Arkansas Publisher Weekly: July 19, 2018

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McCollum receives Louis Bonnette Award APA convention session inspired Greenwood Democrat editor’s community project

ARKANSAS

Ar kansas

PRESS

Publisher Weekly

ASSOCIATION

Serving Press and State Since 1873

Vol. 13 | No. 29 | Thursday, July 19, 2018

Youth is served in Brinkley; readers, too

This town’s most famous son is musician Louis Jordan, the King of the Jukebox who revolutionized popular music from the 1930s to the 1950s.

a block from the center of downtown Brinkley.

Chasing Jordan, one newspaper at a time, is Hayden Taylor, editor and publisher of the Monroe County Herald.

The weekly maintains a circulation of about 1,000, Taylor said, a total which includes about 700 subscribers by mail and about 300 at convenience stores and boxes in Monroe County.

Supplementing the newspaper is the Monroe County Shopper, mailed to about 5,000 households in Monroe and Lee counties. Taylor describes his circulation as “steady” since the creation of Hayden Taylor Publishing, LLC.

Taylor’s claim to fame? He became a publisher at 19. On his May 24 birthday, he turned 21.

Taylor’s been featured near (the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette) and far (the Washington Times and Miami Herald), as well as on National Public Radio and in other publications around the country.

No wonder. He bought Brinkley’s Central Delta Argus-Sun in January 2017 without any newspaper experience. Now, 15 months later, the renamed Herald operates out of a storefront at 322 West Cypress,

Jordan’s forte was syncopation; Taylor’s is publication.

In one way, that storefront is hard to miss.

It’s in a building that’s one story high and lime green. Facing the building, from left to right, are the newspaper, a retail shop and a cafe.

Hayden Taylor, 21-year-old-newspaper-publisher.

In another way, the newspaper is a little bit hard to find.

Continued on Page 2

Lawmakers across the aisle fight Canadian newsprint tariffs

Import tax on paper is hurting local news, members tell International Trade Commission Nineteen members of Congress spoke Tuesday against the Commerce Department’s tariffs on Canadian newsprint, telling the U.S. International Trade Commission the import tax hurt local newspapers.

for job cuts in response, the lawmakers said. The tariffs would hasten the decline of local news, they said, harming journalists and communities served by small local publications rather than major newspapers.

The bipartisan group of legislators asked the ITC to reverse tariffs the Commerce Department imposed on Canadian newsprint imports. Opponents of the tariffs say they would deal a major blow to local newspapers, which already struggle to stay afloat, by increasing the cost of newsprint.

“In these communities, there are no big newspapers to bring people their local news,” said Rep. John Moolenaar, a Republican from Michigan. “These tariffs, if continued, would do lasting damage to these local institutions.”

The tariffs already substantially increase the cost of newsprint, leading newspapers to shrink the size of their pages and plan

The Commerce Department imposed tariffs in March on Canadian newsprint or uncoated groundwood paper. The department’s action came after the North Pacific Paper Company, a mill

Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., speaks with Roll Call in the Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

in Washington state, complained that Canadian manufacturers were harming Continued on Page 3

Hayden Taylor Continued from page 1

“Our sign fell off a couple of days ago and we haven’t put it back up yet,” Taylor said.

That’s the life of any weekly newspaper publisher — too much work and too little time.

Taylor’s leap into newspapering was expedited, he said, when a fire broke out at the nearby location of the Argus-Sun in December 2016.

“When the fire happened we just started salvaging the equipment,” he said, and began work in the West Cedar location. The Argus-Sun was previously published for 20 years by Katie Jaques.

Taylor went from student to publisher in short order.

A graduate of Marvell Academy, he played football there, as a lineman on teams of both 11 and eight men. He spent a year at Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge. He was looking for a summer job as a farmhand and thinking about enrolling at Arkansas State University when the opportunity to take over the local newspaper presented itself.

“It sparked my interest, and I decided to buy it,” he said in a conversation at the newspaper office. “Under the agreement, Glenda and the others would stay, to make sure I had a capable staff while I continued to learn.”

