Arkansas Publisher Weekly: July 8, 2021

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APA Convention just two weeks away Guest Column: A simple way to develop ad campaign ideas

Arkansas Press Association

Publisher Weekly

By John Foust

Vol. 16 | No. 27 | Thursday, July 8, 2021 | Serving Press and State Since 1873

APA convention to highlight special award winners “I said, ‘Where the hell is Berryville?’” he laughed.

The Arkansas Press Association will honor three individuals in the Arkansas newspaper industry with special awards during the 2021 APA convention later this month.

Moore worked in different capacities for newspapers in Berryville and Green Forest until 1994, when he moved on to work for WEHCO Media as general manager at the Camden News. He spent three years in Camden before WEHCO promoted him to manage advertising sales at newspapers in Texarkana, Hot Springs, Camden, El Dorado and Magnolia.

The APA will present its Distinguished Service, Freedom of Information and Educator of the Year awards on Thursday, July 22, at 3:15 p.m. during the onlineonly event. Registration for the annual convention is open now. Register at arkansaspress.org/events.

In that position, Moore spearheaded creation of the South Arkansas Sunday News, a combined Sunday edition of the Camden, El Dorado and Magnolia newspapers which published until 2014.

This year’s winners are: Distinguished Service: Bob Moore, publisher of the Carroll County News in Berryville and a former APA president.

Freedom of Information: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette projects reporter Ginny Monk.

Educator of the Year: Steve Listopad, Henderson State University professor and advisor for the student newspaper, the Oracle and the Oracle: Community Edition.

Bob Moore In a four-decade newspaper career that begins and ends in the same town, Bob Moore certainly made an impact at plenty of other stops along the way. He is a former APA president who served two different stints on the organization’s board of directors. Moore credits an expert staff in newsrooms and in advertising for his success as a longtime newspaper publisher and advertising manager.

He’s bookended his career with stints in Berryville, where he started in advertising

Bob Moore

sales in 1978. Now the Carroll County News publisher, he plans to retire on Oct. 1 following a distinguished career of leadership by example to the entire Arkansas newspaper industry.

“I’ve always tried to just hire good people and get out of their way,” Moore said. “I’ve tried to lead and to coach and inspire them where I can. We’ve always managed to get things done, and I feel like I’ve been very successful.”

Moore grew up in Blytheville and was looking for a job after attending Arkansas State University when his best friend called him up to ask if he wanted an advertising sales post in Berryville.

He later served as publisher of the Daily Citizen in Searcy before returning to Berryville in 2001 in his current position.

Another former APA president, Ron Kemp, had reached out to Moore about coming back to the Carroll County News after Rust Communications acquired the newspaper.

By that time, Moore said he and his wife, Linda, and their three children had been from Berryville to Camden to Cabot to Searcy and back to Berryville again.

“The newspaper business has been very good to me,” he said. “ … People have always looked to the newspaper as the leader in the community, and they know that whatever is in it is true, it’s factual and it’s going to be accurate.”

Moore said he thought the last year has been the most difficult during his time in the industry – a direct effect of the coronavirus pandemic. Small Continued on Page 2

APA convention to highlight special award winners Continued from Page 1

businesses are struggling, which means fewer discretionary ad dollars for print advertising.

However, he expects newspapers to remain resilient through this challenge as it has through other obstacles, such as emerging technology, in the past.

would have significantly limited what information from coroners’ reports were available to the public. The APA, the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act Task Force, the Democrat-Gazette and other transparency advocates strongly opposed the measure, and the bill died in committee.

Moore is reluctant to identify any single accomplishment he’s proud of during his career, except that he should be known for “being a nice guy and having a great smile.”

“Neither of those projects would have been possible with that bill in existence,” Monk said.

Monk, who grew up near Mount Ida, attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. She worked as an intern on the Democrat-Gazette projects team and then for the newspaper’s Style section before moving back to projects full-time.

He added: “I love what I do. I’ve tried to hire good people and get out of their way.

That’s been my motto, to look for the best of the best and let them do what you hired them to do, and give them the tools they need to get things done.”

Steve Listopad

Ginny Monk For Ginny Monk, a projects reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, obtaining public records for one of the newspaper’s most consequential pieces of journalism of 2020 was a project in and of itself.

Monk’s “Children in Peril” series in the Democrat-Gazette last year wouldn’t have been possible without records obtained under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. Monk spent years seeking out public records from county coroners, law enforcement agencies and prosecuting attorneys’ offices.

