Arkansas Publisher Weekly: December 26, 2019

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ARKANSAS

Ar k ansas

Publisher Weekly

PRESS ASSOCIATION

FROM APA

Guest Column:

The value of simplicity

By John Faust

Vol. 14 | No. 52 | Thursday, December 26, 2019

Serving Press and State Since 1873

Looking back on an eventful 2019 for newspapers From a grueling, yet productive, legislative session to continued acquisitions and sales among member newspapers, 2019 was a busy year for the newspaper industry in Arkansas.

The nation’s two largest newspaper groups announced a merger, with ripple effects of that change being felt in this state; and, as larger groups closed newspapers, local owners emerged to re-launch publications. Multiple APA veterans left the industry, and new faces took on important leadership roles in 2019.

Here’s a look back at some of the items that made news in the 2019 editions of Arkansas Publisher Weekly.

January •Gov. Asa Hutchinson, State Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, and House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, fielded questions from Arkansas news at Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson media Press Association headquarters in Little Rock. The three discussed their legislative agendas in a biannual event sponsored by APA and the Associated Press. The session was held just a few days before the start of the 2019 General Assembly.

•APA Executive Director Ashley Wimberley outlined the association’s legislative priorities for 2019, focusing on issues of government transparency and journalism education. The APA supported two measures sponsored by Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-East End, to require Arkansas’s public high schools to offer journalism as an elective course and one to protect the rights of student journalists in high schools. Wimberley also signaled APA would continue its strong advocacy of public notices in newspapers and the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. •The staff of the Woodruff County Monitor enjoyed a pizza party as a reward for perfect placement of APAordered advertisements in 2018. The

newspaper was randomly chosen from the 40 newspapers left in good standing at the end of 2018. APA started its Perfect Performance Club several years ago to encourage APA member newspapers to run ads ordered from the association correctly and on time.

•The new year led to a new start for two Northeast Arkansas newspapers, which combined in early January. The Blytheville Courier and Town Crier of Manila, both in Mississippi County, merged to create the NEA Town Courier. The merger offers a “bigger, better product” for a reduced subscription price for many customers.

The new publication publishes a print edition on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Its website is neatowncourier.com

February •Resilient and undeterred, the staff of the McGehee-Dermott Times-News published a newspaper anyway just a few days after a fire ravaged the publication’s office in downtown McGehee. Most of the interior of the office, as well as most furniture and equipment, was destroyed in the blaze.

Publisher/Editor Rachel Denton Freeze borrowed computers, software, power cords and other items to set up a makeshift office in the kitchen of her home, and

the Times-News staff published its next week’s edition, which included the banner headline “Still Standing!” on the frontpage report about the blaze.

•As the Arkansas General Assembly considered legislation to place a statue of civil rights icon Daisy Bates at the U.S. Capitol, the newspaper industry recognized Bates, who along with husband L.C. Bates was publisher of the

Daisy Bates

February

Continued from Page 1

Arkansas State Press, the largest blackowned newspaper in Arkansas in the 1950s. Arkansas celebrates Daisy Gatson Bates Day each February. “The State Press meant so much to Arkansas and the South, and we are just so proud of what the Bateses did,” said Janis Kearney, who took over the newspaper from Bates in 1984 and published it until 1997.

Publishing Group from a limited partnership led by Olivia Myers Farrell.

Bettis acquired the group that publishes Arkansas Business, Little Rock Soiree and Little Rock Family, and runs Flex360, a web development and digital marketing company. The sale was effective Feb. 28.

Bettis became the company’s president and CEO.

•Mitch Bettis, publisher of Arkansas Business, purchased Arkansas Business

•Editor and Publisher named the Hot Springs Village Voice as a 2019 honorable

mention on a list of “10 Newspapers that Do it Right.” The accolade was listed in the newspaper industry magazine’s March issue. The Voice earned the honor for its focus in 2018 on the 55th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The intense coverage included a special, commemorative magazine that sold about 5,500 copies.