Glenda is Glenda Arnett, who started work at the Brinkley Argus in 1967 and, according to Taylor and other staff members, simply knows everything.

He’s experienced “overwhelming support,” Taylor said. “The threat of the newspaper being gone … a lot of people didn’t want it to go away. It’s been nothing but support so far. If people just saw me as some jackass publishing a newspaper we’d lose support. But having a paper in Brinkley is a matter of pride.”

The Herald doesn’t have an editorial page. “Not yet. I was adamant not to do it because no one needs a 19-year-old writing about city government.”

His biggest challenge, Taylor said, is manpower.

“We’re all jacks of all trades here. We have no devoted reporters or photographers.”

He’d like to cover county government — the courthouse is in Clarendon — and other municipal governments, but that’s not possible yet.

“Even though Monroe County is small we have diverse communities and population groups.”

Taylor admits he lacks experience in journalism. Happily, “I haven’t done anything that’s had consequences, but I’d like to do things more professionally. I’m still very, very rough around the edges.”

His goal for 2018, Taylor said, “is complete coverage of city government in Brinkley.”

That’s the main mission of a small newspaper, “to get the news that other people can’t.”

While Taylor’s experience in and learning of journalism is strictly on the job, he’s interested in politics, history and economics. He’s recently read “Common Sense,” Thomas Paine’s argument for the American colonies’ independence from Great Britain. Next on his reading list is Thomas Hobbes’ “Leviathan,” a 17th-century treatise of political philosophy.

He’d like a degree, Taylor said. But does he see himself running The Herald in five years or 10 years?

“I actually do,” he said. “There’s no reason not to.”

Monroe County is one of the state’s smallest, with a population in 2015 of 7,542, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s down from the 2010 Census of 8,149.

“There’s not a diversity of industry here,” Taylor said. “We’re in decline, but verging on steady, probably because of an aging population and not because people are leaving.”

Young people can find a place in Monroe County, Taylor said.

“I did.”

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(Top) Former Congressman Tommy Robinson lives in Brinkley, and dropped in for a visit with Hayden Taylor. (Middle) A bulletin board in the office of the Monroe County Herald had words of wisdom for every newspaper — proofread everything. (Bottom) Hayden Taylor and his mother, Beth, in the offices of the Monroe County Herald in Brinkley.

July 19, 2018

Lawmakers Continued from page 1

their business by selling newsprint at non-competitive prices.

The ITC held today’s hearing while it reviews the tariffs.

Tariffs have been a point of friction between the Trump administration and Congress, including some Republicans, who traditionally favor free trade with minimal government interference.

A representative for the North Pacific Paper Company, the petitioner for the tariffs, said the tariffs have allowed paper mills to ramp up production and re-hire American workers.

But King said the tariff on newsprint is a cure “worse than the disease,” and asked the commissioners to think of the issue as the local newspapers “that will be one inch smaller next year.”

At Tuesday’s hearing, legislators said the news media’s shift to digital platforms is chiefly responsible for declining business for paper mills, not the cost of Canadian groundwood paper. The tariffs may create some jobs at North Pacific Paper Company, but would cause lost jobs across the country, lawmakers said.

Lawmakers noted the issue of tariff-driven cost increases are particularly sensitive in the newspaper business, given the impact on independent journalism.

Speakers against the tariffs included House Republican Conference chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Alaska and Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. The group comprised 13 Republicans, five Democrats and independent Maine Sen. Angus King.

The publishing industries employ about 600,000 people in the United States, according to Stop Tariffs on Printers & Publishers, a group of companies in the printing and publishing industry leading the charge against the newsprint tariffs.

Collins was the first to raise the issue in Congress. Several of the testifying lawmakers noted it is unusual to find agreement across the aisle on economic matters.

“The freedom of the press is one of the central tenets of the First Amendment,” Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., said.

The group says 11,000 people from all 50 states have signed a petition against the tariffs, and more than 80 members of Congress, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, have raised concerns.

As published in Roll Call.

