Let's Set the Record Straight:
The Crisis Facing Newspapers is Not an Audience Problem; It's a Revenue Problem

Donna Barrett President and CEO Community Newspaper Holdings President, SNPA

By Donna Barrett
President and CEO
Community Newspaper Holdings
President, SNPA

Enough already. Partial facts and misinformation about newspapers are distorting the view for everyone, including readers and advertisers.

Let's set the record straight: Newspapers still enjoy considerable readership and deliver strong results for advertisers. More Americans read printed newspapers than own dogs. More Americans read printed newspapers than watch the Super Bowl. Newspapers and their Web sites reach a larger audience than ever before. 

The crisis facing newspapers is not an audience problem. It is a revenue problem.

Newspapers deliver vital information to communities, as they have since this country was settled. But something has to pay for all of that news. Advertising has traditionally supported the valuable content provided by newspapers. Two developments have devastated that revenue.

The first is the recession. Newspapers are no different than television, radio, Internet, Major League Baseball, NASCAR and all businesses that rely on other businesses for money from advertising and promotion. The recession has led to a significant decrease in ad spending. Everyone is hurting. Newspapers just talk about it more.

Free Internet sites such as Craigslist are the other factor. These sites siphon off considerable classified advertising.

It is tough to compete against free, and free doesn’t pay for journalists. 

There is no shortage of other theories on why newspapers are hurting. Most come from those without direct responsibility for the financial health of a newspaper. Some popular explanations:

• Newspapers are too liberal and drive off readers as a result.
• Newspaper publishers are slow to embrace new technology.
• Newspapers are losing readers to the Internet.

As my father used to say, they don’t know what they don’t know. In reality, none of these theories is responsible for newspapers' woes.

Overall readership is growing. Most publishers embrace technological advances to serve their audience, but they face a real-world problem that these advances usually provide much less revenue than their core business.

Finally, newspaper companies are losing classified revenue, not readers, to the Internet. In one of life’s ironies, newspapers are growing audience through the very outlet that takes away so much revenue.

Newspaper publishers face many challenges in a changing world. They must answer some important revenue questions if their newspapers are to continue serving our communities as effectively as they have for more than 300 years.

The least we can do is make sure the issues are not distorted and misinterpreted.

James Bennett

James Bennett has been named interim regional editor of the Florence (S.C.) Morning News and Carolina Publishing Group. His appointment follows the retirement of Harry Logan. Bennett was managing editor of the Independent Tribune, a Media General Inc. newspaper in Kannapolis, N.C., before coming to the Morning News.

SNPA members are invited to share their news for this section (and all sections) of the eBulletin. Send your news to: cindy@snpa.org.

St. Petersburg Times, The Washington Post Win Pulitzer Prizes
Two SNPA member newspapers – the St. Petersburg Times and The Washington Post – were honored with Pulitzer Prizes on Monday.

From left: Lane DeGregory, staff writer; Paul Tash, chairman, CEO and editor; Bill Adair, PolitiFact editor; and Neil Brown, executive editor.

Gene Patterson, chairman, CEO and editor 1978-1988, was on hand to congratulate the staff of the Times.  Andy Barnes, chairman, CEO and editor 1988-2004, sent a note saying that he "couldn't be more proud."  Paul Tash, the paper's current leader, gave credit to Nelson Poynter, chairman, CEO and editor from 1938-1978, for handing down his incredible legacy of journalistic excellence and the Times' independence.

The St. Petersburg Times was recognized with the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for its fact-checking Web site, PolitiFact, as well as the 2009 Pulitizer Prize in Feature Writing for a story about a feral child living in deplorable conditions who was rescued and adopted.

The Washington Post was awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for a series of op-ed columns written by Eugene Robinson about the 2008 presidential campaign.

National Reporting
Created by the St. Petersburg Times in August 2007, PolitiFact launched this unique Web site to separate fact from falsehood in the claims made during the 2008 presidential campaign. It is led by PolitiFact Editor Bill Adair and is the first reporting effort created for the Web to win a Pulitzer Prize.

The site features a Truth-O-Meter that scores the truthfulness of specific claims by the presidential candidates. More than 865 findings have been published on http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ and in the Times.

Journalists and researchers from the Times fact-checked the accuracy of many speeches, TV ads, interviews and other campaign claims and communications. PolitiFact is bolder than previous journalistic fact-checking efforts because the editors make a call, declaring whether a claim is True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True or False. There is a special category for the most outrageous claims called “Pants on Fire.”

In January 2009, PolitiFact relaunched, debuting another unprecedented journalistic effort by tracking President Obama’s campaign promises and measuring the progress of his presidency.