March •Jennifer Allen, an Arkansas Press Association board member, was promoted

by GateHouse to the position of group publisher overseeing the company’s east Arkansas region. Allen, previously general manager of the Hot Springs Village Voice, serves as publisher for the company’s newspapers in Pine Bluff, White Hall and Hot Springs Village, as well as in Bastrop, Louisiana. Allen is a Malvern native who was regional advertising director for GateHouse before becoming the Voice general manager in 2017.

Jennifer Allen

•Daphne Morton, of the Stone County Leader in Mountain View, earned the “Best in Show” prize at the APA’s annual Better Newspaper Advertising Contest.

Morton’s ad for the Henderson Law Firm was selected as the best among 888 entries submitted. The ad, which was only the second she had designed for the firm, was intended to convey “familiarity, comfort and security,” Morton said.

David Mosesso

•After the death of longtime publisher and managing editor Terry Hawkins, The Dumas Clarion named Tracey Finch as publisher. Finch, formerly a teacher and yearbook sponsor in Dumas before retiring in 2014, was named to fill Hawkins’ shoes by the newspapers’ owners, Emmerich Newspapers Inc. The head of the company, Wyatt Emmerich, said he was “thrilled to have someone local to take over as publisher to keep that small-town community tradition.”

•David Mosesso, group president of Paxton Media’s Arkansas-LouisianaMississippi group, announced plans to retire. Mosesso started his newspaper publishing career in Searcy in 1983 and was promoted to publisher of the Paragould Daily Press, followed by stints at The Daily Citizen in Searcy and the Courier in Russellville before being named publisher of The Jonesboro Sun in 2000.

Mosesso previously served on the APA board of directors.

before being named director of advertising and marketing at the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

He was hired by Nelson in 2016 and was selected by Nelson to be his successor.

advertising manager. She started at the Sentinel-Record right after high school.

April •The Arkansas General Assembly concluded what was a productive legislative session for the newspaper industry, highlighted by an expansion of student journalist rights and increased public accessibility to government meetings. The newspaper industry’s wins included a compromise on a bill that maintains public notice of construction projects in newspapers. The APA fought back a proposal to weaken the competitive bidding process for municipalities, as well.

•Brent Powers was named president of the Northwest Arkansas DemocratGazette. Powers replaced Todd Nelson, who retired. Powers, a Mississippi native, worked at newspapers in Mississippi, Illinois, North Carolina and Missouri

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

Brent Powers

•The advertising and promotions director for the Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs, Debe Johnson, retired after 44 years in the newspaper business. She got her first ad sales job at the Hot Springs newspaper at age 24 and served in various roles, including page diagrammer and retail 2

•The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling in an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act case that FOIA requires documents to be provided electronically when available and when requested. The court found that the Pulaski County School District violated FOIA by refusing to provide electronic copies of 1,816 pages of documents to an Arkansas citizen and attempting to charge her $272 in reproduction costs. The state openrecords law states that public records may be requested in a readily available format or a format to which a document may be readily converted.

December 26, 2019

May •Reece Terry was named by Paxton Media as publisher of The Jonesboro Sun and Paragould Daily Press. Terry, publisher of the Daily Corinthian in Corinth, Mississippi, Reece Terry became a group publisher for Paxton newspapers in east Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Terry is experienced in advertising sales, production, sales management and systems management. Before becoming a newspaper publisher, he was a production manager, chief engineer, operations manager and station manager in broadcasting.

•Five Arkansas student journalists from the state’s colleges and universities

were selected as interns at Arkansas newspapers as part of the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation’s internship program. The 2019 interns were Courtney Allen, Sheridan Headlight, Kristen Fite, Saline Courier and Malvern Daily Record, Jacob Palmer, Sheridan Headlight, Billy Stidham, Carroll County News, and Grace Talley, Nashville News-Leader.

The foundation offers scholarships each year, agreeing to cover half the cost of the internship, with the APA member newspaper providing a match.

