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McGehee community mourns death of newspaper sports writer Freudensprung adds Malvern Daily Record to publishing role
ARKANSAS
PRESS
Ar kansas
Publisher Weekly
ASSOCIATION
Serving Press and State Since 1873
Vol. 13 | No. 32 | Thursday, August 9, 2018
New APA board member Crystal Costa thrives in Fort Smith
“The thing I love about Fort Smith is that it really feels like you can make a difference here. The vibe here is to work hard to get ahead. You can feel the sincerity and generosity of the community, people who want us to succeed,” said Crystal Costa, publisher of the Times Record and a new Arkansas Press Association (APA) board member.
But when the newspaper does something the community is concerned about, like cutting back on pages or staff, it feels personal too. Costa takes the constructive criticism along with the encouragement as she makes her way through the newspaper industry’s current environment. Having relationships with others who are in the industry is one reason Costa wanted to join the Arkansas Press Association (APA) board. “I have the benefit of a large corporation in GateHouse. But being around those who have long-time experience in our state, those who know newspapers in Arkansas, is also important,” she said. “I’m looking forward to learning from other experts, sharing ideas and seeing how we can pull together to keep our industry strong.” A native of Deer in Newton County, Costa began her newspaper career as a journalism student at the University of Arkansas at
Crystal Costa, publisher of the Times Record in Fort Smith.
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Newsprint tariffs remain as high as 20 percent On August 2, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) announced its final determination regarding tariffs on newsprint imported from Canada. While Commerce is restricted by law from eliminating the tariffs altogether, it reduced the tariffs, particularly as they relate to the assessment of antidumping duties on manufacturers. While this was a positive step, the combined countervailing and antidumping duties still range up to 20 percent, depending upon the manufacturer. These duties cannot be absorbed by newspapers and will result in newspapers continuing to take measures to reduce their consumption of newsprint, and may cause some community and rural newspapers to go out of business. The Alliance is encouraging the International Trade Commission (ITC) to reverse these tariffs when it votes on this trade case on August 29. The ITC is investigating whether imports of newsprint have caused or threaten to cause material injury to U.S. newsprint producers. Newspaper publishers, Canadian newsprint manufacturers and 19 Members of Congress expressed Continued on Page 2