Arkansas Publisher Weekly: August 4, 2022

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Newspaper business model webinar scheduled for August 25

Guest Column:

Pay Attention to Readers: Increasing eyes on the page might be simpler than you think.

Arkansas Press Association

Publisher Weekly

By Kevin Slimp

Vol.17 | No. 31 | Thursday, August 4, 2022 | Serving Press and State Since 1873

New APA public notice website set to launch August 28 The Arkansas Press Association will launch a new statewide public notice website for the benefit of its member newspapers and Arkansas residents on August 28. APA announced its partnership with Column, a collaborative public notice platform, for the development of the site earlier this year.

“As we work to preserve public notice in Arkansas, it’s imperative we have a strong tech partner to make them even more accessible to our state’s citizens. Our association found that in Column,” said APA Executive Director Ashley Kemp Wimberley. “While we remain steadfast in our belief public notices should remain in printed newspapers, adding a cuttingedge website that aggregates all of the notices in one location allows Arkansans to easily search for any notice published.”

South Dakota, Texas and Louisiana in using Column. Along with its press association partnerships, Column is live in all 50 states.

“We are big fans of Ashley at the APA,” said Jake Seaton, founder and CEO of Column. “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 its member publications to help modernize public notice in Arkansas.”

What is Column?

Column is a software company for the placement and distribution of public notices, headquartered in Manhattan, Kansas. Its two major products are software for newspaper associations to help them maintain a statewide web presence and software for publishers that help them manage the public notice segment of their businesses.

Column was founded by Seaton with seed capital from his family’s media company, Continued on Page 2

APA joins 16 other state press associations, including Idaho, Kansas,

APA public notice survey extended to Friday, August 12 The Arkansas Press Association has extended the deadline for the member public notice survey to Friday, August 12.

According to a recently conducted Arkansas readership survey, 70% of Arkansas adults read public notices in newspapers and 65% believe that publishing public notices in newspapers should be required.

“Collecting as much information as possible about public notices in our member newspapers is vitally important to our efforts to preserve public notices in our member newspapers,” said APA Executive Director Ashley Kemp Wimberley. “As

we know from our statewide research study, our communities want public notices published in our newspapers and we will do everything we can to keep it that way.”

All data collected will be used to support APA’s legislative efforts to maintain transparency by keeping public notices in print newspapers. Data collected will only be used in aggregate, and no identifying information will be disclosed.

After aggregating, all individual data will be destroyed.

APA asks that one employee in a management position at each member

newspaper complete the survey. If your company owns more than one publication, please complete the survey for each.

The survey can be accessed here: h t t p s : / / w w w. s u r v e y m o n k e y. c o m / r / ARPublicNotices.

New APA public notice website set to launch August 28 Continued from Page 1

Seaton Publishing. Seaton Publishing bought its first newspaper in Manhattan, Kansas in 1915 and has grown to 10 newspapers throughout the heartland.

the user.”

And thirdly, Seaton wanted to retain public notices in newspapers. “As state legislatures consider removing notices from newspapers, the industry needs to show it is ahead of the curve and the products we’ve built are designed to do that. The real threat to this business is legislatures changing the rules. The introduction of good, clean, efficient technology by the publishing industry is necessary to prevent what the default case is – loss of this revenue.”

In partnership with state press associations, Seaton has testified before six state legislatures, introducing them to his product and showing them how Column improves the public notice experience for everyone, including state government.

Jake Seaton

“Column is a public benefit software company,” said Seaton. “I founded the company because I didn’t see any tech providers out there providing what the industry needs if it is going to continue to be the distributor of public notice in communities.”

Public notices are an important source of revenue for newspapers and are central to the relationship newspapers have with governments, law firms and constituents.

“We are independent from Seaton Publishing,” said Seaton. “I wanted to build technology that would modernize and future-proof that piece [public notices] of the business so it would remain a vital revenue stream for newspapers. As far as we know, we’re the only public benefit company focused exclusively on public notice.”

This central role of public notice is what inspired him to build a product that would be more efficient. “It automates a lot of the manual labor, such as proofing, invoicing and affidavits, which will save publishers time and money. By automating these tasks, it allows staff to focus on other important aspects of the news business that can’t be automated.”

Secondly, Column improves the customer experience, according to Seaton. “It can be a little tedious to place a notice, figuring out how long it needs to run, track it, etc.

This product makes it so much simpler for

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

“We show them how many notices are getting uploaded to the database and what that can tell us about notices at a statewide level in order to try to stop notices from moving out of newspapers,” Seaton said. “Me, personally, and we, as a company, are strongly incentivized to keep notices in newspapers.”

archived for later retrieval and an affidavit is sent directly to the user when the notice is published. In addition, Column has a 24-hour customer support team that responds to phone, text, e-mail and chat.