•Crystal Costa, who was publisher of the Times Record in Fort Smith, assumed a new role with GateHouse Media as events director for GateHouse

Live. Costa’s new role is with the events and promotions division for GateHouse.

During her tenure in Fort Smith, the newspaper relocated to new offices. She and her family live in Northwest Arkansas.

•The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette told subscribers of its plans to convert digital subscriptions for every day but Sunday in the 63 counties where the newspaper is circulated. The newspaper provided iPads to subscribers who receive a digital version of the newspaper Monday through Saturday. Publisher Walter Hussman visited civic groups across the state to discuss the change and the rationale behind it. The changeover to digital only for Monday through Saturday publication was expected to be fully implemented by the end of the year.

The Madison County

Crystal Costa

RECORD

June

•Paxton Media acquired four newspapers Award winners Glenda Arnett, Danny competition. Results were announced at in Arkansas, increasing its footprint in Cook, Frank Fellone and Larry Miller; the APA annual convention in Hot Springs. the north central and northeast regions FOIA Award recipients David Bailey and General Excellence awards went to the of the state. Paxton purchased the Log Chris Wessel; Distinguished Service Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, The Saline Lo Circulation Cabin Democrat in Conway, Van Award winner David Mosesso; Journalism Courier, The Leader in Jacksonville, the numbersBuren up he County Democrat in Clinton, The Sun Educator of the Year Karla Sprague; and Washington County Enterprise Leader at local libraries Madison County Record, Huntsville Times in Heber Springs and the Newport The Headliner of the Year Lewis A. Cella of and the Herald-Leader in Siloam Springs.

Tolliver Page 12A Sarah Perry of The Saline Courier in Independent from GateHouse media. Preston Pop!Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort.

Benton, won the I.F. Stone Award for With the acquisitions, Paxton had a total ONLINE: www.mcrecordonline.com VOLUME 140, NUM THURSDAY, 14, 2018 named “General JUNE investigative reporting, and Preston of nine newspapers in Arkansas. David •Five newspapers were Meadows, the publisher of Paxton’s Excellence” award recipients as part of the Tolliver, formerly of the Madison County Russellville newspaper, was named APA Better Newspaper Editorial Awards Daily Record, won for Photo of the Year. publisher of the newspapers in Conway, Clinton and Heber Springs. Reece Terry, publisher in Jonesboro, took over the publishing role at the Newport newspaper.

Photo of the Year

“News of the week since1879”

Early voting begins in runoff election

Pop!

•The Southern Newspaper Publishers Association and the Inland Press Association announced plans to consolidate the two entities. The groups together had a total of 1,700 members.

The new group, America’s Newspapers,

by Preston Tolliver was intended to provide additional Managing Editor for resources, more opportunities trainings and professional development Early voting began Tuesand greater coordination and partnership day for the Huntsville School with journalism schools and industry Board Zone 3 election between Danny Thomas and organizations.

s t i p l 2 s r p r t

Tara Thompson Box.

In the annual school elec•The Arkansas Press Association tion on May 22, which and was presented its annual service awards combined with the May honors at its convention Hot Springs.

PrimaryinElection, Thomas The honorees included Golden 50 votes Service earned the most between himself, Box and a

Arkansas Publisher Weekly challenger, Joey Mcthird

2019 APA Better Editorial Awards Photo of the Year. from the Madison County Daily Record in Huntsville.

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December 26, 2019

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July •Employees of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Fayetteville had a startling and potential discovery when they summoned a locksmith to reset the combination of a 200-year-old safe. The locksmith discovered the safe was boobytrapped with a metal tear gas canister set to release tear gas in the event the lock to the safe was ever broken. The container was safely removed and later destroyed by local law enforcement.

