Arkansas Publisher Weekly: October 15, 2020

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State’s newspapers observe National Newspaper Week Guest Column: Into the issues

By Al Cross

Arkansas Press Association

Publisher Weekly Vol. 15 | No. 42 | Thursday, October 15, 2020 | Serving Press and State Since 1873

Lightning strikes for Photo of the Year winner Danielle Dupree’s photograph of an approaching storm in Lafayette County would have been memorable enough for her even if she’d never entered the 2020 Arkansas Press Association Better Newspaper Editorial Contest.

Now that the photo has been named APA’s Photo of the Year, it could be said that lightning has struck twice for her.

The Texarkana Gazette assistant news editor said a close lightning strike immediately after she took the awardwinning shot left her startled and scrambling. Her first-place award for the state’s best photograph was about as much as a surprise.

“That’s never going to leave me because it made my blood run cold,” Dupree said in a recent interview. “I was standing in a mud puddle with a metal tripod. I heard the lightning, then everything around me turned white. I packed up after that.”

Dupree’s award-winning shot was published in April 2019 in the Texarkana Gazette. It shows an ominous sky contrasted by a wet, muddy farm field.

Grain bins are off in the distance.

She said she set off to take photos of the storm after a mid-afternoon arrival in the office, when she learned the newspaper was still in need of a centerpiece photo for its front page.

Dupree, who lives in the piney woods of northeast Texas just outside Texarkana, knew that in order to get a good photo of storm clouds she needed to be on farm land. A spot in Lafayette County came to mind.

Continued on Page 2

Lightning strikes for Photo of the Year winner Continued from Page 1

dailies – the Texarkana Gazette and three of our sister papers.”

“I knew there was a farmer’s field and a wide open space to shoot a storm,” she said. “I didn’t know specifically where I was going. I just knew that area of the county was flat and there weren’t any trees. I drove around and found the appropriate foreground and background.”

Her Photo of the Year win comes at her first try at submitting photos in the annual contest. In previous years, the newspaper has left its photo contest entries to its staff photographers. Yet, as newsroom staff continues to evolve, Dupree has found herself taking more and more photos for the Gazette.

Though she’s been an assistant news editor for 17 years, photography is Dupree’s passion. And it’s one that got her into the newspaper business.

When she was in junior high school, she had her photos developed at the same photo lab used by the local newspaper publisher. When he happened to see the photos, he asked her to work for him. She started taking photos, drawing editorial cartoons and writing by age 16.

Another respite for Dupree is travel and, of course, photography. She is fond of landscape photography, and the Big Bend area in southwest Texas is one of her favorite spots to shoot. Her advice for amateur photographers trying to emulate her award-winning work: “Just capture an honest moment.”

Danielle Dupree

While in college at Texas A&M UniversityTexarkana, Dupree took over as editor of the Big Sandy-Hawkins Journal in Texas. She later taught courses including advanced copy editing, design and reporting at Texas A&M-Texarkana.

Dupree is an editor and design editor for the Gazette’s monthly HER magazine, which she described as a “great side project that provides a break each month from the pressures of helping to oversee a staff responsible for the layout of four

“Landscape photography helps calm my mind because everything else fades away, and all that matters is what’s in front of you,” Dupree said. “I love being out in nature and having to work for a photo by carrying my gear up the side of a mountain.

A lot of photographers go to the same place and shoot the same things from the same angle, but I like to find places a lot of people don’t shoot.”

A native of Atlanta, Texas, Dupree completed her graduate course work overseas with journalists in Hungary, Slovenia, Poland and Belgium. She said she “fell in love with travel” as a result of that overseas work, and she’s visited about two dozen countries.

Register now for this year’s free ArkLaMiss conference Registration is now open for the annual ArkLaMiss Audience Development and Marketing Conference, a must-attend event for Arkansas Press Association publishers, general managers, circulation directors and others with an interest in growing a newspaper’s readership and revenue.

the N’West Iowa Review. Wagner is a regular at press association events across the country and is a familiar name to APA members. His monthly column is published in Arkansas Publisher Weekly.