The staff compiled 514 promises for a new feature called the “Obameter” that tracks the progress of the new president’s agenda and provides the audience with an up-to-the-minute report card.

PolitiFact received the 2008 Excellence in Online Journalism Award from the National Press Foundation and was a finalist in the Washington reporting category of the Scripps Howard Foundation’s National Journalism Awards.

Feature Writing
The feature writing award went to Times’ staff writer Lane DeGregory, whose special report on Danielle in “The Girl in the Window’’ generated more response than any piece of journalism ever published on the Times Web site Tampabay.com, and perhaps as much as any story told in the modern history of the St. Petersburg Times. DeGregory posed the question: Could love and caring make up for a lifetime of neglect?

In 2005, police were called to a house in Plant City, Fla., to investigate a case of child neglect. What they found, DeGregory wrote, was a tiny creature “curled on her side, long legs tucked into her emaciated chest on top of a torn, moldy mattress thrown on the floor…Flies picked at her face. Insect bites, rashes and sores pocked her pale skin. Though she looked old enough to be in school, she was naked – except for a swollen diaper.”

Victory, exemplified by Marty Petty, publisher and executive vice president of the St. Petersburg Times.

The little girl was Danielle, whom the child welfare system came to know as the feral, or wild, child. She apparently was never taught to speak, never nurtured.  She had never seen a doctor, never been to school. There seemed little hope that she would ever have a normal, dignified life.

The story begins with Danielle’s discovery, continues with her adoption by a brave and supportive family, and ends in a searing interview with the birth mother. To read the amazing story, go to http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2008/reports/danielle/.

DeGregory won first place in the feature writing category of the National Headliner Awards for a body of work that included "The Girl in the Window."

“These two Pulitzers showcase the absolute commitment of the St. Petersburg Times to both Web-based journalism and narrative storytelling,” said Executive Editor Neil Brown. “By deploying our staff in an intelligent and heartfelt pursuit of separating campaign rhetoric from the truth, we pushed ourselves, our peers and even the candidates themselves to a new level of accountability.

“Lane DeGregory’s beautifully told story touched our audience in so many ways and raised awareness about child neglect, foster care and abuse investigations,’’ Brown said.

Times staff writer John Barry also was honored as a Pulitzer finalist in feature writing for his series on Winter the dolphin, who was rescued and fitted with a prosthetic tail. It is a story on the mysterious connection between man and dolphin. For more, go to http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2008/reports/winter/

From left (standing): Fred Hiatt, editorial page editor; Eugene Robinson, columnist; Marcus Brauchli, executive editor; and (sitting): Vince Bzdek, deputy assistant managing editor of news desk.

The 2009 Pulitzer Prizes are the 7th and 8th in the history of the St. Petersburg Times, and the first time the newspaper has received more than one Pulitzer in the same year. This year only two newspapers won more than one Pulitzer – the Times and the New York Times, which won five.  

Commentary
The coveted commentary prize was awarded to Robinson, Washington Post associate editor and columnist, for commentary that chronicled, analyzed and anticipated Barack Obama’s presidential election. To read his columns, click here.

“From Gene’s early January column from Iowa ‘No Longer Unimaginable’
when he first believed that a black man might be elected president, to his Nov. 6 column, ‘Morning in America’ when he told us how Obama’s election felt to a man who grew up in segregated South Carolina, Gene chronicled last year’s amazing election with intelligence, wit, humor and sensitivity,” said Fred Hiatt, editorial page editor. “We congratulate Gene and are honored that the Pulitzer Prize Board has recognized his incredible work as a columnist.”

Robinson is syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group and his twice-weekly column appears in nearly 140 newspapers across the country.

Donald Graham, chairman of the board, congratulates Eugene Robinson.

Eugene Robinson addresses the newsroom, with Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli looking on.

The Washington Post also was named a finalist in five categories:

• Explanatory Reporting: Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Brady Dennis for their vivid, richly documented explanation of why AIG, the insurance industry giant, nearly collapsed and what lessons the crisis holds for the nation’s policymakers.
• National Reporting: Amy Goldstein and Dana Priest for their relentless exploration of America’s network of immigration detention centers, melding reporting and computer analysis to expose sometimes deadly abuses and spur corrective steps.
• International Reporting: Staff for its sensitive and moving examination of how females in the developing world are often oppressed from birth to death, a reporting project marked by indelible portraits of women and girls and enhanced by multimedia presentations.
• Editorial Writing: Charles Lane for his succinct and insightful editorials on the nation’s economic collapse, zeroing in on problems and offering solutions with a steady voice of reason.
• Feature Photography: Carol Guzy for her powerfully intimate coverage of the perils and sorrow of childbirth in Sierra Leone, where women face the world’s highest rate of maternal mortality.

