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FOIA Constitutional Amendment approved for ballot this week; Initiated Act rejected and resubmitted Guest Column: The Lowe Down Following truth...
Arkansas Press Association
Publisher Weekly
By Pam Lowe
Vol.19 | No. 4 | Friday, January 26, 2024 | Serving Press and State Since 1873
April solar eclipse expected to be economic boom for Arkansas; how will your newspaper capitalize on this extraordinary event? from other states, the economic impact may be massive.
During the afternoon hours on Monday, April 8, two-thirds of Arkansas will be in the path of totality for the 2024 solar eclipse, and all of Arkansas will experience at least a 94 percent eclipse of the sun.
While plenty of news and photos will be published after the fact, some newspapers within the path of totality are planning special coverage in February and March to capitalize on the event.
Arkansas has only been in the path of totality for an eclipse two other times in its history - in 1834 and in 1918. As such, several thousand out-of-state visitors – maybe over 200,00, according to ArDOT – are expected for the event, in addition to the 1,771,000 Arkansans who already live within the path of totality. Based on 2017 total solar eclipse data
An example of a digital ad the Mena Star placed to promote Polk County’s events.
“We have been having meetings in the area for months,” Tammy Curtis, publisher of the Spring River Chronicle in Hardy, said. “The second week of February I will be doing a special section See Eclipse Page 3
Full house for LeadAR panel discussion at APA headquarters Members of the 2024 LeadAR class met Friday at the APA building in Little Rock for a panel discussion on the current state of the media industry and its challenges and opportunities. Serving on the panel were Alex Kienlen, Producer I, Assignment and Web at KARK
Arkansas Publisher Weekly
and KLRT; Mitch Bettis, Owner and President, Arkansas Business Publishing Group; Michele Towne, Owner/ Publisher, Inviting Arkansas; and Neal Gladner, Executive Director of the Arkansas Broadcasters Association. APA Executive Director Ashley Kemp Wimberley served
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as moderator. LeadAR is a program designed to help Arkansans broaden their understanding of issues and opportunities facing our state and strengthen their ability to make a difference. Learn more at uaex.uada.edu/ business-communities/leadership/leadar/
January 26, 2024
FOIA Constitutional Amendment approved for ballot this week; Initiated Act rejected and resubmitted
2024 Diamond Journalism Awards open for entries The Society for Professional Journalism Arkansas Pro Chapter 2024 Diamond Journalism Awards are now open for entries.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin on Wednesday approved language for a proposed constitutional amendment to strengthen the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
All professional and student journalists, freelancers and communications professionals residing in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas can submit work published or broadcast in 2023, or have entries submitted on their behalf by organizations that published or broadcast their work, through March 22.
ACT’s Ballot Question Committee had filed suit against the Attorney General on Tuesday, claiming his repeated rejection of the proposed amendment is a misuse of his powers.
You do not have to be a member of the Society of Professional Journalists to enter, but members get a discount on entry fees. For more information, visit arkansasspj.org.
The Attorney General on Thursday rejected the Ballot Title for the Arkansas Government Transparency Act. This marks his third rejection of the proposed Initiated Act. Arkansas Citizens for Transparency, the group behind the effort to enshrine the Freedom of Information Act in the Arkansas Constitution, immediately refiled the Act with an amended Ballot Title.
Three Arkansas newspapers, one Missouri newspaper, to The ACT Ballot Question Committee issued the following offer regional classified ads statement Thursday evening: “The citizens of Arkansas have had an exciting week with the certification of the ballot title for our constitutional amendment, and Arkansas Citizens for Transparency is pleased with yesterday’s step forward toward guaranteeing a right to government transparency for all Arkansans.
Four newspapers owned by Phillips Media Group — the Harrison Daily Times, the Newton County Times in Jasper and The Baxter Bulletin in Mountain Home, along with the West Plains Daily Quill in southern Missouri — will begin offering a combined regional classifieds page, effective this week.
Late this afternoon we again received another rejection of our initiated act submission from Attorney General Griffin.
