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50 years and counting...
Jim Thompson has served Hardin County at The Courier for half a century

Courier Managing Editor Jim Thompson is celebrating a half century on the job at the newspaper.

"He’s been the one to institutionalize this paper," said Courier Publisher Joe Hurd. "We’ve grown from 1,200 papers a week to about 9,200, which makes us the second largest in Tennessee."

With Thompson at the helm, the newspaper earned 104 awards from the University of Tennessee – Tennessee Press Association in categories including general excellence, local editorials, best news story, best special section, best personal column features, photography, community lifestyles, sports coverage, make-up and appearance, and public service.

Among those are 31 first-place commendations.

In a brand new TPA contest category, The Courier this year won an award for best website.

Thompson has led a very active role in the Tennessee Press Association throughout his time at The Courier. He served on TPA’s Contests Committee from 1973-2003. He was vice chairman in 1985 and 1995. He chaired the committee in 1986 and 1996.

He served on TPA’s Insurance Committee from 1980 to 1983 and 1986 to 1998. He serves currently on the Government Affairs Committee and has since 2004.

Hurd, who took over as publisher of the family-owned newspaper following the death of his mother Katherine Craddock in November 2008, and Thompson were both members of the 1960 graduating class of Central High School in Savannah.

"In high school, we both worked in the printing shop at The Courier," Hurd, a retired Air Force general, recalled.

Starting in 1959, as a distributive education student, Thompson learned the business "from the floor up," states an honorary state House Joint Resolution signed by House Speaker Ned McWherter.
Thompson, who has served on the TPA board of directors, hand-set type, operated the linotype, did hot metal make-up, ran the presses and supervised production before moving to the editorial side of the operation into writing, copy editing and photography.

In 1967 he was named associate editor by then-publisher Bill Craddock, Kate’s husband, and only four years later was promoted to managing editor upon Bill’s death.

"The Courier has been Jim’s life, taking precedence over vacations, hobbies, home repairs and even family," said his wife Beth Thompson, the newspaper’s office manager. "Once, flat on his back after major surgery, he wrote stories in longhand on a yellow legal pad."

In 1978, the Thompsons became part-owners of the newspaper which has been serving the Savannah and Hardin County area now for 126 years.

The couple, who have two daughters, Emily, a state employee at Pickwick Landing State Park, and Amy, a teacher at Adamsville High School who also writes sports for The Courier, is expected to return home to Hardin County today (Thursday) after their first-ever two-week vacation.

Recollecting growing up with a newsman daddy, Amy said it was "actually pretty fun. I’ve been in a burning house, I’ve been to all kinds of wrecks and meetings and things. He just included The Courier in everything."

Ron Schaming, the paper’s news editor, said, "We haven’t quoted Jim for this story because he doesn’t know anything about it.

"He also doesn’t yet know the staff is hosting a public reception for him at The Courier next Thursday (July 8), from 2-4 p.m., because he wouldn’t want us to make too much of a fuss. I guess that’ll teach him to run off and leave us all alone for two weeks."
From The Courier, Savannah, July 1, 2010

Powers, Johnson City, is TPA president elect
Arthur S. (Art) Powers, vice president and publisher of the Johnson City Press, is president elect of the Tennessee Press Association (TPA).

TPA is the trade association of the state’s daily and non-daily newspapers. It is composed of 26 daily newspapers and 98 non-daily newspapers.

Powers will succeed Victor Parkins, editor of The Milan Mirror-Exchange. The installation ceremony will take place on Friday, July 16 in conjunction with the State Press Contests Awards Luncheon at the Embassy Suites in Nashville.

Speaking of his plans for his term as president, Powers said, “I want to especially encourage our membership to become active in their attendance of all of our events. Sharing our ideas and listening to other professionals from our industry will only make our strong newspapers in the state become stronger.”

Other officers elected at TPA’s business session during the Tri-State Press Convention June 24 in Tunica, Miss. were Jeff Fishman, publisher of The Tullahoma News, re-elected vice president for non-daily newspapers; Michael Williams, publisher of The Paris Post-Intelligencer, elected vice president for daily newspapers; and Kevin Burcham, publisher of the News-Herald, Lenoir City, re-elected treasurer.

Directors elected for two-year terms are Jack McElroy, editor of the News Sentinel, Knoxville, director of District 2; Darren Oliver, advertising director of the Overton County News, Livingston, director of District 4; Andrew Oppmann, publisher of The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville, director of District 6; Brad Franklin, marketing director of The Lexington Progress, director of District 8; and Eric Barnes, publisher of The Daily News, Memphis, director of District 10.