SNPA member newspapers also were Pulitzer Prize finalists in six additional categories:

• Public Service: St. Petersburg Times – For “PolitiFact,” its fact-checking initiative during the 2008 presidential campaign that used probing reporters and the power of the World Wide Web to examine more than 750 political claims, separating rhetoric from truth to enlighten voters. (Moved by the Board to the National Reporting category.)
• Breaking News Reporting: Staff of Houston (Texas) Chronicle – For taking full advantage of online technology and its newsroom expertise to become a lifeline to the city when Hurricane Ike struck, providing vital minute-by-minute updates on the storm, its flood surge and its aftermath.
• Local Reporting: Brendan McCarthy, Michael DeMocker and Ryan Smith of The Times Picayune, New Orleans, La. – For their multifaceted examination of a murder case that showed deep understanding of the community, its social ills and the often frustrating path to justice.
• International Reporting: Rukmini Callimachi of Associated Press – For her in-depth investigation of the exploitation of impoverished children in West and Central Africa who are often traded like animals by adults who prize their labor.
• Breaking News Photography: Staff of Associated Press – For its haunting chronicle of death, destruction, heartbreak and renewal when an earthquake devastated Sichuan, China.
• Feature Photography: Sonya Hebert of The Dallas Morning News – For her empathetic portrait of palliative care in a Texas medical center as terminally ill patients cope with the end of their lives.

For complete information about the 2009 Pulitzer Prizes, click here.

McAllen Paper Introduces 'Print Edition Exclusive' Articles on Sundays
This past Sunday, The Monitor in McAllen, Texas, announced that it will publish one or more "Print Edition Exclusive" stories in each Sunday edition of the paper.

The paper noted that "like many of the nation's daily newspapers," it has been pushing hard to increase its online content. In the process, it noted that it "has become engaged in a high level of what has become known as 'reverse publishing,' in which content appears first on the Internet and then in print."

"Beginning this Sunday, we are going to begin reversing that trend a bit," an article in The Monitor said. "From now on, each Sunday edition of The Monitor will prominently feature one or more 'Print Edition Exclusive' stories that are of major impact, importance and interest to Valley readers. These stories – all of which will involve enterprise reporting by Monitor staffers – will not be featured online at themonitor.com and will not be stories that you will find available through any other area news medium except one of the three Valley daily newspapers operated by Freedom Communications."

Last Sunday's first Print Edition Exclusive, focused on what appears to be a growing nightmare in the Valley, child sexual abuse. The story dealt with the warning signs that indicate a child may have been sexually abused and what parents should do if they suspect their child has been a victim.

'$20 on the 20th' Promotion Makes Impact in Aiken
By Michael Gibbons
Managing Editor
Aiken (S.C.) Standard

The Aiken Standard is a daily in South Carolina with a circulation of around 17,000. While we all battle an economic and industry crisis, we are looking for new ways to position ourselves.

This project allowed us to bring in ad revenue, report on the economy and be community leaders, all at once. What we did was simple: We asked every reader in Aiken County to spend $20 on April 20th. We asked economists and store owners what would happen if they did. (The most interesting part we found was that each dollar spent translated into much more than that from an economic impact.) Economists and business leaders alike agreed that it could have a snowballing psychological impact. Just as negative consumer confidence held markets back, positive consumer confidence could help them surge forward.

Our ad staff sold ads for $20 each to run in the Sunday paper. For an additional $10, the ad ran Monday (the day of the event), too. More than 50 businesses advertised. We ran 1A news promotion on Saturday, and stories on Sunday and Monday.

The results were pretty amazing. We found that it was definitely THE topic in stores, from both customers and store staff. Many of the retailers had posted a cut-out of the Sunday front and were greeting customers with, "Are you here to spend your $20?" It was a popular chatter point on Facebook. Several TV stations have called asking about the initiative. The mood of the shoppers was definitely a positive one that hasn't been seen in a while.

The project has been so successful we are going to have a second 20 on 20 in May. The ad department is going to distribute "I spent $20 on the 20th" stickers for merchants to pass out (a la "I Voted" stickers).

From a news angle, we will address the impact of the previous 20 on 20, real and perceived, and talk to business owners on the changing climate of the economy. While this is certainly a different union of news and advertising, it is without a doubt a positive one, one that is beneficial at all angles. News can report on the economy.

Advertising can sell ads. Advertisers can come back to the printed page at nominal costs. And the community can get a sense of taking back control of the local economy. It wins all around. And it shows the power of the local newspaper, and that our relevance should not be written about in the past tense. We do still make a difference, and we need to remind ourselves and our readers that.

