Volume 30 – Number 3
An information publication of the South Dakota Newspaper Association, Brookings, SD
July/August 2016
Newspapers form digital advertising network South Dakota newspapers have worked together over the years create successful statewide advertising opportunities for businesses and others looking to reach a statewide audience. Now that opportunity extends to the digital realm. Dozens of the state’s newspapers are now participating in a new advertising opportunity called the South Dakota Digital Ad Network. Ads placed in the network will appear on participating newspapers’ websites.
Convention honors
Honors and awards were a big part of the annual SDNA convention this spring in Mitchell. Left: State Sen. Corey Brown of Gettysburg received the SDNA Eagle Award, which is given to recognize and applaud work on open government and First Amendment Issues. SDNA First Amendment Committee Chairman Tim Waltner presented the award to Brown. Four were inducted into the South Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame. They included: Jim Moritz of the Faulk County Record, Kathy Nelson of the Timber Lake Topic, Tim Waltner of the Freeman Courier and the late Kenneth Way of the Watertown Public Opinion. Above: Other Hall of Fame members who were present at the convention gathered for a photo with three of the 2016 inductees. They included: Front row: Dick Lee, former head of SDSU Journalism Department; Tim Giago of Native Sun News; and Verlyn Hofer, former publisher of Lennox Independent. Back row: Keith Jensen, former SDNA general manager; Tim Waltner of the Freeman Courier; Kathy Nelson of the Timber Lake Topic; Jim Moritz of the Faulk County Record; Noel Hamiel, former publisher of The Daily Republic; and Wayne Bertrand, former publisher of the Tyndall, Scotland and Springfield newspapers. Go to the SDNA website to read the inspiring remarks made by Tim Waltner during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the convention.
DIGITAL AD NETWORK “More than 30 years ago South Dakota newspapers joined forces to create the South Dakota Statewide Classified Network,” said SDNA General Manager David Bordewyk. “About 15 years ago the 2x2 Display Ad Network was formed. And now South Dakota newspapers have taken the next step with the new Digital Ad Network. “This new online network is a logical and perfect fit for advertisers looking to extend the reach of their advertising dollars through locally based news and information websites owned and operated by newspapers,” Bordewyk said. He added: “South Dakotans trust South Dakota newspapers for credible, straightforward information and news and the same is true for websites run by newspapers. Those newspaper websites offer a perfect venue for many advertisers.” Contact South Dakota Newspaper Association for more information.
Changes made to open meetings laws now in effect Every July 1 means new laws in South Dakota and this year it includes the laws governing how public entities such as school boards, city councils and county commissions conduct their official meetings. The Legislature this year approved three bills that amended what is commonly known as South Dakota’s open meetings laws. Most legislation approved by legislators and signed by the governor usually becomes law on July 1. Exceptions are bills that are specified to take effect on a different date. Such was the case this year with legislation that increased the state’s sales tax by a half penny. That bill became law on June 1. The three bills amending the state’s open meetings laws became effective July 1. The most significant open meetings law change includes two key components. First, the new law defines what is an
official meeting of a public board or commission. Second, it expands the definition of teleconference in the open meetings laws beyond what has traditionally been understood to be meetings conducted by telephone or videoconferencing to now include the internet. “The changes made in this new law clarify that a legal quorum of any public board discussing or deciding official business must adhere to the open meetings law, regardless of whether it’s done in person, by telephone, by email or by any other electronic means,” said David Bordewyk, general manager of South Dakota Newspaper Association, which lobbied for the new law. Bordewyk said he hopes the new law will help public boards understand that discussing or deciding official business by email or text messaging is not appropriate
unless the open meetings laws are followed. The push to deal with the issue of public boards doing business by email originated with a 2012 open government task force appointed by the governor and attorney general. Legislation recommended by that task force failed in 2013 and 2015. A modified version was successful this year. A second change to the open meetings laws that takes effect July 1 requires state boards and commissions such as the Board of Regents and Game, Fish and Parks Commission to post their meeting agendas with at least two intervening days before the start of the meeting. The agenda-posting requirement will not apply to local boards such as cities, schools and counties. They will still be required to post agendas at least 24 hours in advance of their meetings.
Proponents for the agenda-posting change argued that because interested citizens may need to travel further to attend a meeting of a state board or commission, having more advance notice of the agenda will benefit the public. A third change to the open meetings law clarifies that anyone may electronically record an official meeting of a public board so long as that person is not interfering with the conduct of the meeting or being disruptive. “The changes to the open meetings laws this year demonstrate that open government is ongoing,” Bordewyk said. “Open government is never a done deal. It requires constant attention to make sure we reflect what is happening in government and what the public expects for transparency and accountability.”
