August 2017 – Editor & Publisher

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A Section

Features

Departments

SPEEDING UP MOBILE

PRINT 17 Returns to Chicago Sept. 10-14

CRITICAL THINKING

Relay Media helps publishers convert web content to AMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 8

MARKETING THE NEWS GateHouse Media and Cox Media Group launch brand campaigns . . . p. 9

Conference aims to help “grow your business” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 30

Group Effort

A RETURN TO COMMUNITY JOURNALISM

What publishers can learn by partnering with tech companies like Facebook and Google . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 32

The Duluth News Tribune launches two print weeklies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 10

Simplifying Data

TURNING NUMBERS INTO STORIES

How newspapers can turn analytics and numbers into dollar signs . . . . . . . p. 38

Tallahassee Democrat builds interactive refugee database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 11

The Dilemma of Leaks

ON THE RED CARPET

How some are perceived as bad and un-American, and others are valued and welcomed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 44

The Daily Item honors local musical theater students with special section, event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 14

Cover illustration by Tony O. Champagne

PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Is The Intercept to blame for Reality Leigh Winner’s arrest? . . . . . . . . . . p. 15

DATA PAGE Digital advertising revenue at newspapers, advertising and circulation revenue in the newspaper industry, global desktop and mobile internet consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 18

PRODUCTION How to effectively manage the use of temporary labor in the production environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 26

NEWSPEOPLE New hires, promotions and relocations across the industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 51

SHOPTALK Public editor cannot be one-person panacea to reader trust problem . . p. 58

Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 16

Columns INDUSTRY INSIGHT

BUSINESS OF NEWS

DIGITAL PUBLISHING

Newsrooms might have to get bigger, go deeper to unlock reader revenue p. 20

New Jersey introduces a fund that will support local journalism . . . . . . . . . p. 22

As crosswords move online, publishers can still make a profit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 24

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editorial

Memory Lane

L

ast month, I took a trip back to the Midwest to visit family in Ohio and in Michigan, my home state. I looked forward to meeting my new niece, eating some good food, and catching up on sleep. But I also made a special trip to Allegan, Mich. where I spent four years as a staff writer for the Allegan County News, a weekly newspaper that comes out every Thursday. The company also publishes two other weeklies in the area and several supplements.

It was my first newspaper job out of college, and like many other small, community newspapers, everyone on staff had to wear different hats. I covered city and township meetings, took photos at holiday parades and other gatherings around the county, edited press releases, laid out ads and copy on production day, and helped unload the truck when the newspapers and mail bags arrived the next day. When I left in 2009 for warmer weather in California, it was a bit-

I’m sure if you were to return to your first newspaper job, the office might look different. tersweet feeling. When you work for a small newsroom, it starts to feel like a family, and you don’t want to leave family behind.

Over the years I kept in touch with my former co-workers. Some have left the newspaper; others are still there. I learned the paper had been sold to a new owner who also became the new publisher. The paper also recently moved into a smaller building downtown. They were doing more video now. They had raised newsstand prices.

They had changed printers. They were hosting more contests in order to attract more subscribers. They were producing more supplements. They put ads on the front page now. They redesigned the website and got a Facebook page that currently has more than 4 |

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4,000 followers. It’s not the same publication it was when I left in 2009, but then again, what newspaper is the same as it was eight years ago?

I’m sure if you were to return to your first newspaper job, the office might look different, there will be faces there you don’t recognize, or faces that aren’t there anymore, but the mission of the newspaper is still the same: to report the news and to report it fairly and accurately. We may be competing against social media with how our readers receive their news, but we have to remember a newspaper’s unique connection to its community. It’s something that can’t be duplicated or replaced.

I wasn’t surprised by all the changes at my former workplace though. I had gone from writing for newspapers to writing about newspapers, so of course, I understood why they were all necessary. In fact, I was quite impressed that they were trying so many new things. I was also happy to hear that they subscribed to the E&P newsletter and read it every morning.

As I finished my trip down memory lane at the Allegan County News, it occurred to me that this small, weekly paper in southwest Michigan also has a very similar story to many of the large, dailies in bigger cities.

A new owner. A smaller newsroom operating with a leaner staff. Video experimentations.

Contests. A stronger digital presence. It doesn’t matter the size of your circulation or market; we’re all navigating the same boat.

Some of you may be in a boat that is sinking and you’re just trying to plug up the hole before it sinks. Some of you may be grabbing a life jacket, ready to jump ship. Others may have already thrown down your anchor, frustrated and thinking “Enough is enough.”

But then I think about my former colleagues at the Allegan County News and the countless amounts of publishers, editors, reporters, sales reps, circulation directors, production crews, and digital teams out there working hard to put out their newspaper day after day.

To them, I say keep rowing, keep sailing, even if it’s through choppy waters.—NY

CORPORATE OFFICES (949) 660-6150 FAX (949) 660-6172 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jeff Fleming jeff@editorandpublisher.com MANAGING EDITOR Nu Yang nu.yang@editorandpublisher.com GRAPHIC DESIGN Meredith Ewell ASSISTANT EDITOR Sean Stroh sean@editorandpublisher.com CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Rob Tornoe, Tim Gallagher Matt DeRienzo SALES AND MARKETING CONSULTANT Wendy MacDonald, ext. 231 wendy@editorandpublisher.com CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING SALES Jon Sorenson (800) 887-1615 FAX (866) 605-2323 classifieds@editorandpublisher.com SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES (888) 732-7323 CIRCULATION MANAGER Amelia Salazar amelia@editorandpublisher.com CIRCULATION ASSISTANT Rick Avila PRODUCTION Mary Monge TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR David Kelsen DIGITAL DIRECTOR Bryan Sheehy DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING/OPERATIONS Janette Hood, ext. 201 janette@editorandpublisher.com

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comments ))) Archives Help Local Newspapers Stand Out

illustration by tony o. champagne

Freedom of Press Must Be Protected

Investigative Journalism Has No Sides

I could make the argument that there has never been a more critical need for local newspapers since the American Revolution. (“Shoptalk: Newspapers Still a Strong Thread in Fabric of Freedom,” June 2017) You may think that is a pretty radical statement, but consider the current state of the media. Fake news permeates almost every medium from television to radio and from the internet to social media. Local communities can’t afford or take a chance on getting their local news from agencies far removed from their communities. Recent trends and studies show people still rely on local newspapers. While many have been writing eulogies for print newspapers, we have been in the process of starting two new local newspapers. The initial response and demand has been so great, we have had to change our initial number of publications for launch twice. People are very excited about the prospect of a new voice in their community concerned about their everyday lives. Granted, we are in rural America, but we are confident that there will always be a market for local patriotism and news.

Thomas Jefferson agreed that the freedom of the press was the lifeblood of our nation.

It must be protected at all costs.

Investigative journalism has nothing to do with sides. (“Digital Publishing: Connecting Voters with Their Government,” May 2017) It has to do with finding an important story and following it wherever it leads. It has nothing to do with giving equal time to both viewpoints, no matter how ridiculous one argument may be, and there are not just two sides, a Democratic and a Republican one. I am neither, and I doubt Mr. Johnson is, either. He has done an amazing job, and is to be commended.

GREG DAVIDSON

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TOM JOAD

Submitted on editorandpublisher.com

Guarding a Story’s History You have missed the main point. Many of today’s journalists are not even aware of their own paper’s archives’ existence. (“Industry Insight: Preserving Your Legacy,” June 2017) They live off today’s sensational headline, totally forgetting it tomorrow because there’s a new sensational headline to replace it. If only they knew that every story has a history, and if only they knew there exists such a thing known as context, the quality of their journalism would improve; I fear this will not happen.

PETER ADLER

Our newspaper, the Black Hills Pioneer, has published in Western South Dakota since June 8, 1876. (“Industry Insight: Preserving Your Legacy,” June 2017) Over the years many other titles were absorbed by our original newspaper, making our morgue vast and difficult to research. I made it a priority to find a way to digitally preserve our archives and at the same time make them more searchable for our news staff, but we just didn’t have the resources to do it on our own. About three years ago, I approached Newspapers.com to see if they were interested in the historic value offered by our archives due to our proximity to gold discovery and the Indian wars of the West, and they were. They took our microfilm and hard copies and digitized it at no cost.

We get a very minimal revenue stream from anyone that subscribes to their service prompted through our website, but the real value to us is that we can now digitally search all of our archives in seconds. Their format allows for us to search PDF documents by a specific word, date and newspaper. We have also utilized this to find and re-print historical stories that we covered from the 1800s, get background on historic buildings, etc. and our reader response has been extremely positive. It prompted us to produce a special section with the stories printed exactly as they ran 140 years ago.

One draw-back, you have to re-type them if you want the full text, but at least you can find it. In addition, we have a quadruple hard drive backup on a Drobo for all of our final digital products we currently produce on a daily basis. Keeping the permanent record of our communities is at the heart of what we do as a newspaper and it’s what differentiates us form all of the other digital noise out there.

LETTI LISTER

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Send us your comments nu.yang@editorandpublisher.com “Comments,” Editor & Publisher, 18475 Bandilier Circle, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 Please include your name, title, city and state, and email address.

Letters may be edited for all the usual reasons.

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Submit Your Publisher of the Year Nomination Today Official nomination form available online: e d i to ra n d p u b l i s h e r.co m /p oy The accelerating pace of change in today’s information age requires a greater need for effective leadership. A successful newspaper leader must not only strategize from the trenches with practicality and realism, but also think with foresight and imagination.

We are looking to honor a publisher who has risen above the rest and accomplished what seems like the

impossible, outmaneuvering the competition, outthinking the future and maintaining profitability.

We are seeking your assistance in recognizing a leader with business acumen, technical savvy, and a deep understanding of what needs to be done to stay successful — along with the fortitude and tenacity to implement change.

Submission Information:

• Submission time period: Now through Sept. 22, 2017.

Please complete the online form and include a short synopsis of why the nominee should receive recognition.

Include specific leadership successes, innovative program development, obstacles and challenges overcome.

• All entries will be treated with the strictest confidence.

But the selected publisher should be prepared to be interviewed by Editor & Publisher for the special “Publisher of the Year” issue.

Eligibility: • “Publisher of the Year” recognition is open to all newspaper publishers worldwide, from papers large and small.

Nomination Deadline Sept. 22, 2017

the A section VOLUME 150

FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST 2017

ISSUE 8

> Look Ahead

Speeding Up Mobile Relay Media helps publishers convert web content to AMP

By Sean Stroh

T

hese days, when users tap on their mobile browser, speed is no longer seen as a luxury—it’s expected.

Although the allure of Facebook’s Instant Articles continues to fade, another viable option has emerged in the Googlebacked Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP).

With Relay Media (relaymedia.com), publishers can convert standard web content into AMP format and distribute the content to affiliates, partners, or the open web.

“Quality user experience is becoming a business imperative. For a long time, this was not the case as advertisers paid for impression tonnage and consumers had little recourse against invasive ads and clutter,” said Barb Palser, chief product officer at Relay Media. “Now, advertisers are demanding viewability and transparency, and consumers can install ad blockers or simply go elsewhere. Most publishers probably have no idea how much audience and revenue they’re losing as a result of slow load and poor user experience.”

Palser said that Google research has found more than half of users abandon slow-loading sites after just three seconds. Typically, Relay Media’s AMP articles load in under one second, compared to an average of 19 seconds for standard mobile websites.

According to Palser, a newspaper could monetize their content through Relay Media in several ways. For example, on the distribution side, publishers can earn incremental revenue by sharing AMP-formatted articles with others through the company’s platform.

“The publisher’s ads and paywall services stay in-tact, along with the rest of the AMP page, so they earn revenue and track audience any time another publisher embeds their content,” she said.

“No special technology integrations or administrative overhead are involved.”

The company currently works with more than 100 publisher properties, including local newspapers, TV stations } Barb Palser, Relay Media and several hyperlocal sites. Palser said chief product officer

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} Relay Media’s AMP articles load in under one second, compared to an average of 19 seconds for standard mobile websites.

that not one publisher has left their platform so far.

“Many publishers are “Quality user under the impression AMP experience is becoming doesn’t support ads, or a business imperative.” has highly restrictive rules around them. This is not true,” she said. “There are a couple of restrictions but AMP supports most ad formats and dozens of third-party ad products.”

Moving forward, Palser said Relay Media’s “big vision” centers around the potential of AMP as a universal distribution format.

“We want to build a scaled distribution network that gives publishers new revenue and reach, and lessens their dependence on social and search platforms which control discovery and user data,” she said. “Leveraging AMP, we believe that we can bypass many of the traditional barriers to publisher-to-publisher content sharing and empower quality publishers to be their own distribution hubs, putting them back at the center of content discovery and monetization.” editorandpublisher.com

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the A section

 GateHouse Media’s “Newsroom Hero” campaign profiles journalists and their impact on the community. Check out the rest of the ads at mediakit. gatehousemedia.com/Branding2017.

Marketing the News GateHouse Media and Cox Media Group launch brand campaigns

I

n order to highlight the critical role they play in their communities, both GateHouse Media and Cox Media Group have launched marketing initiatives centered on local journalism.

During the first week of June, GateHouse started featuring “Newsroom Hero” profiles of its journalists in 130 daily newspapers.

Each profile typically includes a photo, brief message about journalism and short bio of the particular person. The concept of the campaign stemmed from discussions with dozens of GateHouse editors across the country, said vice president of marketing Alain Begun.

“The paper and the news teams are both part of the fabric of their communities,” he said. “And they also provide the kind of in-depth, local reporting on key issues that other media don’t cover. So we thought it was important to showcase these local heroes who are having such a big impact.”

Begun said that the choice of who to profile was left up to each individual editorial team.

“Because the publications are all running multiple versions of the ad, there will be opportunities to showcase many different editors,

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writers, photographers and columnists in the months ahead,” he said.

GateHouse plans to run the campaign throughout the year, adding its 314 weekly newspapers to the mix later in the summer.

Eventually, it will extend across all GateHouse print and digital properties.

Begun said he’s already heard from several editors that readers have commented on the importance of the role the paper plays. “That’s the type of feedback we were hoping for.”

Around the same time GateHouse kicked off its campaign, Cox Media Group commenced the “Worth Knowing” brand marketing strategy  Campaign messages will appear across across the company’s Cox Media Group’s seven daily newspaper seven daily newspaper markets, like this one from the Dayton Daily markets, including The News in Ohio.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Austin American-Statesman and The Dayton (Ohio) Daily News. The messaging strategy is based on four pathways identified in research of what readers most value: personal ritual, community pride, real journalism and civic responsibility.

“Our objective is to deepen an emotional connection and effectively communicate why we are not only worth reading, but worth paying for, which is critical as subscriber revenue becomes a larger percentage of our budget,” said Amy Chown, vice president of marketing at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

According to Chown, messaging will appear “across all consumer touch points.” Additionally, the company’s television and radio assets will be used in Dayton and Atlanta.

Though there is no specific timeline to the campaign, Chown emphasized that it wouldn’t be a short-term strategy.

“The core message is part of a long-term brand marketing strategy,” she said. “We will continue to infuse this message across all marketing channels and touch points and underscore what readers value most from us—it’s worth knowing what’s really going on with their tax dollars, roads, government, schools and community.”—SS

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the A section

A Return to Community Journalism The Duluth News Tribune launches two print weeklies

 Neal Ronquist, Duluth News Tribune publisher

 The new weekly print publications will run every Thursday and cover specific areas of Duluth, Minn.

I

n an effort to provide more localized coverage, the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune recently launched a pair of weekly print-only publications.