“We are combining the synergy of several Phillips Media newspapers,” said Daily Times managing editor Jeff Brasel. “We have combined the classified sections to give our readers more avenues to sell items, make purchases or to find professional services.”
The objection was to language that has existed since our first submission, but was raised for the first time today. We immediately addressed this limited objection by deletion of the language that caused his concern, and submitted our eleventh ballot title option for the initiated act shortly after close of business this evening. The submission added no new language and changed no policy.
An ad placed in any of the newspapers will appear in all four, reaching readers in Baxter, Boone, Newton Counties in Arkansas and Howell County in Missouri. Phillips Media owns 16 newspapers in Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois.
We appreciate the Attorney General’s commitment to “expedite” his response to this latest draft, and in good faith we have decided to delay any new legal action for an additional two working days.”
Arkansas Press Women
Arkansas Citizens for Transparency is a broad coalition of citizens working to protect the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act through a proposed Constitutional Amendment. Members of the drafting committee include Sen. Clarke Tucker, Chairman; Nate Bell; David Couch; Jennifer Waymack Standefer; Robert Steinbuch; John E. Tull, III; and Ashley Kemp Wimberley.
Encouraging communicators since 1949 J O I N
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To donate in support of this legislative effort, visit goodchange. app/donate/arfortransparency
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Eclipse Continued from page 1
Visit Mena.”
on the places to stay, things already booked, special events and things of that nature that will be going in collaboration with the eclipse.”
Byrd has employed extremely sophisticated digital targeting techniques in order to capture the most eyeballs.
Southwest Arkansas is expecting the longest duration of totality in the state.
“We have based our targeting geos on the likely drive patterns for the eclipse viewing in our areas,” he said. “We got this information from regional astronomers who studied past eclipse visitor behaviors. Top locations in terms of ads served and click-through rates have included Houston, Conroe, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Fort Worth, Tulsa, Shreveport, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge.
“There are eclipse events being planned in both Polk and Sevier Counties,” Tom Byrd, publisher of the Mena Star and The De Queen Bee, said. “Many even here locally are still struggling to get their arms around what is coming or what might happen, but there are big marketing opportunities across the ‘band of totality’ for what is poised to be an historic event in Arkansas. Gillham Lake in Sevier County will feature 4 minutes 18 seconds of totality, the longest in Arkansas, and Mena will boast 4 minutes and 6 seconds. The eclipse itself is Monday, but both communities will be hosting major festivals on the weekend.”
“It gets as granular as using geofencing to capture the devices of visitors to places like Bass Pro Shops in Bossier City, Dallas and Little Rock, or bike shops in Hot Springs or Tulsa, or visitor centers, and then later serving them our ads that cross match to their various devices,” Byrd continued. “With site retargeting our ads follow visitors to the client’s website, for additional engagement and branding. This type of advertising yields extremely informative analytics that clients find very useful for future decisions and ad spends.”
Byrd’s newspapers have been heavily involved in the local tourism marketing efforts. The Mena Star is a longtime supporter of Polk County Tourism, having assisted with its digital marketing since 2019. The De Queen Bee supports the Sevier County Chamber of Commerce.
Newspapers within the path of totality might consider the needs of out-of-towners in the days around the eclipse. Russellville, located on Interstate 40 and expecting four minutes, 11 seconds of totality, is deemed “one of the top 10 locations nationwide for eclipse viewing” due to its accessibility and has been chosen by NASA as the site of its live broadcast of the day’s events. The Courier is producing a keepsake magazine featuring local directory information as well as plenty of advertising on April 3.
“Of course, we hope to capture some incremental print and niche advertising related to these events, but the greatest opportunity has been in digital,” Byrd said. “We have already been selling and placing significant amounts of targeted digital advertising supporting these eclipse events since summer of 2023.” The Mena and De Queen newspapers are owned by Lancaster Management.
“Visitors from around the world are expected to start arriving on Thursday, April 4 and stay until Tuesday, April 9,” Courier Advertising Director Judy Manning said. “Our visitors will need dining, entertainment, and in some cases, medical attention.”
