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THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER June 2018
Nominations sought for Turnbull, Bradley awards Page 5
Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
O’Connor, Ward now top execs for Sound Publishing
CELEBRATION OF LIFE
Gloria Fletcher leaves Sound for job with Berkshire Hathaway Josh O’Connor, publisher of The Daily Herald, has been appointed President/ Publisher of Sound O’Connor Publishing. He replaces Gloria Fletcher who left the company last month to become publisher of the Tulsa World and vice-president of the South Newspaper Group of Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway Media Group. O’Connor is now responsible for Sound Publishing
operations statewide. However, he also will continue to be publisher of The Daily Herald. He is in Ward charge of the “continuing success of the media company” ensuring that its publications, including new digital products, are “healthy and robust” and deliver relevant local news to the communities they serve, O’Connor said.
See SOUND Page 3
Black acquires Alaska papers, sells Ohio daily David Black, chairman and owner of Black Press, LTD of Victoria, British Columbia, the parent company of Washington’s Sound Publishing, announced last month it has agreed to acquire the daily newspapers in Juneau and Kenai, Alaska from New Media Investment Group. Simultaneously, Black announced that his company has
agreed to the sale of the Akron (OH) Beacon Journal to New Media Investment Group. No terms of the transactions were announced. Rick O’Connor, president and CEO of Black Press said, “We have provided stewardship of the Beacon Journal for the past 11 years and are extremely proud of
See ALASKA Page 3
Nicholas Johnson of the Mukilteo Beacon won a first place award in the General News Photo Category in the 2017 WNPA Better Newspaper Contest for this photo of a celebration of life for a young girl killed in a car crash.
Newspapers hit hard by newsprint tariffs Newspapers across the country are coping with escalating newsprint prices since the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed tariffs on Canadian imports of the uncoated groundwood paper used for newsprint. Besides asking newspaper advertisers and readers to pay more, publishers nationwide are laying off workers and shrinking the size of their papers. The duties vary from company to company but range as high as 32 percent, according
to the News Media Alliance, an advocacy group in Arlington, Va. The tariffs resulted from a complaint by a U.S. paper manufacturer, North Pacific Paper Co. of Longview, Wash., which said government subsidies give Canadian producers an unfair price advantage over domestic mills. Canada has about 25 groundwood producers while only five are operating in the U.S. In January, the Commerce Department imposed a tariff of 6.2 percent on Canadian news-
print and raised it by 22 percent in March after an investigation found a producer in British Columbia was underselling groundwood. The International Trade Commission will hold a hearing on the tariffs in July and the Commerce Department later this summer will decide whether to make them permanent. Since the tariffs were imposed, U.S. newspapers have experienced newsprint price in-
See TARIFF Page 2
TARIFF: Newspapers hurt by newsprint prices Continued from Page 1
imported steel and alumicreases ranging from 20 percent num. to 30 percent, the News Media “We don’t have the abilAlliance said. ity to absorb those [tariff] The industry group argues costs,” Mr. Boyle said. “We the problem stems from the on- can’t pass them on to advergoing shift in the news industry tisers; they will go to Google from print to digital and a draor Facebook.” matic drop in print advertising Newspaper trade groups and newspaper page counts. have made repeal of the tariffs a Demand for newsprint has priority. fallen 75 percent since 2000 and Publishers will travel to more than 70 U.S. newsprint Washington June 13-14 to meet mills have closed since 2007, with members of Congress. the News Media Alliance said. Legislation has already been Critics of the tariffs note introduced to suspend the tariffs. they were triggered by a Newspapers aren’t the only single producer, Norpac, print product taking a hit. which is owned by One Books, advertising circulars, Rock Capital Partners, a and directories will also be New York-based hedge fund. impacted, according to Printing “It’s a totally wacky Industries of America, a trade thing brought to us by a group. private equity firm out of “In an industry in which it New York,” said Paul Boyle, is difficult to absorb forced cost senior vice president, public increases, the effect will likely policy at News Media Allibe less production, fewer pages ance. printed, a faster shift to digital Norpac’s owner, he said, content of news and books, and “is taking advantage of a more diversion of advertising protectionist environment from print to electronic platin Washington, D.C.” where forms,” Michael Makin, PIA the Trump administration president and chief executive also just imposed tariffs on said.