The Western Weekly and Eastern Observer debuted June 8 and are planned to be published every Thursday. Each paper covers specific areas of the city and surrounding neighborhoods.

“This is a journey back to our community journalism roots,” said publisher Neal Ronquist. “We seek to provide coverage of youth sports, our elementary schools, our churches, other civic organizations and of course the people who make these neighborhoods special. Publishing products with smaller press runs limits our expenses and also allows us to offer lower price points to potential advertising partners.”

The News Tribune will print 3,000 copies

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of each weekly free for the first few months while the papers gain more subscribers. After that, subscriptions for the new weeklies will cost $36 per year, and single issues will be available at stores for $1. Both newspapers are 12 broadsheet pages and feature a 60/40 editorial to advertising ratio.

What makes this launch interesting is that none of the content found inside the papers will be available online. For Ronquist, it was a financially important decision they “move away from free content publications to paid weeklies.”

“We feel our journalism is valuable and should be paid for. The demographics of the region still point toward a large, loyal print base,” he said. “We also learned that having print products compete with free online versions isn’t a successful economic model.

In this particular case, we feel it is appropri-

 Rick Lubbers, Duluth News Tribune executive editor

ate not to have an online presence.”

The paper’s former free weekly community publication, the Duluth Budgeteer, has become an advertising-only shopper for homes that aren’t already subscribed to the News Tribune.

Teri Cadeau and Elly Power will lead the Weekly and Observer respectively. Cadeau previously served as editor for the Budgeteer while Power worked as a news clerk at the News Tribune. Each will handle all the reporting, editing and photography published in the weekly papers.

Executive editor Rick Lubbers said there is very little overlap in content between the main paper and the two weeklies. While the daily publication will continue to cover the city of Duluth as a whole, the weeklies plan to take a closer look at issues facing residents on hyperlocal level.

“For example, the News Tribune would cover a city council debate and vote to make changes to the city’s park system, and then the Weekly and Observer would further explore how those changes affect the neighborhoods in their coverage areas,” Lubbers said. “Our readers will learn more about not only the neighborhoods that they live in, but also the areas surrounding them, and how they contribute to making Duluth a vibrant city.”—SS editorandpublisher.com

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the A section

Turning Numbers into Stories Tallahassee Democrat builds interactive refugee database

S

hortly after President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries, journalists at the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat began pondering the effects it would have at the local level.

To do so, the paper started building an online interactive database using government data, which allowed readers to determine the placement of refugees in  Safouh Alhendi, with his wife, Emein, and their two sons, Motheir own communities. Though it hammad Noor, 12, and Mouiad, 10, arrived in Tallahassee in November after leaving behind their home in Syria. (Joe Rondone/ was meant to be a local look at the Tallahassee Democrat) refugee problem, the Democrat’s interactive so readers database quickly became the foundation for can go beyond the a national project across parent company trends we find and Gannett’s entire USA Today Network. report on if they wish The American Strangers series officially and parse numbers kicked off during the first week of May for themselves,” with a series of stories published online by Portman said. “In a the Democrat and in print a few days later. time when journalReporters Jeff Burlew and Nada Hassanein, ists battle ‘fake news,’ along with the help of photographers Joe hard numbers can be  Jennifer Portman, Rondone and Hali Tauxe, spent several Tallahassee Democrat our anchor.” months getting to know local refugee faminews director Overseeing the crelies and those helping them build new lives. ation of the database “It just seemed like a really smart and reawas the Democrat’s sonable time to get a handle of our refugee own data specialist, numbers, where they were coming from and Yoonserk Pyun, who who exactly these people were,” said news downloaded relevant director Jennifer Portman. “Once we realinformation from the ized that the database could be used for the Refugee Processing entire country, it occurred to us that it would Center into a massive be the perfect project to do in this network excel spreadsheet. concept.”  Yoonserk Pyun, Tallahassee Democrat Once that was done, The database yielded a number of surhe made the raw data data specialist prises for the paper, including the revelation easily searchable for that more refugees came to Tallahassee last users and built heat maps highlighting major year than ever before. Among them, were 35 resettlement cities in America and the most people fleeing war-torn Syria. common countries of origin for refugees “It has always been important to incorpocoming to the U.S. The process of building rate data into stories, that’s not new. What the database took several weeks and will has changed is the need for that data to be editorandpublisher.com

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 The American Strangers series debuted in print in the Sunday edition of the Tallahassee Democrat.

continue to be maintained on a regular basis.

Executive editor William Hatfield alluded to a number of impressive work done by other papers in the network based off the database such as the Fort Collins Coloradoan, St. Cloud Times in Minnesota, and the Lansing State Journal in Michigan.

“Every single paper in our markets could tie into this database and do their own localized stories,” Hatfield said. “It really is a great example of the power of the USA Today Network and something Gannett is building its future around.”—SS AUGUST 2017 | E & P

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the A section From the Archive

> Wise Advice

 Paul Clarin

 Using the Tektronix 611 scope (on right), Joanne Uhrhammer of the Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard previews classified ads for type face, size and leading. Corrections are made online via the VT 61 terminal (on left). The previewing system, developed at the Register-Guard, has reduced misclassifieds to almost zero. This photo originally appeared in the March 22, 1980 issue of E&P.

LEGAL BRIEFS Odessa American Files Lawsuit Against City Council

According to the Odessa (Texas) American, the newspaper has filed a lawsuit against the Odessa city council for violating the Texas Open Meetings Act. The American alleges that multiple violations occurred at a meeting in May when the city council met for nearly an hour behind closed doors without giving proper notice. Following the meeting, council members voted to remove the head of the board overseeing economic development sales tax money. The paper is seeking a court to order the city council not to violate the Act with future meetings behind closed doors and “to maintain detailed written minutes or audio recordings” of all future closed meetings. Additionally, the lawsuit also seeks recovery of the paper’s legal expenses from the city.

Judge Issues Injunction Against Former Denver Post Ad Execs

As reported in the Denver Post, a judge has issued a preliminary injunction against three former Post advertising executives, preventing them from using or disclosing confidential information they downloaded prior to leaving the newspaper. The Post originally filed a lawsuit against Reid Wicoff, Nicole Brennan and David Staley in April, alleging them of conspiring to use the publication’s trade secrets and detailed information to set up a competing advertising agency. Wicoff and Brennan had signed confidentiality agreements as recently as this past February, the order said. As part of the injunction, which must be followed through the conclusion of the case, all three are also barred from recruiting or hiring any of the Post’s employees.

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“What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve ever received?”

Avoid hiring people who are too much like me personality-wise. Hire introverts and extroverts, intuitives and sensors all the various personalities and find where they fit into the organizational team. Try and find those who are smarter, more creative, more tenacious, and have the ability to get under my skin and at the worst possible times. Find individuals who are competitive, not so much within the organization but those who are obsessed with beating our competitors. Having people around you who can share the vision of the goal and are able to run and help others to reach those goals.

Even when there are stumbles and falls, there will be gain and growth.

When a failure occurs, it’s important to pick up individuals, dust them off, and ask what went wrong and what lesson was learned and then move on to the next challenge. Most importantly, never shoot your mavericks.

Paul Clarin is publisher of the Key West Citizen in Florida. He is also chief financial officer for Cooke Communications, which owns the Citizen. editorandpublisher.com

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the A section Tornoe’s Corner

SAY WHAT? New Vocabulary for the Modern Era

side–eye (noun): A sidelong glance or gaze especially when expressing scorn, suspicion, disapproval, or veiled curiosity “Even (Gal) Gadot’s ownership of the legendary bracelets and tiara was met with some Internet side-eye.”

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—Meredith Woerner, Los Angeles Times

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the A section

 The Daily Item hosted a red carpet event for students at the Campus Theatre in Lewisburg, Pa.

 Midd-West High School students pose for photos after the Valley Musicals celebration at the Campus Theatre in Lewisburg, Pa.

On the Red Carpet The Daily Item honors local musical theater students with special section, event

W

hile the spotlight shines bright onstage for high school theater students, the attention can dim once they are off it. At the Daily Item in Sunbury, Penn., features editor John Zaktansky wanted to ensure this didn’t happen.

Together with freelancer Tricia Kline, the pair produced a 36-page publication including behind-the-scenes stories and columns on 13 school productions, as well as a complete list of all cast and crew members. The special section was inserted in the May 16 edition of the Item, which maintains a weekday circulation of around 17,000.

Though it initially began last year, the project was expanded for 2017 to feature a dozen more pages and a red carpet event.

“I had wanted to do this for quite a while, especially as we continue to make our newspaper more community-centered,” Zaktansky said. “The one area that we previously weren’t doing a whole lot of was honoring and recognizing the kids who were involved in these musicals.”

The task of completing this year’s #ValleyMusicals publication was a gradual one, with work on it beginning as far back as December. To drum up more interest from the public, Zaktansky and Kline wrote previews before each musical that were included in the paper’s weekly Applause section. Throughout the project, readers were also regularly encouraged to share their favorite musical  Dennis Lyons, Daily  John Zaktansky, Daily  Tricia Kline, Daily Item editor Item features editor Item freelance reporter photos, comments

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 The #ValleyMusicals publication highlighted more than a dozen musical productions.

and backstage stories on social media using the #ValleyMusicals hashtag.

After attending a musical, Zaktansky said he collected copies of the program and gave them to the advertising department as a new method to generate leads for this year’s publication.

“We thought that was a great jumping off point to have people to contact, especially since so many local businesses typically place a small ad encouraging students in the program,” he said. “It ended up being a good way of finding some new ad revenue that we previously weren’t getting.”

On the night before the special section was included in the newspaper, roughly 300 copies were handed out to student actors and crew as they walked the red carpet at the Campus Theatre in Lewisburg. The gala event, sponsored by the Item, featured live performances from students, brief video recaps of all 13 plays, a guest speaker, and special recognition at the end including trophies and certificates.

“One of the main things I discovered was just how humble these kids are,” Kline said. “They were a pleasure to speak with and really appreciated being recognized for their work.”

According to editor Dennis Lyons, the paper plans to continue the #ValleyMusicals publication next year and credited Zaktansky as being the driving force behind the special section.

“John is the heart and soul of this project— there’s no question about that,” Lyons said. “I gave him some guidance but he took the ball and ran with it this year. He truly went above and beyond.”–SS

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critical thinking

If you have a question you would like to see addressed, please send it to sean@editorandpublisher.com.

J-school students and industry vets tackle the tough questions

“In June, the Department of Justice filed charges against Reality Leigh Winner for providing The Intercept with a NSA classified report. The FBI says it identified Winner partly because the news site shared a copy of the document with the NSA to confirm its authenticity. Is The Intercept to blame for Winner’s arrest?”

A:

It wasn’t long after The Intercept published an article titled, “Top Secret NSA Report Details Russian Hacking Effort Days Before 2016 Election,” that 25-year-old Reality Leigh Winner was arrested in connection with the leak.

So how did a classified report that was “anonymously sourced and indeLauren Chamberlain, 20 pendently authenticated” lead to an FBI senior, Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, Okla.) statement hinting at The Intercept’s role, albeit potentially inadvertent, Chamberlain is a communicain identifying Winner as the whistletions major and writes for the blower? student-run newspaper, Daily O’Collegian.

To answer that, you must first look at the dense and ever-changing Code of Ethics by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) in order to establish a baseline on anonymous sourcing.

The SPJ Code of Ethics provides two statements with consideration to sources. Basically, identify sources whenever possible and secondly, always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity.

While you’ll find opposing schools of thought on the integrity and ethics of anonymous sources in journalism, most publications do everything possible to maintain the integrity of their sources while staying committed to telling the stories they bring forward.

Journalism as of late has experienced more leaks than the White House faucets during the Nixon administration and more often than not, the public is quick defend those who simply want to bring them the truth.

So, if asking whether The Intercept acted carelessly or thoroughly in their initial investigation, I would answer both. Surely the journalist at The Intercept who decided to authenticate the document with the NSA must have accounted for the certain amount of risk he or she was causing the anonymous source, as it also seems to contradict the sense of whistleblower safety their leak tab provides.

Ultimately though, Winner is responsible for her arrest, by choosing to act on stolen intelligence which, whether you agree with it or not, under current law is illegal.

Perhaps the only thing that matters, however, has nothing to do with the journalists at The Intercept, but rather with the readers. To the outside world, The Intercept, supposed champion of whistleblowers, burned a source with sloppy investigating and any credibility and authority they had accrued is now damaged.

While there is fault to be found on both sides of the issue, I don’t think this will stop future leakers from pursing their righteous crusades toward justice anytime soon, especially given how leaky the White House faucets are right now. If anything, Winner’s misfortune and The Intercept’s bad press will only make them that much wiser. editorandpublisher.com

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A:

America needs leakers.

Agents of conscience—tipsters, internal dissidents, whistleblowers—are not simply the news media’s indispensable partners, they are instruments of a free society. As such they must be protected at all costs. Their information must be corroborated to the Robert Price, 60 fullest extent possible, but their anonymsenior editor for community ity must be sacrosanct. engagement, Bakersfield Californian We witnessed an epic failure of that tenet when The Intercept failed to protect Price has served in a dozen the identity of Reality Leigh Winner, who roles in his 29 years at the gave The Intercept classified documents Californian, including metro columnist, opinion editor, about Russian efforts to influence the entertainment writer and 2016 U.S. election. executive editor.

The FBI says it identified Winner in part because the news site, seeking to confirm the document’s authenticity, shared a copy with the NSA. In so doing, The Intercept inadvertently exposed its source: The photocopied document had telltale creases and barely discernible microdots that identified the printer’s serial number, and the date and time of the printing. Those fingerprints, among other clues, pointed straight to Winner.

The FBI identified her with such ease, in fact, the Justice Department’s announcement of the charges coincided almost simultaneously with The Intercept’s publication of the leaked document.

That a news organization staffed with some of the best operational security experts in the business could handle such a valuable gift so unskillfully is baffling.

But it also underscores the double-edged nature of these matters: It is simpler than ever today to purloin classified information but also to trace those leaks to their sources—and collect evidence for prosecution.

Winner’s arrest sends a sobering message to the legions of NSA contractors: Government authorities, armed with increasingly sophisticated techniques, are more committed to rooting out leakers than perhaps ever before. The Obama administration prosecuted a record number of them, and the Trump administration, mindful that data leaks can undermine its alternative fact-based strategy of governance, seems prepared to follow suit.

Consequently, the next contractor who stumbles upon information that demands public scrutiny will think twice, and the media’s obligation to hold government accountable becomes more difficult.

But, as Thomas Drake, a former NSA employee who was accused under President Obama of felony espionage, told the Baltimore Sun in 2011: “Accountable government requires people to stand up, and if it means telling truth to power at risk, that’s a necessary part.”

The news media must do its part in that arrangement by redoubling its efforts to secure and protect agents of conscience.  AUGUST 2017 | E & P

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photo of the month

Send us your photos! E&P welcomes reader submissions for our Photo of the Month. sean@editorandpublisher.com.

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editorandpublisher.com

7/20/17 12:13 PM

WALK THE LINE ď ˝â€… Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register (Anaheim, Calif.)

