Arkansas Press Association
Check those settings! Getting software settings right can make all the difference in print quality Guest Column:
By Kevin Slimp
Kevin Brown embraces marketing director position at
Looking for new approaches for advertising revenue in today’s demanding newspaper landscape is the challenge being met daily by Kevin Brown, marketing director at the Jonesboro Sun
“Of course, we are facing some of the same headwinds as everybody else,” Brown said. But he believes the experience he gained since initially entering the newspaper field in 1986 will
serve him well in the position he assumed in September of last year.
Brown is accustomed to working in smaller markets, so he is excited with the possibilities that exist in a city with a population that exceeds 80,000, as well as the neighboring community of Paragould, with more than 30,000 residents. The Jonesboro Metropolitan Statistical Area, the hub of Eastern Arkansas, is approaching a population of 150,000.
“Jonesboro is becoming very metropolitan,” he said, citing its importance as a regional hub with outstanding medical facilities, a strong industrial base and good shopping and dining options.
“And Arkansas State University is a huge asset,” he said. Brown added that strong municipal utility systems in Jonesboro and Paragould help make both cities attractive and affordable.
Brown writes a column to help readers and advertisers understand marketing concepts. It is educational in nature as he delves into some of the newspaper “jargon,” such as column inches. He thinks the column will be helpful going forward as he develops creative approaches for business promotion.
2025 APA Advertising Conference kicks off today in Little Rock
The 2025 APA Advertising Conference kicked off this afternoon in Little Rock with a series of Revenue Roundtable discussions on magazine sales, events planning, digital sales and special sections. Conference attendees will later enjoy dinner and drinks at the Arkansas Travelers-Tulsa Drillers baseball game in a premium suite at Dickey-Stephens park.
Friday will bring the APA Better Newspaper Advertising Awards presentation. Full coverage of the conference and awards will be in next week’s Arkansas Publisher Weekly
Kevin Brown welcomes visitors to The Sun in Jonesboro.
Scott Loftis of the Carroll County News, Jeanette Stewart of the Log Cabin Democrat and Roby Brock of Talk Business & Politics speak Thursday afternoon at the 2025 APA Advertising Conference at the APA headquarters in Little Rock. The panel was moderated by APA Executive Director Ashley Kemp Wimberley.
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“Selling the newspaper itself is becoming more of a challenge,” he said, “so it’s important to present new and unique things to bring people into the paper.”
Of course, traditional special sections are important, but Brown is incorporating niche products that often relate to a specific business or organization. In the future, he plans to feature more video components as he develops needed staff expertise. “I’m more of an idea guy than a production guy,” he said.
An example of his approach is a special product that celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Arkansas Methodist Medical Center in Paragould.
“While the legacy newspaper drives the newspaper market, readers and businesses are looking to us to create new and hyperlocal products that enhance the paper’s overall experience,” Brown said.
“Just being a solid newspaper is no longer enough to drive business in the door. You are challenged to come up with new ideas that are reader-driven and business-driven but add value to the legacy product by expanding the traditional role to include revitalized special sections, four-page pullouts targeted to market segments, and sponsorship pages that feature local people and stories as opposed to filler copy. Even the traditional areas such as TOMA (Top of Mind Advertising) programs need to retool to meet this new reality.”
Brown generally handles the midto-large accounts in the market, while new salesperson Cynthia Hall works with the smaller accounts. Former marketing director Lisa A. Lynn remains on the staff as a consultant and services some of the legacy accounts she has worked with for several years.
Citing his experience in smaller communities, Brown especially relates well to the Paragould market.
“That is a community I can put my hands around,” he said. “It feels like home.” He also is impressed with the strong Chamber of Commerce and Main Street organizations in the community.
The Paragould Press publishes two print editions each week, with a third edition online. The Sun publishes six issues a week, Tuesday through Saturday print and online, and the Sunday edition online only.
Brown is a native of Des Moines, Iowa, and graduated from high school there in 1978. He then
earned two bachelor’s degrees from Iowa State University, one in journalism with an emphasis on newspapers, and the other in industrial administration with an emphasis on accounting.