Continuing their terms as directors are Lynn Richardson, publisher of the Herald and Tribune, Jonesborough, director of District 1; Chris Vass, Sunday editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, director of District 3; Hugh Jones, publisher of the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, director of District 5; John Finney, vice president of the Buffalo River Review, Linden, director of District 7; and Joel Washburn, editor of the Dresden Enterprise, director of District 9. Parkins will continue on the board for one year as immediate past president.

The TPA Board of Directors appointed trustees to serve on the Tennessee Press Association Foundation (TPAF) Board of Trustees for three-year terms. Re-appointed trustees were Doug Horne, Republic Newspapers, Knoxville, and Janet Rail, Independent Appeal, Selmer. Nate Crawford of Nashville was appointed to his first term on the TPAF Board of Trustees. TPAF officers elected at the TPAF Board of Trustees meeting were W.R. (Ron) Fryar, publisher of the Cannon Courier in Woodbury, re-elected president, and Gregg K. Jones, president of Jones Media Inc., Greeneville, re-elected vice president.

Officers and directors of the Tennessee Press Service (TPS), business affiliate of TPA, are Pauline D. Sherrer, publisher, Crossville Chronicle, president, and Michael Williams, publisher, The Paris Post-Intelligencer, vice president. Jason Taylor, president of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, was elected during the TPS stockholders’ meeting June 18 to serve as a director. Re-elected to serve on the board were Sherrer and Williams.

Continuing to serve on the six-member TPS board are Jeff Fishman, Victor Parkins and Art Powers. W. R. (Ron) Fryar is rotating off the TPS board after two nine-year periods of service.

Art Powers became vice president and publisher of the Johnson City Press, a 28,614 paid-circulation daily in Washington County, in 2002.

He began his newspaper career with Worrell Newspapers Inc. in 1973 and moved through several management and publishing positions in Indiana, Virginia and Kentucky before arriving in Bristol, where he was vice president and publisher of the Bristol Herald Courier from 1981 to 1998.

From 1997 to 2002, Powers and his wife, Fran, owned Powers Publications Inc., which published three western North Carolina newspapers, the Watauga Democrat, Boone; The Blowing Rocket, Blowing Rock; and the Avery Journal, Newland.

Powers is a native of Knoxville and a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a bachelor of science degree in marketing.

Powers’ father, the late Frank B. Powers, worked for The Knoxville News-Sentinel as national ad manager, ad director and business manager before accepting roles in the Scripps Howard corporate offices as assistant general manager, business manager and later vice president of all Scripps Howard newspapers.

In addition to TPA, Powers serves on the boards of TPS, TPAF and the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. He also serves on the boards of numerous educational institutions and community organizations, including the Foundation Board of the Johnson City-Washington County-Jonesborough Chamber of Commerce, Washington County United Way, the Children’s Advocacy Center, Milligan College President’s Executive Council, East Tennessee State University Foundation, and Northeast State Foundation.

The Powerses have two daughters, Erin S. Powers of Knoxville and Logan P. Alexander of Chattanooga.

Powers enjoys fly-fishing, golf, UT football and basketball and Carolina shag dancing.

The TPA was founded in 1870-71 for the purpose of creating a unified voice for the newspaper industry in Tennessee. Today, TPA continues to provide assistance to its 124 member newspapers by monitoring legislative activities, providing training programs, issuing press credentials, maintaining a website and providing regular meetings and forums to foster the exchange of information and ideas.

The TPA presidency rotates among TPA’s three divisions of Tennessee, east, middle and west, and alternates each year between a daily and non-daily publication. It is customary that, when a person is elected a vice president, he or she will serve two terms as vice president before being elected president.

TPAers overwhelmingly vote to change constitution
By Greg Sherrill, TPA executive director

Tennessee Press Association (TPA) member newspapers overwhelmingly voted to allow a change to the TPA Constitution and Bylaws that would make it easier for the Association to amend that same document. The change allows the membership to alter or amend its governing document with a super-majority of those voting, rather than a super-majority of the entire membership.