“Using tactics refined by our parent company’s digital agency, Think Tank Media, we have been running digital campaigns promoting Solar Eclipse events for both the Sevier County Chamber of Commerce and for the Mena Advertising and Promotion Commission,” Byrd said. “We have already placed well over a million impressions of digital ads supporting Eclipse events in Polk and Sevier County. The tactics for these Eclipse ads are primarily search and contextual retargeting, as well as site retargeting. We build a flight of digital ads in optimum sizes for the most common devices and app platforms, but in these campaigns up to 80% of the ads are served to a user on a mobile device. All ads link back to the event pages of the Sevier County Chamber or Arkansas Publisher Weekly
“Of course, as weekly newspaper publishers, print is still our bread and butter, either in our regular product or niche and specialty magazines, but clearly there are many other areas of growth and opportunity,” Byrd said. “For the week of the eclipse, a print opportunity would certainly be to provide useful information for visitors and locals alike.” After this year, the next total solar eclipse in Arkansas will be in 21 years, on August 12, 2045. 3
January 26, 2024
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January 26, 2024
Berry joins The Times-Dispatch as writer Willa Berry has been hired as staff writer for The Times Dispatch in Walnut Ridge. A native of Pocahontas, Berry holds a bachelor’s degree in studio art: photography and a technical certificate in graphic design, both from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She is the owner of WNB Photography and Design in Pocahontas. In the announcement of her hiring, Berry said she is excited about her new role with The Times Dispatch. “I have always wanted to work for a newspaper or magazine, and I am extremely excited to work with The Times Dispatch and the people of Lawrence County,” Berry said.
Bowl-related advertising can be a super headache if precautions not taken With Super Bowl LVIII coming up on February 11, many advertisers might be mentioning the “the Big Game” and emphasizing football in their messaging. But, referring to the Super Bowl by name in advertising could cause super-big headaches for your publication.
Willa Berry
George takes on new advertising role Ashley George has recently switched roles at The Times Dispatch in Walnut Ridge, joining the advertising department as a sales consultant at the first of this year.
The National Football League strictly enforces trademark laws to prevent confusion among its sponsors and to eliminate any possible false conception that something could be associated with or sponsored by their organization. The NFL trademarked the terms “Super Bowl” and “Super Sunday” in 1969, and has in the past not hesitated to notify businesses, even churches, that used the name to promote events and services that they are in violation.
George became a staff writer at The Times Dispatch in September 2023. Prior to that she had worked as a photographer for The Times Dispatch for many years, winning several APA Better Newspaper Editorial Contest awards, including two first-place awards for sports action photos. A native of Lawrence County, George is a graduate of Walnut Ridge High School and holds a degree in Sports Media from Full Sail University in Florida. She opened Ashey George her Walnut Ridge studio, Creative Touch Photography, in 2004, and has photographed the Autozone Liberty Bowl for the past 10 years.
OFFICE SPACE AVAILABLE Starting February 1
The Super Bowl LVIII logo, the NFL shield and individual team names and logos are also trademarked, and should not be used in advertising or other creative materials unless the right to be an official NFL partner has been secured. A bar or restaurant that has a public performance license to show television programs has the right to show the Super Bowl broadcast to its patrons, but if it uses the words “Super Bowl” in its advertising to attract customers, the league will object. Other phrases such as “Super Sunday,” “Gameday,” “Back to Football” and “1st and GOAL” are also protected. Advertisers who want to capitalize on the Super Bowl’s popularity should remember to use “the big game,” “game day” or some other generic wording and imagery. It is, however, okay to say “Super Bowl” or “Super Sunday” in news coverage.