McCollum receives Louis Bonnette Award FRISCO, Texas – Former sports editor and columnist for the Log Cabin Democrat David MCollum is the 2018 Southland Conference Louis Bonnette Sports Media Award winner.

Last year, McCollum was recognized by the Arkansas Press Association with the “Golden 50 Award” for his 50th year in the newspaper business.

League commissioner Tom Burnett made the announcement Monday.

McCollum worked for the Memphis Press-Scimitar, the Orange Leader (Orange, Texas) and the Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock, Ark), before moving on to the Log Cabin Democrat in 1982.

McCollum passed away in April after a prolific journalism career that spanned five decades.

Burnett will present the award to McCollum’s wife Beverly in David McCollum Houston on Thursday as part of the league’s Football Media Day. The McCollums’ son Gavin will also participate.

“All of us in the Southland Conference are honored to present the Louis Bonnette Sports Media Award to the McCollum family in David’s memory,” Burnett said. “He was a friend to everyone he met and was one of the finest professional journalists in our region. While he is missed by so many of us, we are pleased his name will live on with the Bonnette Award.”

McCollum was inducted into the Arkansas Sportscasters & Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 2012. He was named Arkansas Sportswriter of the Year in 2008 by the National Association of Sportscasters & Sportswriters.

McCollum was an active board member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame for more than 20 years.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

“David was synonymous with Central Arkansas sports,” University Central Arkansas (UCA) athletic director Brad Teague said. “His consistent presence at our events will surely be missed. David was an advocate for all things UCA and we will miss him dearly.”

His credits go beyond the sports pages and his bylines include stories from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s campaign and inauguration and the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match in 1973 between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King.

The accolade, named after longtime McNeese sports information director Louis Bonnette, is presented annually to an individual that has made outstanding contributions in the field of sports information, print journalism, broadcasting or other media focused on the Southland Conference and/or its member institutions.

The Southland’s sports information directors (SID), athletic directors and other university personnel, and outside media executives nominate individuals for the award, and the sports information directors make the final selection.

McCollum will be the seventh recipient of the award.

Previous winners include: former Lamar play-by-play voice and TV personality Dave Hofferth (2017); Northwestern State assistant athletic director and sports information director Doug Ireland (2016); former Daily Sentinel (Nacogdoches, Texas) Continued on Page 4

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July 19, 2018

David McCollum Continued from page 1

sports editor Kevin Gore (2015); retired Sam Houston State sports information director Paul Ridings (2014); southeast Texas sports journalist and retired Lamar sports information director Rush Wood (2013).

Louis Bonnette was the first honoree in 2012. Bonnette enjoyed a storied career as the first McNeese SID, holding the position for 46 years.

As SID, he boasted a national record of 516 consecutive Cowboy football games worked. He was inducted into the Southland Conference Hall of Honor in 2007 and the College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame in 2009.

McCollum’s nomination for the award reads in part:

2018 Arkansas Press Association Newspaper Editorial Contest The

Daily Citizen Overall General Excellence Second Place

“No one had their finger on the pulse of UCA athletics like David McCollum.

Whether you agreed or disagreed with his stance or his take on an event, deep down you knew he was probably right. He had a writing style and way of explaining things that made them make sense to a wide variety of readers, not just sports fans.

He was a must-read columnist when any important sporting event took place in Conway or anywhere in Arkansas, but he was just as adept about taking a small, non-descript event or game and making it read like it was the Super Bowl.

Any sports figure that was anyone in the state of Arkansas has been interviewed

by David McCollum at some point in their careers, and 99.9 percent of them would tell you they are better for it. He never met a stranger, never raised his voice or said an unkind word about anyone. He was a bastion in his church work at Second Baptist Church in Little Rock for the past 40 years but you would never have known it because he didn’t wear it on his sleeve.

He did that, along with charity work and community service, on the side, away from the spotlight.

He was more concerned with putting the spotlight on some young athlete who was trying to make a name for himself or herself, or a coach who was mentoring his players in the right way, or a team that was helping a community baseball team build their new field, or an injured athlete who was no longer able to compete but was still a big part of his/her team from the sidelines.”