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South Dakota Newspapers
Newspapers dead? Don’t tell grade school students UPCOMING EVENTS August 4, 2016 Training with Kevin Slimp Pierre, Ramkota September 22-24, 2016 NNA Convention Franklin, TN January 26, 2017 Newspaper Day at Legislature April 27-29, 2017 SDNA Convention Aberdeen, Dakota Events Center
(USPS Permit #003537) © Copyright 2016 By South Dakota Newspaper Association David C. Bordewyk ....... Publisher/Editor Sandy DeBeer .............. Pagination
Published bi-monthly by South Dakota Newspaper Association, 1125 32nd Ave., Brookings, SD 57006, and at additional office Telephone: 800-658-3697 Periodicals Class Postage paid at Brookings, SD 57006 Subscription price: $15 per year. SDNA Officers President Jeremy Waltner / Freeman Courier First Vice President Kelli Bultena / Lennox Independent & Tea Weekly Second Vice President Shannon Brinker / Rapid City Journal Third Vice President Debbie Hemmer / Grant County Review, Milbank At-large Director Letitia Lister / Black Hills Pioneer, Spearfish At-large Director Ken Reiste / Clear Lake Courier Past President Bill Krikac / Clark County Courier SDNA Staff David C. Bordewyk / Executive Director Nicole Herrig / Business Manager John Brooks / Advertising Sales Director Sandy DeBeer / Advertising Placement Coordinator Darla McCullough / Display Network Coordinator Julie Sperlich / Advertising Assistant Grace Lehman / Tearsheeting SOUTH DAKOTA NEWSPAPERS is the official trade publication for the South Dakota Newspaper Association, representing daily and weekly newspapers in the state.
Postmaster: Send change of address to South Dakota Newspaper Association, 1125 32nd Ave., Brookings, SD 57006
I was at our local public library some time ago to cover an event for our community newspaper when I spotted a third-grader, sprawled on the floor next to the rack of periodicals, paging through the Freeman Courier. My mind immediately went to the well-publicized, but grossly inaccurate, notion that kids today don’t read newspapers. The one sprawled on the floor does, and so do many others. Walk inside the library on any given week and see a well-worn Courier, a well-worn Hutchinson Herald (Menno) and Marion Record, our closest community newspapers, and a well-worn Sioux Falls Argus Leader, the state’s largest daily. And during the fall, winter and spring months, walk into the library at either of Freeman’s two schools and find the Freeman weekly newspaper shredded from use. Some years ago, the media did a wonderful job of forecasting the demise of the print product. Television anchors and newspaper editors themselves said that public interest in print was waning and would eventually disappear altogether, because everybody was buried in their iPhones, Galaxies, MacBooks and Chromebooks. A straight-up trade: newspapers for digital. While I will concede the point that fewer people today read the newspaper than a generation or two ago — and I will acknowledge that some newspapers have closed because of tough times — the idea that newspaper days are over is hogwash.
Jeremy Waltner President / SDNA Freeman Courier
Radio couldn’t kill print, television couldn’t kill print and neither will the internet. It’s not just people in libraries who are reading the newspaper. You should see our post office between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Thursdays, the day the Courier hits mailboxes. It surprising there aren’t more fender-benders out there. I know of more than a few who religiously hit one of our two local convenience stores, or one of our two grocery stores, first thing Thursday morning to pick up their copy off the newsstand. And we have our regular walk-ins here at the Courier office, too. Why? Because people enjoy reading the paper. For many, it’s as habitual as that morning cup of coffee, the 6 o’clock local news and — yes — logging into their email. The value of newspapers lies in the information they provide and the historical record they create. Think about your own communities: when people want to know what happened on any given year, when they want to research an obituary, or find out who voted how on a hot-button city issue, where do they go? Every issue we as a newspaper industry publish is an instant
historical document. That is an incredibly important responsibility that newspapers take seriously. Are fewer people reading newspapers today than before? Probably. But research continues to show that a high percentage of people read the newspaper on a regular basis and rely on it, not only for accurate information about what’s happening in the towns, cities and rural areas they live in, but also to find out what’s taking place in the business community, too. Yes, advertisers continue to buy space on our pages because they know that people are reading. Many newspapers have done a good job of introducing and maintaining a digital presence through their own branded websites and social media, and they should. Online is now part of who we are. But for the overwhelming percentage of us, the print product remains our primary focus. Take those papers off the library shelves and stop stuffing them in mailboxes and there will be hell to pay. So the next time somebody tells you newspapers are on their way out, tell them otherwise. Me? I’ll