.

The newsletter is offered free of charge to Democrat-Gazette subscribers and nonsubscribers alike.

The initial edition features articles about how kids can make their own kazoos using household materials, and what museums around the world are hosting “virtual” tours on the Internet. The newsletter provides news content as well, including information about Arkansas PBS’s plans 3

to offer educational programming for students in kindergarten through eighth grade for the remainder of the school year.

In Monticello, the Advance-Monticellonian publishes a full page of updates in every edition about local businesses that remain open during the crisis. The COVID-19 updates page contains information on businesses in the medical/pharmacy, grocery store, goods and services, restaurants, government, financial institutions, real estate, family services, senior living, insurance and retail categories. The newspaper publishes the

relevant information from those businesses not just in its printed publication, but also online and on the newspaper’s Facebook page.

The Arkansas Publisher Weekly will continue to highlight the innovative and important ways newspapers are connecting with readers throughout the coronavirus crisis. Publishers who have a hot idea they think others should emulate are encouraged to email ashley@ arkansaspress.org to be featured in a future edition of the newsletter.

April 16, 2020

Guest Column: Newspapers are essential to our American dream

By Peter Wagner One of the reporters in our Sheldon office received an e-mail a week ago stating his child was no longer qualified to be taken care of by the local day-care facility. The e-mail came on Friday and the change went into effect on Monday. Never mind that the reporter’s spouse works at the local hospital and 4-month-old has been in the care of the facility since January.

The care facility, the e-mail said, “will begin to restrict care only to those families that meet the state qualification of an essential function in the workforce.

The e-mail goes on to identify essential fields as “hospital staff, all health-care providers, those who provide critical government services, food service workers including grocery store and limited restaurant workers and others approved by the Director of Human Service.”

I don’t have a problem with the child-care service making such a decision. Maybe they were suddenly short-handed by the coronavirus pandemic or overcrowded by a sudden influx of additional charges.

Perhaps they had become concerned that the number of children in their building created an opportunity for the COVID-19 sickness to invade their space. Only they know why the sudden decision.

What does concern me, however, other than the short notice provided our writer, is the presumption that newspapers are not an essential business.

In those states that have already determined that residents must be a “safe in place” for an indefinite time, media companies and newspaper printing plants have been declared essential businesses.

Their state governments expect them to stay open and keep the citizens informed.

Hometown newspapers such as The N’West Iowa REVIEW and our Sheldon Mail-Sun, Sioux Center News, Hawarden Independent/Ireton Examiner and South O’Brien Sun are depended upon by

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

their readers for accurate reporting of all aspects of what is happening in their area.

Why? Because we all want to know what is changing and how others in the community are reacting to the information.

We can easily get the national updates moment by moment from cable’s many news channels but none of those report on what is happening right here where we live, have families, do our primary shopping, go to church, have children in school and are invested in agriculture and business ventures.

To say we don’t need newspapers because we have the internet is like saying we don’t need farmers because we have supermarkets.

Newspapers are the first recorders of our personal, professional and community history. From the time a person is born and listed in the birth report to when their obituary is published the hometown newspaper is the only media, local or national, to track and preserve the details of that person’s life.

Newspapers are the glue that holds the community together. The printed paper is where the community looks for credible reporting on everything from city hall to the school system, hospital and retail community to the local baseball field.

Newspaper also continue to be the best source for those pictures mothers and grandmothers like to hang on the refrigerator.

Newspapers are the first place a political candidate stops when visiting a community and it is where entertainment operations turn when they need to announce a postponement or cancellation of an earlier announced program.

Most importantly, the local paper is the local media turned to when there is a need to create consensus in a community.

Through the sharing of facts, the reporting

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of ideas and sometimes a well-crafted editorial, the newspaper draws the residents into the need to make a unified decision regarding a tax issue, the repair of streets or other important question.

Newspapers are social. They keep the readers in contact with others all through the community. They are the platform for businesses wanting to let others know about a sale, new merchandise and changes in their service or product lines.

Newspapers are where the community turns when they want to know about upcoming church suppers, birthday and wedding card showers, the amazing play by a local high school sports hero, and, when there is no virus, where to go and what’s going on that weekend.

These are difficult times for all of us, but we have been through other times just as tough. The farm crisis during the early 1980s, for example. And 9/11.

Those of us that depend on advertising sales for our income — and that includes newspapers, shoppers, broadcasters and independent digital outlets — are going to be hard pressed to stay in business.

But our American form of government requires that the public be informed and we consider doing so a privilege and duty.

An old friend reminded me of an oftenquoted statement sometimes attributed to H.L. Mencken, an American journalist, essayist and satirist: “It is the duty of a newspaper to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

That statement has never been more true.

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.

April 16, 2020