Upon graduation, he went to work for 1330 Corporation in Knoxville, Tennessee. The company designed products mainly for the aged 13 to 30 market -- high school and college students and young professionals.
The company bought Esquire Magazine and transferred Brown to New York City. “Kevin and New York did not agree,” he said. He managed to move back to Knoxville for a while, but was assigned once again to the New York office, which resulted in an “amicable” separation.
Brown returned to the Des Moines area and accepted a position with Free Newspapers of America, a California company that developed an innovative marketing plan for acquiring and developing paid newspapers and TMC (total market coverage) products in suburban communities. “The company was definitely hitting on all cylinders at the time,” he said.
On March 3, 1986, Brown eventually decided to acquire his own paid suburban newspaper in the market, the Urbandale News. “It was a newspaper stuck in the 1950s, with 15 stories on the front
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page,” he said. “We did a complete redesign of the newspaper, expanded our news coverage and went from 1,200 subscribers to 3,200 within six months.”
He then started another newspaper in the suburban community of Johnson, largely upon the request of the largest employer in the area, Pioneer Hi-Bred Seeds. That also was successful, and Brown eventually expanded to 14 paid newspapers, four TMC products and three shoppers, all serving the suburban Des Moines market. He incorporated what were then new ideas such as faxed daily newsletters and subscriber chat rooms, a forerunner to today’s comment sections.
“During that period, we survived the Flood of 1993 and the fear of a similar flood in 1994,” Brown said.
An abrupt change in Brown’s work history came in 1996 when his father made a visit to his office at Urbandale. “He told me that ‘you look my age,’” Brown said, the result of working far too many stressful hours in his expanding business. “He was 63 at the time and I was 36, and he was right,” Brown said.
That visit led to Brown’s decision to sell his various newspaper products and enter a new career path. He worked for a year in the news bureau at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, leading to a 10-year period of service in the same field at Iowa State University.
But the urge to get back into newspapers lingered, and Brown eventually answered the call. He has worked largely at numerous media locations since that time, interspersed with employment as a Target store manager, general manager of a hotel in Des Moines and recreational vehicle sales in Alabama.
Prior to accepting his current position, Brown was employed as general manager of a weekly newspaper in Claremont, N.H. He really enjoyed working and living in that beautiful area but recognized the opportunity in Jonesboro and decided to make the move.
Away from work, Brown enjoys bowling and playing tennis. An unusual passion over the years has been collecting a unique category of cars that he describes as the “big and bulbous” vehicles of the 1970s, including numerous behemoth station wagons. At one time he owned 89 cars, all stored on his grandfather’s farm in Mount Ayr, Iowa. The oldest car in his collection was a 1963 Ford Galaxy Country Squire station wagon.
Brown’s collection now is down to a 1982 Cadillac Sedan DeVille, with an unusual stainless-steel roof detail, and a 2004 Lincoln Continental Presidential Edition. He also owns a 1998 Ford Ranger pickup truck.
Looking back on his long career, Brown has indeed enjoyed his work and gained a lot of personal satisfaction.
“I have mostly worked in smaller markets (cities of 5,000 to 14,000) by purposeful choice,” he said. “I enjoy being able to see and feel the impact a legacy newspaper can still make on a community.
“Most people still believe in newspapers. Our job is to give them new and locally focused products that enhance their reading experience. When you do this, you reap the rewards. Something as simple as opening a community calendar page and making it easily accessible can pay huge dividends. In smaller communities, you can see and feel the positive benefits you are making. There is no secret to doing this — you just listen to what both readers and the business community are telling you and then take action. In my previous job in New Hampshire, I actually had two older sisters come up to me after a meeting, ask to talk to me, and then come to tears thanking me for ‘bringing their newspaper back to them.’ These moments make it all worthwhile.
“The fun of being in Jonesboro is that – even though we are a city of 90,000 people and growing – my ideas still work because this city still values tradition and honors its roots. It is really just a big small town – it just has a Target and a Denny’s to enrich the overall experience.”