Gannett Announces Formation of Gannett Digital Media Network
Gannett Co., Inc. has announced the formation of a groundbreaking network that will change the way advertisers reach their target customers. The Gannett Digital Media Network ties together more than 100 digital communities with a combined reach of approximately 25 million people.

Included in the network are Gannett’s best-of-breed news and information sites, led by USATODAY.com. It also includes the local sites for Gannett’s network of newspaper and broadcast properties. On the whole, the consumers visiting these sites skew higher on metrics such as education and household income and, according to a recent Jupiter Research study, local sites rank highest for trust in advertising and attract consumers who spend more money online.

Beyond news and information, the Gannett Digital Media Network can also help marketers build relationships with influential audiences on a variety of growing niche sites, including:

• MomsLikeMe.com, an innovative new local social network for moms in 80 markets across the country.
• HighSchoolSports.net, which reaches teens, moms and dads.
• Metromix.com, the local entertainment and nightlife guide reaching the young urban market.
• BNQT.com, an action sports network online that attracts millennials and extreme sports enthusiasts.

“The Gannett Digital Media Network gives marketers access to diverse and attractive audience segments through our unparalleled combination of national and local media sites,” said Josh Resnik, vice president and general manager of the Gannett Digital Media Network.

In addition, the newly launched Gannett Digital Media Network leverages innovative technologies to help advertisers establish meaningful connections. This includes Gannett’s own top tier digital marketing solutions: PointRoll, which served more than 85 billion rich media ads in 2008 alone; ShopLocal, which offers a comprehensive suite of solutions used by the country’s largest retailers to reach their customers online; and Ripple6, which combines social media tools for users and publishers with social marketing tools and embedded word of mouth analytics.

“We are fortunate to be so closely aligned with leaders in the digital marketing space. PointRoll, ShopLocal and Ripple6 offer marketers innovative ways to connect with their customers. Advertisers are seeking new ways to reach consumers online, and we have integrated those solutions in order to make it easy for marketers to engage with users on the Gannett Digital Media Network,” said Resnik.

Rooftop Solar Installation Produces Green Energy for Cox Enterprises
Cox Enterprises has completed its 10,000-square-foot solar panel installation, the largest of its kind for Georgia Power's alternative energy program in Georgia.

Located at Cox's Manheim DRIVE facility in Stockbridge, Ga., the 100-kilowatt rooftop system converts the sun's radiation to electricity and generates approximately 150-megawatt hours annually. The renewable energy is fed back into the utility grid system and reduces the amount of energy generated by Georgia Power.

"Embracing renewable energy is a key component of Cox Conserves, our national sustainability program," said Mike Mannheimer, vice president, supply chain services and chief procurement officer, Cox Enterprises. "Our Manheim DRIVE solar project is a win for Cox, the environment and the community. The project reduces our energy costs and directly feeds renewable energy back into the community."

"We take great pride in being the first Manheim location in Georgia to install rooftop solar panels," said Donald Foy, executive director, Manheim DRIVE. "Our team is committed to looking at new and different ways to conserve the resources we use every day, including energy and water, to ensure we do our part for the environment and the community."

The panels are virtually maintenance-free and have a life expectancy of more than 20 years. Manheim DRIVE joins other Cox locations harnessing solar energy in Arizona, California and New Jersey.

Cox Conserves seeks to conserve resources, embrace renewable forms of energy and reduce the company's greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2017. Since 2000, Cox Enterprises has reduced its energy consumption by 10 percent while growing at nearly 12 percent a year. The program also encourages Cox's 77,000 employees and their families to engage in eco-friendly practices.

Special Report on Social Media
While many newspapers are trying to embrace social media (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.) as a tool to garner more eyeballs to their products, these very tools are becoming more of an issue in the workplace.

The SNPA eBulletin would like to examine this in an upcoming issue.

We'd like your help:

• Please e-mail cindy@snpa.org with information about how social media is affecting your workplace.
• And, if you have a policy for dealing with the issue, please e-mail a copy of your policy to cindy@snpa.org or fax to (404) 252-9135.

AP, National Football League Enter into Exclusive Commercial Licensing Agreement
The Associated Press and the National Football League have announced an exclusive agreement that makes the AP the worldwide licensing agent of NFL still images for commercial use.

Under the agreement, the AP will be able to sell its own NFL images, reserved until now for editorial purposes, for commercial use. In addition, the AP will now license NFL-owned event photos for commercial use and sell them for editorial purposes.

The agreement covers NFL images, as well as the iconic and historical images in the AP Images’ NFL archive.