•APA announced the results of its annual election, with members endorsing the election of seven members and a slate of officers. The 2019-20 executive board of APA, as elected, was President John Bland, First Vice President Rusty Turner, Second Vice President Ellen Kreth and Immediate Past President Tom

White. Elected to the board were Kelly Freudensprung, John Robert Schirmer, Lori Freeze, Eliza Gaines, Sue Silliman, Crystal Costa and Jennifer Allen.

•Rusty Fraser, owner and publisher of the Stone County Leader in Mountain View, was named as the president of the board of directors of the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation. The nonprofit foundation raises money to further journalism education and training opportunities and support the mission of the APA and Arkansas newspapers. Fraser said the ANF under his watch would examine what works and what doesn’t as it relates to supporting newspapers.

•Bob Wisener, former sports editor for the Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs, was

inducted into the 2019 class of the Arkansas Sportscasters/ Sportswriters Hall of Fame. Wisener said the induction was “the fulfillment of (a) dream.” He joined Arkansas sportscasting and sportswriting luminaries like the late Orville Henry Bob Wisener and Jim Bailey in the Hall of Fame. Also inducted in 2019 was the late Terry Wallace, the longtime track announcer at Oaklawn.

August •GateHouse Media and Gannett announced plans to combine to create the largest newspaper company in America.

The $1.4 billion merger, which took effect later in 2019, created a chain of 263 newspapers in 47 states. The companies said the merger would produce cost savings of about $300 million annually as a result of “increased scale of the new organization, sharing of best practices, leveraging existing infrastructure, facility rationalization and other judicious cost reductions.”

•The Journalism Education Association, a national organization comprised of secondary school journalism teachers and yearbook advisers, named Rep. Julie Mayberry as the recipient of its 2019 Rep. Julie Mayberry Friend of Scholastic Journalism Award. The prestigious

award was presented to Mayberry at the JEA’s national convention in November.

She introduced two pieces of important legislation to student journalism in the 2019 General Assembly. One of them, Act 912, strengthened protections for student journalists in response to a move by the Springdale School District to censor articles written by reporters at one of its high schools.

•The Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame inducted two Arkansas newspaper industry icons into its 2019 class. Charlotte Tillar Schexnayder, former publisher of the Dumas Clarion, Charlotte Schexnayder and Olivia Farrell, former owner of Arkansas Business Publishing Group, joined the Hall. Schexnayder owned the newspaper for 44 years and was a

Olivia Farrell

state representative for 14 years. She was the APA’s first female president and, later, the first female president of the National Newspaper Association. Farrell cofounded the Arkansas Women’s Foundation and was ABPG’s CEO from 1995 until earlier this year.

•A newspaper carrier in Fort Smith died tragically after her vehicle got washed off the road in flash flood waters while she was out delivering newspapers. Debra “Debbie” Stevens, 47, was remembered as “a hardworking woman who was very dedicated to her job,” according to a friend. The unprofessional manner in which the Fort Smith 911 dispatcher handled Stevens’ call for assistance brought worldwide criticism.

September •GateHouse Media shuttered two Arkansas newspapers, the Stuttgart Daily Leader and Helena World, with representatives of the national newspaper chain saying that the newspapers had been adversely affected by “shrinking print advertising budgets.” However, both newspapers were quickly snatched up by Arkansans.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

Helena-West Helena residents Chuck Davis and Andrew Bagley bought The Helena World and went back to weekly publication of that newspaper a short time later. The Stuttgart newspaper was purchased by a radio network, Arkansas County Broadcasters, Inc. The new owners of that newspaper have yet to 4

resume print publication.

•Freedom of Information Act advocates and experts shared advice and expertise about the state’s open-meetings and openrecords law at an APA seminar on FOIA. John Tull, the APA’s attorney and partner in the Quattlebaum, Grooms and Tull law firm in Little Rock, provided a primer on December 26, 2019

September

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FOIA to about two dozen participants at a training at APA headquarters. Attendees also heard from Sarah Perry of the Saline Courier, Chris Wessel of The Jonesboro Sun, and Debra Hale-Shelton, an award-winning investigative reporter and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist.