The independent auditing firm, McFarland and Gann P.C., which conducted the ballot referendum, reported results of the vote to the board of directors at its June 24 meeting. Out of a total membership of 125 newspapers, responses were received from 111 publishers, or 88.8 percent of the membership. Per the then-current bylaws requirements, TPA needed two-thirds of the full membership to approve the proposed change, and 94 votes were returned in favor of the change (75.2 percent). In the spirit of openness, members were told that their voting preference would be made available to the membership after the referendum.

TPA President Victor Parkins said, “More than the vote itself, I’m pleased that just about every member newspaper participated in the process.”

“As much as our industry has changed over the past decade alone, there’s no question that some of TPA’s bylaws will one day have to change as well. The decision to refer any proposed change in our bylaws for a ballot vote will still be made by our board of directors, and I have confidence they will continue to make decisions in the best interest of the Tennessee Press Association,” Parkins said.

The initial response to the ballot referendum was very poor, and it took considerable effort and expense on behalf of the TPA directors and staff to convince a two-thirds majority of member publishers to take a stand on the issue and return a ballot. This underscored the very issue at hand—that ‘non-votes’ were considered as ‘no votes’ under the restrictive bylaws change requirements.

TPA has operated under its Constitution and Bylaws for 139 years. In 2004, the Association voted to amend its constitution to require a full two-thirds of the entire membership to make any changes to the governing document. The change was made by the Bylaws Review Committee with the best of intentions, to ensure that any vote to change the document fully reflected the will of the entire membership.

What we learned, however, was that with today’s hectic workplace it was extremely difficult to obtain a vote from two-thirds of our members at all. In a 2005 vote concerning adoption of an associate class of membership for free circulation newspapers, we received just 86 votes from a possible 129, representing just 66.7 percent of our membership. In that vote, which failed to pass, every single publisher would have had to vote in the affirmative for the change to take place.

TPA leaders quickly realized that such a restrictive constitution change clause could be damaging to TPA. In the event that the Association really needed to change the constitution and bylaws (for example, a change in the tax laws that would have required us to change the document to fall into compliance), it would be very difficult for TPA to respond in a timely and dependable manner.

The 2008 Bylaws Committee, chaired by Steve Lake, took on the task of amending the constitution back to the original requirement of two-thirds of the voting membership needed to pass any proposed changes to said document. This wording still requires a super-majority of the voting members to approve any proposed changes but doesn’t allow TPA to have its hands tied by inactive or otherwise non-voting members. It leaves TPA in a better position to evolve in response to the current industry or market environment.

NOTE: the auditor's report will be mailed to publishers along with the minutes of the June 24, 2010 TPA Board of Directors Meeting.

The actual change is to Article IX of the TPA Constitution and Bylaws as follows:
The words "full-membership" have been replaced with "participating members", meaning future amendments be approved by a two-thirds majority of the voting membership, rather than a two-thirds majority vote of the full membership.

Middle Tennessee Times announces new staff
Heartland Media, LLC announced a new management team at The Middle Tennessee Times today (June 8), bringing together two veteran media managers to run DeKalb County's premier weekly newspaper.

The newspaper announced long-time newspaper editor and radio broadcaster Tom Duggin as the newspaper's Editor.

The company also promoted well-known DeKalb County businesswoman Valerie Laprad (House) to General Manager of the paper.

Duggin will be responsible for all editorial and news operation at the newspaper, while Laprad will lead the newspaper's business efforts.

Duggin previously was general manager and editor of the Smithville Review. He had joined the paper in 2005 as the sports editor. Prior to the Review, he was sports director for WJLE radio for 16 years. He has been involved in many local organizations, including the DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, United Way of DeKalb County, the DeKalb County Fair Board, DeKalb County Little League and the Dowelltown City Council.

Laprad has been with the paper for nearly nine years. In that time, she has been involved with many community organizations. Laprad currently serves on the executive board of directors for the DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce. She has served as president of Leadership DeKalb Alumni Association, served on the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb County and served on the Private Industry Council.

In addition to being the paper's face in the community, Laprad will contribute to The Times' editorial content.

"Tom and Valerie will play an integral role in reshaping the paper into the chief source of news and information in Smithville and DeKalb County," said Richard Lawson, Heartland Media's president. "These hires represent the kind of dedication our company has to local news for readers and providing the best venue for advertisers to reach customers in DeKalb County."

Heartland Media also promoted Mary Maranta to Director of Advertising and added Emma Adkins, another former Review employee, as the paper’s Graphic Design artist.