The 2020 event is all online, for the first time ever, and registration is free for APA members. This year’s conference will be Thursday, Nov. 5, and Friday, Nov. 6.

“ArkLaMiss is an essential forum for our publishers and audience development managers who are seeking innovative, effective ways to attract more subscribers and increase profitability,” said APA Executive Director Ashley Wimberley.

“This year, it will be easier than ever for APA members to participate in this conference, since travel is unnecessary and registration is free.”

Headlining the 2020 ArkLaMiss conference will be Peter W. Wagner, publisher of

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

dollar ideas for promotions and building revenue.

A mainstay at ArkLaMiss is a “Hot Ideas” exchange moderated by Dennis Dunn, circulation director of the Anniston (Alabama) Star. Dunn will ask participants to share their best ideas for boosting revenue and reducing costs.

Publishers, editors and other key newspaper personnel are also welcome to participate in a Newspaper Round Table event. In that session, participants will cover a number of topics including revenue and expenses, special promotions and management tips.

The event is sponsored by the Arkansas Press Association, the Mississippi Press Association, the Alabama Press Association and the Tennessee Press Association.

Wagner will discuss practical and timely topics, including the future of the print newspaper and provide digital and high-

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While the conference is free, registration is required. To register, or to get more information, visit ArkLaMissConference. wordpress.com.

October 15, 2020

State’s newspapers observe National Newspaper Week Arkansas newspapers focused attention on the newspaper’s essential role within its community during last week’s observance of National Newspaper Week.

The 80th annual National Newspaper Week was observed Oct. 4 through Oct. 10. This year’s theme was “America Needs Journalists,” acknowledging how good reporting is vital during tumultuous times and as the nation faces an important election.

Multiple Arkansas newspapers reprinted editorials, opinion columns, editorial cartoons and pre-designed house ads in recognition of National Newspaper Week.

Among the newspapers crafting their original takes on the week were the Stone County Leader in Mountain View, Paragould Daily Press and Saline Courier in Benton.

The Leader reminded readers that the newspaper will “remain committed to the ideals upon which all legitimate newspapers are founded: serving as a trusted, reliable source for local news and as an effective vehicle for advertisers.”

Steve Gillespie, editor of the Daily Press, reminded readers of the distinction between opinionated national newsmakers and unbiased local journalism, explaining that reporters in Paragould “are doing our best to provide an objective reflection of the community by documenting what happens, while trying to be a voice for everyone, because that’s what local newspapers do.” Gillespie cautioned against the vitriol and rants against so-called “fake news” that have been prevalent in recent years.

In Saline County, Courier editor Josh Briggs implored readers not to confuse his staff with the national news media, and asked them to value their local newspaper.

“Take the time, simply once a week, to visit your local newspaper rack, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy what your fellow community members are doing. Producing the ‘daily miracle’ is something that should not be taken for granted,” Briggs wrote.

If you have other examples of your newspaper recognizing National Newspaper Week, email Ashley Wimberley at ashley@arkansaspress. org. Work submitted will be featured in a future edition of Arkansas Publisher Weekly.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

STONE COUNTY LEADER - Wednesday, October 7, 2020 Page 8A

Vote to support newspapers, democracy

By Tom Silvestri The Relevance Project

Newspapers face another big election.

It’s about them.

While the United States is riveted by a most unusual presidential election, the newspaper industry is running to win the hearts, minds and souls of “voters.”

These voters are readers, residents, subscribers, students, advertisers, marketers, sponsors and newspaper employees.

This National Newspaper Week (Oct 4-11), vote for newspapers.

Vote by subscribing to support your local newspaper. (If you already do, a big thanks.)

Vote by advertising – cheers to current ad buyers. Patronize those who do.

Vote by engaging your newspaper. Write a letter to the editor, tweet appreciation to an enterprising reporter, send a suggestion to the publisher with a request to speak to him or her for a personal exchange.

Vote by learning more about your newspaper, its history, its mission, its staff and its ownership.

Vote by frequently checking the newspaper’s web site or news alerts.