Eric Hake, a civil engineer from Oceanside, Calif., highlines 40 feet above ground near Pines Park in Dana Point, Calif. Hake says the sport of slack lining (setting up a tension line between two anchors and balancing across, in this case, the anchors are trees) started in Yosemite in the 1980s and is gaining popularity. He and a group of enthusiasts travel to new scenic spots. editorandpublisher.com

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data page Digital Advertising Revenue at Newspapers

Advertising and Circulation Revenue in the Newspaper Industry

% of newspaper companies’ advertising revenue coming from digital

Total revenue for U.S. newspapers in billions; 2016 total is an estimate 1956

29%

1966

25%

2013

2014

2015

2016

$9.61 $26.99

$8.05

1996

2012

Circulation

$4.08

1986

2011

Advertising

$4.86 $2.10

1976

21% 19% 20%

17%

$3.22 $1.34

$38.07

$9.96

2006

$10.54

2016

$10.91

$49.27 $18.27

Source: 2017 State of the News Media Report, Pew Research Center

Global Desktop and Mobile Internet Consumption Based on % of global consumption since 2010; 2017-2019 totals are estimates 100%

Desktop

90%

80%

80% 70%

64%

63%

60% 50%

71%

78%

60%

60% 53%

Mobile

40% 30%

67%

75%

36%

37%

40%

47%

40% 33%

20%

29%

25%

22%

20% 10% 0% 2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019 Source: Zenith

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Extent to Which U.S. Teen Internet Users Find Ads Trustworthy Based on an online survey of 253 U.S. teen internet users conducted May 2017 Very

Somewhat

11%

Not very

Not at all

41%

Don’t know

29%

13%

6%

MALE

7%

35%

35%

16%

6%

FEMALE

=

9%

38%

32%

14%

6%

TOTAL Source: “Teen advertising,” YouGov, May 2017

U.S. Voice-Enabled Digital Assistant Users By Generation, 2016-2019 Total number of users in millions who use voice-enabled digital assistant at least once a month on any device

39.3 35.8

MILLENNIALS 29.9

GEN-XERS BOOMERS

23.3

13.4

2016

2017

10.1

9.9

9.7

8.6

17.2

16.7

15.6

2018

2019

Source: eMarketer, April 2017 editorandpublisher.com

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industry insight

Selling a Service

Newsrooms might have to get bigger, go deeper to unlock reader revenue

By Matt DeRienzo

T

he growing consensus that digital revenue from readers is essential to the survival of the news business presents a challenge for companies that have abandoned customer service, slashed editorial staff and trained newsrooms to focus on page views over engagement with readers.

Digital advertising growth isn’t replacing the loss of print revenue for major newspaper companies. Facebook and Google are getting almost all of it. And the ad tech they dominate has upended supply and demand. The $10 CPM rates local newspapers used to expect are up against the dollar or less that it takes to programmatically target the same readers across the web.

So almost every local news organization is pursuing some kind of reader revenue model to supplement advertising. It’s been hugely successful for the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street 20 |

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Journal as they’ve led the country in holding the new administration of President Donald Trump accountable.

But local newspapers, especially those owned by corporate chains that have maintained shareholder profits in recent years by steadily cutting journalism, aren’t seeing those kinds of results. It’s why we saw Gannett laying journalists off in small markets across the country earlier this year as the Times and Post were trumpeting unprecedented reader support.

Chains such as Tronc and Gannett, which have also pushed digital-only subscriptions in recent years, report meager results so far in relation to their remaining print circulation and the size of the markets where they operate. And it’s hard to imagine that Gatehouse and Digital First Media, whose smaller newspapers have been affected even more by newsroom cuts, are faring any better.

After Digital First Media sold the New Haven Register in Connecticut to Hearst in the spring and cutting more than 60 percent of its staff over the course of a few years, Hearst announced that it would add 10 reporter positions back to the newsroom. There may have been no alternative if Hearst hoped to get individual readers to pay for online-only content.

Until now, newspapers have stemmed the loss of print subscriber revenue by aggressively increasing home delivery prices on a shrinking hardcore base of customers who were willing to pay more for the convenience of newsprint delivered to a front porch. They may be loyal to the tradition and habit of print until they die, but they are dying. In the process, newspapers have rapidly shed overall volume—losing subscribers who cared about the news but weren’t so wedded to print.

The fact that they have not been converteditorandpublisher.com

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ed to paid digital-only subscribers shows that a significant portion of that subscriber base might have been paying for delivery of a print product, not “paying for news.”

Or maybe the intervening degradation of newsrooms and the quality and breadth of local journalism killed any hope for a transition to subscribing via a new delivery method.

Digital strategies built upon the advertising model may have masked the problem a time. The big cuts to newsrooms didn’t affect page views and unique visitors. Traffic grew in many newsrooms as resources were shifted to more superficial breaking news stories about accidents, crime, weather and viral features and away from deeper reporting about communities. That was a natural shift given fewer resources and stronger demands to grow traffic.

Shifting to a reader revenue-supported model is a record scratch moment.

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Who will pay for superficial coverage of a bunch of local topics when there is competition from TV station websites, aggregators and original sources such as police departments using social media directly?

And the big newspaper chains, for the most part, appear to be pushing digital subscriptions in the same way they’ve marketed print. But if print was mostly about the format, not the content, it demands a different approach, and must be led by the newsroom.

That’s inevitably going to mean going deeper, which will be impossible to do with every area of coverage a newspaper used to have. But being “everything about something” is the key to getting readers who care about that something to pay. Newspapers will have to pick their spots, significantly realign beats in some cases, and like Hearst is doing in Connecticut, make an investment.

The other part of the transition is going

from selling a product (that print edition on your doorstep) to a service (engaged and crucial local journalism that is vital to community and democracy). In that context, getting people to pay for a digital subscription is a much bigger picture conversation with readers. Chains that have done nothing but cut back on that service and don’t even recognize the shift can’t begin to have that conversation. 

Matt DeRienzo is executive director of LION Publishers, an organization that supports local independent online news publishers from across the country. He is a longtime former newspaper reporter, editor, publisher and corporate director of news.

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business of news

A Free Press?

New Jersey introduces a fund that will support local journalism

By Tim Gallagher

I

n my final year of college, which only seems to be the time slide rulers were invented, I edited the student newspaper at the University of New Mexico and learned a valuable lesson about separation of “church and state.”

We sold advertising to raise about 90 percent of our budget for our free daily. The other 10 percent came from student fees that were allocated through the student government. My editorials had been unkind to the student senate and they took the opportunity at the budget hearings to remind me that they controlled a significant part of our budget and if our coverage didn’t improve…

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them what they could do with their 10 percent and only a late save by our production director allowed us to keep it. But I learned first-hand why separating the fourth estate was truly important. It’s all about the money.

As journalism continues in treacherous water, there’s an attempt in New Jersey to accept a life preserver from the state legislature. It is an innovative idea but I might tread water a little longer.

After New Jersey sold its public television licenses for $332 million, the Senate and Assembly majority leaders proposed establishing a fund that would pay for journalistic initiatives and civic information programs through partnerships with state

universities. The state would put $20 million a year for five years into the fund.

The Free Press Action Fund supports the bill believing it would add local news and increase citizens interacting with their government. Local newspapers could compete for these funds (so could tech companies and citizens groups) to support ideas that embellish local citizens’ knowledge of their government and community.

There is a lot to like about the intent of this idea. It has the potential to strengthen reporting in small communities that have been hurt by the loss of reporting staffs. It is one thing for a large newspaper to cut back staff from 900 to 800. It is quite another for a small newspaper to trim its reporters from editorandpublisher.com

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14 to 7. How many statehouses are now covered by a handful of reporters?

Corruption in local government flourishes without watchdogs. Citizens do not engage with local school boards or water districts when no one reports on their actions.

Dozens of ideas outside the daily journalism model could flourish. Legislative bill trackers. Campaign donation reports that tie money to the legislator who sponsors a bill. Local water quality tests made available immediately.

“People rely on locally produced news and information to engage with their neighbors, learn about volunteer opportunities, make decisions about voting, run for public office, get information about small businesses and support their children in local schools,” said Mike Rispoli, the director of the News Voices: New Jersey model, in an article for News Voices. “The Civic Information Consortium would support projects

that strengthen the kind of public-interest journalism and innovation in civic media that the people of New Jersey urgently need.”

The consortium idea is inherently fair.

I like the intent here, but I’m worried whenever government treads into the land of a free and unfettered press.

For instance, what if a public service journalism project funded through the state results in the ouster of a crooked mayor who also happens to be a leader in the state Democratic Party? How much longer will the legislature support the effort then?

New Jersey’s outgoing governor is close to a White House that has declared the media the enemy of the people.

Rispoli, a former statehouse reporter, is realistic about political meddling. One of the key safeguards is a 13-member governing board that would decide on the grants.

Four of the 13 are political appointees. The others are educators, local citizens, media

representatives and people from tech companies.

The Free Press Action Fund is exciting and innovative. It is the kind of thinking our country needs as we figure out the future of journalism. Keeping the fox out of the henhouse is going to require an alert watchdog. But then again, that is the job of journalists. 

Tim Gallagher is president of The 20/20 Network, a public relations and strategic communications firm. He is a former Pulitzer Prizewinning editor and publisher at The Albuquerque Tribune and the Ventura County Star newspapers. Reach him at tim@the2020network.com.

DV &M CIVITAS MEDIA HAS SOLD

17 Daily Newspapers Including: Lima (OH) News Troy (OH) Daily News Sidney (OH) Daily News Greenville (OH) Daily Advocate Wilmington (OH) News Journal

15 Weekly Newspapers and related websites, specialty publications and a commercial printing division

TO

AIM MEDIA MIDWEST LLC We are pleased to have represented Civitas Media in this transaction.

Dirks, Van Essen & Murray Santa Fe, NM

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t: 505.820.2700 www.dirksvanessen.com

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digital publishing

As crosswords move online, publishers can still make a profit

By Rob Tornoe

I

f you’re a fan of newspapers, you should come with me next time I visit my in-laws at the Jersey Shore.

Devoted news hounds, my wife’s mother and father still buy four newspapers a day and enjoy learning about what’s happening in the world the same way they have their entire lives. But while it’s true that they like keeping up with current events, the addiction that continues to fuel their subscription spending are the crosswords.

Puzzles, games and comics have long been a staple of newspapers and beloved by their most loyal readers, and I’m sure most editors can relate to how angry subscribers get when the results of the previous day’s crossword doesn’t appear in the paper.

As audiences move from the print product to digital, and more specifically to news consumption on mobile devices, newspa24 |

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pers run the risk of leaving behind one of their most popular franchises just at the time they’re looking to give loyal readers an incentive to sign up for digital subscriptions.

Syndication companies have been offering digital crossword puzzles for many years now, but online newspapers lack the geographic monopoly that allowed them to print the same crossword as hundreds of other newspapers across the country. Now those other companies are just a click away, and media companies need to come up with inventive ways of making the crossword experience unique and easy to use across an increasing array of computers, tablets and smart phones.

Enter John Temple, the former editor of the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News and ex- managing editor of digital and local news at the Washington Post.

When Temple started his John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship Program at Stanford University just four years ago, a press release described mobile as a “newer” platform for news. Now 85 percent of U.S. adults get news on a mobile device, according to the data crunchers at the Pew Research Center, including about two-thirds of seniors age 65 and older.

While at Stanford, Temple became friends with Sudheendra Hangal and his wife, Jaya, who created a crossword app called Puzzle Me Raga with the idea of using it as a fun and engaging way to teach readers about Indian classical music.

Temple was blown away by what he saw.

“I knew from my days as an editor how important puzzles and games were to creating loyal readers,” Temple said. “You want them to develop a habit, and crosswords can editorandpublisher.com

7/20/17 12:25 PM

A

be a big way to kickstart that habit online.”

The three partnered together to form Amuse Labs and create Puzzle Me, a digital crossword platform that makes it easy for any reader, product or editor to create a puzzle on the fly in just minutes and publish it across multiple platforms.

One of the company’s big clients is the Washington Post, which uses Amuse Labs’ platform to take unique print puzzles by current Sunday magazine crossword constructor Evan Birnholz and legendary creator Merl Reagle and recreate them online, complete with a high-paying 30 second video pre-roll ad to monetize the experience.

“Those ads come in at a high CPM rate because the time spent on the puzzle is much longer than a typical story, and we know people will watch the pre-roll to get to the puzzle,” Temple said. “It’s a mild deterrent.”

It certainly appears there is money sitting on the table for newspapers publishers looking at potential ways to vary their revenue streams. At the New York Times, crosswords account for about $10 million in annual revenue, and according to a recent report by the research firm MarketsandMarkets, the market for “gamification” is expected to reach $11.1 billion by 2020.

With Puzzle Me, individuals and small publishers can create puzzles for free, while news organizations with an eye on creating revenue or reader loyalty pay a subscription fee, which comes with added support, help in creating more customized puzzles and detailed access to analytics. The platform also offers video pre-roll ads and targeted display ads in an easy-to embed iframe.

“The puzzle can truly become profitable for the publisher, including the small cost to pay us for using the software,” Temple said.

The power of the platform is newsrooms no longer need a crossword creator to spend hours building an engaging puzzle.

New crosswords can be built by just about anyone in the newsroom using just 10-15 questions and answers, allowing them to focus on local news and events relevant to an organization’s specific audience.

The possibilities are endless. Newsrooms could create an engaging puzzle around a editorandpublisher.com

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breaking news situation or a popular local event or focused on a local sports team.

Over in the advertising department, an enterprising sales team could use Puzzle Me to create engaging native ads for local businesses or to promote an important charity in the community.

The Post uses Amuse Labs’ technology in a very traditional way: to recreate their print crossword puzzles online across multiple devices. But Temple hopes editors experiment with Puzzle Me to come up with inventive ways to use the platform, including as a unique way to tell a story.

“Alternative story forms is an important new area because we know that the print centric headline-deck-narrative format is not the only way to tell the story,” Temple said. “People learn better by doing.

So far, Amuse Labs has secured several clients across the globe that are using its crossword platform to create puzzles to engage and interact with readers. El País, the highest-circulation daily newspaper in Spain, is using Puzzle Me to gamily the news. La Liga, the top division of the Spanish soccer league, creates crosswords featuring trivia about the league and recent developments. Outside of newspapers, medical schools have been using the platform to teach their students about anatomy, and Amuse Labs has deals with clients as varied as Spanish’s premiere soccer league to Desimartini, one of India’s largest movie websites.

“For years, puzzles have been generic, with some lower-level person left responsible for getting them into the paper,” Temple said. “It requires a leap for news organizations to see the value online, but if they do, it could certainly be worth their while.” 

Rob Tornoe is a cartoonist and columnist for Editor and Publisher, where he writes about trends in digital media. He is also a digital editor for Philly.com. Reach him at robtornoe@gmail.com.

COSMIC Sales Opportunity

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256-275-4333

sales@greenshootmedia.com AUGUST 2017 | E & P

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production

BY JERRY SIMPKINS

MAKING A PERSONNEL INVESTMENT How to effectively manage the use of temporary labor in the production environment 26 |

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A

t one point or another it seems that we all have the need for temporary help in production. Whether it’s during our Thanksgiving preprint push or throughout the holiday season, a large majority of newspapers find themselves using temporary labor to get through. Most often we suffer from a labor shortage in the mailroom and distribution area, but this can extend to other areas of production as well.

There are many questions you need to ask yourself when it comes to use of this commodity, but the primary question should be, is the use of temporary labor truly an effective means to an end or does the expense simply outweigh the benefits?

Finding the Best Solutions Several other questions need to be answered when it comes down to measuring the efficiency of temp help and how best to optimize its use in your operation.

Do you provide the agency with job descriptions so that they can better match the individual to the specific position? This isn’t something we all think about doing. Honestly, most of us call the temp agency, tell them how many people we need, when to report for the shift, and we’re done with it. Then, when the individual or crew shows up and isn’t close to being matched with the job, we use them for what we can and cost the company dollars in less than productive labor cost. I truly don’t think that the best way to manage is by the “warm body” measurement many have decided is acceptable.