tell them about that third-grader in the library, checking out the Courier, and all those high school students clamoring for a look to see if it’s one of them in that basketball action shot. What’s black, white and read all over? Newspapers. Yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Neugebauers made the hometown newspaper matter It was somewhat bittersweet for me when I learned that Mary and Denny Neugebauer were selling my hometown newspaper, The Corsica Globe, along with the other two Douglas County newspapers they owned, The Armour Chronicle and The Delmont Record. I was happy they had found someone to purchase the newspapers who they were confident in and excited about. (Like most Main Street businesses, finding an able buyer for small weekly newspapers is no easy task these days.) Gerri Olson had worked for Mary and Denny the past three years and learned much about the business in that time. She is talented and energetic and she will carry those three newspaper flags forward well. Many of my great memories growing up in Corsica are tied to the Globe and work in that newspaper office for my brother who owned the newspapers for a time. Mary worked there then, too. In all, Mary worked at the Globe for more than 45 years. She began in 1971 when Globe publisher (Fred H. Breukelman) needed someone run a typesetting machine he had just purchased from the Tyndall Tribune. As luck would have it, Mary had set type on that very Justowriter machine when she and Denny lived in Tyndall before moving back to Corsica. The rest was history. Mary and Denny have served their communities well with quality newspapers. The Globe, Chronicle and Record are always full of local news and happenings, with plenty of photos and features. Not driven by awards contests or a need for
a great run of community newspapering. I know Gerri will continue that tradition and I look forward to getting it in our mailbox each week. David Bordewyk SDNA Executive Director outside accolades, their newspapers were focused first and foremost on the Douglas County communities and readers they served. Congratulations to Mary and Denny on
n2017 SDNA/NDNA Convention We have heard so many nice comments from people who attended the SDNA convention this past April in Mitchell. The credit must go to Bill Krikac. As president last year, Bill put a great deal of work and (Continued on page 3)
Mary and Denny Neugebauer sold Douglas County Publishing to Gerri Olson (center) this summer. DCP includes the newspapers at Corsica, Armour and Delmont. (Photo by Elizabeth “Sam” Grosz)
July/August 2016 • 3
South Dakota Newspapers
New column connects newspapers, university by Teri Finneman
Welcome to the first edition of University News. After attending the SDNA convention this year, it became evident that the membership would like more communication with SDSU’s journalism department. Therefore, David Bordewyk and I agreed it would be useful to start a regular column with updates from the world of journalism education. First, a little about me since I’m new to South Dakota. I am entering my second year of teaching at SDSU this fall. I worked in the industry for 12 years, with most Teri Finneman of my career spent in North Dakota. I’ve worked for weeklies and small dailies, although I’m best known for my time at The Forum (Fargo) and my political multimedia reporting from the North Dakota capitol. I’ve also worked for four television stations and for ABC News in Washington, D.C. I received my master’s degree and Ph.D. from the Missouri School of Journalism. My book, Press Portrayals of Women Politicians, 1870s-2000s, came out late last year. Some of you met me at the SDNA convention when I gave a presentation about the South Dakota Journalists Oral History project that I started in my history of journalism class earlier this year. I’ll have more on that in another column. This month’s column will focus on our sports news service and the launch of our social media minor. You will find Jim Helland’s column about the sports service in this issue, while I focus on the social media component. SDSU’s new social media minor begins this fall with the Writing for Social Media class that I am teaching. The Brookings Register agreed to partner with the class, which will serve as its social media team during the fall semester. Students will create content for the Register’s Facebook and Twitter pages as well as launch Instagram and Snapchat accounts for the newspaper. We will also use Facebook Live and Periscope to cover big events like the Luke Bryan concert, Hobo Day, football games, etc. The course will cover social strategies, law and ethics, Periscope, Facebook and Facebook Live, Snapchat, Twitter, Storify, Instagram, analytics, verification, audience engagement techniques, branding, advertising/PR and social media jobs. Our first semester will be an interesting experiment. We’ll report back on how it goes. In upcoming columns, we’ll talk more about the classes we offer, National News Engagement Day in October, our internship panel and internship fair, our broadcast opportunities, Media History Engagement Week in April and other department news. You are welcome to reach me at teri. finneman@sdstate.edu and/or follow me on Twitter at @finnemte, where I post regular social media news and tips.