“I worked on that for about three years, and the vast majority of that was spent trying to get records, largely from county coroners,” Monk said. “I think many of them hadn’t dealt with FOIA before, particularly in the rural counties, and you run into that all the time with officials who haven’t dealt with the media much.”

Monk said many of the state’s 75 county coroners were reluctant to turn over the public records because children were the subjects of many of them, and the coroners had privacy concerns. The newspaper obtained a court order against a county coroner in one case.

In several instances, she said records custodians were overly “protective” of the files, even though state law specifically establishes that the information is disclosable under FOIA. It’s not the custodian’s role to censor public information, Monk said.

“I like to think of journalism, in a way, as

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

Ginny Monk

an act of love toward my state,” Monk said. “I think it makes the state better when journalists do the work they do and shine light where there is none. I think journalists take it very seriously, protecting people’s privacy and doing no harm, but still serving our community.”

As part of the ”Children in Peril’’ project, Monk created a database with details of about 1,500 deaths of children in Arkansas between 2012 and 2017. The project was a result of Monk’s participation in a data fellowship from the University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.

Sonny Albarado, himself a previous winner of the APA Freedom of Information award, was the editor on the project.

Also in 2020, Monk was part of a team of Democrat-Gazette reporters who worked on a series of articles remembering Arkansans lost to COVID-19. That series, too, relied heavily on information gleaned from coroners’ reports.

“These two projects would not have been possible without FOIA,” Monk said. “There was just so much information about preventable deaths (in the “Children in Peril” series), and when we were reporting on covid deaths, so many families were glad to tell their loved ones’ stories.”

The two series were the impetus for proposed legislation earlier this year that

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Steve Listopad

More than an educator, Henderson State University’s Steve Listopad has been an advocate and activist for journalism in his community and across the state.

In addition to serving as faculty adviser for the Henderson State student newspaper, the Oracle, Listopad also spearheaded the creation of a weekly Community Edition of the Oracle, which is distributed throughout Arkadelphia. Listopad’s students and journalism students from rival Ouachita Baptist University produce the Community Edition, which Listopad lobbied HSU Continued on Page 3

July 1, 2021

APA convention to highlight special award winners Continued from Page 2

officials to establish following the closure of the Arkadelphia Dispatch.

“This is truly student-media produced, and it’s the only news game in town,” Listopad said recently. “These students aren’t helping out some professionals. They are the professionals.”

In summer 2020, Listopad and an HSU student began operating the Dispatch.

When the Dispatch ceased publication, the newspaper’s owner, John Robert Schirmer, provided Listopad and HSU with advertising leads and full support to keep an Arkadelphia newspaper operational.

Listopad had already built a reporting, sales and design structure at the Dispatch with students. He views the Community Edition as a way to provide real-life, professional newspaper experience and internships to students who may not otherwise be able to access them.

“I just really want to keep community journalism alive here in Arkadelphia and

have a platform for our students to practice professional journalism locally,” Listopad told Arkansas Publisher Weekly earlier this year. “We look for the community and industry support to help us keep this going.”

in the impact of the 1969 Tinker ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. His emphasis on protecting the rights of student journalists has been in clear view over the last several years.

Since relocating to Arkansas from his native North Dakota several years ago, Listopad has been at the forefront of this state’s fight to protect and improve its student expression laws and its Freedom of Information Act.

He also plays an instrumental role in a nationwide movement to strengthen student expression laws across the country. He pushed for Act 395 of 2019 here in Arkansas, which extended to student journalists at Arkansas’s public colleges and universities the same protections contained in the Arkansas Student Publications Act. The publications act has also been improved to ensure that high school and college students can choose the content of publications without fear of interference from school administrators.

He’s chaperoned his students to the halls of the state Capitol to cover legislative committee meetings on student expression bills. He’s taken students to Des Moines, Iowa, where they met the Tinker family and got a first-hand lesson

Listopad got his start in newspapers at his high school newspaper and at the local daily in Wahpeton, North Dakota. He has a master’s degree from North Dakota State University and is currently pursuing a doctorate.

Aside from his newspaper publishing bonafides, Listopad is the current president of the Arkansas Society of Professional Journalists and he serves on the board of directors of the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation.

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July 1, 2021

APA convention just two weeks away Time is running out for Arkansas Press Association members and associate members to register for the 2021 APA Convention. This year’s convention will be held online and is set for Thursday, July 22, and Friday, July 23.