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

Pictured from left to right: Jeff Lewis, Tara Thomas, Steve Watts, Wendy Jones, Tracy Whitaker and Bruce Guthrie

Other Related Awards: Best Front Page First Place - Steve Watts and Wendy Jones Best Sports Page Second Place - Bruce Guthrie, Ali Webb and Kelley Johnson

Coverage of Business/Agriculture Third Place - Tracy Whitaker and Jamie Williams Coverage of Education Second Place - Jamie Williams, Jeff Lewis and Tara Thomas

Editorial First Place - Steve Watts Second Place - Steve Watts

Sports News Story Third Place - Bruce Guthrie

Freelance Writing Third Place - Sherry Snow

Sports Feature Story Second Place - Bruce Guthrie

Headline Writing Second Place - Tracy Whitaker

Sports Column Second Place - Bruce Guthrie

Humorous Column Third Place - Steve Watts

Public Notice First Place - Tracy Whitaker Second Place - Jamie Williams

News Story First Place - Tracy Whitaker Third Place - Jamie Williams Honorable Mention - Tracy Whitaker

Single News Photograph Third Place - Jamie Williams Single Picture Photograph Second Place - Tracy Whitaker

723 West Beebe-Capps Expwy. • Searcy, AR • 501-268-8621 www.thedailycitizen.com

This full page newspaper promotional ad that ran in The Daily Citizen in Searcy serves as a good example to all Arkansas Press Association member newspapers.

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July 19, 2018

APA convention session inspired Greenwood Democrat editor’s community project The F4 tornado that hit Greenwood on April 19, 1968 devastated the town, killing 13 people and injuring hundreds.

In a town which at the time had only a population of 2000, this greatly impacted the community. Many survivors compare the wreckage of the town to a bomb site.

Landmarks were obliterated, such as the town hall and the small zoo that had stood in the center of the community.

Emotions ran high after this traumatic event, and live on in the victims 50 years later.

Recollections were captured by the staff at the Greenwood Democrat who created the powerful documentary “4 Minutes in April” as part of a commemorative project called “Voices from the Storm”, marking 50th the anniversary of that fateful morning.

The Greenwood Democrat spent the last two years gathering photographs and interviewing survivors. Some recalled being swept quite literally off of their feet as they hung onto poles and doors as to not be blown away. They remembered the thick, double brick walls of their office buildings moving with the force of the wind. They remembered the joy and relief of being safely reunited with loved ones after the storm passed.

Many recall feeling an anxiety that something bad was going to happen.

Prior to the winds picking up, residents stated that a darkness and stillness fell over the town. Some took this as a sign to take cover, while others went on with their normal routines.

before. Stillness returned just four minutes later, but with an entirely different connotation.

Greenwood Democrat editor and head of the project, Dustin Graham, spoke of the process. “I attended my first Arkansas Press Association convention two years ago and learned a lot from the speakers. I was moved to do more to impact my community.” It was during this meeting that one session speaker distributed a magazine from Topeka, Kansas remembering the tornado of 1966.

This inspired Graham to pitch the “Voices from the Storm” project to his publisher, Summer Aina, which began the 2-year long process of research and interviews.

“I made the decision to video my interviews with the tornado survivors, and they were so moving we decided that we could not just put them away. So, we began working on a documentary to go along with the magazine.” Graham said.

The documentary and accompanying magazine were unveiled at an event on the anniversary of the tornado, featuring a panel of survivors discussing the events of the day. This gathering remembered and honored the lives, homes and businesses lost while also celebrating the strength of a community able to withstand the devastation and move forward.

Then the winds picked up. Survivors describe these winds as carrying a forcefulness they had never experienced

The documentary’s uplifting ending showcases the strength of Greenwood as the town, along with outside help, came together to rebuild. Individuals drove victims to hospitals as there weren’t enough ambulances, and organizations like the Red Cross helped feed the

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2018 ArkLaMiss Circulation & Marketing Conference, Ameristar Casino & Hotel, Vicksburg, MS Arkansas Publisher Weekly

community for weeks while rebuilding.