Vote by signing up for its newsletters. And if it doesn’t have one, tell the newspaper you’re interested – especially the day’s headlines or a weekly entertainment summary of what’s happening.

Vote by adding to newspaper “likes” on social media.

Vote by making a video with pro-newspaper testimonials from neighbors and friends.

Heck, put up a sign in your front yard or window boasting you’re a newspaper reader.

Fear not.

This campaign to elect newspapers is winnable, but much is at stake.

Consider this passage from longtime journalist Margaret Sullivan›s 2020 book, «Ghosting the News – Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy: “Some of the most trusted sources of news – local sources, particu-

larly local newspapers – are slipping away, never to return. The cost to democracy is great.”

For good measure, Sullivan, who is the media columnist for the Washington Post, quoted the conclusion of a major PEN American study in 2019: “As local journalism declines,” stated the organization that champions free expression, “government officials conduct themselves with less integrity, efficiency, and effectiveness, and corporate malfeasance goes unchecked. With the loss of local news, citizens are: less likely to vote, less politically informed, and less likely to run for office.”

Democracy loses its foundation, Sullivan stated.

Vote for newspapers.

In his Aug. 16 column, H. Dean Ridings of America’s Newspapers cited the depressing study from the University of North Carolina to note that 1,800 communities have lost their local newspaper over the last 15 years.

“What would my town be without a newspaper?” the national association’s CEO wrote.

“If you haven’t asked yourself that question, perhaps it is time to consider just what the newspaper means to this community.”

Among the answers Ridings provided was this: “The most obvious is the community›s access to news about itself: the workings of its town hall; information about taxes and property values; the operation of schools for its children; the achievements, or the criminal activities, of local residents; the scores of local ball teams; schedules and reviews of movies, concerts, restaurants and books; and the offerings of local small businesses.”

This year’s National Newspaper Week should be anything but routine.

It›s a time to be bold – even daring.

Newspapers throughout the United States and Canada should use National Newspaper Week to conduct See Democracy, page 9A

AMERICA NEEDS JOURNALISTS Empowering the informed.

Galloping goats, biting gators and more in your local newspaper

By Dean Ridings, CEO America’s Newspapers

If you happened to read the Albuquerque Journal recently you would have learned about a family who used their (galloping) goats to gobble up weeds and earn some extra money while keeping the city’s weeds and grass trimmed. In the Orlando Sentinel, you would have discovered that a man was attacked and bitten by an alligator while hunting near one of the local lakes. Neither of these stories are lifeand-death issues, unless you happen to be the hunter, but they provide interesting glimpses into life in their communities. While these headlines easily grabbed your attention, these same newspapers also covered the more important stories, like the actions of the local city council, the school board and state government, and you probably won’t see those stories elsewhere. Journalists tell the stories that are fun to read, but even more importantly, the ones we need to know. America needs journalists!

While you can’t turn on a TV, radio or even look at Facebook without seeing mentions of COVID-19, there has been as much misinformation disseminated as actual facts. Chances are your newspaper has covered the pandemic and its real impact on your community. Your newspaper is a reliable source that provides information about the number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths, so you are better equipped to make an informed decision about how best to cope with these new challenges.

America needs journalists! And what if you really need to know the details about which face mask works better and which ones you should avoid? Check your newspaper. It probably has the information, or you could give Google a try.

Many of the results will be from newspapers.

America needs journalists.

I happen to live in Florida, the state with the most hurricane landfalls.

Hurricanes are a big deal here, and if I want to know the path of the storm, there are lots of options. But if I want to know where my local shelters are located, where I can get sand bags, the expected impact on my city, and

what I need to do to prepare, there is no better source than the local newspaper. And yes, Florida needs journalists. Whether you live in Iowa and face routine tornadic activity, or live in Montana with its blizzards, newspapers provide insights into dealing with those routine challenges better than any other source.