APA is opting to present its convention in a virtual format again this year because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The online event ensures safety for participants and also avoids high lodging and travel costs.

Thursday, July 22, with two presentations from ad sales expert Ryan Dohrn. He will lead discussions about how to reignite post-covid advertising sales and how to respond to the common objections some advertisers may have to buying newspaper ads.

This year’s theme is “Reflect. Refocus.

Reignite.” The professional development seminars and programming will encourage members who are re-establishing their strong presence in their communities.

On Thursday afternoon, a panel of APA members will talk about tools they have used to maximize their total audience. That event starts at 2 p.m. Following that, there will be awards presentations for the 2021 Distinguished Service, Educator of the Year and Freedom of Information award winners, as well as a virtual “passing of the gavel” from former APA presidents to the incoming APA president, Ellen Kreth of the Madison County Record in Huntsville.

The convention starts at 10 a.m. on

On Friday, July 23, the annual APA

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business meeting is at 9:45 a.m. Following that, at 10 a.m., Doug Phares of Silverwind Enterprises will offer recommendations for better time management in a session called “Do Less Wisely: Strategies for Thin Staff and Tight Resources.” At 11:15 a.m Val Hoeppner of Val Hoeppner Media and Consulting will present “Apps for Journalists,” identifying important apps that reporters can use to enhance their reporting.

The convention concludes that afternoon with the annual APA Better Newspaper Editorial Awards.

Like in 2020, the convention registration fee is only $50 per person. To register, visit arkansaspress.org/events. For more information email info@arkansaspress. org or call (501) 374-1500.

LET US KNOW We want to know about your new hires, retires and promotions!

Send your staffing changes to info@arkansaspress.org to be updated online and included in the Arkansas Publisher Weekly.

July 8, 2021

ARKANSAS PRESS ASSOCIATION 2021 VIRTUAL CONVENTION SCHEDULE ARKANSAS PRESS ASSOCIATION 2021 VIRTUAL CONVENTION SCHEDULE Thursday, July 22 10 – 11 am

Session: “Re-Igniting Post-COVID Sales Conversations to Get Advertisers Back”

Friday, July 23 9:45 am

Rusty Turner, APA President 10 – 11 am

Presented by Ryan Dohrn, Brainswell Media 11:15 am – Noon Session: “How to Handle the 10 Most Common Advertiser Objections”

Panel Discussion: Maximizing your Audience

11:15 am – Noon Session: Apps for Journalists Presented by:Val ValHoeppner, Hoeppner, Val Hoeppner Media & Consulting 12:30 – 2 pm

Moderator: Ellen Kreth

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

APA Better Newspaper Editorial Awards Presentation Emcee: Rex Nelson, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Panelists: Kelly Fruedensprung, Eliza Gaines, Jennifer Allen, Mitch Bettis 3:15 – 4:15 pm

Session: “Do Less Wisely Strategies for thin staff and tight resources.”

Presented by:Doug DougPhares, Phares, Silverwind Enterprises

Presented by Ryan Dohrn, Brainswell Media 2 – 3 pm

APA Business Meeting

Gavel Passing, Installation of APA President and Special Awards Presentation

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July 8, 2021

Texarkana Gazette launches podcast

Dorothy Stuck dies at 100

In 1970, she relocated to Dallas as the regional director of the Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. She was responsible for overseeing compliance with federal desegregation laws and Title IX implementation in a five-state area.

While overseeing that office, she received its Distinguished Service Award, its highest civilian honor.

The first edition of the Texarkana Gazette’s “On the Line: Texarkana News and Views” weekly podcast is set to hit podcast streaming sites on Tuesday, July 13. The podcast will provide “episodes that add depth and diversity to news coverage,” according to an article in the Gazette.

In 1981, she established Stuck & Snow Resultants, a management consulting firm in Little Rock, with her friend Nan Snow. The two co-authored “Roberta: A Most Remarkable Fulbright”, a biography of Sen. J. William Fulbright’s mother, in 1997.

Dorothy Stuck

Dorothy Davis Stuck, 100, of Little Rock, a founding member of Arkansas Press Women and former newspaper publisher, died Thursday, July 1, in Little Rock.

Stuck was a trailblazing female journalist who, along with her husband, owned and published three newspapers in Poinsett County: The Marked Tree Tribune, the Trumann Democrat and the Lepanto News-Record. In 1950 she became the editor of the Marked Tree newspaper, a position she held for two decades. She was also a former president of APW and a two-time Press Woman of the Year honoree.