I’ve found that the best way to effectively communicate your needs is to meet with the agency on your turf and go over each written job description so that the agency is prepared and can prescreen candidates to ensure they closely match the job description and enable you to maximize productivity. In this phase, you can discuss the position in detail to determine if there are any educational or special requirements and what other qualities may be needed to fulfill the position.

Recently, a temp agency emailed me a job description that was supposedly geared to a position we had open. They pulled it from the archives of job descriptions furnished to them. Reading over the description, I quickly realized that it had very little to do with what we needed and that because we didn’t provide them with updated information, they were attempting to fill the position with someone with the wrong skill set.

While they were reviewing the corrected job description I then sent along, they asked me why when it stated “two to three weeks to learn the basics of the position and three months to become proficient,” did we expect a temp laborer to be able to do the same job with perhaps one day of training and no prior understanding of the process? Great question, and one I didn’t exactly have a good answer to.

What about training? Training can be key to getting the most out of your temp labor dollars. Most of us spend about five minutes explaining the job to a temp laborer, then when they do a terrible job because they don’t understand what’s expected of them, so we either send them away and request someone new or put up with someone who isn’t productive and frustrates us to no end.

Take the time to work with the laborer as well as the agency. I’m not

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talking about a full blown training program that takes hours or days, but make sure the individual understands what’s expected of them and how to correctly do the job. Give them the opportunity to succeed and have a positive benefit to the company.

Bottom line, it’s about communication, a clear understanding of the job requirements and what you expect from the agency. You’re paying a premium for the convenience of temp labor. Working with the agency is critical in order to get the most bang for your buck.

Is there a clear expectation of schedules? Next on my list is providing the agency with an approximate schedule of what the temp worker should be expecting.

Will this be a one-time event or a daily project for a particular period of time? In our business, schedules will always be approximate, but it’s only fair to provide a specific start time and an idea of how long the work day is and when it should wrap up. Temp workers are no different than you or I. They have lives and commitments and will be better workers when they have structure.

Finish times are dependent on how quickly everyone completes the job at hand, any mechanical delays and unscheduled issues we may have. These can sway the shift by an hour or more. While we all do what’s necessary to get the job done, we generally have a fair idea of when we’ll complete our shift. I firmly believe in communicating an accurate start-time to all employees and an approximate time we will cut them loose.

Why would you not give temp labor the same courtesy?

Working with the Agency How much advance notice does your temp agency require and does the time frame work for your operation?

While I certainly understand the importance of providing the agency enough time to adequately fill a large order (i.e. four or give temp helpers), it’s not always possible to give a lot of advance notice. If you’re out ahead of things such as employees going on scheduled vacation or upcoming increases in preprints, etc., you can often provide 28 |

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adequate advance notice to the agency, but more often than not this isn’t the case.

Employees may call in sick, a client may surprise you with additional last minute work, or advertising may hit you with a surprise insert order. It’s truly not a perfect science. It’s important to have a good working relationship with the temp agency and develop a solid understanding as to what lead time is necessary based on the amount of workers needed.

We’ve all had those times when we’re depending on four temp workers to get us through the night’s production and only two show up. It’s not a pleasant thing. I’ve even had cases where we’ve had to order more temp labor than necessary because you know darn well that a couple might not show up and you’ll be short. It can be frustrating.

These kind of things end up with you losing confidence in the agency to deliver and often have you searching for another agency that can do a better job at filling orders and meeting the need. But it isn’t always the agency’s fault.

To spite repeated interviews and discussions with candidates, it’s not always easy to hire good employees who are hardworking, qualified and dependable. How can you expect the agency to wave their magic wand and deliver a handful of quality temp workers if you call them in the morning and need the workers that night? It’s not going to happen.

The All Important Pay Issue Do the temp costs (dollars) benefit us or fall short of the gains in flexibility verses an employee?

Sure, temp labor is expensive, and we’re all aware that at times it may take two temp workers to match the speed and productivity of one of our more qualified employees, but you need to look closely at both sides of the coin.

On one side, you have the conveniences associated with temp labor. You have the flexibility that is built into temp labor… call them in when you need them; don’t use them when you don’t. Try this with

an employee and they won’t stay around too long. And sure, you can find part-time employees, but try having them on call seven days a week and expecting them to come in with same day notice for minimum wage (which is probably what the agency is paying them).

Then, there’s the flexibility factor in “firing” a temp laborer. If the laborer doesn’t come to you with the right work ethic or is basically incapable of doing the job as required, you make a call to the agency and tell them not to send that individual back for the next shift. Furthermore, you inform them you still will need someone, so they send along a replacement and you have another shot at it with someone hopefully more qualified; plain and simple. No nasty drawn out process of progressive discipline, the time and challenge associated with terminating an employee, or the costs tied to the process. They don’t work, give me someone who will.

Now, on to the question of wages or in the case of temp workers, billable hours.

Upfront temp labor might end up costing you more per hour than you’re paying some of your newer employees, but wages alone are only part of the story. Depending on the benefits your company offers, the true cost of an employee can be significantly more. There are several different opinions on what employee benefits actually cost the company. Right or wrong, I’ve always measured benefits to be 26 to 30 percent of the employee’s hourly wage. Some say this may be low.

For example, take this into account and your minimum wage laborer in California that you’re paying $10.50 can really be costing you $13.65 per hour. You can probably pay a temp agency less for a similar individual.

On the other side of the argument is in all honesty where I’ve normally stand. Hiring employees’ verses temp labor tends to provide the employer with a more dedicated and loyal workforce. Temp laborers have a limited investment in the organization.

It may be fair to say that normally they are there for one reason—the paycheck. That is

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understandable and I don’t fault them for that.

3 QUESTIONS WITH…

Transitioning a Temp Worker

Fawn Wilson-Olivarez, production manager, Bartlesville (Okla.)

Examiner-Enterprise

In all fairness, not all temp workers are there just for the pay.

Many of them are between jobs, eager to work hard and put food on the table; they’re looking for their next opportunity. They’re good, qualified, hardworking individuals who can transition into your employment, and if you’re lucky, you could end up with a solid addition to your team.

I’m always looking for great quality, qualified employees, and temp labor can be a breeding ground for them. As I’ve previously eluded to, and with no disrespect meant, you get to “test drive” the individual, check out their qualifications, their qualities, their work habits, their work ethic, etc. before you have to sign on the dotted line of hiring them. It’s a great deal.

This is where you need to have a clear understanding with the agency for when you can transfer an employee to your payroll. You might expect that the temp agency may be reluctant to give up a good employee, but this is where you may be surprised. Many temp agencies actually use the prospect of “gainful future employment” as a marketing tool to the temp worker. This can be to everyone’s benefit. The agency can recruit better qualified workers with the possibility of future employment rather than just a day labor job, the employee can certainly benefit by getting their foot in the door and getting to show their abilities to the potential employer, and the organization can benefit through the “test drive” period allowing them to avoid a bad hire.

At one location I was at, we asked an agency to send us over someone to help catch up on some cleaning in the pressroom. Work had picked up significantly and rather than incur overtime at a higher rate bringing in a temp worker made sense. Within a shift or two, we noticed this gentleman was one of the hardest workers we’d ever seen and after further discussion he seemed to have a rock solid work ethic.

Over the next few weeks, he showed up for work early, never missed a day, not only did what was asked of him but did it well, looked for additional work to do instead of having to be told what was next, etc. He ended up being one of the best temps I’ve possibly ever seen. Do I need to tell you who we decided to fill the next available open position with?

In summary, there are benefits on both sides and the relationship you establish with your temp agency can make your job easier and more productive or become an ongoing source of frustration.

If you decide to practice some of the ideas presented here, I firmly believe they will pay benefits to both you and the organization.

Above all else, meet with your temp agency face to face to discuss your needs and clearly establish expectations. It’s well worth the investment.  Jerry Simpkins is vice president of the West Texas Printing Center with Morris Printing Services, LLC in Lubbock, Texas.

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What has been your greatest challenge and how did you overcome it?

Gradually, over the years with significant reduction in staff, our greatest challenge has been enforcing the core of our production to look at ways in which to effectively manage workflow with higher production demands. In addition to our daily newspaper and with increase to launch more niche publications, we continue to overcome these challenges by immensely structuring a rigid print schedule, prioritizing print jobs and meeting tight deadlines in all aspects from editorial to advertising.

Further challenging positions have been in regards to reducing costs, eliminating plate and chemical waste, all while efficiently maintaining quality and productivity.

Where do you see the future of print production?

Despite the rise to push news and advertising into the digital age with social media and pursuing an online presence, we’ve kept steady progress in our print production operation. Though not the largest newspaper in our region, we’ve been very fortunate to provide printing for several surrounding publications outside of our community. In the debate of whether or not newspapers will continue to thrive, I’m optimistic about the future of print production and our stance in continuing to be a reliable source of information and communication for our readership. At the end of the day, I believe our readers still value and appreciate the hard copy of a printed newspaper.

What printing technologies are you most excited about?

Although not implemented at our property, I’m intrigued by the technological advancement of digital printing for the newspaper industry. With a circulation of approximately 6,500, we still run our daily newspaper on a traditional web offset press that has been notably maintained for the past 50-plus years.

I’m hopeful in the near future we’ll get the opportunity to add digitalization to our method of printing, and be able to take full advantage of its high quality output.

Fawn Wilson-Olivarez has worked in the newspaper industry for more than 22 years. She has been with the Bartlesville (Okla.)

Examiner-Enterprise for 19 years.

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} More than 12,000 attendees and exhibitors attended last year’s Graph Expo in Orlando.

Photos by Oscar & Associates

PRINT 17 Returns to Chicago Sept. 10-14 Conference aims to help ‘grow your business’

By Sean Stroh

T

his year’s PRINT 17 conference will be held in Chicago, Ill. at McCormick Place Sept. 10-14. The theme of the conference is “Grow Your Business.” Last year’s Graph Expo in Orlando, Fla. saw more than 12,000 attendees and exhibitors.

“We’re returning to Chicago this year, with new opportunities for the entire printing and graphic communications value chain—from creative to design to printing, mail and fulfillment—to grow their businesses,” said Sherry MacDonald, director of event marketing. “We’ve heard from our attendees that their success hinges on staying profitable. So our promise for PRINT 17 is to deliver the solutions to grow the entire industry.”

Those who attend the conference will be able to evaluate more than 400 suppliers of print and graphic communications technologies and compare new products.

Additionally, guests can network and explore ideas with the largest community of colleagues, customers, suppliers and purchasing authorities in the industry.

Some of the specialty areas on the exhibit floor will be News Print, Materials Matter, Mailing and Fulfillment and Workforce Solutions, which was previously Education Main Street.

“We’re really excited about Workforce Solutions,” MacDonald said. “We’ve heard from people across the industry that workforce development is an issue—attracting and keeping good employees can be a challenge. This year, that area will focus on growing the workforce in the printing and graphics industry, and we plan to expand on that going into 2018.”

The conference will offer more than 50 education sessions with topics including design and creative process, packaging, marketing, growth strategies and emerging technologies. According to MacDonald, this year marks the first time they will refer to the education at PRINT as “The Learning Experience.” The regular seminars are scheduled for Sept. 11-13.

Sessions related to newspapers include: zz“Romano on Digital Printing and Inkjet Trends,” with Frank Romano, professor emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology zz“Marketing and Working with Millennials,” with Trish Witkowski, CEO, FoldFactory.com

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zz“Fads, Trends and Disruptive Technology,” with Daniel Dejan, print and creative manager, Sappi North America zz“The State of Our Industry: What’s Happening, What’s Ahead and What We Can Do About it,” with Andrew Paparozzi, chief economist, Idealliance zz“The A, B, C’s, and D of Adobe InDesign,” with Ivan Bradley, adjunct professor, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo The expo will also feature a pair of new distinguished leader speakers Sept.11-12. These sessions are open to everyone at no cost. Guests will first hear from Tod Szewczyk of Leo Burnett on “The Future of People, Technology and Advertising,” and the following day, Michael Chase of St. Joseph Communications, who will give a keynote session entitled “Print in a Digital World 2018 Trend Report.”

The show will take place next year at McCormick Place South in Chicago Sept. 30-Oct.3, 2018. For more information, visit print2017.com. 

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EPPYFPad.qxp_Layout 1 7/20/17 3:23 PM Page 1

2017 CALL FOR ENTRIES Entry deadline: Aug. 25, 2017

2017

Honoring the Best in Digital Media The EPPYTM Awards, presented by Editor & Publisher, honor the best in digital media across 31 diverse categories, including excellence in college and university journalism. Now in its 22nd year, this international contest has broadened its scope and also includes categories for investigative features, mobile apps,

For more information, please contact: Martha McIntosh at martha@editorandpublisher.com

videos, webcasts, advertising/marketing, photography and community service.

Entries to the EPPYTM Awards are judged by a panel of notable figures in the media industry, chosen by the staff of Editor & Publisher.

Enter at eppyawards.com

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What publishers can learn by partnering with tech companies like Facebook and Google

By Nu Yang

W

hen the Facebook Journalism Project was introduced earlier this year, it confirmed that the technology company was now also a media company. In a video chat last year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “Facebook is a new kind of platform. It’s not a traditional technology company. It’s not a traditional media company…we build technology and we feel responsible for how it’s used. We don’t write the news that people read on the platform. But at the same time we also know that we do a lot more than just distribute news, and we’re an important part of the public discourse.”

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Group Effort As more audiences turn to platforms like Facebook to find their news, it makes sense that the company would want to partner with the media.

It sounded like Zuckerberg was taking his company’s role in the media landscape more seriously. According to a Facebook announcement, the Journalism Project’s goal is to “establish stronger ties between Facebook and the news industry” in three ways: collaborative development of news products, training and tools for journalists, and training and tools for the general public.

As more audiences turn to platforms like Facebook to find their news, it makes sense that the company would want to partner with the media. Still, there are many critics that say that relationship has become strained. A recent Bloomberg article, “Media Companies are Getting Sick of Facebook,” argued that it’s getting tougher for media outlets to view these arrangements as mutually beneficial.

“Facebook is about Facebook,” Andrew Morse, general manager of CNN’s digital operations, said in the article. “For them, these are experiments, but for the media companies looking to partner with significant commitments, it gets to be a bit of whiplash.”

It’s not just Facebook giving publishers whiplash. Google’s recently confirmed they were going through with the addition of a new adblocking feature to its Chrome web browser. The company said it was for a better user experience, but by potentially blocking pop-up ads, ads that play sound, and flashing ads, it could hurt publishers who rely on that revenue.

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Although Google stated it would block ads that do meet the standards of the Coalition for Better Ads, the News Media Alliance, the trade association that represents nearly 2,000 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada, said in a statement, “We are very concerned to learn that Google appears to be taking unilateral action to implement the Coalition’s standards by adding an ad blocking feature within Chrome that would block all advertising to websites that do not comply with these new standards. Because Chrome has 60 percent market share in the web browser market, Google, in effect, would be regulating the distribution of internet advertising and gaining even more control over how publishers monetize their content.”

Even with these concerns, newspapers are still searching for more opportunities in digital, and by working with tech companies like Facebook and Google, these partnerships are crucial. Simply put, we need them as much as they need us.

A Future in Collaboration When Facebook launched Instant Articles in 2015, it promised publishers faster loading times and a better user experience for mobile audiences. Publishers like the New York Times, BuzzFeed, and Guardian were one of the earlier adopters, and in April 2016, the program opened to all publishers around the world. But was it too little, too late? The shine around

 Aimee Rinehart, First Draft News partner network manager

Instant Articles started to fade this year for a couple publishers when they decided to leave the program. Among them were the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and the Guardian. According to reports, one of the main reasons for the departure was that Instant Articles wasn’t creating enough traffic or revenue.