•The Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists was named “Small Chapter of the Year” by the SPJ. The Little Rock-based group was recognized for its engagement within the journalism community, highlighted by its panel discussion on reporting during

tragedies and a traveling ice cream social event on college campuses. It was the second year in a row that the Arkansas chapter earned the honor.

•The family-owned Times Dispatch in Walnut Ridge was sold to Paxton Media.

The Lawrence County newspaper had been owned by the Bland family since 1921. John Bland, the newspaper’s publisher, and his wife, Renee, left the newspaper industry upon closing of the sale. Bland, who was APA president, stepped down from the APA board.

John Bland and his wife Renee

October •Newspapers in Arkansas and across the country observed National Newspaper Week from Oct. 6 to Oct. 12. The theme for National Newspaper Week in 2019 was: “Think First: Know Your Five Freedoms,” highlighting the significance of the five rights established in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Freedom of the Press is one of those five tenets. It was the 79th year of a National Newspaper Week observance. In some Arkansas cities, such as Mena, city leaders recognized the week with an official proclamation.

•The Rev. Dewayne Holloway and his wife, Gail Pitts-Holloway, acquired the Montgomery Couny News in Mount Ida. The Holloways purchased the newspaper from John Robert Schirmer, an APA board member who is publisher of the Nashville News-Leader. Unlike other recent newspaper transactions, the Montgomery County News was not in danger of closing, nor was Schirmer actively pursuing a sale. Dewayne

ownership in September 2019, has four decades of experience in community journalism. The former sports writer for the Dallas Morning News was managing editor of newspapers in Mena, Waldron, Dardanelle and Globe, Arizona. He’s also a two-time qualifier for the National Finals Rodeo.

Dewayne Holloway and wife Gail Pitts-Holloway in front of the Montgomery County News.

Holloway said he merely wanted to try his hand at operating a newspaper. He had been editor of the Mount Ida publication since 2013.

•The Helena World named Rick Wright as editor and general manager. Wright, who had previously been employed by the world before its acquisition by local

•West Virginia University launched an initiative to encourage newspaper ownership. Known as NewStart, the program is designed to recruit, train and support future newspaper owners and publishers in the United States. The NewStart fellowship program provides an owner transition plan, and it matches buyers with newspaper owners seeking to sell. The program includes a oneyear fellowship beginning in July 2020.

Fellowship participants must have a college degree and should intend to purchase and operate a newspaper in the United States.

November

Hill Hall ablaze at the University of Arkansas.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

•Nov. 11 marked the 50th anniversary of a fire at Hill Hall on the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville campus. The fire destroyed the offices and printing press of the Arkansas Traveler student newspaper.

Despite that, student journalists produced an issue the next day, anyway, with the help of The Springdale News and its general manager, Charles Sanders, a past APA president. Brenda Blagg, a journalist and columnist who was the Traveler’s editor, recalled assembling her staff in the lobby of her dormitory, Futrall 5

Hall, to work on the newspaper.

•Sue Silliman, general manager of the Camden News and Magnolia BannerNews, announced plans to retire after 36 years in the newspaper business. Silliman, an APA board member, said retirement will allow her to spend more time with her twin, seven-year-old grandsons. The Illinois native started her newspaper career in El Dorado and then moved to Camden as advertising manager. She was promoted to general manager of the Camden News in 2005 and was named general manager December 26, 2019

November

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in Magnolia about four years ago. All three papers are owned by WEHCO Media, Inc. •The Little River News in Ashdown indefinitely suspended publication as it seeks new ownership. The News is the oldest business in Little River County, established in 1888. Several potential buyers have expressed interest in

resuming publication. The previous owner was quoted as saying that “a different solution to publishing the Little River News is a better fit for the county.”