Officers: Sandy Stokes, President; Michael Wagar, First Vice President; Donna Etchey, Second Vice President, Don Nelson, Past President. Trustees: Tom Mullen, Patrick Grubb, Colette Weeks, Eric LaFontaine, Caralyn Bess, Roger Harnack and Scott Hunter. THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER is the offical publication of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. It is published monthly by WNPA, PO Box 389, Port Townsend, WA 98368. Staff Fred Obee: Executive Director: 360-344-2938. Email: fredobee@wnpa.com Janay Collins, Member Services Director: 360-344-2938. Email: ads@wnpa.com 2 The Washington Newspaper June 2018
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Coarse language more prevalent in political coverage these days By Sandy Stokes It used to be fun to cover politics. A few years ago, a La Conner councilman’s humorous rant featured three kinds of manure in one paraStokes graph – horse, chicken and bull. We dutifully recorded his statement, using the whole scatological term for the fecal matter, vowel and all. Yes, he said “shit,” and he was quoted accurately all three times. It was fun and edgy, but I knew that every grandmother in our readership had heard it before and likely wouldn’t get the vapers. In fact, the readers guffawed over it. For more than 20 years, the Pulitzer wining Point Reyes Light, a weekly in California’s Marin County, has been quoting people using the “F-word,” all four letters of it. The Stranger in Seattle, another Pulitzer winner, also uses the unredacted version of that word. I haven’t done that yet, and most of us still use abbreviations. And when we learn new obscenities or old words become obscene, we might use asterisks instead of vowels. But as our environment liberally accepts spicy language while at the same time adjusting the rules on what’s offensive and politically correct, many of the news outlets we always looked up to have developed a mean streak. Roseanne Barr and Samantha Bee have been in the
news recently for statements that anyone in their right mind would consider disgusting. But people, and yes, even some journalists, are lining up on either side to champion the “free speech” of the one whose ideology they like best. While both comedians stepped in it badly, some news people argued over whether the liberal or the Trump supporter was most vile. Is the uptick in news industry tribalism because Donald Trump was elected president? A journalism professor from a school in this state recently told me there appears to be a “Trump bump” in the number of college students enrolling in journalism courses. I hope this doesn’t mean we’ll have to tame a generation of preachy young’uns who admire journaliststurned-activists and partisansturned-journalists. Depending on which news channel you watch, radio station you listen to or which paper you read, the President of the United States can be either a criminal or a hero and anyone who supports him can be either a racist idiot or a brave patriot. Even in our relatively smallish state there is a stark division on attitudes between Western Washington residents and people who live east of the Cascades. Early this year our Olympia reporters got rattled a time or two by editors on the east side who contacted them to point out what they saw as a Seattle bias. Meanwhile, the dueling narratives in the other Washington are absolutely crazymaking.
If you watch the daily White House press briefing, you see some correspondents pose queries designed to flatter while others bark insults couched as questions. The screeching from the nation’s capitol carries over to our state politics and in some cases, right into our city councils and school boards. So we try to keep the peace, carefully tap dancing between liberalism, conservativism and populism. Most of us can’t count the times we’ve sat at our desks facing a visitor evangelically trying to bring us into their own particular political fold. While it may be impossible to change people’s core ideology, it’s not impossible to stay calm and be kind while we hear them out and later respectfully explain their position to our readers. Sadly, this past year I’ve seen loaded language slip into otherwise straight news stories in some of the nation’s most trusted publications. A single snarky word will loudly proclaim the writer’s bias and insult every reader with a different opinion. In this volatile, angry environment with people yelling “fake news” and “alternative facts,” all we can do is hold our heads up and keep doing what we’ve always done – serve our readers with kindness and respect. After all, they’re our neighbors and our community and our newspapers make them family. Sandy Stokes is the Bureau Chieft of the Olympia News Bureau, former owner of the La Conner Weekly News and this year’s WNPA president.
SOUND: O’Connor the new president; Ward named VP Continued from Page 1
Sound Publishing produces 42 community weeklies, dailies (including The Daily Herald) and bi-weeklies predominantly in Snohomish, King, Kitsap and Grays Harbor counties and the Olympic Peninsula. O’Connor joined Sound Publishing’s parent company, Black Press Group Ltd., based in Surrey, B.C., as a sales executive in 1998. Successive promotions resulted in a series of management positions in Surrey, Richmond and Abbotsford B.C., the company said. In 2007, he became publisher of the East Sound community newspaper group. In May 2013, he was named publisher of The Daily Herald. “I’m excited about the new challenge,” O’Connor said. “I think there is a lot of hard work ahead of us but a bright future for journalism as we make sense of the ways our content can engage with the future.”
O’Connor, who lives with his wife Erin and two daughters in Issaquah, is a contributor to many community organizations throughout Puget Sound. Promoted to Vice President for Sound Publishing is Terry Ward, the current publisher of the Peninsula Daily News (Port Angeles). He is also responsible for Sound Publishing’s operations in Kitsap County and Aberdeen, WA and its newly acquired properties in Juneau, Kenai and Homer, Alaska. Ward joined Sound Publishing as group publisher of the Olympic Peninsula News Group in September 2015 and was appointed regional publisher in April 2016, adding Sound classifieds and the Kitsap News Group to the list of publications he leads. Ward was previously the CEO of KPC Media Group, a regional family-owned media company with 22 publications in Northeast Indiana.