Kathy Malm, vice president of sales at CherryRoad Media, was an early adopter of Column when the Kansas Press Association partnered with the company for a statewide website. CherryRoad has since adopted Column for all of its publications, including those in Arkansas, though some are still being onboarded.

“I started with Column in Kansas,” Malm said. “The Kansas Press Association got on board fairly early with them. I am in the middle of Kansas. I really like their program. I love that we are working in collaboration with public notices between the newspapers and government legal services to make sure the public has easy access.”

Column has a staff of 50 people spread across engineering, products design, management and business development.

Many members have worked together previously in the tech industry, and Seaton has brought in industry veterans, executives and angel investors to fortify his company.

“We are here to stay,” Seaton said. “We have rolled out in hundreds of markets, big and small. We work with old and young newspapers. We know what we’re doing.

We’re very committed to the industry and to being the technology partner on this issue.”

How will Column help APA member newspapers?

Column works directly with newspapers, while users of the software can be anyone who needs to publish public notices, such as government entities, law firms and private citizens. One placing a notice logs in and enters the content, and Column sizes and prices the notice. The notice is then pushed to the newspaper’s website, making it available for statewide and national public notice searches and ready for the newspaper to print. The notice is

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Kathy Malm

Malm emphasized how much the service has helped with workflow. “It helps our legal clerks and the placing party handle workload more efficiently. Some users like doing it themselves. Some still like calling our legal clerk to login to Column and place their notices that way. But this level of service is something we didn’t necessarily have at every property in the past under the old system. The self-service aspect is easier, faster and everything is at the user’s fingertips.”

Since CherryRoad launched its Column sites, overall usage for public notices seems to be the same, according to Malm.

“Once we launch in a market, we see our legals clerk doing most of the work,” Malm Continued to Page 3

August 4, 2022

New APA public notice website set to launch August 28 Continued from Page 2

said. “But every month we continue to see our users using the Column portal for more and more self-service.”

Like with any new venture, Malm did have a few concerns at the outset. “In the newspaper business, we’ve all worked with a lot of different vendors,” she said.

“Getting onboarded and then stood up.

Column has been one of the very best at getting us prepared. They do a training session, and their help desk is very responsive. The software is very userfriendly. Training and setup was quick and painless.

“And we have not seen any indication of a decrease in revenue like with some vendors,” Malm said. “I worried about Column possibly being a replacement for us, like AutoTrader. But I have not seen any indication that is what is happening in regular usage. Users still want to see notices appear in print. It is entered once, it pushes to our website, it gets printed and they get an immediate affidavit–that’s what they like. I see Column as a company that is helping us make a case as to why newspapers should still print legals.”

How will Column help the APA? When Malm and CherryRoad were introduced to Column through the Kansas Press Association, the KPA communicated to all of its members about the Column rollout, answered questions and helped facilitate training and eased concerns for the upcoming change. APA is implementing similar education in advance of its Column website launch.

“We knew what was coming down the pike and had time to learn about it before the roll out,” Malm said.

KPA Executive Director Emily Bradbury has the unique position of being both an advocate of public notice in newspapers as well as a client. She serves on her local library board, and library boards are required to place public notices. “It takes me mere minutes to place them in our local newspaper using Column,” she said. “I place them at 9 p.m. after our meeting and the order is confirmed first thing the next morning. It’s a fantastic process. Column is simply a good tool for newspapers to offer their clients.”

Lori Jackson, advertising administrative assistant for KPA, said, “I love using Arkansas Publisher Weekly

Column–it is so quick and less work intensive for me when I place legal notices in Kansas newspapers. I automatically get notification emails on the newspaper approval, legal notice proof, invoice and affidavit from Column. The only extra step I take is sending the newspaper an email letting them know that I placed a legal notice in their newspaper via Column.

That way they are sure to get on the Column website right away to approve it.”

When KPA decided to partner with Column, it took the approach that it was going to show its member newspapers why the association needed to adopt the service, selling them on the convenience for them and their clients. The most common concern Bradbury heard was if Column would get “in-between” the newspaper and its public notice client. “We reinforced that this is a tool that member newspapers can offer their public notice clients,” said Bradbury.

Bradbury has seen very few technology issues as the platform is cloud-based. If member newspapers or users do have issues, Column’s customer service has been very responsive to both groups. She also noted that the training for members and the association was very thorough.

Like Malm, Bradbury has heard from her members currently using Column that staff time spent on public notices has decreased. This allows her members to put their staff resources to use in other areas.

Beyond the practical benefits to the associations and member newspapers, 3

Column is designed to provide a policy benefit to newspaper associations’ legislative efforts.

