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Newspaper supporter chooses ANF for birthday fundraiser
Guest Column: Everything little is big today
Arkansas Press Association
Publisher Weekly
By Peter Wagner
Vol. 15 | No. 28 | Thursday, July 9, 2020 | Serving Press and State Since 1873
Jonesboro Sun’s Lynn finds positives in advertising Lisa A. Lynn understands newspapers must devote some ink to the bad things going on in a community. She’s just glad she gets to concentrate on the good stuff.
Jonesboro, specifically, has suffered what Lynn called a “triple whammy” as the city also recovers from an EF-3 tornado that ripped through the town’s commercial district March 27. On top of that, her top salesperson is on maternity leave.
The Jonesboro Sun advertising director has been in the newspaper ad business for almost 35 years, and she’s stayed with it because of the connections she’s made and her belief that newspaper advertising remains the best way to engage reliably with audiences about the available goods and services in a community.
Lynn has been one of a handful of Jonesboro Sun employees who’s gone into the office every day since the start of the coronavirus crisis. She’s been lucky enough to meet face-to-face with some retailers during that time, she said. She wants advertisers to know that she empathizes with their plight.
“In newspapers, we may have to report on the worst people, but when you’re in advertising, you get to meet the best people,” Lynn said. “Our business people are really the best people. They prop up our schools, they provide tax revenue. They’re the foundation for a good community.” Lynn, who demands use of the middle initial A because without it her name would sound like “a two-parter, like Billy Bob,” has been continuing to build bridges with the Lisa A. Lynn Northeast Arkansas business community over the last few months despite a commerce and forced the postponement global health pandemic that’s shuttered or cancellation of scores of events.
“We just work every day and try to stay in touch with our customers, check on them, and know there are things going on in their industries that mean they can’t necessarily buy from us like we would want them to,” she said, specifically noting a decline in new car inventory because of idled auto factories. Her job is to identify advertising needs as they change, she said. For instance, there’s been more advertising emphasis placed on home services and home improvements because people are Continued on Page 2
Annual APA convention to be presented virtually The Arkansas Press Association’s 2020 Annual Convention will be conducted online instead of in-person in late September, APA Executive Director Ashley Wimberley announced. The convention will consist of two days of online workshops for participants as well as a virtual awards ceremony to recognize the winners of this year’s Better Newspaper Editorial Awards. The virtual convention will be Thursday, Sept. 24, and Friday, Sept. 25. More information, including programming details and registration costs, will be forthcoming. The annual convention was rescheduled from late June to September because of the coronavirus pandemic. Given the consistent increase in the number of positive Continued on Page 2