But not all publishers are putting on the brakes.

One of the first publishers to sign on to Instant Articles, German publisher Bild, credits the program for driving subscriptions. Digiday recently reported that Bild now publishes all of its articles on the platform and reduced the number of steps to sign up for a subscription.

“Bild put its own developers on the case with Facebook. By February, it had reduced the process to three steps,” wrote Digiday’s Lucinda Southern. “Now, connecting with Facebook’s API, the reader’s email address is directly pushed to Bild’s database, pre-activating the reader’s account, and sending out an email from the publisher.”

Stefan Betzold, managing director for Bild, told Digiday, “It’s a first good step in getting (trial users) into our system, but when the two-week period is over, we need to use our CRM system to target them editorandpublisher.com

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 Facebook Journalism Project News Days have taken place in cities like Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego, Denver and Chicago. (Photos courtesy of Facebook)

again,” he said. “Is it strong enough to attract to attract subscribers? We want to go further; we need deeper integration…Facebook needs to make this a standardized project so it can be used for any publisher.”

Another publisher finding success on Instant Articles is the New York Daily News. Although the publication wasn’t one of Facebook’s initial partners when the project rolled out in 2015, the newspaper started to test out Instant Articles in 2016. But executive vice president of digital Grant Whitmore admitted they approached the partnership cautiously before jumping in with both feet.

“We knew Facebook was a significant traffic driver to the Daily News, but we wanted to see what kind of impact it would have on that traffic first,” he said. “We were already comfortable with our automatic revenue channels, but once we joined Instant Articles, we started to see it make money.”

Whitmore said as of April, “basically everything (they) produce is on Instant Articles.”

“It was an economic decision,” he said.

“We saw enough revenue there that it made sense to be there.”

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ers who left Instant Articles, Whitmore said it was hard to know the motivation behind them for leaving, but perhaps they were choosing to focus on other initiatives instead.

“I know the New York Times is making a significant effort with their subscriptions,” he said. “Then again, they were there during the early days of it (Instant Articles), and we’re still in the beginning stages.

Who knows? Next year they might be there again and we’ll be off. That’s just how the industry is.”

But Whitmore is encouraged to see Facebook’s attempts at “playing nice” with publishers, including making the Instant Articles revenue share more attractive and generous to publishers and “cleaning up” the fake news and misinformation on the site.

When asked about collaboration, Whitmore pointed out that the Daily News has its own Innovation Lab aimed at engaging with the New York startup community. It also hosts a “Conversations” series focused on the open discussions on the changing new media landscape. The most recent one centered on “Journalism in the Age of Collaboration and Technology,” and featured panelists from the Daily News, BuzzFeed

and ProPublica. In addition, the paper won a Pulitzer Prize this year with ProPublica in the Public Service category.

Winning the Pulitzer with ProPublica was a great example of two companies with specific skills working together, Whitmore said, and he sees more collaboration in the future, not only at the Daily News but within the news and tech industries as they intersect.

Instant Articles isn’t the only avenue into newsrooms for Facebook. In April, Facebook announced it was partnering with the Knight Foundation to bring training and support to local newsrooms.

According to Facebook, “These collaborations will be conducted through online and in-person meetings and are meant to increase and encourage peer-to-peer learning and provide the foundations for a course curriculum on Facebook audience engagement and local news, which will benefit newsrooms at scale across the U.S. and beyond. At the conclusion, we hope to jointly publish case studies and a final report with recommendations for future investment.”

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Group Effort

 The Local Media Consortium semi-annual meeting in Chicago (May 16 – 17, 2017) brought together more than 160 top local media executives and key players from companies like Google, YouTube, Monster and several LMC partner companies. (Photo courtesy of LMC)

make informed judgments about the news they read and share online. According to a press release, “The Initiative’s mission is to advance news literacy, to increase trust in journalism around the world, and to better inform the public conversation. The Initiative will fund applied research and projects, and convene meetings with industry experts.”

Facebook isn’t alone; Google has also made it a point to focus on collaboration.

The Google News Lab was a founding partner with First Draft News, a nonprofit coalition created in June 2015 to raise awareness and address challenges relating to trust and truth in the digital age. When it first launched, First Draft News had nine founding partners, but it was the Google News Lab that “got the ball rolling,” said Aimee Rinehart, partner network manager. Since September 2016, there has been a big push to expand the network to include more newsroom and academic partners, and many have joined, including Facebook, Twitter, CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post. Rinehart, who was hired before the U.S. presidential election last year, now manages more than 100 part36 |

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 Facebook’s head of global news partnerships Campbell Brown (right) talks with LMC executive director Rusty Coats at the LMC Spring 2017 member meeting in Chicago. (Photo courtesy of LMC)

ner organizations in First Draft’s Partner Network.

Rinehart said the overwhelming response to join the network is an encouraging sign. “The goal is to share ideas with partners,” she said. “Ideas about protecting sources, security, verification…we’re looking for solutions….very few people in the newsroom are working on this topic, and it’s an essential role in the newsroom.” And that’s where the newsrooms in the Partner Network come in. Thanks to the financial support from Facebook and Google, newsrooms around the world are able to work together to verify information and report trustworthy news.

“I do see more collaboration in the future of journalism especially in the global news cycle,” Rinehart said. “We now have more tools to connect with each other— text, video, apps, Google drive—we’re a more connected world.”

A Newsroom’s Toolbox Facebook and Google—once known as disruptors to the news industry— are now taking deliberate actions to

become an ally.

In addition to the Journalism Project, Facebook has hosted several News Days in cities like Atlanta, San Diego, and Chicago and internationally in places like India and Latin America. At the events, journalists can learn more about Instagram and Facebook Live and meet one-on-one with Facebook staff and engineers.

After purchasing CrowdTangle last year, a tool that helps publishers keep track of what’s happening on social media, Facebook has helped more than 800 local newsrooms onboard and built 930 dashboards for new and existing partners. A Facebook spokesperson said their goal is have CrowdTangle be in roughly 1,800 U.S. newsrooms by the end of the year.

Facebook also recently hired a product manager to focus specifically on local news, as well as a partner manager on the news partnerships team dedicated to working with local news organizations.

And the Wall Street Journal recently reported that Facebook was building a feature that would allow users to subscribe to publishers directly from the mobile app, similar to Apple News. It is expected to editorandpublisher.com

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“…We have to work with tech companies that are building the platforms and tools that will help local media companies stay relevant.” launch at the end of the year, but publishers remain skeptical including the News Media Alliance.

Alliance vice president of innovation Michael MaLoon said in a statement: “Overall, this sounds like an encouraging move

by Facebook, but by now we’ve learned to take their overtures about helping the news industry with a grain of salt. According to initial reports, this new feature will only be available on content posted through Instant Articles. Other discussions have mentioned a metered, micro-payment model.

We’re interested to see what develops and how altruistic the feature is.”

Meanwhile, Google launched its News Lab in 2015 in order to collaborate with journalists to build the future of media.

The lab focuses on four areas: trust and verification, data journalism, immersive storytelling and inclusive storytelling. With tools like Google Search, Google Maps and YouTube, journalists have the best instruments at their fingertips. Google also offers news lab courses online on topics like investigative reporting, safety and security and getting started with Accelerated Mobile Pages.

Working extensively with Google is the Local Media Consortium, a national partnership representing more than 70 media companies, spanning more than 1,500 local newspapers, television stations, radio stations and magazines.

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said the group signed its first partner contracts with Google in 2014, beginning with Doubleclick for Publishers, AdSense, Search and AdX. Since then, they have expanded their partnership with Google to include Analytics, Newsstand, Consumer Surveys and YouTube.

“Our economic terms with Googlerelated platforms are superior to what our members would enjoy if they negotiated individual contracts with Google but, more importantly, by working together with Google, they maximize revenue streams in display advertising and audience engagement,” Coats said. “Simply, Google drove tens of millions of dollars in digital revenue for our members last year.”

He added that by working with Google, LMC members have direct access to innovations that will help them succeed in digital publishing. “This is a level of the game that a few large media companies may be able to access; by interfacing with Google as the LMC, these innovations cascade through all sizes of media companies and markets…. We have to work with tech companies that are building the platforms and tools that will help local media companies stay relevant. We also can learn that no one can beat the quality of our local content and our ability to create solutions for local advertisers, and that major tech companies need that quality content and Main Street advertising relationships to stay relevant, too.”  AUGUST 2017 | E & P

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SIMPLIFYING DATA

$ $$ How newspapers can turn analytics and numbers into dollar signs

By Sean Stroh

W

hen it comes to data, collecting only a large amount of it means a whole lot of nothing these days. Numbers are great, but understanding how they work remains critical as ad revenue continues to tumble down. In order for a newspaper to see growth in advertising, publishers must make effective use of the treasure trove of information available. In other words, once you have all this data, a new and more important question arises: What now?

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SIMPLIFYING DATA

Recognize the “Epidemic” and Pivot This particular question is one that Michael Lombardo, CEO of Tactician Media (tacticianmedia.com), knows very well. The company works with more than 1,700 publishers throughout the country to provide them with clear strategies back by data to improve revenue and market performance.

“Having lots of data that you don’t use is an epidemic in these local markets,” Lombardo said. “They know there is this need to put these numbers to work but need help in doing it.”

The questions for many publishers, Lombardo said, revolve around how to effectively target a business and whether or not they are pricing rates for advertisers appropriately. Tactician Media helps answer these questions by assessing a newspaper’s own internal transactional data alongside relevant key metrics from its CoreBI intelligence database.

“So what we do with the data, through the CoreBI process and the Market AI platform, is show all these things in a series of interactive dashboards,” Lombardo said. “We tell them here is exactly what to do and here are the products to actually go implement it.”

He alluded to one case where one of their newspaper clients was situated on a gold mine without even knowing it. “We studied the transaction data of this local market and found that within their region, (the pizza chain) Papa Murphy’s was the fastest growing businesses, and yet, the newspaper had zero from them, and not a single rep had even reach out to any of the 13 locations. That was a strategy right away.”

By using the company’s MarketAI suite of analytical and planning tools, the paper was then able to prepare a data driven proposal and close business with them.

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recommendations they are making to that business.

“This simplification of data is just as critical when working with advertisers.

It has to be visual, impactful and related to producing the highest ROI for the advertiser,” Lombardo said. “Successful publishers are ones that partner with their advertisers by helping them understand the local market.”

For Gabrielle Austin, director of major retail/centralized accounts at Cox Media Group, presenting easily understandable data stems from knowing exactly what the needs of the customer are.

“It can be absolutely overwhelming for the advertiser which is why it’s so important that you really understand their concerns. We translate the data for our customers into actionable insights to help them develop solutions for their own business,” she said. “You got to get the data to make sense for them.”

By clearly identifying those needs, you can bring forth this data into an analysis framework and extract the components that are relevant to them.

For example, if their concern is increasing foot traffic, a publisher may look at factors like traffic patterns, category sales trends, demographic and geographic information, competition and housing growth.

Or if the business needs to drive e-commerce, then you may look at user buying habits and media usage.

As publisher of the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, Mark Cohen recognized the need to alter the mentality of how the paper viewed data and ultimately made use of it.

“The thing that we understand now is that it’s an age of metrics, measurement and ROI for customers. So we’ve got to communicate to not only our customers, but to our reps, that data is king,” he said.

“You have to start with the philosophy that things are different now.”

That new way of thinking translated into a new approach of how the paper handled its longtime weekly home and garden section. Previously, the Beacon Journal would run the section for print on Sunday, insert

 Michael Lombardo, Tactician Media CEO

 Mark Cohen, Akron Beacon Journal publisher

 Steve Gray, Morris Communications vice president of strategy and innovation

 Tom Ratkovich, LEAP Media Solutions founder and managing partner

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“Successful publishers are ones that partner with their advertisers by helping them understand the local market.” it into the roughly 90,000 copies of that day’s edition and be done with it.

Instead, the paper decided to use data from Marketing Solutions Group (MSG) to target a specific group of people in the market that fit the demographics of the section more closely, and wound up delivering it to a targeted audience of 40,000.

“All of a sudden, we had a story to tell our customers. We were able to tell them that these folks who are receiving this glossy section are your customers and here is what they look like,” Cohen said. “It was a different approach for us, but we ended up doing quite well with it.”

The conversation between the newspaper and its advertising customers has evolved into a much deeper discussion, with data as the icebreaker.

“We know opportunities where we think they can spend in our market and what type of business they are doing with our competitors. Before, these were some of those things that we would charge out blind and kind of guess at,” Cohen said. “Now we have data and information that has enhanced the position of somebody who is selling those customers because now they have a leg up. It changes the entire conversation.”

Branch Out Just as the digital world continues to evolve, so does the need for newspapers to explore new possibilities surrounding data.

For Steve Gray, vice president of strategy and innovation at Morris Communications, one area was of particular interest—the world of predictive analytics.

Predictive analytics uses massive amounts of data about purchaser behaviors, attributes and changes to determine which traits are the best predictors of the desired action. Those traits are then applied to large numbers of non-purchasers to see which are most likely to that same action. When these likely prospects are identified, they can then be marketed through highly targeted channels, reducing the costs of marketing.

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Gray said predictive analytics can be most powerful for real estate and automotive customers—predicting who is most likely to list a home for sale and who is most likely to buy a car.

“The practice of identifying characteristics and behaviors of people is becoming more normal and if newspaper companies are not out there offering that they are rapidly falling behind the curve,” he said. “With predictive analytics, I’m trying to get ahead of that curve.”

After walking the floor of the national association of realtors convention last fall, Gray said he met with a few vendors who were already doing some sort of predictive analytics in the field of real estate. He identified one particular vendor as the best option that has now been working with Morris Communications for the past five or six months.

In the Augusta, Ga. market, where the media company publishes the Chronicle, Gray said they embarked on a special test project involving generating leads for local real estate agents and brokers.

The vendor buys data for markets throughout the country and divides it into smaller than zip code blocks of a few thousand homes each. Their algorithm then takes a group of indicators, such as divorce filing or change in the number of children living at home, to predict when a house is likely to be listed on the market.

According to Gray, the paper’s sales team was able to sell all the zones in the market in about six to eight weeks. Every agent or broker who purchased a zone received a monthly list of leads and each score for the probability of listing home for sale in the next several months.

Give Them What They Want The question of what data advertisers want to know is a broad one for good reason as each business has its own needs.

Publishers can’t walk into a meeting with a potential client and just throw a bunch of data at them.

“I think what they need to bring to those meetings is an open mind. They need to bring an approach more than they need to bring data—at least to the first interaction with an advertiser or potential advertiser,” said Tom Ratkovich, founder and managing partner of LEAP Media Solutions (leapmediasolutions.com).

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SIMPLIFYING DATA

“That interaction is one that says I’m not here to sell an ad or to make a prescription without first offering a diagnosis. You need to first figure out what this advertiser’s business requirements are before you can go back and inform how you can put that to work.”

The company’s LEAP Dimensions Solution pulls all of a newspaper’s data together into a single, consolidated environment which allows for the managing of its customer relationships. A publisher can visualize the people that may be relevant to a particular type of advertiser and determine how to present that audience to that business.

According to Ratkovich, one of the data sources that could be of particular help are in an advertiser’s customer files. A sales rep could integrate that information with various other sources of data to produce a profile of who your best customers may be.

Since those demographic characteristics are linked to the publisher’s entire portfolio of products, you can then begin to look at what elements of your products will help that advertiser reach its customers most effectively.