“We always expect legislation that affects public notice so we can be pleasantly surprised if there’s not any introduced,” Bradbury said. “But Column helps us meet some of the arguments we hear from legislators head-on. We sometimes hear, ‘We can’t in touch with anyone at the newspaper to place a notice.’ With Column there is no need to call. You can place a public notice 24/7. We also hear, ‘They need to be online.’ Column does it automatically and in real-time on a free statewide website. This is all on top of the data aggregation that is possible that most states are not doing. This can be seen as value-added to the notice process.”

“Are all of our problems going to disappear and we’re never going to have to defend keeping legals in our newspapers?” Malm said. “I’m not going to say that, but the more tools we have in our toolbox to make that argument is just going to help our case as we move forward.”

“Arkansas Press Association’s rollout of the Column site is an enhancement on what we have already been doing,” Wimberley added. “Already half of our members have begun training and onboarding, and I encourage all members who have yet to do so to reach out with any questions or concerns. This partnership is going to be a great step forward for Arkansas newspapers in keeping citizens informed and streamlining one of the most important aspects of our business.”

August 4, 2022

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Newspaper business model webinar scheduled for August 25 The Arkansas Press Association is hosting a webinar, Redefining Your Newspaper Business Model with Research, on Thursday, August 25 from 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Dr. Teri Finneman, associate professor of journalism at The University of Kansas, is leading an 18-month research project to test a new business model based on data collected from rural publishers and readers to help weekly newspapers adapt, survive and thrive in the 21st century.

In the live webinar, Finneman will review what weekly newspaper publishers and readers had to say and will present feedback from the publishers piloting the proposed memberships, e-newsletters and events model, as well as answer questions about the research project.

The cost to attend is $20 for members and $30 for non-members. To register for the webinar go visit arkansaspress.org/event/APAWebinar.

NNA calls for major revamp of USPS newspaper handling The National Newspaper Association has proposed a major change in the way newspapers travel through the mails.

According to NNA General Counsel Tonda Rush, NNA is concerned about persistent service problems with copies traveling outside the local post office.

The organization formed a group last summer to work with USPS executives on locating what they call the “pinch points” that cause newspapers to be delayed.

Out of that work grew a call from NNA Chair Brett Wesner, president of Wesner Publications, Cordell, Oklahoma, to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for a major revamping of newspaper handling within USPS. “After decades of painfully inconsistent delivery outside our counties of

publication, we have concluded that only a major redesign of the system is going to address the problem,” said Wesner.

“Specifically, we are seeking a newspaper mail subclass within the category that USPS generally calls Periodicals. No change in our core distribution Within County is being sought.”

The proposal was assigned to a product development team within the USPS Marketing Department in April.

“We don’t expect to see this change in 2022,” NNA Postal Committee Chair Matthew Paxton, publisher of the News-Gazette, Lexington, Virginia, said, “but we are pushing to have some phases implemented as soon as possible and to roll out an overall new design as close to January 2023 as we can.”

ARKANSAS NEWSPAPER CONNECTION

NEWS NEWS

Are you hiring? Let us know!

The Arkansas Newspaper Connection is a weekly newsletter published by APA connecting freelance and independent writers, editors, photographers and designers with Arkansas newspapers in need. The publication also lists available job openings and other opportunities at Arkansas newspapers and associate member organizations.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

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NEWS

NEWS

NEWS

August 4, 2022 NEWS

CitySpark event promotion service —30— Bruce Ferguson launches redesigned platform Arkansas newspapers looking for new design options for digital community events calendars may want to check out CitySpark, which released a redesigned event platform in June.

CitySpark provides publishers with online event promotion space that allows usergenerated content. According to CitySpark, there are numerous direct and indirect impacts on event promotions and revenue included in the new design, including a larger event space at the top of the calendar, display ads that can be auto-generated by the system and a new “hotlink” bar with promotional sales opportunities, among other new features.

The redesign will continue to roll out to existing publishers through the summer. All new publications partnering with CitySpark will launch on the new platform.

To view the redesigned CitySpark calendar platform, visit cityspark.com/calendar/#!/.

For more information, email sales@cityspark.com.

Meta to no longer pay for content Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is telling its news partners in the U.S. that the company no longer plans to pay publishers for their content to run on Facebook’s News Tab, according to an article published recently by Sara Fischer of Axios.

Bruce Arnold Ferguson, whose column “Then, There’s This…” appeared in The Baxter Bulletin and other newspapers periodically from the 1990s until 2019, died Monday, July 25, 2022. He was 90.

Ferguson was born August 31, 1931 to Harry Ferguson and Lorene DeArmond in Evansville, Indiana. He earned a degree in anthropology from the University of Colorado, and held several patents. His early career included a NASA partnership designing patches worn by the astronauts on their missions.