"The AP is proud and excited to join with the NFL in making available a rich trove of football images to a wide audience and market," said Tom Curley, chief executive officer and president of the AP. "This agreement creates a powerful offensive line, anchored by the AP's great photography and photo licensing expertise and the NFL's terrific library of pre-season, regular season and post-season photographs, as well as events such as the NFL Draft."

AP Images, a commercial division of The Associated Press, is one of the world's largest collections of historical and contemporary imagery, with millions of images and a variety of content partners, including Ebony and Jet, the international photojournalist collective VII, and NBC Universal, among others.

News Briefs

• AbitibiBowater Inc. and certain of its U.S. and Canadian subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions in the United States under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. The company and certain Canadian subsidiaries also are seeking creditor protection in Canada. Read more from AbibitiBowater.

• Russian media enterprise, KP Group, based in Moscow has ordered three new Goss Community presses for new plants across the Russian Federation. Part of an ongoing expansion project, completion of this phase will bring to 10 the total of KP Group print facilities equipped with Community presses.

• Scottish Provincial Press, a privately owned publishing company producing 12 weekly paid-for newspapers in Scotland, has purchased a group-wide license for DTI Lightning from Digital Technology International. SPP also has ordered DTI Advertising, a 78-user DTI classified advertising software system.
  

Newspaper Launches 'Jobless in Greer' Site as Community Outreach

Sean Ireland

By Sean Ireland

Newspapers are always searching for ways to connect with their readers, and as difficult as the economic recession has been on the newspaper industry, that basic need hasn’t changed.

Hard times or not, newspapers must keep finding ways to build strong connections to their audiences, be it in print, electronically or through nontraditional products.

In fact, the recession has spurred one newspaper into discovering a new way to reach out to its readers. By following The Greer (S.C.) Citizen’s example, other newspapers may find they too can provide hope, help and inspiration to those whose lives have been turned upside down through the loss of their jobs.

There is no corner of this country that has escaped the economic downturn, but the upstate area of South Carolina has been hit particularly hard. Greer, S.C., located just northeast of Spartanburg, has been run down by the auto industry’s difficulties. BMW Manufacturing in Greer cut 700 jobs just before the holidays, and a major sector of the local economy – auto parts suppliers – has seen business drastically affected by the troubles of American carmakers. With double-digit inflation in South Carolina, second worst in the nation, Greer is hurting.

It would be easy for the city’s twice-weekly, 10,000-circulation newspaper to try to downplay the difficulties, or sterilize the news by reporting raw recitations of impersonal unemployment and economic statistics. After all, who wants to make it tougher to sell advertising by reminding people that times are tough?

Rather than shying away from the bad news however, The Greer Citizen has turned reporting on the local economy into a community service outreach effort aimed at turning it into good news. It’s an effort called “Jobless in Greer.”

“We launched ‘Jobless in Greer’ in early April,” said Editor Jim Fair. “We heard about so many people being out of work that we figured we would use the power of the press and all its resources to tell their stories – in print, on the Web and with a Facebook page. And the stories would bring the human aspects of joblessness into the souls of the readers instead of just being a statistic among millions.”

There are several components to the campaign.

At the Citizen’s Web site, greercitizen.com, unemployed readers can post their resumes, photos and e-mail addresses for free, and they can join the newspaper’s online networking group on Facebook. It’s a quick way for employers to find newly unemployed workers who might have just the right set of skills to fill a need.

“It was an extension of having people looking for work networking on a designated site in the community they lived and wanted to remain working in,” Fair said.

In print, individuals are profiled in feature stories, with details about their previous jobs and why they were laid off. There are sidebars providing financial and medical advice, job interview and resume tips, and primers on accessing government aid. There are links provided to the online information.

This photo of Frank Duke and his children, Nicholas (bottom), Frankie IV (center), and Christopher (top), ran in The Greer Citizen as part of the newspaper's "Jobless in Greer" community service outreach. Duke lost his job recently and posted his photo, resume and e-mail address for free on the newspaper's Web site, greercitizen.com. He also was featured in the print newspaper.

“The stories are human and thus provide the personal and emotional feelings of the people,” Fair said. “It’s a way to show that the people who are losing jobs, through no fault of their own, are our friends, associates, neighbors and acquaintances.

“We’ve learned that our readers and community are sending notes of encouragement, trading stories and offering services directly to the laid-off workers,” he added. “The jobless’ e-mail address is published, and this is how the networking is done.For example, one person we featured received a call from a local pharmacist committing to free medicine for their children until a job was found. We’ve had about a dozen inquiries. It’s too early to tell if we helped anyone find a job, but those that do provide tips on how they were persistent in acquiring one.”

So far, handling the information has not required too much staff time. “We get information by word of mouth, mail, e-mail and phone. I handle all the correspondence so far,” Fair said. “It takes about a half a day at this point, but we will commit to everyone who wants us to help them tell their story and use our resources to find a job or aid.”