UA Little Rock honors ‘FOIA-defending machine’ with faculty award
Arkansas Bar Professor of Law Robert Steinbuch was named the winner of the 2025 Faculty Excellence Award in Public Service by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law for his expertise in government transparency law and advocacy for freedom of information.
According to a release by the university, the award recipient “applies their skills to their disciplines in service to the community, state or nation in areas of public interest.”
“I’m so thankful to be recognized for the litigative and legislative efforts that I’ve undertaken to protect freedom in Arkansas,” Steinbuch said. “Be it government transparency, the right to defend oneself, or equal treatment for all, I’ve worked to improve
the lives of everyday Arkansans through my intersecting roles of law professor, attorney and journalist. While receiving the award is quite humbling, the true reward is being afforded the opportunity to contribute to bettering our world.”
Steinbuch is a leading authority on the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act and is sought out by both local and national news outlets regularly to help explain how the law works and its protections. He has been described by colleagues and legal professionals as a “one-man FOIA-defending machine.”
He holds a J.D. from Columbia University and a bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.
Gregory, longtime editor of The SentinelRecord retires after 42 years with company
Longtime Sentinel-Record Editor Mark Gregory has retired after 42 years at the newspaper, including the last 12 as editor. Gregory started at his hometown newspaper on Jan. 1, 1983 and served his last day April 7. Starting as a reporter, Gregory has held several leadership positions over the years, including news editor, senior staff writer, associate editor and managing editor before his final position from 2013. He is succeeded by Beth Reed, another Hot Springs native who has been with The Sentinel-Record for over a decade and served as the newspaper’s digital strategy manager since 2019, according to an article published by The Sentinel-Record.
“Mark’s unwavering commitment to quality journalism has shaped the paper’s integrity, informed countless readers, and left an indelible mark on all of us who have had the privilege to work alongside him,” said Harry Porter, general manager of The Sentinel-Record. “His leadership and passion for honest, straight-forward reporting have not only strengthened The Sentinel-Record but also inspired me personally. Mark’s impact on the community of Hot Springs cannot go unrecognized. The job he has done here carries on in the innumerable lives he has impacted with his journalism. While his presence in the newsroom will be deeply missed, his legacy will continue to
guide us.”
Gregory was first hired part-time as a reporter before being promoted to the fulltime City Hall beat under then-Executive Editor Melinda Gassaway who passed on the mantle to Gregory when she retired in 2013. Eliza Gaines who is now publisher of WEHCO Newspapers, Inc., the parent company of The Sentinel-Record, took over as Executive Editor following Gassaway’s departure until 2014 when she left to lead WEHCO. Gaines was the last person to hold the title of executive editor, bestowing overall editorial direction to Gregory upon leaving. Gregory decided that he preferred to simply be referred to as “the editor.”
“Working alongside Mark early in my career was an invaluable learning experience, and countless others have benefited from his levelheaded guidance and commitment to reporting news that is fair, impartial and credible,” Gaines said. “He’s been a wonderful newsroom leader. It’s hard to imagine The Sentinel-Record without Mark, but I’m excited for him to start this new chapter.”
Gregory shared his respect for Gaines and her family — her father Walter E. Hussman, Jr. being the chairman of WEHCO Media, Inc. which owns WEHCO Newspapers.
“It’s been such an honor to work for the Hussman family,” Gregory said. “Which is completely committed to fair and objective journalism and maintaining a community paper in Hot Springs.”
Gregory earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in political science from the University of Central Arkansas, working on the student newspaper, The Echo. Prior to his college years, he worked at the student newspaper in Central Junior High School, the Spartan Spirit, and worked on the yearbook staff at Hot Springs High School. His passion for journalism was ignited when the teacher of his advanced English class at the junior high recommended him for a position on the student newspaper.
Since beginning at The Sentinel-Record in 1983, Gregory has seen many changes to the town and to the technology of the
Reed tapped to be new editor of The Sentinel-Record
Beth Reed was named the next editor of The Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs late last week after it was announced that longtime editor Mark Gregory would retire after over 42 years at the newspaper. Monday was Gregory’s last day in the role which he held for the last 12 years. Reed took leadership April 8. She has been with the newspaper over 10 years, most recently serving as digital strategy manager since 2019.