• 580 square feet • Close to the Arkansas State Capitol
• Parking included • Use of conference room and kitchen
Contact: ashley@arkansaspress.org Arkansas Publisher Weekly
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January 26, 2024
Guest Column: The Lowe Down Following truth... By Pam Lowe
More than once over the past decade I have wondered what our Founding Fathers would think of our government in the 21st century and of the current mindset of the American people. I wonder if they could have seen a glimpse into the future if they would have done anything differently or perhaps would want to rewrite parts of the Constitution. Hindsight is 20/20 after all. I have a feeling they would be surprised at how easily people are duped today given the vast amounts of information available to them and the countless opportunities to fact check. If our third President Thomas Jefferson had a mantra, it was “follow truth”. He wrote those words many times during his life and prided himself on doing so. I often ask myself, “Where are the men and women today that are the spokespeople of democracy, justice and truth?” Some would have us believe it is those that engineered the insurrection, or those that want to eliminate or lessen the Freedom of Information Act or those who just want power and control over others. It is these powerful words of Thomas Jefferson that have been ringing in my ears, “We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Those words have inspired throngs of people through the ages since the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776. “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” meaning those truths are not up for debate. There is no need to defend them. They are unquestionable. I’ve been thinking about truth a lot as I observe people grappling with its very definition in their daily interactions with others on social media; the splicing and twisting of a basic truth through posts, comments and memes until its original virtue is no longer recognized. The meme Arkansas Publisher Weekly
is the internet’s equivalent of a bumper sticker; “Click if you love (fill in a political candidate or party)”. People use them to get a pointed message across to others. Some are funny, some have quotes and others reveal the dark side of a person’s character and are just mean-spirited. There are absolute truths that we know without a doubt to be true; such as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west and the earth is round; although there were those who argued it’s flatness in our history. When it comes to relationships, the truth is often based on what we have experienced. Though we may know the definition of the truth, it’s sometimes difficult to recognize with so many avenues for conspiracy theorists to spin their webs, taking advantage of fragile egos and fearful times. Conspiracy theorists are like drug peddlers and their beguiling logic entices the best of people into a sense of superiority because they feel they know something that others do not. And before you can say, “Wake up, people!”; the battle cry of conspiracy believers, they find themselves immersed in sharing unfounded videos, and information from unreliable sources on social media. It draws any little bit of narcissism a person may possess with its sense of warm smugness as they wield unsubstantiated information like it’s based on science with a feeling of responsibility to warn the others. Conspiracies also feed on our fears. That little voice in our head devilishly whispers, “But what if it’s true? What if the Easter Bunny is part of a grander scheme to put a dentist in the White House?” It’s easy to fall victim to this deceptiveness. It can happen to anyone if they aren’t diligent in checking for valid sources. Falling for conspiracy theories can then become a gateway drug to confirmation bias where people actively research, interpret or collect information that corresponds with their beliefs. Some would rather share something that’s not true if it favors their preferred candidate’s 6
views, or a political issue, than stand up for the truth. There’s a running joke that if something is on the internet then it must be true. It’s not a joke any longer as we watch many people fall victim to fake information shared on social media, videos and in political ads as they perpetuate falsehoods. Here in the 21st century, the truth is taking a beating and is hard to recognize for many people. Never before has it been more important to be able to discern fact from fiction, dark versus light and to separate the wheat from the chaff. Our human weakness or frailty lies in the reality that when searching for the truth, you have to be prepared to admit that you may be wrong. As we face the 2024 political noise and the upcoming election, I’ll leave you with the sound advice of Jefferson as he counseled his nephew, Peter Carr in 1785, “If ever you find yourself environed with difficulties and perplexing circumstances, out of which you are at a loss how to extricate yourself, do what is right, and be assured that that will extricate you the best out of the worst situations. Tho’ you cannot see when you fetch one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plaindealing, and never fear their leading you out of the labyrinth in the easiest manner possible.” In answer to my own question, “Where are the men and women today that are the spokespeople of democracy, justice and truth?” It begins with you and me. When the world seems dark and we are at a loss for truth tellers, we must be them. It is our duty to be a light, no matter how small, that follows and exemplifies truth. It’s the only thing that will save us. _________________________________ Pam Lowe is the editor of the Clay County Courier in Corning. Readers may contact her at plowe@cherryroad.com
January 26, 2024