Fair offered a few tips for putting together the stories of the unemployed, such as publishing family photos of those being featured. “Let people tell their story,” he said. “Don’t clutter a good story by trying to overwrite. Children will tell the most astonishing stories how they intuitively help their parents during this family crisis. When people call or write and ask for help and you can provide them an outlet to share their stories, it is rewarding.

“We ask for resumes so that we can contact former employers or references as a ways of checks and balances in legitimizing the integrity of the people asking for our help,” he added.

“I hope other newspapers get involved (in a project like this) because it hits at the heart of our communities,” Fair said. “Our industry’s philosophy has always been that everybody has a story to tell. Well, every layoff is a personal story of hardships and heartbreaks. Some are also inspirational in their determination to weather a difficult time in their lives by turning to faith, family or friends. I don’t pretend to believe that we will gain substantial readership – that’s not the goal. We need to become partners in helping communities and cities survive this economic calamity – one job at a time.”

For more information, contact Jim Fair at (864) 877-2076.

Publisher Testifies Before Congressional Subcommittee
Philly.com reports: "Brian P. Tierney, publisher of The Inquirer, told a congressional subcommittee that antitrust laws need to be loosened for newspapers if the industry is to reinvent itself." Read more from Philly.com.

It's Not the News. It's the Packaging
"Nobody's ever bought news by the story," Mark Potts posts at Recovering Journalist. "What people do buy are packages of news, often supported by other, non-news content. Journalists don't always like to think about this, but the reasons for subscribing to a newspaper often are as much about the comics, the crosswords and the ads as they are about the news itself. That's what people plunk down their quarters for: the package, not the story. News collected in a convenient, easy-to-use form that adds value. So maybe we need to figure out how to replicate those traditional collections of news by creating compelling online packages that people will want to pay for." Read more from Recovering Journalist.

Anguish of Story Can Haunt Journalists
Journalists who peer into the abyss of war, crime and natural disasters as part of their jobs can end up as emotionally scarred as the victims they never imagined joining. This merging of journalism and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is explored in a documentary that debuted Saturday at Filmfest DC, formally the Washington, DC International Film Festival. Read more from The Washington Times.

Reader's Corner contains, from time to time, links that require registration on another site. Registration rules and requirements are established by the host site and participation by eBulletin readers is entirely voluntary. Articles cited here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SNPA or its Board of Directors. Links refer the reader to the source material.

Smaller ... but Smarter

Ed Henninger

By Ed Henninger

So, the boss just made some cuts.
 
Tomorrow, two of your friends will be looking for jobs. And one of them was an editor who did some of the page design for your weekly. It’s now down to you and the sports editor to crank out pages every week – at least until the economy gets better.
 
Stuff happens. We can’t wish it away. So now we have to show that we can work smaller … but smarter.
 
We have to find some way to stretch our already-tight time so we can get everything done.
 
Here are some suggestions:

Page models can save you valuable time now that you have more pages to clear.

PLAN: Set out your schedule to give yourself plenty of time to design. If it used to take you half a day, start by allowing yourself a full day to get all those pages done. You can always shorten that time as you gain confidence and experience at doing more pages.
 
WORK AHEAD: You don’t have to do all those pages on deadline, do ya? Surely there are some – perhaps the community calendar page or Lifestyles – that you can be working on days ahead of time. Certainly, there’s no reason to hold onto the Opinion page until deadline day.
 
GET HELP: There’s no sacrilege in asking the ad design staff for a little bit of help now and then. Perhaps they’ll agree to clear away some of the pages that don’t require much time, like the calendar or the church listings. And maybe they’d welcome the opportunity to help with an illustration when you don’t have time to run out for that feature photo. The folks in accounting might be able to give you that chart you need to go with the city tax story.
 
GIVE HELP: Look for ways you can help out, too: As long as you’re out on that photo shoot, you might just be able to get a quick shot of that new business for the new ads the advertising department is planning on.
 
MODELS: For most small newspapers, there are only about a half-dozen different approaches to page 1. Create some models so you don’t have to re-invent the wheel with every issue. Your page doesn’t have to be designed exactly to the model, though. The idea is to give yourself a place to start – and models do just that. If you’re interested in seeing ideas for page 1 models, contact me and I’ll be happy to send some your way!
 
STICK WITH IT: This is not the time to search for new reporting methods and new design approaches. This is more like “hunker-down-in-the-trenches” time. Stick with what you know, but do it faster and better. No one – including readers – ever expects miracles from you. But they do have a right to expect quality, professional work, even if times are tough.
 