SDSU students creating sports content for newspapers by Jim Helland South Dakota State University
When it comes to learning how to be a good reporter there is no substitute for real-world experience. T h a t ’s t h e idea behind the Jackrabbit Jim Helland Sports Service. Launched last fall by the South Dakota State University Department of Journalism and Mass Communication with a big assist from Watertown Public Opinion Publisher Mark Roby, the sports service provided seven daily newspapers across the state with coverage of Jackrabbit athletics during the 2015-2016 school year. Just as important, it gave our students a real-world opportunity they hadn’t had before. Four students – three from South Dakota and one from Minnesota – formed the core of the sports service, and the hands-on experience they received helped them improve quickly. They did all the reporting and writing while I helped with scheduling and arranging photographs. I also edited the stories. The fall semester went smoothly, with students taking turns writing a football preview story and a football game story each week. The service also provided newspapers with a weekly feature story about Jackrabbit athletes from a variety of sports. The spring semester was more of a challenge because of the busy men’s and women’s basketball schedules, but we have formulated a plan that will make our coverage more effective this year. More on that in a moment. This partnership between the Jackrabbit Sports Service and the newspapers is a win-win situation for both sides. As I’ve mentioned, the students get invaluable experience formulating story ideas, interviewing, writing and, in general, solving the problems and challenges that arise during the writing process. The newspapers get good-quality content that covers a topic many of their readers find interesting. It also gives you professionals the opportunity to evaluate these young journalists who someday soon might end up in your newsrooms looking for jobs. Indeed, one of the students who worked for the sports service last year has graduated and is writing for the Brookings Register. Another is working full time at the Public Opinion in Watertown and a third is fulfilling an internship requirement this summer at the Madison Daily Leader before returning to SDSU for his final semester. The fourth has enrolled in graduate school at SDSU and likely will help train the next wave of students who will work for the Jackrabbit Sports Service. So that leads me to this fall. The sports service is planning another year of coverage that will begin with what we hope is a multimedia story introducing readers to the new Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. Obviously, we’d like as many newspapers as we can get to participate in this partnership and we hope you will consider subscribing. The service will operate much the same
way as it did last year in terms of content: Fall semester weekly schedule: Football preview story, football game story, feature story on an SDSU athlete (usually with South Dakota ties) or some issues affecting athletics. We’ll also cover breaking news such as a coach hiring/firing. Spring semester weekly schedule: A weekly hybrid story that focuses on the men’s or women’s basketball team. Since there are so many basketball games each week, this story will be a preview/game story rolled into one. The story will focus on whichever team (men’s or women’s) has the most newsworthy week. We’ll cover that week’s news on the other team in a non-linear breakout that can accompany the mainbar story. We’ll also produce a regular weekly feature story on an athlete or issue. It’s important to note that newspapers that subscribe to the service can request a feature story on an athlete from their area who plays for an SDSU athletic team. And here’s a new twist we’re hoping to implement this year: Professor Terry Harris is interested in having his broadcast students create videos that will accompany some of our stories. We’re still working on the details but a video tour of the new football stadium would be an example of what kind of content
we’re talking about. There are also a couple of changes regarding the structure of the sports service. We are combining the Jackrabbit Sports Service staff with the sports staff of the Collegian. It just makes sense to have all of the sports writers in one place so they’re not duplicating stories. We have eight to 10 students who are eager for the opportunity to cover Jackrabbit athletics and they come from places like Brookings, Watertown, Redfield, Webster, Sioux Falls and the Twin Cities area. We’re also taking a look at the fee structure. Last year, newspapers paid per story, and it got difficult for us to track which newspaper ran which stories. We’re working to come up with a flat monthly fee structure but need a little more time before we unveil the specifics. Look for an update on this an other issues concerning the sports service soon. So that’s the plan. Our students get the experience they need and South Dakota newspapers get excellent content at a reasonable price. If you have any questions, please contact me at james.helland@sdstate. edu or at 605-595-3103. Jim Helland is an instructor in the Journalism Department at SDSU.
Joint Convention effort into planning for a very successful convention. It was indeed a great meeting with a lot of upbeat, positive energy throughout. Now it’s on to 2017 and our third joint convention with our friends to the north. Next year’s convention will be April 27-29 in Aberdeen at the Dakota Event Center. A committee to begin planning for the 2017 convention will meet later this summer in Aberdeen. Representatives from North Dakota Newspaper Association will participate in the planning meeting as well.
(Continued from page 2)
nFirst Amendment Committee SDNA’S First Amendment Committee also will meet later this summer to discuss various open government and legislative issues. Recently, members of the committee made a wish list of what they see as open government priorities going forward. The committee will meet to discuss those priorities and consider possibilities for the 2017 legislative session.