ALASKA: Black expands to Juneau, Kenai Continued from Page 1
the quality of journalism and the role the newspaper plays in the community. However, the Beacon Journal is geographically located too far from our other publications for us to provide the kind of leadership the paper needs and community deserves. We think the Beacon Journal is a perfect fit for New Media’s growing cluster of Ohio publications. We are also very excited to acquire the Alaska publications which will complement our publishing groups in Washington state and British Columbia.” Black Press publishes 100 community publications in BC and Alberta and 63 daily and community publications in Washington, California and Hawaii.
“New Media is very excited to add the Akron Beacon Journal and its associated publications to our portfolio of local media assets on North Central Ohio,” Michael E. Reed, New Media president and CEO, said in a written statement. “The Beacon Journal has been known for its strong and trusted journalism dating back to when James Knight owned the newspaper.” New Media is one of the largest publishers of locally based print and online media in the United States, publishing 145 daily publications and hundreds of community publications. New Media operates in over 570 markets across 38 states reaching over 22 million people on a weekly basis and serves approximately 215,000 business customers.
Oregon invites WNPA members to convention The Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association convenes its annual conference July 19 & 20 at Brasada Ranch near Bend, Ore., and WNPA members are welcome to attend.
Keynote speakers at the conference include Don Graham, formerly the publisher of the Washington Post, and Amanda Bennett, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and currently the di-
rector of Voice of America. For more information about the conference and to register, go to onpa.com or call Executive Director Laurie Heib at 503-6246397.
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The Washington Newspaper June 2018 3
It’s political season: Be sure of requirements for candidate ads
Nominations sought for Turnbull & Bradley awards
Political advertising has its own set of particular rules, and ad managers should regularly review the regulations with sales and production people. The rules apply to newspaper ads, billboards, signs, brochures, articles, tabloids, flyers, letters, radio or TV presentations, or other means of mass communication. If the item directly or indirectly asks for votes or for financial or other support or opposition in an election campaign, it is considered political advertising. Here are a few of the rules established by the state Public Disclosure Commission that should be taken into account when preparing election materials: Candidate photos must have been taken within the last five years. Party preference must be included in any form of advertising about a candidate seeking election to a partisan office, regardless of who sponsors the ad. Official symbols or logos adopted by the state committee of the party may be used to indicate a candidate’s party preference in political advertisements instead of words. Sponsor identification is required for political advertising, except for certain types of ads. The sponsor is the candidate, committee, or other person who pays for the ad. When the person buying the ad is an agent for another person or is otherwise reimbursed, the sponsor is the ultimate spender. The PDC has separate instructions that explain the unique spon-
Nominations are being sought for two of WNPA’s top awards, the Dixie Lee Bradley award and the Miles Turnbull Master Editor/Publisher award. Bradley tirelessly served the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and its members for 45 years and Turnbull was an active Bradley publisher and ultimately Executive Director of the organization. The Bradley award recognizes a behind the scenes newspaper staff member. The selection criteria includes a demonstrated record over a considerable time period of consistent quality work in any facet of the community newspaper industry other than news and Turnbull advertising. There is no entry fee at the time of nomination. However, the sponsoring newspaper must agree to pay the winning employee a $250 bonus which will be matched by WNPA for a total cash prize of $500 for the winner. The winner also receives an engraved clock. The Miles Turnbull Master Editor/Publisher award may be given to any person who is actively engaged in editing, managing and/or publishing a newspaper which is a member in good standing of the WNPA. To nominate someone for either award, send a short essay describing why your nominee should win to Fred Obee at fredobee@wnpa.com. Deadline for submission is July 1, 2018.