BE CONSISTENT: Give your readers the same newspaper from issue to issue. Readers want a paper that’s readable, reliable and credible. And they depend on you to be a stable source of community news. Even if you have fewer pages with tighter space, they still want to find pages and content elements in predictable places.
 
Even in tough times – and even with a smaller staff – you can still do professional work. Yes, you’re going to work harder, but the key is to also work smarter.
 
FREE DESIGN EVALUATION: Ed Henninger offers design evaluations – at no charge and with no obligation – to readers of this column. For more information, check the FREEBIE page on his Web site: www.henningerconsulting.com

Ed Henninger is an independent newspaper consultant and the director of Henninger Consulting. He offers comprehensive newspaper design services including redesigns, workshops, staff training and evaluations. E-mail: edh@henningerconsulting.com. On the web: www. henningerconsulting.com. Phone: (803) 327-3322.

Audience Development Conference
Two Important Audiences for Newspapers:
Women Ages 25-49, Parents of Young Children
Are you reaching women ages 25-49 and parents of young children?

Sudie Gambrell	Bill Fox

These two audience segments can draw critical advertising revenue and boost circulation.

Monthly "Upstate" parent magazine and a Web site called upstatescmomslikeme.com help The Greenville (S.C.) News reach across these key target markets.

At next month's SNPA Audience Development Conference, Sudie Gambrell, director of The Greenville News Parenting Group and Specialty Publications, and Bill Fox, assistant managing editor/new media at The Greenville News, will discuss the content and advertising strategies they employ to reach these crucial audiences.

Gambrell has managed non-daily publications for 20 years, including weeklies and niche publications, and currently serves as president of the national organization, Parenting Publications of America.  Fox joined The Greenville News in 1985, is a former Capital Bureau reporter, investigative reporter and city editor, and has worked on the newspaper’s Web site, GreenvilleOnline since 2000.

Annual Sponsor

Who Should Attend?
This conference is for everyone whose role impacts audience aggregation – including marketing, Internet, circulation and niche publication managers, as well as publishers and managing editors who are considering changes that will impact their share of audience.

The issues and information are so important that, to make it easier to send more than one person from a given paper, newspapers can register additional attendees for only $150 per person. ( First attendee is $400; additional attendees from the same newspaper are $150 each, for SNPA newspaper members.)

For insight that simply isn't available anywhere else, register for this dynamic conference, set for May 14-16 at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Ravinia, Atlanta, Ga.

For more information, contact Sharon Shuford at (404) 256-0444 or sharon@snpa.org.

• register
• conference program

New Four-Part Series of 'New Revenue' Webinars to Begin in Two Weeks
SNPA has partnered with Borrell Associates and other state and regional press associations to present a new series of webinars designed to help participants learn about new revenue opportunities.

The upcoming series begins May 6.  Newspapers can register for one webinar for $75 or for all four webinars for $250.  Topics are: 

THE NEW REVENUE SERIES

Perfect for ad managers, Interactive managers and classified account executives.

• MAY 6 – New Net Business: The Online Model
  What do the most successful media Web sites know that you don’t? Most traditional media outlets are not even targeting the highest local online ad spenders in their markets. Are you uncovering all the new ad revenue opportunities in your community? Are you targeting the right businesses? Are you offering the right ad products? Shoot for the big dollars with the right strategy and the right Web site.

• MAY 20 – Top Online Business Categories: Where's the Money?
  If you are chasing after the same business categories that advertise in your paper, you are missing half the new ad dollars available on the Internet for your Web site. We look at the $13+ billion dollar local advertising pie and slice up the most lucrative business categories for you. We’ll cover how to capture these categories with new products and services on your site.

• In addition to offering registration for this new series of classified Webinars, NewspaperWebinars.com includes links to additional Webinars offered by other press associations. Check it out!

  JUNE 3 – Online Promotions: Untapped Sales Revenue
  Online promotions (non-ad) were a $10 billion marketing category in 2008. We expect it will nearly triple over the next five years, surpassing every online advertising category. The big windfall is just beginning online, where the utility nature of the Internet is prompting local businesses to shift more dollars from traditional media to interactive, direct-to-consumer marketing campaigns. Some local media companies have already identified this trend and are capitalizing on it.

• JUNE 17 – Directories Online: Ad Revenue Success
  If you haven’t implemented business directories online you are losing out on big ad spending growth. Directories are the perfect match for the consumer and the utilitarian nature of the Web. More people now search for local business information than they do local news. Learn how to capture the fast growing small- and medium-size business ad spending in your community.

WHAT EQUIPMENT DO I NEED?  The only equipment needed to participate in a webinar is an Internet-connected computer and a telephone.  Many employees can participate in the webinar simultaneously by connecting to the webinar in a conference room with a speakerphone, computer and video projector.