“They have to approach the advertising community from a diagnostic point of view and say, ‘What is the business problem here? What are your business objectives and who are you are trying to reach?’” Ratkovich said. “This is a problem that we see with some of our clients trying to leverage data to sell advertisers because the reps are not used to that type of consultative sale.

It’s the biggest challenge I think the industry has from an advertising point of view.”

Adding value to the equation is also an important step. Though several factors came into play with a sales call to a local furniture store whose business they had been trying to earn for months, Augusta Chronicle president Stephen Wade noted that delivering value where competitors failed to do so was perhaps the most important.

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scription of who they were and identify client growth opportunities,” Wade said. “He smiled as he thumped a 4-inch notebook onto the table that had extensive cross tabulated data and boasted how he had spent more than $20,000 on the project with a national analytics company.”

However, that smile faded when the paper informed him that they would also able to provide a recommendation on the messaging and delivery of his promotions to each prospective non-customer in his target geographic area.

“He lamented that his notebook didn’t give him that piece,” Wade said. “Strategy and tactics are key to success, and our competitor failed to deliver that part.”

As a partner of LEAP Media Solutions, the Chronicle was able to ingest the owner’s customer list into their database, enhance it with lifestyle data and return a written overview and list of prospective addresses. Surprisingly, the recommendation of the best way to reach new customers was through direct mail.

“The temptation to the rep was to present only the pieces that made the newspaper look the best. We resisted the urge and gave the furniture store owner the naked truth,” Wade said. “He too had expected the paper to show self-congratulating data and was pleasantly surprised that we didn’t massage or twist the recommendation.

Consequently, we earned a campaign from him and gained a new advertiser.”

Leading with the data is where newspapers can begin to break through the noise.

Typically, the average SMB receives 80 to 100 calls a week from people trying to sell them something, said Lem Lloyd, Buzzboard senior vice president of revenue and business development. Buzzboard (buzzboard.com) partners with more than 100 media companies and helps them quickly identify potential sales opportunities using the company’s data-driven SaaS platform.

“Instead of just calling up a potential customer and saying you want to sell something, let them know you’ve got some great data that you’d like to share,” Lloyd said. “What we find is the conversation

 Lem Lloyd, Buzzboard senior vice president of revenue and business development

 Gordon Borrell, Borrell Associates CEO

 Arvid Tchivzhel, Mather Economics director of digital R&D

 Stephen Wade, Augusta Chronicle president

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rates for sales reps are much higher when you lead with this kind of consultative approach. It’s ultimately all about using the data to help your client achieve their goals.”

In addition, a common problem amongst newspaper reps, Lloyd said, is underestimating the digital spend of their clients.

“The propensity is to ask for too little because they are afraid they don’t have a clear understanding of the true amount of money being spent across the digital landscape by their potential clients,” he explained. “Buzzboard allows them to wise up, get educated and be confident they get their fair share.”

The idea that digital spend isn’t going anywhere was reaffirmed when Borrell Associates recently released some insights from its annual survey of local advertisers. When asked where they planned to cut ad budgets, only 2 percent of local advertisers mentioned digital advertising. On the other hand, 24 percent of respondents said they would reduce their newspaper ad budgets.

“The fact that digital ad fraud has been a prominent story in the advertising and marketing trades seems to not have reached local advertisers at all. We aren’t asking questions about ad fraud, but we do ask about their biggest concerns about marketing and about digital media,” said Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates. “Ad

fraud doesn’t even register. They’re more concerned about ROI and ‘time to figure everything out.’”

Despite this nonchalant attitude from so many local advertisers, Mather Economics (mathereconomics.com) made sure to include data validation as part of the onboarding process to the metricsXchange platform launched earlier this year. The platform, which was created in partnership with the News Media Alliance, allows newspapers to compare key digital metrics against publishers of a similar size or region of the country. They can also compare their own numbers to the overall national average as well.

“We actually have a team here that looks at the data and makes sure it’s correctly configured. If we see something that looks weird, we contact the publisher to resolve it,” said Arvid Tchivzhel, director of digital R&D at Mather Economics. “There are multiple layers of validation and check points.”

The platform offers a number of data points that may be of interest to advertisers such as ad blocking and power user metrics, which measures the engagement of the website’s top users.

“Those kinds of things would definitely be things you would share with advertisers as part of a sales campaign or sales strategy,” Tchivzhel said.

SOLD: Daily Newspaper: Leader-Telegram Eau Claire, Wisconsin Cribb, Greene & Cope is pleased to have represented the Graaskamp and Atkinson familes in their sale to Adams Publishing Group.

John Cribb

Gary Greene

Randy Cope

JCribb@Cribb.com 406.579.2925

GGreene@Cribb.com 434.227.0952

RCope@Cribb.com 214.356.3227

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THE DILEMMA

illustration by tony o. champagne

OF LEAKS T

How some are perceived as bad and un-American, and others are valued and welcomed

By Rick Blum

hroughout our nation’s history, leaks have provided valuable insights into government actions to the American public. Mismanagement of veterans care, wasted dollars in the billions on an unnecessary satellite program and secret biological warfare experiments on unwitting Americans have come to light from unauthorized disclosures.

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In recent months, news accounts of factions in the White House, movement on Russia investigations, deletions of data from agency websites and events surrounding the firing of an FBI director—to name a few—have relied upon unauthorized disclosures to tell the early story of the Trump administration.

The administration frequently responds by criticizing leaks, even asking the Justice Department to focus on curtailing leaks. If you take the administration’s criticism at face value, you may easily conclude the leaks have harmed our national security, leakers are politically motivated to damage a rival or a political agenda, and leaking information is disloyal or criminal. The rhetoric is, of course, overblown.

Unauthorized disclosures serve an important role in our democracy. The government has a legitimate concern for protecting national security and keeping secrets that are necessary to keep us safe. In cases where there may be possible harm to national security, journalists handle such information responsibly. Reporters who routinely cover foreign affairs and national security issues responsibly report based on classified or unclassified information the disclosure of which may cause harm, take government concerns regarding disclosing certain information seriously and carefully consider what they in news stories.

What we popularly know of as “leaks,” is really a collection of very different types of disclosures by people who have not received prior approval to disclose. Leaks are a vital way for the public to have an accurate view of what the government is doing, what is happening around the globe, how our leaders are responding to the challenges facing the country, and yes, wrongdoing that powerful people wish would not be known.

Not All Leaks Are the Same To cut through the confusion around leaks, it’s important to be clear that leaks are not all the same. They differ in the context, the motivation of the person leaking, and the risks to the

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Leaks are a vital way for the public to have an accurate view of what the government is doing… people leaking and the potential impact.

Process leaks. Such stories are focused on the process of government to inform the public of what the government is doing, and at times what public servants and government officials do when they think nobody is looking. Much of the leaks during the early days of the newly forming administration dealt with who was shaping the administration, policy and ultimately the president’s views. Such leaks sometimes are ways for an aide to document their concerns or their rivals’ missteps. Such stories provide a context to better understand the actions of any president. Regardless of the motivation of the source, journalists need to authenticate information contained through other reporting (such as finding other sources to corroborate). In addition, reporters who may work with sources inside government should recognize that a source may not understand the risks associated with their efforts to disclose. It’s important to note they understand the needs of journalists and will not scoop a reporter working with a government employee who seeks their advice.

Whistleblowing. Some authorized disclosures are made

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Much of the leaks during the early days of the newly forming administration dealt with who was shaping the administration, policy and ultimately the president’s views. to journalists or others with the hope of exposing waste, fraud, gross mismanagement or other wrongdoing. Persons who provide information may be vulnerable to retaliation. Providing protections can be challenging, both from a legal standpoint and from a technological standpoint. A source may not understand the risk they face. Organizations such as the Government Accountability Project help government employees understand their rights to speak up and the risks involved when considering whether to make disclosures.

National security and foreign affairs reporting. Important stories regarding national security issues or events and trends overseas creating challenges for the U.S. are sometimes based on unauthorized disclosures of classified information.

Journalists covering these topics regularly are mindful both of the government’s obligation to protect national security and important steps to avoid possible harms.

Much of the legal concern for media lawyers around leaks focuses on the poorly worded and vague Espionage Statutes, first enacted 100 years ago in 1917. Perhaps the most significant provision for journalists in the Espionage Statutes is Section 793(e) of Title 18, which makes it illegal to “willfully” communicate, deliver transmit or retain “information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation.”

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Scholars and legal experts debate the extent to which this does—and should—cover journalists. Amidst complaints that the statute is constitutionally overbroad, courts have further clarified the phrase “relating to the national defense” by adding two additional criteria for a successful prosecution: First the information must be “closely held” by the government. Second, the information must “potentially harm” the United States if disclosed.

Adding to the complexity, when two lobbyists were accused of passing sensitive information to Israel, the courts determined that the government would have to show that in passing “intangible” (i.e., spoken) information, the accused had “reason to believe it could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation.” (United States v. Rosen, 445 F. Supp. 2d 602, 625 (E.D. VA. 2006)

The Press and Leaks Over the years there have been efforts in Congress to make it easier to successfully prosecute journalists or otherwise deter unauthorized disclosures of classified information.

In 2000, language was included in the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 that would have criminalized disclosures of any classified information. The proposal was modeled from the British Official Secrets Act, which gives the British government the right to prevent

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publication of stories in the interest of protection national security. The proposal would have profoundly changed the relationship between government and press on coverage of national security and foreign affairs. Yet few knew about it and it had already passed the House and Senate. After a last-minute lobbying effort to explain the dramatic impact the proposal would have, President Bill Clinton vetoed the intelligence spending bill. (The spending measure was later passed without the offending provision.)

Based on that experience, representatives of the news media began meeting with representatives of the government to better understand each side’s perspectives and concerns. The off-therecord, informal conversations called “the dialogue� by organizers evolved into more formal sessions hosted by the Aspen Institute, which issued a report in 2003 outlining commonsense steps that those who cover national security frequently take to responsibly report.

Working under the possibility that journalists may be subject to prosecution under the Espionage Statutes, the news media has operated for decades covering national security and foreign affairs taking care to avoid harming national security, listening carefully to government concerns about potential harms, sometimes removing details in a published story, or delaying publication.

Over the last decade, Congress has considered and rejected proposals to make it easier to prosecute journalists under the Espionage Statutes. In 2012, the Senate intelligence Committee proposed several changes to separate reporters and the intelligence community to stem leaks. One provision would have barred government employees working within the intelligence community from working for a media company after leaving government service. Another would have required anyone in the intelligence community to report any contacts with a representative of the news media. Ultimately, Congress has chosen to avoid disrupting that relationship between government and

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Over the last decade, Congress has considered and rejected proposals to make it easier to prosecute journalists under the Espionage Statutes. press that is defined by the First Amendment and legal interpretations of the Espionage Statutes.

Finding the Right Balance Beyond the economic challenges that has remade parts of the news media industry over the last decade, the enduring balance between government and the media over unauthorized disclosures has become strained by our societal shift toward digitally traceable lives and the efforts by this administration to undermine public trust that the news media ultimately focuses on disseminating accurate, relevant stories.

Through our daily lives we are leaving more digital breadcrumbs behind about our actions that are being recorded, stored and accessed later. The advent of smartphones and the vastly increased capacity to network computers together in the cloud and retain information has dramatically impacted conversations about unauthorized disclosures. The vast

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The vast collections of information that Edward Snowden was able to collect as well as the U.S. surveillance efforts that he exposed only became possible in recent years. collections of information that Edward Snowden was able to collect as well as the U.S. surveillance efforts that he exposed only became possible in recent years.

A decade ago, government investigations to identify leakers were futile efforts. Sources could not be identified because the universe of people who had the opportunity to leak was too big to isolate a single leaker. Investigations were resource intensive.

In contrast, this year, Reality Leigh Winner, a Georgia contractor, faces charges under the Espionage Act for allegedly sending classified information to online media outlet The Intercept. The document revealed Russian efforts to hack into election systems were more widespread than was previously made public. The Justice Department identified Winner after a brief investigation.

The Winner case also highlights the difficulty and importance of protecting sources and the limits of technology tools. The Intercept has stated that for the Russian election hacking story, it received the document anonymously and the news outlet had not independently identified the source. It presented government officials with the document it received for reaction. According to the affidavit filed in support of Winner’s prosecution, the digital image showed creases in the image, which suggested that the source folded the document. That led investigators to quickly identify that six people had printed the document, and of those only Winner had contacted the news outlet.

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SecureDrop grew in popularity as an elegant solution that allows sources to deliver documents without the news outlet knowing the identity of the source, rendering moot any effort to subpoena news outlets to reveal a source’s identity. But clearly that protection was not sufficient.

The impact of this change is clear. For sources, it discourages important disclosures by increasing the risk to sources. To some extent the government may be less likely to engage in conversations with reporters to explain their concerns before journalists give the final green light to a story. It also reduces their incentive to explain to the public and to media outlets concerns generally through public venues about potential harms from certain disclosures.

It further dramatically undermines the government’s incentive to engage in dialogue with representatives of the news media. In one of the final dialogue meetings in 2011, one government representative noted the government no longer needed to subpoena a journalist’s records; they already knew with whom reporters were talking. That was in 2011. The National Security Agency’s vast surveillance capabilities had been the subject of some reporting, but this was before Edward Snowden’s disclosures brought them to broad public attention.

Going into the Trump administration, the advent of smartphones and large-scale digital storage has strained that delicate balance between the government’s ability to keep secrets in the

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name of security and the constitutional obligation of the news media to keep the public informed.

The Trump administration’s one-way war against the press could damage the news media’s credibility, the public’s ability to separate fact from fiction and the physical safety of individual journalists (which would be frightening enough in normal times). Perhaps

Perhaps the most lasting impact of the president’s “hit back” strategy against the press is the unfortunate inspiration this approach may give to public officials around the country. the most lasting impact of the president’s “hit back” strategy against the press is the unfortunate inspiration this approach may give to public officials around the country. Consider that the problems at the Veterans Administration were first revealed publicly when a source inside the agency (and far from Washington) spoke up. In state and local governments, city halls and statehouses, sometimes the lasting impact of journalism starts when someone, somewhere knows something that should be made public.  Rick Blum is director of News Media for Open Government ( formerly Sunshine in Government Initiative), a coalition of news media associations defending and promoting news gathering and press freedom.

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By Sean Stroh sean@editorandpublisher.com

Robin Scholz has been promoted to photo editor of The News Gazette in Champaign, Ill. Scholz began her career at the News-Gazette more than 20 years ago as a staff photographer. Prior to joining the paper, she worked at a chain of weeklies in central Illinois and at the Waterloo (Iowa) Daily Courier.

Janet Ecker has been appointed to the boards of directors at Postmedia. She currently serves as president and CEO of Toronto Financial Services Alliance and is a former member of provincial parliament in Ontario from 1995 to 2003. She has served as Minister of Finance, Minister of Education, Minister of Community and Social Services and Government House Leader.

Jeff DeLoach has been named president of the Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Times Free Press. He previously served as publisher of the San Angelo Standard-Times and the Abilene Reporter-News in Texas.

DeLoach succeeds Bruce Hartmann who resigned earlier this year.

Christie Gardner has been named publisher of The Daily Press, Kane Republican and Ridgway Record in Pennsylvania.

She began her career in 2004 and spent the last four years as advertising manager of the three papers.

Jeff Precourt has been named regional publisher for Lee Enterprises in Oregon. Prior to attaining his current position, Precourt was publisher of the Albany DemocratHerald, Corvallis Gazette-Times, Lebanon Express and Philomath Express in Oregon.