sor ID requirements for electioneering communications and independent expenditures. Use the words “paid for by” or “sponsored by” followed by the sponsor’s name & address. Include all sponsors’ names and addresses when there is more than one. A political committee must include its Top 5 contributors’ names when sponsoring an ad about a ballot measure with a cost of at least $1,000 in the aggregate. (The top 5 is defined as the five largest contributors who gave more than $700 during the 12 months before the ad appears.) Print ads and websites must display sponsor names and any party preference in an area set apart from the ad text on the first page of the ad. Use at least 10-point type; do not screen or half-tone the text. Small online ads with limited characters may display sponsor names and party preference in an automatic display such as a mouse tip/rollover or non-blockable popup that remains visible for at least 4 seconds or on a webpage that is conspicuously linked to the small ad and reached with one mouse click. A sponsor’s name and address may be left off of a political ad that meets all of the following criteria: • The sponsor is an individual acting on his or her own behalf, independent of any candidate, political committee or organization, who personally produces and distributes the ad (or pays for it to be produced and/or distrib-
uted); the sponsor receives no contributions or other support to produce and distribute the ad; • No more than $50 in the aggregate is spent for online advertising or $100 in the aggregate for any other type of advertising; and the advertising is either distributed through the individual’s social media site, personal website, or similar online forum where information is produced and disseminated only by the individual or a letter, flier, handbill, text or email from the individual that does not appear in a newspaper or comparable mass publication. It is illegal to sponsor a political ad, with actual malice, that contains a statement constituting libel or defamation. Ads cannot directly or indirectly imply a candidate has the support or endorsement of any person or organization when the candidate does
not. Ads cannot include a false statement of material fact about a candidate or falsely represent that a candidate is an incumbent. Sponsors of ads cannot use an assumed name for sponsor identification in a political ad or distribute campaign material deceptively similar in design or appearance to the voter and candidate pamphlets published by the Secretary of State, or use the state seal or its likeness to assist or defeat a candidate. Candidates cannot falsely imply incumbency in a political advertisement about a candidate who does not hold the office. Recommended format: Elect Tracy Jones Auditor or Tracy Jones for Auditor. For more information or to clarify the rules, you can call WNPA at 360515-5239 or visit the Public Disclosure Commission’s website at https:// www.pdc.wa.gov.
The Washington Newspaper June 2018 4
WNPA JOB BOARD The following is a selection of job postings from the WNPA Job Board. For a complete list, go to wnpa.com.
excellent customer care and communication. The ideal candidate will be a seasoned sales representative with strong local experience and a great SEEKING ACE REPORTER reputation. They will have The Leader, a 6,500-cir- a solid understanding of the culation independently sales process and a proven owned weekly newspaper track record of prospecting, serving Port Townsend and developing and closing new Jefferson County, has an business. immediate opening for a If you see yourself reporter/photographer. working directly with our Our General Excellence customers in a collabaward-winning operation orative, creative, fun and needs someone with a nose digitally facing environfor news. Beginning report- ment, contact us at hr@ ers welcome; journalism eomediagroup.com with education is a must. your resume and cover Salary range is negoletter. The home office is in tiable - based on experience. Seaside, Ore., but regular Email your resume, a cover travel on the Oregon coast letter, one text document is required. The position is of your work and one of full-time with an excellent your photos to: kamelcompensation package with ing@ptleader.com Port benefits including mileTownsend is a Victorian age reimbursement, paid seaport and arts community time off, 401(k) retirement on the Olympic Peninsula, plan and insurances. 50 miles and a ferry ride from downtown Seattle. REPORTER The Cheney Free Press DIGITAL MARKETING is seeking a full-time staff EXECUTIVE reporter to cover news, DiscoverOurCoast. sports and education in com is growing. We are our circulation area of completely reinventing southwest Spokane Counour business to shine like ty, population of roughly our sister sites Tahoe. 30,000-plus. The position com and OBXguides.com. is full-time, 40-plus hours. We could use your help! We Starting pay is $15/hour, are hiring a Digital Sales with health care benefits & Marketing Executive to and paid time off. develop new relationships Applicant should have a with local businesses on the college degree in journalOregon Coast. The Digital ism or equal. Experience Sales & Marketing Execuin all aspects of journaltive will focus his/her enism (researching, interergy on developing revenue viewing, writing, etc.) by selling digital marketing along with photojournalproducts that will deliver ism, Photoshop, page depowerful results to potential sign and layout (InDesign clients. The position plays a 3.0) and web experience. vital role in the company’s Successful applicant will overall growth strategy by be responsible for coverbuilding key customer rela- age of a specific local beat tionships, identifying new that includes, but not limopportunities, negotiating ited to, civic news, sports, and closing business and education and community maintaining long term cus- news. We cover the cities tomer relationships through of Cheney, Medical Lake 5 The Washington Newspaper June 2018
and Airway Heights as well as news in southwest Spokane County and Eastern Washington University. Please send a resume, cover letter and three writing samples to jmac@ cheneyfreepress.com. No phone calls please. REPORTER We are seeking a gen-
eral assignment reporter to cover community, features, business and agriculture news in the heart of Central Washington. Our next reporter must have well-developed skills in English and AP style, be able to write, take pictures, enjoy social media, edit copy and work well with
others, be an energetic team player, bear strong interpersonal skills, and be well organized. Preference is given to applicants from Washington state. The job becomes available June 1. Moses Lake offers a great small town feel with big city features. Outdoor recreation is near by with close locations for hiking,
skiing, powersports, fishing, golf and more. We offer full medical coverage, paid vacation and a retirement 401(k) plan. Please email cover letter, resume and writing samples to mediawork2018@ outlook.com or via mail to: Reporter opening, 601 S. Pioneer Way, Ste F #269, Moses Lake, WA 98837.