The film ends with shots of a now-thriving Greenwood, 50 years later.

Survivors say it is hard to comprehend such massive destruction unless you lived through it. The efforts of the Greenwood Democrat ensure this historic event will never be forgotten.

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July 19, 2018

Guest Column: Printed publications continue to evolve and fill need

By Peter Wagner, Founder/publisher of The N’West Iowa REVIEW The biggest problem publishing newspapers today is public perception.

Every newspaper, from the largest metro to the smallest family-owned community weekly, is judged by the actions of all the others.

If a large chain decides to reduce the number of day they publish or the size of their news room both broadcast and social media report it as a sure sign “print is dead.”

But print isn’t dead. Newspapers are simply facing the same challenges impacting most traditional retailers in this time of increased on-line marketing.

Both newspaper and shopper publishers are often told they are the buggy-whip manufacturers of the modern age. But those who say such don’t consider that, although the buggy-whip business is long gone, the importance, status and value of a fine horse remains.

Quality newspapers, filled with welledited local information significant to the community and the family, will – like the fine racehorse - continue to have importance, status and value. Without a local easy to reach and read printed voice, there is no community and no consensus.

Without established communities the distribution of on-line products would be difficult if not impossible.

Food, fashion and every day family

health, care and activity product buyers are going to eventually, like the nation’s early pioneering families, want to find. touch, taste and buy local. The trend to on-line buying will peak and the desire for “hometown” convenience will return.

Newspapers and free-circulation papers may not look exactly the same as they do right now, but they will exist, and they will be financially successful.

continue to print them every year. Kids, even in the age of handheld technology, still prefer to dream over printed catalogs to find the exact items for their Christmas wish lists. Everything that goes around eventually comes around.

Gen Z favors magazines, newspapers

The decline of local radio

Take the Gen Z demographic, ages 11 to 19, for example. That age group, says MNI Targeted Media, a division of Meredith Corporation. spends more time reading print newspapers and magazines without interruption than they do social media, websites and blogs. Once removed from the explosive period of emerging smartphones, the Gen Z group doesn’t find the fascination with the immediate gratification undocumented news their elders find in their tiny screens.

Gen Z reports they trust print publications over other media to deliver credible information says the May 2018, study.

Some 83% say they turn to newspapers for trusted information and content and 34% turn to magazines. Fifty percent wish they had more time away from technology and 48% wish they put their phones down more.

Amazon to print a toy catalog If print is dead and on-line is king, why is Amazon planning to print a toy catalog this Christmas season? Like Sears and Wards did years ago, the on-line sales giant hopes to capture the “Toys-R-Us” shopper with a giant, colorful printed catalog.

And folks say print is dead?

The Amazon toy catalog will be mailed to Prime members as well as made available to shoppers at Whole Foods.

Such retailer toy catalogs hadn’t completely disappeared with Sears and Wards dropping their versions a decade or more ago. Both Walmart and Target

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Many media experts say that brick and mortar stores are dying, But the greater possibility is they are, like newspapers, just evolving.

If newspapers are dying what about local radio. I recently learned from a newspaper broker, who also handles radio station sales, that radio station sales are flat. “It is much more difficult to sell a community radio station then a newspaper”, he told me.

It seems radio stations, with their constantly increasing numbers in the market place – and the proliferation of various streaming sources of music – can’t deliver a buyer’s audience anymore.

Why do we see so much electronic reporting on the “death of print” but nothing on the demise of broadcast?

Lack of quality control in print Finally, one of my sales team members brought me an ad last week that she found in a neighboring newspaper. “What’s wrong with this ad?”, she asked me. The answer is obvious: There is no contact information! No name of the business, no address, no telephone number, no email address - not even an indication of the town where the business is located. I don’t suspect they advertiser will see much response from his investment.

When newspapers and shoppers print poorly designed or incomplete ads the perception of the reader is “newspapers can’t do anything right!”

We’re going to have to stand tall and shake off the idea our printed editions are a thing of the past. If we believe in ourselves, tell our story – individually and as an industry – and work hard the best is yet to come.

July 19, 2018