The newspaper’s associate and online editor, Karl Richter, is the host and creator of the podcast. The July 13 episode will contain a news review and preview with interviews from the Gazette’s downtown Texarkana office. Episodes will run from 30 to 60 minutes.

Richter was quoted as saying: “There are endless possibilities. We can talk to artists, performers who are touring through town.

The nature of it is we can do it remotely, too.”

The podcast was funded through a $7,500 grant from the Google News Initiative Journalism Emergency Relief Fund.

She was a founding member of the board of Southern Bancorp, a board member of the Winthrop Rockefeller Lecture Services board and an inductee in the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame.

A native of Gravette, she was a graduate of the University of Arkansas. A member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority at UA, she was the editor of the sorority’s national magazine, The Arrow, from 1960-67, and is a UA distinguished alumnus.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Howard C. Stuck Jr., and her son, Howard C. Stuck III. At her request, there were no memorial services. She will be buried at Oaklawn Cemetery in Jonesboro under the direction of Ruebel Funeral Home.

Clay County Courier to publish on Fridays

The Clay County Courier in Corning announced to readers last week that it was changing its day of publication.

The printed weekly newspaper will now be delivered to subscribers on Fridays instead of Thursdays.

The newspaper was one of four purchased last month by New Jersey-based CherryRoad Media. Another CherryRoad newspaper, the Pocahontas Star-Herald, also announced last week it was changing

publication days.

The Courier will continue to be available each week online on Wednesdays. It will be printed on Wednesday evenings, delivered to newsstands on Thursdays and mailed to subscribers for delivery on Fridays.

Ad deadlines for the Corning newspaper are Tuesdays at 4 p.m. News articles will be accepted until Wednesday mornings.

New episodes will be released every Tuesday at onthelinetxk.castos.com and on podcast apps, and are available to both subscribers and nonsubscribers of the newspaper.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

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July 8, 2021

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Guest Column: A simple way to develop ad campaign ideas

By John Foust Let’s say you’re meeting with a florist who has been running ads with the headline, “For all your floral needs.” Of course, you and I know this is an empty headline that speaks to no one in particular. It’s a terrible idea and a waste of the advertiser’s budget.

What should you do?

1. Have a conversation. The first step is to diplomatically encourage the advertiser to consider something else. The headline – as weak as it is – may be near and dear to his or her heart. The florist has been spending money to run it, so don’t criticize.

Simply say something like, “Your idea opens the door to a lot of ad possibilities.

How would you feel about seeing where those possibilities lead?”

Every word of your statement is true.

“All of your floral needs” does open the door to other ideas. And you do want to encourage a look at other possibilities.

This approach sends a signal that you are not looking for a quick, hit-and-run sale. You’re aiming for a low-pressure, collaborative effort to promote the florist shop.

2. Break it down. Like a technician who

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

takes a machine apart to examine its inner workings, it’s important to learn specifics.

What does “all” really mean? Make a list of the needs which the florist meets. It’s better to ask, “What do your customers need?” than, “What do you do?” That keeps the focus where it should be – on the florist’s customers.

As you go through the process, you’ll probably learn that the florist provides flowers for all kinds of occasions: weddings, anniversaries, proms, funerals, Christmas, church events, Valentine’s Day and birthdays, among many others. The point is to turn a generality into specifics.

With the right details, you’ll have plenty of raw material for new ideas.

3. Develop a strategy. The next step is to look at the yearly calendar and figure out the best times to promote flowers for those occasions. While some are yearround and some are seasonal (Spring for wedding planning, for example), other occasions rely on the advertiser’s records and industry trends for development of an ad schedule and a creative strategy.

4. Create continuity. How are you going to tie everything together? Each ad should look like – and sound like – it comes from

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the same advertiser. There are a number of elements to consider: typography, color, illustrative style, ad sizes, frequency, coordination between print and digital and ways to link to their website.

This four-step formula can help you generate more sales for your paper and for your advertisers. The end result will be a series of targeted and consistent messages, instead of the same watereddown ad over and over again. And the good news is that you don’t even have to start with a bad idea like, “for all your fillin-the-blank needs.” Just start by figuring out what specific things your advertiser can do for their customers – and you’ll find that the future looks rosy. © Copyright 2021 by John Foust. All Rights Reserved.

John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training videos to save time and get quick results from in-house training. Email for information: john@johnfoust.com

July 8, 2021