Casey Midgett remains employed as the Times’ sports editor, while Faye Weichman also remains on staff as copy editor.
From The Middle Tennessee Times, June 8, 2010

Standing Up for the First Amendment coordinated campaign set for July 1
By Ken Paulson

Every July 4th, we celebrate the Founding Fathers who gave America the gift of liberty.

Except that they didn’t.

Actually, the operative word is “fathers.” These gentlemen did a fine job of building a nation founded on freedom – unless you happened to be a woman, a slave or poor.

For all the poetic flourish of the Declaration of Independence, the most powerful passage in America’s history can be found in the First Amendment to the Constitution. The five freedoms guaranteed there gave Americans the right to speak out against injustice, to report about inequality, to protest and petition, and to draw strength from freedom of faith.

In the centuries that followed this nation’s founding, the First Amendment was used to free the slaves, extend the vote to women and ensure equal protection under the laws.

Yet despite its pivotal role in making America what it is today, there are no fireworks celebrating the First Amendment. The anniversary of its ratification on December 15 goes largely unnoticed.

More tellingly, most Americans have no idea what the First Amendment says. Surveys indicate that only one American in 25 can name the freedoms of the First Amendment and that a majority – when pressed – can come up with only one, typically freedom of speech. It’s Constitutional illiteracy of the highest order.

The truth is that we don’t do a very good job of standing up for the First Amendment. Its freedoms are truly the cornerstone of democracy and make America the special nation it is.

It’s time we said that. Publicly. Passionately. Over and over again.
That’s the core concept behind 1 For All, a nationwide campaign to remind the public that there’s one amendment that we all use daily. And it’s the one that truly guarantees freedom for all.

1 For All is the collaborative effort of educators, artists, journalists, lawyers, librarians and many more who believe that the American public would benefit from a greater understanding of the First Amendment and the need to protect all voices, views and faiths.

With the help of the Weber Shandwick agency, we’ve crafted ads that celebrate freedom in America and the ways we exercise those freedoms in our daily lives. The First Amendment gives us freedom of speech, but it also provides freedom to tweet. It protects political speeches, but it also guarantees our right to sing, dance and perform.

In fact, the First Amendment enriches our lives on a daily basis. That’s the essence of 1 For All. The campaign – which will launch on July 1 – is defined by these guiding principles:

1 For All is non-partisan: At a time of deep political polarization, we choose not to take sides. In fact, a shared commitment to freedom of speech, press and faith should unify this nation. Organizations of all political stripes are welcome to support 1 For All but the campaign will steer clear of partisan content.

It’s all about education: America’s teachers would like to do a better job of teaching about the First Amendment, but they often lack the resources they need. 1 For All will provide educational materials, course content and study guides for teachers of grades 1-12. In addition, 1 For All and its Liberty Tree Initiative will sponsor campus festivals celebrating and exploring First Amendment freedoms.

1 For All is interactive: There’s no point in celebrating free expression without encouraging some of it. Students and others will be encouraged to submit photos, videos, songs and stories that reflect the value of freedom in America.

The focus is on all five freedoms: America’s news media are quick to defend freedom of the press and churches embrace freedom of faith, but these freedoms are interdependent and deserve the full support of all Americans. We can’t pick and choose the freedoms we like.

We need a little help from our friends: Marketing is expensive and an organization determined not to engage in political advocacy or take a partisan position faces an uphill battle in raising the funds needed to spread the word. So we’re not going to try. Instead, we’re going to provide the ad campaign to news media, First Amendment groups, educational organizations, performing arts groups and anyone else who believes in this cause. We ask that these 1 For All partners use one of the ads on the July 1 launch date and then publish additional ads whenever space allows. 1 For All is not asking for money; we’re asking for media.

There’s extraordinary power in repeatedly marketing a message to the American people. “Got Milk” proved that. And every generation understands that “Only you can prevent forest fires.”

1 For All is an opportunity for those who believe in the importance of free expression to share one overriding message with the American people: It’s not a coincidence that the strongest, most dynamic, most creative and most ambitious nation in the history of the planet is also the most free.

One amendment. Freedom for all.

Ken Paulson is a founder of 1 For All, the president of the Newseum and First Amendment Center and the former editor of USA TODAY.

Why they ask: ‘The Icon’ and his fans
By Chris Fletcher, Editor, The Daily Herald

During my 10 years as editor of The Daily Herald I have been asked one question related to my job more than any other. It’s a question I’ve heard numerous times from people in this community and beyond:

“How’s ol’ Marion Wilhoite doing?” they want to know.
“I haven’t seen him in ages,” some will say, or something very like it, and then they’ll add, “When my boys played baseball we’d see him every week in the stands.”