“I owe this opportunity to the opportunities that Mark has given me. ... Every opportunity that I got to move up in those first few years, and this is all because of him,” Reed said in an article published by The Sentinel-Record. “Fortunately, every beat that I’ve ever had has been one that he had previously done.”
Reed calls the Spa City her hometown, graduating from Lakeside High School in Hot Springs before earning a degree from Arkansas State University. She’s married and has two children.
“Hot Springs is fortunate to have some of the best journalists in the industry,” she said. “I look forward to leading this newsroom and reporting on what matters most to this community.”
“Beth is innovative, hard working and a wonderful leader,” WEHCO Newspapers Publisher Eliza Gaines said in an emailed statement. “As a native of Hot Springs, she has a deep knowledge of the community The Sentinel-Record serves. I’m confident in her ability to provide our readers with quality, trustworthy news while taking into account their changing habits and needs.”
Mark Gregory
Beth Reed
Wanda Wood, founder of Junction City Times, dies on March 29
Wanda Johnson Wood, founder of the former Junction City Times died March 29. She was 97 years old.
She was born in El Dorado Oct. 16, 1927 to Lillie Angel DeNoon and Emery DeNoon, Sr.
In addition to her work at the Junction City Times, she worked for 20 years as an RN and was the owner and operator of Caldwell’s Grocery in Junction City for many years.
She is preceded in death by her husbands,
Thomas Johnson and Sammy Wood; two brothers, Jack DeNoon and Emery DeNoon, Jr. and a sister, Marie Brantley.
She is survived by seven sons, Albert (Cathy) Caldwell II, Johnny (Linda) Caldwell, Curtis (Juanita) Caldwell, Jamie Caldwell, Larry Wood, Freddy Wood and Todd Wood; two daughters, Sherrie Wood and Barbara Wood; seven grandchildren and numerous great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.
Former Arkansas Democrat-Gazette business manager dies at 87
Longtime business manager/controller of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Terrell Dewayne Strickland, died March 15 at 87 years old. He was with the newspaper for over 20 years when he retired in 2006.
Strickland was born in Calhoun County on Aug. 5, 1937 to Jasper Lee “Jack” Strickland and Sarah Malinda “Bitty” Raybon Strickland. He attended Ouachita Baptist College and the University of Arkansas. He earned a masters degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago. Outside of
his work at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, he worked for International Harvester, first as an accountant in offices in Arkansas and Mississippi, then as business manager at the company’s Chicago headquarters. He is preceded in death by his wife of 52 years, Orpha Sue Hankins, brother Elmer Lee Strickland and son-in-law Sean Harrell. He is survived by sons Joel (Ebonie) Strickland, daughter April Harrell, sister Linda Pennington and two granddaughters.
APW to recognize Professional Communications Contest winners
Arkansas Press Women is set to host a luncheon on Saturday, June 21 to recognize award winners in its 2025 Professional Communications Contest. The luncheon will be held in the Community Room of the Mabee Student Center at Central Baptist College from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
With a total of 321 entries, all first, second, third place awards and honorable mentions will be presented at the event. First place winners are eligible to compete in the national tier of judging by the National Federation of Press Women.
Winners in the national contest will be honored during the 2025 NFPW Conference in Golden, Colorado Sept.
11-13. For more information about the NFPW Conference, visit https://www. nfpw.org/2025-conference-goldencolorado.
$20 attendance for the award presentation is payable at the door in cash, by check or with debit/credit card.
To attend, RSVP to APW Treasurer Richard S. Plotkin by June 6 at 501-9209429 or rsplotkin@conwaycorp.net
Advance notice is required while any special dietary needs should be made known to Plotkin.
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IBM Selectric typewriters which had “a huge optical character recognition machine” that would scan copy, to print stories out on “huge sheets of paper” that were then photographed to create a negative that was sent to the pressroom for the plating process.