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South Dakota Newspapers
Promoting newspapers SDNA’s John Brooks promoted the value of newspaper advertising for political candidates and campaigns when South Dakota Republicans met in June in Aberdeen for their state convention. The message: South Dakotans read newspapers and those who read newspapers vote. South Dakota will face a lengthy ballot this fall with possibly as many as 10 questions on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Urgency drives good news reporting When I got my first newspaper job in 1976, my dad, a creative craftsman, took a 14-inch-high metal sculpture he had inherited from his dad, another innovator, and turned it into a desk lamp for me. The sculpture, which resides proudly in my office, is of a newsboy hawking his wares, a paper labeled “Evening News,” and the nameplate at the base reads: “6 p.m.” I recently retired from what will be my last newsroom job, and I’ll spare you the math problem: That’s a 40-year career in newspapers, a span in which our industry has faced mortal peril. What, I’ve been asked, is the biggest difference between reporting today and reporting in the 1970s and 1980s? The answer is easy: urgency. I was lucky that the two papers I worked for as a full-time reporter were PMs, which meant when my workday started, usually at or before 7 a.m., everything I was doing was in a hurry, an effort to squeeze out a story (or sometimes, more than one) in a very compressed time. That meant if my editor said, “Hey Stasiowski, we need (whatever) …,” I had no choice but to start dialing the phone before he or she finished the sentence. That sense of urgency never left me. In my 14 years as a full-time reporter, I can’t recall a moment that I wasn’t chasing stories. I either had a telephone in my hand or my fingertips on the keyboard. And that wasn’t true of only me; my colleagues too always were racing for another source, another fact, another story. The culture has changed, however. First of all, there are so few PM papers that young reporters don’t often have the same right-from-the-start deadline pressure that disciplined me. The morning-paper deadline is such that many reporters can arrive at a reasonable hour and spend time getting settled before the chase begins. Second, there is that Internet. A reporter who gets an assignment – “Hey (you), we need (whatever),” – can justify waiting on the first phone call by Googling for background on (whatever). I do see the value in seeking out background; it helps reporters ask better questions when the phone calls start. But that seeking from the Internet has a drawback: If we wait to start calling, we risk not reaching the sources crucial to our stories. (And Internet research has its built-in drawbacks. Websites for organizations
or people often are misleading because they haven’t been updated, or their information is vague or selfserving rather than accurate or enlightening.) Third – and this is a personal observation rather than Jim Stasiowski any kind of scientific conclusion – younger reporters of today are so accustomed to the electronic marvels of email and texting, they don’t grow up enjoying the more competitive effort involved in either phone-call or in-person interviewing. Here’s a small example: Whenever I’m in a newsroom, I hear reporters who call a source, and the first thing they say is, “Do
you have time to talk right now?” That is a polite approach, but it also gives the source a perfect opportunity to say, “No, I don’t. Let’s talk later.” My advice: Don’t waste a connection with a source. His or her agreement to “talk later” may be sincere, but it’s still risky, as a million distractions may intervene, including the completely plausible “I forgot” excuse. Obviously, there are circumstances that dictate a different approach. If the source is for a feature and he or she is not mediasavvy, offering a later interview is perfectly reasonable. But if the source is a public official or hard-to-reach newsmaker, I opt for launching right into the interview. Even when the reporter doesn’t offer the “Do you have time …?” option, a source can say, “I’m really busy right now, can we do this later?” My response is automatic: “I really have only a couple of quick questions.” I say that even when I know I’ll need more than a minute or two for the interview. I consider that an excusable ruse because often, the source who pleads “really busy” will stay
on the line for as long as necessary to get his or her points across. Urgency is important not merely in chasing down sources. As an editor, I always needed to know, as soon as possible, whether a story really was going to come through. If I know early enough that a reporter’s story is unlikely, I can shift him or her to something perhaps less-rewarding but more of a sure thing. THE FINAL WORD: I seem to be seeing the phrase, “For his (or her) part, … etc.,” more often than before. It almost always precedes a section in which the source is disagreeing with what came immediately before: “For his part, Nichols refused to … .” The three-word phrase usually is superfluous, the kind of brief introduction that fits in speech but merely takes up space in serious writing. Writing coach Jim Stasiowski, retired managing editor of the Rapid City Journal, welcomes your questions or comments. Call him at (775) 354-2872, or write to 2499 Ivory Ann Drive, Sparks, Nev. 89436.