Newspapers also provide real benefits to those who never read them or even glance at a headline. Last year, the Anchorage Daily News did a series of investigative stories that showed how a third of Alaska’s villages had no police protection. The series led to the U.S. Attorney

General declaring an emergency for public safety in rural Alaska, and he was able to free up $10.5 million to support local police efforts and public safety. While many people in the affected villages never saw or even heard of the series in the Anchorage Daily News, they all reaped the benefit.

America needs journalists.

Newspapers, and journalism in general, is under siege as the disruption of the internet, the rise of Google and Facebook and their use of newspapers’ content without payment have all wreaked havoc on the industry. With many restaurants and retail-

ers closing the past few months due to the pandemic, advertising revenue has plummeted even further. While newspapers continue to tell the story, it has gotten more difficult. While America needs journalists, journalists need you. Your paid subscription and support of local journalism matters.

••• Dean Ridings is CEO of America’s Newspapers, a national trade association representing more than 1,600 newspapers across the US and Canada. He was previously the President and CEO of the Florida Press Association and it agency Intersect Media Solutions.

VOTE NO

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IT'S ALWAYS YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING IN ARKANSAS GOVERNMENT Early voting starts October 19 • Election Day November 3

This newspaper supports your right to know.

The Stone County Leader in Mountain View devoted two pages to coverage of National Newspaper Week. Reprinted with permission.

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October 15, 2020

Members of Congress seek info on government ad spending Two U.S. representatives last week asked the Government Accountability Office to conduct a comprehensive review of how government agencies spend their advertising dollars and to look at how those agencies could place more advertising with local newspapers and broadcast stations, the News Media Alliance announced.

In a news release, the News Media Alliance said Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Illinois, and Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama, asked GAO to evaluate advertising spending by the federal government for the last five fiscal years. The letter requests the agency break down the media mix for ad campaigns and what mechanisms are in place to make it efficient for the federal government to advertise in local media.

“We applaud Representatives Bustos and Aderholt for requesting this study, which would help shed light on how government agencies could shift advertising spending to support local media channels,” stated David Chavern, president and CEO of the News Media Alliance, in his organization’s news release.

“Local print, digital and broadcast news organizations are working tirelessly to bring us critical news and information – which we need now more than ever. Advertising in local media is an easy way for our government agencies to provide much-needed support, while benefiting from effective and efficient avenues to reach local communities across the country on issues of national and local importance, including the pandemic.”

Professional Communications Contest now open for entries The annual Arkansas Press Women Professional Communications Contest is now accepting entries.

According to APW, Arkansas communicators can enter a diverse variety of work in the 2021 contest. Eligible entries are for work completed any time during the 2020 calendar year, and the organization encourages entrants to get a head start on identifying their best work and submitting it for the contest.

First-place winners from Arkansas are eligible to compete in the national contest, with those honorees being recognized during the 2021 National Federation of Press Women conference held in North Little Rock in June. This marks the first time in three decades that Arkansas has hosted the national conference. Little Rock was originally scheduled to be host of the 2020 conference, but that event was held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Winners of the state contest are typically honored with a luncheon that is scheduled for the spring.

For rules, categories and to submit entries, visit nfpwcontest.secure-platform.com/a/organizations/AR/ home Members of Arkansas Press Women pay $20 for their first entry and $15 for each additional entry. The cost for nonmembers is $30 for the first entry and $20 for each additional entry.

To avoid a late fee of $25, all entries must be submitted

by Jan. 27, 2021.

The Arkansas contest coordinator is Helen Plotkin.

Entrants with questions may email Plotkin at haplotkin@ outlook.com

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

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October 15, 2020

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Guest Column: Into the Issues

By Al Cross Just as some people are tiring of taking precautions against the novel coronavirus, helping it spread, I’m sure some newsrooms are tiring of covering it.

And that helps it spread, too, by making it seem less of a threat, and discouraging precautions.

And I fear that some newsrooms aren’t just tired of covering the pandemic, but have scaled back their coverage because of objections from people who think the pandemic is overblown or even a hoax.

Let me be quick to say that I haven’t seen such a trend in the newspapers I read regularly, but I tend to read high-quality newspapers, so that’s not probative evidence.

What I do know is that news organizations all over the country are getting pushback.