•APA continued its tradition of co-hosting the annual ArkLaMiss Circulation, Marketing and Audience Development Conference with the Mississippi Press

Association. The annual conference focused on how newspapers can grow their readership and revenue. The keynote speaker was Gwen Vargo of the American Press Institute, and participants learned from each other during the annual “Hot Ideas” exchange and an informative panel discussion led by three of the conference attendees.

December •Louie Graves, a Howard County institution whose family operated newspapers in Nashville for seven decades, said he plans to retire from fulltime newspapering at the end of 2019.

Graves, 76, started delivering newspapers on his bicycle at age nine. He worked for The Nashville News, purchased by his father in 1950, until he started his own publication, The Nashville Leader after a family dispute in 2003. The two newspapers merged in 2016, and Graves worked for that newspaper until his retirement. He is an APA past president, as were his late wife, Jane Graves, and his father.

•Arkansas newspaper supporters were asked to consider donating to the

opportunities for newspaper professionals across the state. ANF participated in Giving Tuesday, which is set aside annually to recognize the important and essential work of nonprofit organizations within communities. ANF benefits newspapers through fellowships, training grants, internship support and awareness programs. Give to ANF by visiting https:// www.arkansaspress.org/page/aboutanf.

Arkansas Newspaper Foundation, which promotes newspapers and educational

•The Public Notice Resource Center reported major victories in state Capitols across the nation, including in Arkansas, in 2019. Only about 80 of the 360 public notice bills filed in state legislatures in 2019 were approved. The vast majority of those actually enhanced public notice requirements.

WISHING YOU A PROSPEROUS YEAR. ARKANSAS

press ASSOCIATION

OUR OFFICES WILL BE CLOSED ON WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

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December 26, 2019

Guest Column: The value of simplicity

By John Foust Statisticians disagree on the number of commercial messages we are exposed to each day. Some say 1,000. Some say as many as 3,000. And others claim the number is closer to 20,000.

to communicate a simple concept than a complicated one. And successful advertisers know that simply stated points have more consumer appeal than long explanations.

With estimates all over the map, all I can say for sure is that we live in an overcommunicated world which has a short attention span. There is no way that anyone can notice and digest every single message.

I remember a radio spot which featured the sound of a car with a dead battery. For 25 seconds, listeners heard the groaning “err errr errrr” of a battery which was fading.

The only words were in the voiceover at the end: “This wouldn’t have happened with a DieHard battery.” Additional words would have killed the drama. The message was simple and clear.

This presents a challenge. How can we break through the clutter when we’re creating ads? How can we gain – and hold – favorable attention?

1. The first step is to simplify the essential message. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, “In all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.” Apple’s first marketing brochure in 1977 quoted Leonardo da Vinci: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Simplicity was more than a slogan to Apple’s Steve Jobs.

It was a requirement. Years later, when he was overseeing the design of the iPod, Jobs insisted that each prototype pass a strict test. If he wanted to access a song or a function, he wanted to get there in no more than three clicks.

Smart salespeople know that it is better

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

2. Next, use your audience’s language.

I remember visiting someone in the hospital and hearing a conversation between two doctors on the elevator. Although I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, I couldn’t help but hear what they were saying. It wouldn’t have mattered if it had been confidential, because I didn’t understand a single word of their technical discussion. When the elevator stopped at their floor, I remember saying to myself that they would have to speak in plain language when they met with their patients.

It’s the same in marketing. We must speak in terms that our target audiences can easily understand.

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3. Then eliminate unnecessary words.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” In other words: edit, edit, edit.

The most effective advertising slogans capture the essence of their products in only a few words. “Snap, Crackle, Pop” works better for Rice Krispies than “Our cereal is well known for its distinctive sound.” “Nothing runs like a Deere” is more memorable than “John Deere equipment operates more efficiently than the others.” And Nike’s famous “Just do it” slogan has more impact than “Get into action instead of just thinking about participating in sports.”

Simple messaging should not be limited to national advertisers. Local businesses need it, too. (c) Copyright 2019 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 inhouse training.

E-mail for information: john@johnfoust.com

December 26, 2019