HOW DO I REGISTER OR GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT UPCOMING PROGRAMS?  Register online at www.newspaperwebinars.com  This site also includes links to webinars offered by other press associations and a list of the future webinars in this online revenue series.

May 22 is Deadline to Participate
in 2009 Salary Survey
May 22 is the final deadline to take part in this year's SNPA salary survey.

The survey results will be available the first week in June, and will be distributed electronically to publishers of participating newspapers. 

Participation in the survey is open to member and non-member newspapers in the South (both dailies and non-dailies). The only non-member newspapers outside of the South that are eligible to participate are those with daily circulations over 200,000.

SNPA members that decline to share data for the survey, but want to purchase the survey results will be charged $300.  The non-member fee to purchase survey results is $600.  Members can save $275 by participating in the study for just $25. Non-members also can save by sharing data for the study (see costs below).

Survey questionnaires can be downloaded from the link below:

• Download salary survey questionnaire

In downloading the survey questionnaire from the above Web site, be careful to select the form that best reflects your newspaper's frequency of publication and circulation size.  There are three versions:

• Non-daily newspapers -- published one, two or three days a week
  Members - $25
  Non-members - $100 (must be from the South)
• Daily newspapers published at least four days a week with circulations under 10,000
  Members - $25
  Non-members - $200 (must be from the South)
  
• Daily newspapers published at least four days a week with circulations over 10,000
  Members - $25
  Non-members with circulations up to 200,000 - $200 (must be from the South)
  Non-members with circulations over 200,000 - $300 (all U.S. papers over 200,000 daily circulation are eligible to participate)
  

Don't worry about sending the $25 with the survey form. You will be invoiced for the fee after your questionnaire is received.

Questions about the survey should be addressed to Cindy Durham in the SNPA office: cindy@snpa.org or (404) 256-0444.

Entry Deadline: June 8
Two $1,000 Cash Prizes to be Awarded to SNPA Members
Entries will be accepted until June 8 for the 2009 Carmage Walls Commentary Prize. The awards program, sponsored by the SNPA Foundation, was created to recognize outstanding commentary on local issues and to encourage thoughtful, courageous and constructive editorial page leadership on issues specifically relevant to each newspaper's primary readership. The competition is open to both daily and non-daily members.

The prize was named for the late Benjamin Carmage Walls whose newspaper career spanned seven decades. Walls primarily owned community newspapers and advocated strong, courageous and positive editorial page leadership. His friends and associates have agreed to underwrite the cost of the awards for the first 10 years. These donors are not family members and wish to remain anonymous.

The awards program is open only to staff members from SNPA member newspapers. Each entry may consist of up to six separate opinion pieces, editorials or columns on a single subject published on the editorial pages of an SNPA member newspaper in 2008.

Individuals are allowed to submit multiple entries at $25 per entry. Each of those entries can consist of a single column, editorial or opinion piece OR the entry can consist of multiple pieces – up to a maximum of six pieces (all on the same subject).  The thought behind this is:  if you wrote a series of columns on one subject and want to submit them as a "package," judges ought to view those columns on the same subject as a single entry. Columns on separate topics would need to be entered as separate entries, but that is allowed.

Monday, June 8, is the deadline to submit all entries.

Newspapers are encouraged to submit entries by e-mail. If e-mail submissions are not possible, contact Cindy Durham at (404) 256-0444 or cindy@snpa.org to discuss alternatives.

Entries should include:

• A completed entry form.
• The opinion pieces, columns or editorials.
• Any needed explanation of the issues discussed and the results achieved.
• Entry fee of $25, payable by check or credit card (on our secure payment site).  Checks should be made payable to SNPA and should be mailed to: SNPA, Walls Commentary Prize, 3680 North Peachtree Road, Suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30341. Entry fees must be paid no later than Friday, June 12.  Entries will be dropped from the contest if contest fees are not paid by June 12.

Prizes for the winners of the Walls Commentary Prize will be a plaque and a cash award of $1,000 for first and $500 for second place in each of two circulation categories – over 50,000 circulation and under 50,000 circulation. The prizes will be announced at SNPA’s Annual Convention, Oct. 18-20 at the Ritz Carlton in Naples, Fla.

For additional information, contact Cindy Durham at SNPA: cindy@snpa.org or (404) 256-0444.

• Click here for details and an entry form

List Newspaper Job Openings on the SNPA Web Site
SNPA member newspapers can post job openings free of charge on the SNPA Web site. To post your job, send the text of the ad to cindy@snpa.org. Most announcements will stay on the site for a month, but you can request shorter or longer runs. Click here to access the SNPA Jobs Board.