“No matter how carefully we report . . . for the first time, our readers are questioning the credibility of our reporting on the virus, and that’s dismaying,” said Les Zaitz, editor-publisher of the weekly Malheur Enterprise in eastern Oregon.

Zaitz made the comment on a panel during the Society of Professional Journalists conference this month, and I followed up with him via email.

“We consistently have people telling us they don’t believe the numbers we report about total coronavirus infections, and the positive testing rate,” he wrote.

“They accuse us of being in league with government officials to overstate the cases. Some say this is to effect more government control over people. We cite our sources, link to those government sources, and regularly explain the data in plain terms.

He added, “We also get pushback in reporting when government imposes restrictions (limiting restaurants, for instance). We are accused of fearmongering and trying to panic people.

Again, we clearly cite our sources.”

I got similar reports from some editors of Landmark Community Newspapers, with the help of Editorial Director John Nelson, who surveyed them at my request.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

“The most intense feedback has been on social media, specifically Facebook,” wrote Editor Hugh Willett of the Roane County News in East Tennessee. “We are posting the regular updates on positive cases, deaths, etc., that come from the county mayor’s office. These posts generate a large number of responses and quickly deteriorate into name calling over mask use, government overreach, etc.”

“We have gotten a lot of negative feedback on Facebook,” wrote Editor Travis Jenkins of The News & Reporter in Chester, S.C. “Lots of folks calling it the ‘plandemic’ and so forth. Lots of people arguing masks don’t work, it infringes on their rights, and such as that. Anytime we post anything about mask ordinances or covid, it goes berserk.”

Ben Sheroan, who edits one of Landmark’s two dailies, The NewsEnterprise in Elizabethtown, Ky., wrote that the paper “sees a lot of rude remarks and argumentative interaction on posts about daily covid reports and other covidrelated stories.”

Sheroan said the paper has sometimes changed its coverage “by simply being responsive to questions raised. For example, adding the positivity rate in a subsequent daily report, or providing data about the number of people hospitalized in a neighboring county. We have found sources to do stories about people who have lost family members or suffered illness.”

The stories of the sick are important, to impress upon skeptical readers that covid-19 is a real disease, and a tough one. Leads can come from social media.

That’s what the weekly Licking Valley Courier in West Liberty, Ky., did when a county official posted on Facebook, “For those who don’t think covid-19 is real, it is.

I tested positive.”

Editor Miranda Cantrell put a note at the end of her story about the official’s post, asking other victims to tell their stories, because locals wonder “whether the effects are as severe as mainstream media outlets have reported.”

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Yes, they do, but they are more likely to trust a local news outlet than one based somewhere else, so local editors and reports have a responsibility to tell the story of the pandemic and not flinch from friction or fatigue.

“Our main obligation is to give information to the public that’s authoritative, truthful and important,” Rick Berke, executive editor of Stat, said during another SPJ session. He said it’s “urgent” to write more stories “about how bad this is and how it affects people.”

Berke, who covered politics for The New York Times, recalled that covering the topic after the 2001 terrorist attacks “was really hard because everyone was so nice to each other,” so he was shocked to see the pandemic “become so politicized.”

Another editor in the session, Steve Riley of the Houston Chronicle, said some readers are suspicious of national newspapers. He said any time his paper publishes a front-page story from the Times or The Washington Post, both of which President Donald Trump has attacked, it gets “emails that seem scripted from Fox News . . . It’s our job to cut through the crap and provide unfettered, straight, reliable news, no matter where it falls.”

Times science correspondent Donald McNeil Jr. said, “Every organ of government has been corrupted in this pandemic . . . Our role in this pandemic has been more important in many more crises in this country because there has been such an effort to suppress the truth, and we’re fighting that.”

Riley advised, “Be engaged with your critics.” He said he tries to “explain in a calming way the role that we have. . . . the folks will at least nod their head and appreciate the response.”

Al Cross edited and managed rural newspapers before covering politics for the Louisville Courier Journal and serving as president of the Society of Professional Journalists. He is director of the University of Kentucky’s Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.

October 15, 2020