His duties will be expanded to include The editorandpublisher.com

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NewsPeople

ACQUISITIONS Adams Publishing Group has purchased The Eau Claire Press Co. from the Graaskamp and Atkinson families. The sale includes the Leader-Telegram in Eau Claire, Wis., as well as a weekly agricultural newspaper, shopper product, commercial printing division and digital marketing services. The Eau Claire Press Co. had been family owned and operated for 130 years.

Stowe Reporter group has acquired a pair of Vermont newspapers from Holly Johnson.

The newspapers involved in the deal include the Shelburne News and The Citizen. Both papers cover news in Chittenden County. The editorial and advertising staff from each paper will be retained.

Kim and Michael Hawkenson have sold the Lakes Area Review in New London, Minn. to Ted and Kari Jo Almen. The Almen family also publishes the Kerkhoven Banner, Clara City Herald and the Raymond-Prinsburg News in Minnesota.

Hearst has purchased the Connecticut print and digital assets of 21st Century Media Newspaper, a Digital First Media company. The publications involved in the deal include the New Haven Register, The Middletown Press and The Register Citizen. The sale also includes eight weekly newspapers, niche publications and Connecticut Magazine.

Civitas Media has sold the Sedalia (Mo.) Democrat to Phillips Media Group. The newspaper was originally acquired by Civitas Media in 2012.

HD Media has acquired four West Virginia newspapers from Civitas Media. The newspapers involved in the deal include the Logan Banner, Williamson Daily News, Coal Valley News and The Pineville Independent Herald.

Calkins Media has sold its newspaper assets to GateHouse Media and Ogden Newspapers. The five daily newspapers acquired by GateHouse include: The Courier Times, The Intelligencer, the Beaver County Times and the Ellwood City Ledger in Pennsylvania, and the Burlington County (N.J.) Times. GateHouse will also acquire Calkins Digital.

Additionally, Odgen Newspapers has acquired the Uniontown (Pa.) Herald-Standard, Greene County (Pa.) Messenger and SWC Properties.

Lee Enterprises has purchased the assets of The Dispatch-Argus in Moline, Ill. from Small Newspaper Group. The deal includes the paper’s related publications serving Moline, Rock Island and dozens of other communities in western Illinois. The Small Newspaper Group owns three other daily newspapers, magazines and digital services in Illinois and Minnesota.

Champion Media has acquired the North Carolina and South Carolina print and digital and local assets of Civitas Media. The deal includes five daily and 17 weekly newspapers. The daily newspapers involved in the acquisition are: the Lumberton Robesonian, Mount Airy News, Rockingham Daily Journal, Clinton Sampson Independent and Laurinburg Exchange in North Carolina.

World in Coos Bay and its weekly publications.

that, Jackson was the director of advertising for Hearst Connecticut Media Group.

Eugene Jackson has been named regional publisher for the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune and the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal.

Jackson most recently served as publisher of the Daily Journal in Park Hills, Mo. Prior to

Betty Linn has retired as publisher of the Sierra Star in Oakhurst, Calif. She was named publisher in 1994, and prior to that, served as general manager of the paper.

Linn began her career in 1978 as an ad executive for the Sierra Home Advertiser.

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NewsPeople Alisha Owens has been named vice president and chief revenue officer of NOLA Media Group, which publishes The Times-Picayune. Owens most recently served as vice president of advertising and marketing for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, Ariz. Prior to that, she was director of advertising for The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., and The Press of Atlantic City in New Jersey.

the Palestine Herald-Press in Texas. Prior to joining the paper, he worked at the Detroit Free Press for 17 years as a columnist, editorial writer, editor and reporter. He also served as deputy editor of The Blade in Toledo, Ohio. In addition, Pennylynn Webb has been promoted to Herald-Press city editor.

Ken Kurson has stepped down as editor-inchief of the New York Observer to work as a senior managing director at Teneo Strategy.

Kurson joined the paper in 2013 and oversaw the Observer’s decision last year to end its print edition.

Rose Laudicina has been promoted to digital engagement editor at The Aspen Times in Colorado. For the past three years, Laudicina has worked as a copy editor and page designer for the paper. Prior to that, she was a reporter for the Carrboro (N.C.) Citizen.

John Moses has been named editor of The Daily Times in Farmington, N.M. He previously served as editor of the Jackson Hole News & Guide in Wyoming and local news coordinator for its sister paper, the Jackson Hole Daily.

Michael Jung has been named president of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.

Jung will also serve as president of The Jackson (Tenn.) Sun. He most recently was president of the Idaho Statesman in Boise and advertising director for Florida Today.

Jung succeeds George Cogswell, who retired earlier this year.

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Thomas Martinez has been named editor of the Craig (Colo.) Daily Press.

Prior to joining the Daily Press, Martinez was editor of the Fort Morgan (Colo.) Times. He also served as managing editor of the Victoria Advocate in Texas.

Nick Wright has been named editor of The Nevada Daily Mail. He first joined the paper in 2003 as an editorial assistant before being named photography editor at the Independence (Kan.) Daily Reporter two years later. Wright rejoined the Daily Mail last year after taking a break from journalism.

Bruce Dube has been named marketing director of The Ledger Media Group. In his new role, Dube will oversee marketing at The Ledger in Lakeland, Fla. and the News Chief in Winter Haven, Fla. He previously worked at The Tampa Tribune for 16 years in circulation, sales and development.

Mark Elliott has been appointed publisher

of the Mt. Vernon Register News and the McLeansboro Times-Leader in Illinois. Elliot has also served as advertising director of the Herald Bulletin in Anderson, Ind. Prior to that, he oversaw advertising at the Goshen (Ind.) News.

Penny Weaver has been promoted to associate publisher of the Mattoon Journal Gazette & Charleston Times-Courier in Illinois.

The Gazette and Times-Courier are zoned editions of the same newspaper. Weaver will continue her role as the newspaper’s editor.

She has also worked at the Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal and Vandalia (Ill.) LeaderUnion.

Bruce Wood has retired as publisher of the Chino-Chino Hills Champion in California.

Wood began his career at the Chula Vista (Calif.) Star News, and later worked for the Long Beach Telegram, Victor Valley Daily Press and Tri-County Newspapers in California. He joined the Champion as general manager in 1993.

Michael Szvetitz has been named managing editor of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch. He most recently served as sports editor of the paper, and previously worked at the Opelika-Auburn News in Alabama, where he was sports editor for a decade.

Cindy Vosburg has retired as regional publisher of the Curry Coastal Pilot in Brookings, Ore. and the Del Norte Triplicate in Crescent City, Calif. Vosburg joined Western Communications in 2007 as regional

Matthew Sauer has been named executive editor of the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune. He has served as the newspaper’s interim editor since last October. Before that, he was deputy managing editor for enterprise and business. Sauer originally joined the paper in 1993 as a county government and politics reporter.

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NewsPeople Warren Goulding has been appointed publisher of the Cowichan Valley Citizen in British Columbia, Canada. As part of his new role, Goulding will also oversee the Lake Cowichan Gazette, Chemainus Valley Courier and various niche publications.

advertising director for the Triplicate and the Pilot. Previously, she worked for The Modesto Bee and The Manteca Bulletin in California’s central valley. Additionally, Emily Reed has been promoted to regional advertising director at the Triplicate and the Pilot.

Keith Hansen has been named publisher of the Branson (Mo.) Tri-Lakes News. He most recently served as publisher of the Tahlequah Daily Press in Oklahoma. Hansen also published newspapers in California, Colorado, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Michael Golden has been elected president of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. He currently serves as vice chairman of the Board of Directors for the New York Times Co. Golden succeeds Tomas Brunegard, who was president of the association for the last four years.

Susan Hildreth has been named managing editor of the Journal-Express in Knoxville, Iowa. She previously served as editor of the Boone (Iowa) News-Republican. Prior to that, she worked at the now-defunct Hometown News in Knoxville, Iowa.

B.J. Riley has resigned as publisher of the Tribune-Star in Terre Haute, Ind. and has taken a job with Horizon Publications, a family-owned newspaper group based in Marion, Ill. He had served as Tribune-Star publisher for the past eight years.

Trevor Evans has been named publisher of The Leader-Herald in Gloversville, N.Y. He joins the paper after serving as advertising editorandpublisher.com

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manager for The Express in Lock Haven, Pa. Evans replaces Steve Herron, who left earlier this year.

David Arkin has been named chief content officer of Local Media Association. Arkin most recently served as chief content officer for Community Impact Newspaper. Prior to that, he was senior vice president for product and development at GateHouse Media.

Leigh Davis has been named marketing director of the Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass. For the past three years, Davis served as marketing manager for the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Mass.

Julie Pace has been named chief of bureau in Washington for the Associated Press. In her new role, Pace will direct the news organization’s coverage of the presidency, politics and the U.S. government. She started at the AP in 2007 as a multimedia reporter and joined the AP’s White House staff in 2009 to cover the Obama administration. In 2016, she served as the AP’s lead reporter on the 2016 campaign between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Greg Sakaki has been promoted to managing editor of the Nanaimo News Bulletin in British Columbia, Canada. Sakaki has served as the paper’s sports editor for the last 13 years. He also has edited the Bulletin’s letters and opinion pages for four years.

Eric Larsen has been promoted to news director at the Fort Collins Coloradoan. He most recently served as senior editor for content and editor for government and growth. Previously, Larsen worked at the Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho.

Bob Ashley has retired as editor of The Herald-Sun in Durham, N.C. He was named editor of the paper in 2005. Succeeding him in that position is Mark Schultz, who most recently served as editor of The Chapel Hill News and The Durham News in North Carolina.

Joshua Wolfson has been named editor of the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune. For the past two years, Wolfson has served as managing editor. He began working at the paper in 2007 as a crime reporter.

Cliff Harrington has been named editor of The Herald in Rock Hill, S.C. He had served as interim editor of the paper since last November. Harrington began his career as a sports intern at The Ledger-Enquirer in Columbus, Ga. He later held a number of leadership positions at The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer including night assistant editor and Union County bureau chief in Monroe, N.C. Yuval Dubois has been appointed chief executive officer of Presstek. Prior to joining the company in 2013, Dubois held various management roles at VIM Technologies. He replaces John Becker, who had been serving as the interim CEO since last October.  AUGUST 2017 | E & P

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•

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Circulation:

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Dart is an intuitive cloud-based software platform, built on decades of D i industry best practice, providing publishers and distributors with the v visibility, insights and tools to streamline operations and deliver smarter.

Pain Point: Lack of Visibility

Pain Point: Operational Cost

Dart delivers excellent visibility of the entire footp print, thanks me updates to its dynamic dashboard which provides real-tim of routes, drivers and subscribers’ delivery statuss. Dart can DOVR RXWSXW FXVWRPL]HG SHULRGLF DQG RQH RÎ? UHSRUWV WR KHOS decision makers analyze and adjust operations as needed.

Dart helps you track, analyze and optimize routes in just a few clicks, which, by itself, helps you balance your operational H[SHQVHV 'DUW DOVR SURYLGHV ČľH[LEOH UHSRUWLQJ WRROV DOORZLQJ you to view your actual route data in “what-ifâ€? scenarios to KHOS \RX Č´QG H[WUD HÉ?FLHQFLHV

Pain Point: Subscriber Retention

Pain Point: Managing Multiple Systems

acation stops, Dart gives carriers turn-by-turn routing, starts, va FRPSODLQWV DQG GHOLYHU\ OLVWV OLWHUDOO\ DW WKHLU ȴQJHUWLSV ZLWK its mobile interface—all of which increases servicce accuracy. e driver and And in the event of delivery issues, Dart alerts the district to ensure the customer is taken care of.

Pain Point: Managing Multiple Publication ns

On-boarding new products and publications can present PDQ\ WHFKQLFDO KHDGDFKHV \HW LV YLWDO WR FUHDWLQJ D SURČ´WDEOH GLVWULEXWLRQ IRRWSULQW 'DUW VRIWZDUH VLPSOLČ´HV WKH SURFHVV ources and of integration by accepting many original data so structures, then standardizing them for your use in Dart.

Dart seamlessly creates and updates multi-produ uct routes so your carriers always know where to go, and which product to deliver at every turn.

B ett er BNC BetterBNCÂŽ is the industry standard online journalism contest platform used by 150 newspaper associations, press clubs and broadcaster groups representing over 20,000 journalists and trades people.

BetterBNC exclusive features: Contestant ManagerÂŽ Senior managers and editors control who and what is entered for their organization.

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Website: www.betterbnc.com

+Biz Directory.indd 55

5RXWLQJ GHOLYHU\ YHULČ´FDWLRQ GDWD PDQDJHPHQW DQG FDUULHU FRPSHQVDWLRQ DUH XVXDOO\ KDQGOHG E\ GLÎ?HUHQW WHFKQRORJLHV That’s a lot of systems to learn, a lot of data to integrate and a lot to manage. Dart is an all-in-one solution, enabling you and your entire team to accomplish their respective tasks, yet HÎ?HFWLYHO\ FROODERUDWH ΖQ IDFW 'DUW LV WKH RQO\ FRPSOHWH DOO in-one solution in today’s print distribution technology space.

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Archive In A Box Phone: 360-427-6300 Website: www.ArchiveInABox.com Who We Are: We specialize in making digital copies (scans) of your printed newspapers and bound volume archives which you can store online and access from any device. • Our service includes everything — shipping & logistics, high resolution scanning, digital copies, hard drives, and online hosting. • We work on your schedule and budget with no contract commitment — scan in batches, and pay-as-you-go. • You exclusively own and control the original scans and all copies. No partnership is required.

How will you benefit?

As the steward of your community’s published history, you know the value of your printed newspaper archive. Don’t wait — begin your digitization before you suffer a loss! • Digital copies preserve your archive, and effectively nullify physical loss. • Your bound volume, loose, and microfilm materials can be digitized. • Fully searchable. • Integrate with your existing PDF archive.

Case studies and testimonials Please visit our website for complete details: www.ArchiveInABox.com

7/20/17 1:27 PM

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Phone: 800-887-1615

Appraisers / Brokers

E-mail: classifieds@editorandpublisher.com

Appraisers / Brokers

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Publications For Sale

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Write a letter telling us how you would be successful with news, advertising sales and managing a business in a small town. Must move into the community. What resources will you have available to you to operate your business? Best response will be contacted by owner.

Confidentiality agreement required. $35,000. Must close by Sept. 30, 2017.

Respond to Apohar11@gmail.com 56 |

E & P | AUGUST 2017

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Publications For Sale

Fax: 866-605-2323

Publications For Sale

NEW MEXICO WEEKLY paid community newspaper in Sierra County Region. Family owned & operated. Seeks to retire. For information visit www.kamengroup.com, call 516-379-2797, or email info@kamengroup.com.

Help Wanted

Help Wanted ADVERTISING DIRECTOR: The Daily Hampshire Gazette is seeking an Advertising Director with high energy, proven success in driving revenue, and a passion for the media business to fill a position in beautiful Western Massachusetts.

The successful candidate will: • Be a seasoned leader with the ability to motivate, educate, and guide a sales team with a variety of levels of experience.

• Have the ability to develop and execute sales plans to achieve digital, print, niche, and event revenue goals.

• Have the capacity to analyze market conditions and develop sales strategies to achieve revenue targets.

• Have the collaborative spirit to work with the news organization’s management team to achieve company goals.

Other qualifications include: • A bachelor’s degree in advertising, marketing, business administration or other relevant field.

• A minimum of 5 years of successful advertising management experience.

• Experience budgeting and goal setting.

• Knowledge of forecasting tools.Experience using a CRM system.

Compensation includes a base salary commensurate with experience and a performance-based bonus opportunity. We offer excellent benefits, including medical, dental, vision, life, 401K and more. The Daily Hampshire Gazette is an equal opportunity employer that recognizes the value of diversity in our workforce. The Daily Hampshire Gazette is a Newspapers of New England media company based in Northampton, MA. One of the oldest newspapers in the country, the Gazette has a long history of award winning journalism and community leadership.