“But the way technology has advanced over the years you can basically do all that on a phone,” he said. “So as we’ve transitioned to a digital product, we’ve put the emphasis more on getting the news in the hands of our subscribers and readers as quickly as possible because that’s really the way people consume news in the modern environment.”
Under his direction, the newspaper has navigated the transition to a more immediate news offering that updates throughout the day as opposed to readers waiting 24 hours for the next update.
“That’s been the challenge the past few years as a news organization is making that transition from really that daylong news
cycle to one where you turn around the news much more quickly.”
While advancing the newspaper with the changing times, Gregory has ensured that the company’s core values and journalistic tenets were upheld.
“Newspapers don’t deal in rumors.... We do reams of public record requests every year, because the most important thing is making sure it is factual, it is fair, and it is ethically sound.”
A highlight from his career, he said, has been reporting on the revitalization of downtown Hot Springs while a challenge has been “having to make the tough calls about stories that negatively impact people’s lives.”
Originally planning to retire last November near his birthday, he worked to wind down his involvement with the newspaper over the last several months.
“The simplest answer is it was simply time,” Gregory said, noting there was “really no
The Green Eyeshade Awards reaches 75 year milestone, standard deadline April 14
The standard entry period for the Green Eyeshade Awards, which recognizes journalists across the Southeastern United States, will close Monday, April 14. The awards have reached its 75th year, making it the nation’s largest and oldest regional journalism contest. In addition to the states already represented with the contest — Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia — journalists from Virginia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will be eligible to compete for the first time.
The contest is hosted by Society of Professional Journalists Region 3 and Region 12 (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee).
This year’s contest revolves around a renewed focus on public service journalism, recognizing impactful reporting across all platforms for “its ability to inform, raise awareness and hold institutions accountable,” according to a release by the organization. For the first time, every division offers a public service journalism category.
Entry fees are $40 per entry for SPJ members, $60 per entry for non-members and $20 per entry for students by the standard entry deadline of Monday, April 14 at midnight.
For more information visit https:// bmbr4.r.a.d.sendibm1.com/mk/cl/f/sh/ SMK1E8tHeG13E8ZTud0mF9MDb8lC/ iulhXpBoIkYq
question why I would be retiring after 42 years with the company and turning 65 years old.”
It ”felt like the company was at a point where I was comfortable with leaving,” he said. “We had gotten the operation transitioned over to a more digital environment. We have a great staff and just overall I felt like the community was at a good place.”
He and his wife, Dana, plan to work on home projects and to travel whenever her schedule allows. The couple has two sons, Alex and Noah
He said there “are so many communities across this country that have lost their local newspapers. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that for a paper our size, we have the best staff I could possibly hope for, and that’s one thing that makes the decision to retire much, much easier is when you know you leave the news operation in capable hands.”
Waldron News returns
After being purchased by Helena World Publisher/Co-Owner and APA Board President Andrew Bagley, The Waldron News is back in publication. The first issue under new leadership was released April 9 with 10 pages of local content. The newspaper’s new staff includes Brittany Maine as reporter and Misty Mitchell as advertising representative. The Waldron News will publish every Wednesday and can be found at several local destinations. News is also available on the newspaper’s website www.waldronarnews.com.
Stacks of The Waldron News newspapers fresh off the presses and ready to be delivered earlier this week.
‘Support Responsible AI’ ad available
A series of ads have been made available for print from April 7-13 by the News/ Media Alliance. The campaign aims to urge Washington lawmakers to protect content from AI theft. Several graphics are available for download in various sizes and formats at https://www.newsmediaalliance.org/ ads-support-responsible-ai/
Newsprint tariffs off
On April 9 President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause in the reciprocal tariffs against trade partners after more than 70 countries called the White House to start talks on making deals. The pause does not include China, Canada or Mexico. This comes after certain Canadian imports which fall under the United States-MexicoCanada Agreement (USMCA) were made exempt from the 25% rate put on the two neighboring countries and the addition 10% applied worldwide — including newsprint.
Concerns by News/Media Alliance on the matter were submitted at a Senate hearing on “The President’s 2025 Trade Policy Agenda” by Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) of the Senate Finance Committee.