His published books include “Romancing the New Yorker”, about his efforts to win publication in the New Yorker magazine, “Shmoozing the Nigerians,” “Barndance in the Tabernacle” and “Then, There’s This,” a collection of his newspaper columns.

Ferguson was preceded in death by his parents, one son, Jimmy Ferguson, and a grandson.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara Ferguson; his children, Todd, Rick, Annie and Steve, and nine grandchildren.

A funeral mass was held Monday, August 1, 2022 at St. Peter the Fisherman Catholic Church in Mountain Home. Interment followed at Kirby’s Tucker Memorial Cemetery Mausoleum.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

Facebook began working with news publishers in 2019 as the company was increasing its investment in news, and hired journalists to help direct publisher traffic to its News Tab. Those news deals were worth $105 million. But, as the company rethinks its user experience, news has become less of a priority.

Many news publishers are still able to have their content included in the News Tab, though funding to around 50 publishers will not be renewed.

Before the introduction of the News Tab in 2019, the company made a decision to change its algorithm to prioritize content from “friends” over brands, including news organizations.

The complete article can be found at axios. com/2022/07/28/meta-publishers-newsfunding-cut.

INDUSTRY QUOTE “The why is what makes journalism an adult game. The why is what makes policy coherent and useful. The why is what transforms bureaucrats and foot soldiers and political leaders into viable instruments of rational and affirmative change. The why is everything and without it, the very suggestion of human progress becomes a cosmic joke.”

–David Simon 6

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 includedin the Arkansas Publisher Weekly.

August 4, 2022

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Guest Column:

Pay Attention to Readers: Increasing eyes on the page might be simpler than you think.

By Kevin Slimp In 1849, French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” (The more things change, the more they stay the same). That’s certainly the case in the newspaper business. While newspapers have evolved and changed in many ways, some of the most fundamental concepts continue to apply to growing papers. I suspect that is just as true for the Swedish newspaper Post-och Inrikes Tidningar (Post and Domestic Times) today as it was when first published in 1645.

I don’t keep a log of such things, but it seems like I’m getting more calls from newspapers than I ever have. The calls run the gamut of just about every area of the publishing business, but more times than not, the callers want advice on ways to improve their newspapers.

Most weeks, I meet for an hour or more online with three or four publishers (and often their staff) to review their papers and suggest improvements. Karr probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that most of these newspapers have a lot in common regarding areas of potential improvement.

Since 2016, I’ve conducted five surveys of thousands of newspaper publishers to learn how things are going at their papers.

At the same time, I’ve conducted national surveys and dozens of focus groups to find out what readers think of their papers and suggest improvements. The results of these focus groups are almost identical, no matter their locations. The results of these focus groups might not surprise you, but it’s interesting how consistent

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

their primary suggestions are: • Keep the focus on local news • Run plenty of human-interest stories • Design attractive pages There are always dozens of additional suggestions, but these three seem always to top the lists.

As I critique newspapers for publishers each week, one of the most common recommendations I make is to increase the number of human-interest stories.

Readers love them. They are easy to write and, with a good photo, are guaranteed to draw eyes to the page.

Three years ago, a young reporter in Canada wrote to me in a panic. “I just walked out of the news meeting, and it’s the first time I’ve not been assigned a story. I’m supposed to go out and find my own! What should I do?”

I couldn’t help but giggle. We’ve all been young, and most of us have faced similar trials.

“Go find someone in your community,” I told her, “that is at least 90 years old. Ask the person to tell you their life’s story.”

The following week I heard back from the reporter. You guessed it. Her story about the local citizen was her most popular story ever. She was getting emails from readers. She learned a valuable lesson.

I’m amazed at the stories behind people I meet daily. I stopped a man at a local food bank not long ago. He looked to be in his 90s. In conversation, I learned he spent his

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life in the military, and I eventually learned that he had spent several of his younger years as a spy, traveling the world.

Traveling down a lonely road in Colorado not long ago, I stopped at a “motel and restaurant” to grab a bite. No other customers were around, so I invited the owner to sit with me. We talked for about an hour, and I learned he was once a golden-glove boxing champion long before he went into the motel and restaurant business.

Great human-interest stories are everywhere. Everyone indeed has a story.

Pulitzer winner Frank McCourt wrote, “Everyone has a story to tell. All you have to do is write it.”

I agree with McCourt.

I’ve already met with two newspapers this week, and they left those meetings with hundreds of suggestions. We discussed design, fonts, content, photos, ads, and more. One bit of advice, however, I mention to almost every client is to emphasize human interest stories. It’s perhaps the best way I know – other than a redesign – to increase a paper’s readership.

Who knows? Maybe, like the Post-och Inrikes Tidningar, your newspaper will still be in business 378 years from now.

Kevin Slimp is former director of The University of Tennessee Newspaper Institute and founder of NewspaperAcademy.com.

August 4, 2022