If you are interested in joining a quality news organization please submit a cover letter and resume to publisher@gazettenet.com .

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR: Oregon’s North Coast beckons! Located in picturesque Astoria, OR, at the junction of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean, EO Media Group is seeking a proven, creative Advertising Director for multiple publications and digital platforms. This area is a mix of commercial fishing and cruise ships, nature and the arts, a rich history and the Goonies. We need a strong, hands-on leader to inspire our 7 display and classified staff and grow our advertising sales for our Monday through Friday daily, a weekly, two bi-weeklies and a monthly magazine, plus specialty publications. Our digital media Marketplace has won national awards and is poised for growth. We’ve invested in the best software available with a strong CRM to help you lead. Prior management experience in the media field preferred and a solid record of successful campaigns is required. Comprehensive benefits include paid time off (PTO), insurances and a 401(k)/Roth 401(k) retirement plan. Send resume and letter of interest including salary requirements and why you want to grow with us to EO Media Group, P.O. Box 2048, Salem, OR 97308-2048 or e-mail hr@eomediagroup.com.

EMPLOYMENT AD SPECIAL! Up to 100 words: $50.00 Additional copy: $20.00 for 35 words

Call 1-800-887-1615

for more information or to place your ad. editorandpublisher.com

7/20/17 1:32 PM

Phone: 800-887-1615

Help Wanted

Fax: 866-605-2323

Help Wanted

ASSISTANT CIRCULATION DIRECTOR: The Coeur d’Alene Press is seeking a talented warehouse and / or distribution professional who understands logistics and product delivery. We are a 16,000 circulation daily newspaper headquartered in beautiful Northern Idaho. A good understanding of distribution, ability to work within deadlines in a fast paced environment, solid customer service skills and previous management experience are required. Successful applicants will possess proven ability to manage day-to-day circulation operations for The Press and our weekly publications. Candidate will assist the Director in coordinating efficient distribution of all products and ensuring superior customer service. Candidates must have excellent people and communication skills, solid computer knowledge, proven leadership ability and a positive attitude. Position will lead distribution staff and be responsible for independent contractor group who services The Coeur d’Alene Press subscriber base. Frequent nights and weekends are required. Two to four year college degree or the proper mix of education and work experience preferred. Circulation experience is a plus. We offer a complete benefits package to include: paid time off, Medical, Dental, Optical, Life Insurance, and 401K. Applicant must have reliable transportation, valid driver’s license, and proof of insurance. Please email cover letter and resume to Bill Bollinger, Circulation Director at bbollinger@cdapress.com. The successful candidate is required to pass a pre-employment background check as a condition of employment BUSINESS REPORTER: Idaho Business Review is seeking a sharp, curious and experienced reporter for this business publication with a weekly print edition and a website that’s updated throughout the day.

The successful candidate will have at least two years of hard news experience (college publications don’t count), strong knowledge of AP style, and comfort with social media and with the idea of driving web traffic.

Reporters work with the editor to write seven to 10 stories per week, to look for and create graphic elements such as tables and charts, and to develop strong local sources who can provide scoops and breaking news for the website.

Reimbursement includes pay commensurate with experience, health benefits, 401K plan and more.

Please send a resume and five of your best business writing clips to aallen@idahobusinessreview.com.

BridgeTower Media and all subsidiaries are Equal Opportunity Employers and value diversity in our workplace.

EDITOR: The Ada News seeks an energetic, multimedia-experienced editor for our top newsroom position.

The editor is responsible for overseeing a staff of six, with an emphasis on producing quality local news and editorial content for the five-day (Tuesday through Saturday) newspaper, seven-day website and related social media sites, and specialty publications, including a quarterly lifestyle magazine.

Applicants need proven leadership skills and versatile journalism competencies in reporting, writing, editing, photography, video, design and pagination. Also essential is the ability to motivate and coach the staff to create a steady flow of enterprise content that matters to readers and the community.

This is a hands-on position requiring initiative, imagination and keen news judgment. The editor is a key member of The Ada News senior management team and thus needs to be able to engage with the community, communicate clearly and make smart decisions.

Ada is located in the rolling hills of southwestern Oklahoma and serves as the capital for the Chickasaw Nation. It is the seat of government for Pontotoc County as well as the site of East Central University. Ada is 80 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.

Interested candidates should email their resume, journalistic work examples and a cover letter on why they believe they are qualified for the editor’s position to Publisher Amy Johns at ajohns@theadanews.com.

The Ada News is a CNHI newspaper. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, CNHI is a leading U.S. publisher of local news and information. Its newspapers, websites and specialty publications serve communities in 23 states.

Please tell them you saw it in

Help Wanted

Help Wanted

GateHouse Media/Wicked Local’s Newspaper Production Facility in Auburn, MA is seeking: F/T PRESS OPERATORS, F/T ASSISTANT PRESS OPERATORS: Goss Community or Urbanite experience preferred. Experience operating Enkel and Martin roll stands a plus, but willing to train the right person with a mechanical background. Must have a strong mechanical aptitude. In-house step program designed for employee growth in the department. To apply for this position, send your resume to wickedlocaljobs@wickedlocal.com or stop by to complete an application at the GateHouse Media office at 475 Washington Street, Auburn, MA. We offer Health, Dental, Vision, Flexible Spending Accounts, Life Insurance and 401(k).

F/T INSERTER OPERATOR: Newstec SLS1000 experience preferred. Must have a strong mechanical aptitude and be capable of working in a deadline-oriented environment. Prior experience in newspaper inserting a plus. To apply for this position, send your resume to wickedlocaljobs@wickedlocal.com or stop by to complete an application at the GateHouse Media office at 475 Washington Street, Auburn, MA. We offer Health, Dental, Vision, Flexible Spending Accounts, Life Insurance and 401(k). An Equal Opportunity Employer.

MULTI MEDIA SALES REP The Joplin Globe, a full service digital and print marketing agency, is looking for a dynamic, self-motivated Multi Media Sales Executive to join our team. The qualified candidate will be responsible for selling marketing solutions in the 4 state area. The Ideal Candidate will take a consultative approach by performing digital and traditional marketing audits on potential customers, analyzing their business objectives, and working with them to create a custom marketing strategy. Will perform daily tasks within a team environment to achieve individual and team goals and provide outstanding customer service to internal and external customers as well as work with other team members to find customer driven solutions. This position requires a minimum of 2 years of successful sales experience, ability to work in a team environment, effective verbal and written communication skills, excellent organizational skills and the ability to work under the pressure of multiple deadlines and assignments. Experience in selling targeted digital and/or print products a plus. Must have current driver’s license and insurance. Please send your resume to Bob Barth at bbarth@joplinglobe.com with the phrase Multi Media Sales Rep” in the subject line. Please send via email only, no phone calls EOE, M/F/D/V NEWSPAPER WEB PRESS/MULTI-COLOR SHEET FED PRESS OPERATOR: An experienced Newspaper Web press Operator who is also a skilled Multi color sheet fed press operator is required for a well established newspaper in the caribbean Island nation of St.Kitts and Nevis.

This job is ideal for a retired or semi-retired professional who would want to put in 20 or 30 hours per week, or full time. Modest salary, a car and an apartment will be provided. Proper references must be provided. Send applications letters with resumes to thesknobserver@yahoo.com or editorinchief@thestkittsnevisobserver.com. Avoid winters .

REGIONAL CIRCULATION DIRECTOR: The Northeast Florida Region of Community Newspapers, Inc., seeks a Regional Circulation Director to lead its distribution and marketing efforts in Lake City and Palatka, Florida. This position oversees the circulation marketing and delivery of two 5-day daily paid newspapers, two TMC products, plus a combined 15 free magazines and event publications that are inserted in the newspapers, as well as countertop delivery. Candidates must be driven and possess excellent single-copy and home delivery marketing skills and be willing to lead new programs and initiatives. Bottom-line accountability and expense management is a part of this job. Our company values print and in our growing, rural markets, our newspapers matter. Both cities are located in the beautiful springs and river recreation areas of natural Florida. Salary, plus lucrative bonus plan, health insurance, 401(k) and paid holidays. Email resume and salary requirements to HR at cstamps@cninewspapers.com.

If you are reading this, so are your customers! ®

To ad v er tise , c all 1-800-887-1615 editorandpublisher.com

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shoptalk /commentary Public Editor Cannot Be One-Person Panacea to Reader Trust Problem

By Kathy English

T

en years ago, I signed on to what would turn out to be the most challenging job of my life in journalism.

I knew that serving as the Toronto Star’s public editor would not be an easy task. It is widely regarded as the worst job in journalism and I tell you, there are days when that feels like an absolute truth.

Nevertheless, it was a role I had actually long coveted. Having worked as a reporter and feature writer at the Star in the early days of my career, I knew the Star took seriously the ombud/public editor’s work of holding its journalists to public account for accuracy, fairness and ethical journalism. In working as a journalist and journalism professor, I had long been concerned about the public perception of journalism and believed a public editor could make a difference to the credibility of journalism.

“A newspaper that chooses to employ a public editor makes a strong pledge to its readers of its intent to strive to be faithful to the enduring core values of ethical journalism,” I wrote a decade ago in my first column in this role.

I believed that then and my experience in the job, particularly the opportunity it has given me to communicate with thousands of readers about accuracy, fairness and journalistic standards, makes me believe it more today.

Clearly, I have a conflict of interest in offering a view of the decision announced by the New York Times to eliminate its public editor position. I would like to see more public editors and ombudsmen at news organizations, not fewer, especially when reader trust in journalism has plunged to new lows.

I don’t see any public editor anywhere as a one-person panacea to the reader trust problem. In that, I agree with Times pub-

lisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. whose memo announcing the end of the public editor role there stated that “we all must seek to hold ourselves accountable to our readers.”

Of course, a public editor cannot be the “single intermediary” between newsrooms and their readers. Trustworthy journalism begins with individual journalists who operate within strong ethical standards and news organizations that expect nothing less from them. The Star newsroom’s recently announced “trust committee” examining how to foster greater trust is, to me, a welcome step in acknowledging that reader trust is the responsibility of every journalist in this place.

But even in this time when sharp media criticism abounds on social media, I continue to see the benefit in readers having an individual, independent of the newsroom, who is empowered by the organization to assess the legitimacy of readers’ complaints, seek answers for readers and hold journalists to account for lapses in standards.

I know journalists are often too busy or too defensive to take time to respond to questioning or critical readers. And certainly, many simply ignore the noise of social media, given the harassing tone it too often takes. They may not like it when I press them for answers on behalf of those reader/ critics but they understand how the public editor’s office has long operated here, and for the most part they co-operate.

Yes, it can be a messy business to be critical of the Star’s journalism in the pages of the Star itself when significant lapses occur. And certainly, my judgments have not always been entirely right—as both readers and the Star’s journalists have made clear to me through these past 10 years. But I have learned that the job is not about keeping everyone happy; it’s doing my best to make

honest and informed judgments about whether the Star’s journalism meets its stated high standards.

I am biased, to be sure, but I believe that for the most part this system of accountability still works for Star readers. The twoperson public editor’s office communicates with thousands of readers annually, mainly through email. We take seriously our mandate to explain journalism to readers and the concerns of readers to journalists. We investigate a great many complaints about mistakes and journalistic misdemeanors and publish several hundred corrections each year to address factual errors.

While the Times has had a public editor only since 2003, having launched the role in response to an infamous plagiarism scandal, this role has existed at the Star for 45 years.

On May 6, 1972, a Page 1 article reported that Beland H. Honderich, then president and publisher, announced that “Star readers will now have their personal representative in the newsroom. It will give readers one central person to deal with on all matters involving fairness or accuracy.”

All these years later, through immense and continuing changes brought about by digital disruption, the public editor role still seems to me to be powerful evidence of this organization’s ongoing commitment to accountability and transparency—key factors in journalistic credibility and reader trust.  Kathy English has been public editor of the Toronto Star since 2007. Her previous experience includes writing and editing for six Canadian daily newspapers and a decade as a professor at Ryerson School of Journalism. She is a former board member of the Organization of News Ombudsmen.

Printed in the USA. Vol. 150, No 8, EDITOR & PUBLISHER (ISSN: 0013-094X, USPS: 168-120) is published 12 times a year. Regular issues are published monthly by Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc., 18475 Bandilier Circle, Fountain Valley, CA, 92708-7000; Editorial and Advertising (949) 660-6150.

Periodicals postage paid at Fountain Valley, CA 92708, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: EDITOR & PUBLISHER. P.O. Box 25859, Santa Ana, CA 92799-5859. Copyright 2017, Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Subscription Price: U.S. and its possessions, $99.00 per year, additional postage for Canada & foreign countries $20.00 per year. Single copy price $8.95 in the U.S. only; Back issues, $12.95 (in the U.S. only) includes postage and handling. Canada Post: Publication Mail Agreement No. 40612608. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 682.

Subscriber Services (888) 732-7323; Customer Service Email: circulation@editorandpublisher.com.

58 |

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editorandpublisher.com

7/20/17 1:25 PM

Two conferences, one location!

JOIN US IN COLORADO SPRINGS COMBINING THE STRENGTHS OF TWO GREAT ASSOCIATIONS The Inland Press Association and the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association bring to their first-ever joint Annual Meeting the traits that account for their success: Practical training and exchanges of best practices and industry trends presented in a collegial atmosphere that encourages shared learning.

Inland and SNPA have put together an exceptionally strong program taking on the most urgent issues and opportunities of the media business today.

Check out the full program at inlandpress.org for details on all the program topics, including: • Creating & Monetizing Brand Equity • Using Video to Drive Revenue and Audience

• Strategies That Grow Print Volumes—and Profitability • Building and Sustaining a Successful Sales Team • Newsrooms Shaped for Future Success • Startups That Offer Big Revenue Upsides

Registration fees • Newspaper and R&D delegate SNPA & Inland members $795 • Newspaper and R&D delegate Non-members: $1,095 • Journalism educator $250

SEPTEMBER 10-12, 2017 | COLORADO SPRINGS Vision • Real • news • Community • Success • Transformation • Innovation • Digital • Video • Print • Strength • Structure • Brand • Revenue • Opportunities • Collaboration • Audience • Data • Building • Future • Shifting • Future • Structure • Newspapers • Pricing • Niche • Native • Mobile • Subscriptions • Pay Walls • Journalist • Creative Competitive • Online • Diversify • Advertising • Future • Events • Local • Change • Conversations • Roadmap • Voice Virtual Reality • Media • Partnerships • Digital • Video • Print • Strength • Structure • Brand • Revenue • Opportunities • Collaboration • Audience • Data • Building • Future • Shifting • Future • Structure • Newspapers • Pricing • Niche • Native • Mobile • Subscriptions • Pay Walls • Journalist • Creative Competitive • Online • Diversify • Advertising • Future • Events • Local • Change • Conversations • Roadmap • Virtual Reality • Media • Partnerships • Collaboration • Sales Vision • Real • news • Community • Success • Transformation • Innovation • Digital • Video • Print • Strength • Structure • Brand • Revenue • Opportunities • Collaboration • Audience • Data • Building • Future • Shifting • Future • Structure • Newspapers • Pricing • Niche • Native • Mobile • Subscriptions • Pay Walls • Journalist • Creative Competitive • Online • Diversify • Advertising • Future • Events • Local • Change • Conversations • Roadmap • Virtual Reality • Media • Partnerships • Collaboration • Sales Vision • Real • news • Community • INLAND AND SNPA

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