“Newsprint and other specialty paper used in newspapers and magazines must be exempted from current and future tariffs under consideration on imports from Canada and other countries that are major suppliers of paper to the U.S.,” said the document submitted April 8, a day before the 90-day pause was announced.
“With continued skyrocketing postal costs, tariffs and other business costs, newspaper and magazine companies will close. U.S. manufacturers have already announced increased prices of at least fifteen percent as well as additional surcharges.”
Johnson said in the document that only three mills exist in the US that produce newsprint, two in Washington State and one in Mississippi. “Furthermore, due to the capital-intensive nature of paper making and a decline in paper use, no new U.S. investment in paper production will be forthcoming,” he said.
A proposed bill, S1272, would limit the President’s trade authority, although Trump has already suggested that he would veto it.
Guest Column:
Check those settings! Getting software settings right can make all the difference in print quality
By Kevin Slimp
I wish you could have joined me on my newspaper visits over the past six weeks. I’ve worked on-site with newspapers stretching from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans and from the border of Canada to Mexico, plus several places in between. Yes, I’m tired, but I get pumped up seeing what community newspapers are doing.
As I visit newspapers, I do a lot of things. I’m generally involved in staff training, visiting with local business and community leaders, leading focus groups, and more. While with them, I’m often asked to review computer settings to ensure they get the best quality from their photos and printed pages. You might be surprised that almost every computer I examine includes essential features that haven’t been set up correctly.
Over the years, presses have changed, paper has changed, and ink has changed. In addition, there have been changes to the PDF technology. Even though a newspaper will probably print okay if the settings are a little off, it will print much better if you have everything set correctly.
Much of the work related to getting a near-perfect print on newsprint happens in Photoshop. I always say there are four steps to getting great-quality photos on newsprint:
1. Set the CMYK settings (found in edit>color settings) to optimum levels for newsprint
2. Be sure the dot gain is set correctly in the color settings
3. Save the photo at the proper resolution
4. Resize the photo to match its size on the page before placing it on the page
What surprises me most as I visit newspapers is that most have their color settings in Photoshop and PDF export settings in InDesign set for magazine quality. That’s fine if you print your newspaper on coated stock, but it’s not so great when printing on newsprint.
I suggest sharing these settings with whoever creates the PDF files at your newspaper. If your paper is like most, some things need adjusting.
Step One: Define a PDF Preset
You’ll find this under File>Adobe PDF Presets. Click on “Define” next to Adobe PDF Presets. Once the Adobe Presents window opens, click “Press Quality” on the left sidebar, then “New” on the right.
Setup the New PDF Export Preset
After clicking the “New” button, you should see a “New PDF Export Preset” window open. First, name the Preset Name at the top of the window. The following are changes you should make under the “General” category:
• Compatibility: Should be set to Acrobat 6
• Uncheck the box that says “Optimize for Fast Web View”
Click on “Compression” in the sidebar and make these changes:
• Bicubic Downsampling should be set to “300 pixels per inch” for images above “300 pixels per inch for both Color and Grayscale Images
• Monochrome images should be set to “600 pixels per inch” for images above “600 pixels per inch”
Click on “Output” in the sidebar
• Color Conversion should be set to “No Color Conversion
Click on “Advanced” in the sidebar
• Subset fonts when percent of characters used is “less than 1%”
• Click on “Done” on the right side of the window
In the future, simply select File>Adobe PDF Presets and select your new setting from the list
I sometimes make the mistake of thinking I don’t need to go over this information when speaking to newspaper designers. However, experience has taught me that most designers can benefit from reminders concerning settings now and then.
It feels good to be home after six weeks on the road. I have a couple of trips to speak at events in North Dakota and Pennsylvania over the coming weeks, followed by three months redesigning four newspapers, with more waiting to get on my list.
I’ve said it many times, but I genuinely love working with community newspapers.
Kevin Slimp is a popular consultant, advisor and trainer in the newspaper industry. From 1997-2018, Kevin directed The Newspaper Institute of The University of Tennessee. He currently serves as CEO of Market Square Publishing and Chief Guru at NewspaperAcademy. com.