Others, upon learning I work for the Herald, will tell me, “I saw Marion last Friday down in Summertown” or “over at Lewisburg” or wherever. “Be sure to tell him ‘Hi’ for me.”

Many of these same people don’t even bother to get my name. But it doesn’t hurt my feelings. I understand that as editor for a mere decade I am but dust in the wind. Marion is forever.
In terms of modern-day career expectations, Marion Wilhoite, sports editor for The Daily Herald since 1962, has been around forever.

To put it in perspective — the year Marion took over the Herald’s sports department, Roger Maris’ New York Yankees defeated Willie Mays’ San Francisco Giants in the World series. The New York Giant’s Frank Gifford was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Twenty-eight years later Marion Wilhoite would also be featured in that most famous of sports magazines. The hook for the two-page article and accompanying photos was the fact that Marion never drove after his first and only attempt, which ended in a crash.

It also described how Marion was so well-known in the community he could basically walk out the street at any time of day and someone would stop to give him a ride. It talked about how every night of the week Marion could be found in a different town covering a different sport.

The SI article told how Marion kept extensive records and could rattle off statistical minutiae about players and games going back even further than 1958, when he began writing for the newspaper as a junior in high school. It even hinted at the full extent of Marion’s dedication to young people and sports, describing how he once took over play-calling duties for an ailing coach in the middle of a high school basketball game.

It’s been 20 years since that article introduced America to our hometown sports editor, and I’m glad to say, Marion remains little-changed.

But I’m not telling many of you anything you didn’t already know. He’s nicknamed “The Icon” for a reason.

What I can tell you is what one longtime friend and associate said about him:

“The thing that makes Marion special to me is that he has always been positive about our athletes and coaches,” Central High School Athletic Director Lee Clayborne said. “He doesn’t let his feelings get in the article when we lose, as some high school sports writers will.”

Clayborne said when he arrived at CHS 44 years ago to take over as the football, basketball and track coach, he was immediately taken to meet the top brass — the principal, the superintendent and one other supervisor. His next stop was the Herald.

“Within two hours I was told, ‘Well y’all need to go down and see Marion Wilhoite. We did the interview article that morning,”
Clayborne recalled. “Marion was the fourth person I met.”

Marion still receives that kind of deference from the local sports community. But his importance to people in this town and other far-flung places goes much deeper than respect.

Marion’s longtime protege, prep sports editor Justin Lamb, explained it best:

“It’s the way that Marion still looks after the guys and girls who came through the sports programs as kids. He can tell you where they are now, how many children they’ve got ... . He forges relationships with players and coaches that seem to last forever.”

And that’s why they ask about him whenever they get the chance. It’s why they call him at the paper just to chat and laugh about old times. It’s why they gather around him in the stands and on the sidelines and outside the press box at Lions Stadium that bears his name.

For countless thousands of grown-up boys and girls, many of whom moved away long ago, Marion is a touchstone. In telling their stories, he became a part of them. He’s a reminder of glory days, of true team spirit, of running and sliding through green grass and clean earth, of thrills on the court and in the ring, of parents’ pride and coming of age.

To many, Marion is much more than an icon. He’s part of the bedrock of their lives. He’s a father figure and a friend.

He’s the answer we all want to hear: “Safe at home.”

A call to action
Charles Overby, CEO of the Newseum and Freedom Forum urges the newspaper industry to Act, Believe, Compete, Differentiate and Evolve for the Future.

Remarks by Charles L. Overby
CEO, Newseum, Inc.
Newspaper Association Managers
December 7, 2009

It is a pleasure to be with you today and to give you an update on the Newseum and a few thoughts about the newspaper business.

The Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue opened about a year and a half ago. In our first year, we attracted more than 700,000 visitors, pretty good for a museum that charges admission in a city where other museums are free.

You get what you pay for, and that’s one of my themes today.

But first, I want to emphasize how important newspapers are to our Newseum and how much visitors enjoy looking at them every day.
The Newseum displays Today’s Front Pages on the front of the building, one from every state and a few countries.

I enjoy watching people stop and study these front pages. We carry more than 700 front pages daily on our web site.

The day after the election of President Obama, people were lined up sometimes 4-deep taking pictures of the front pages.

Inside the Newseum, there are 368 historic newspapers on display, dating back to a 1526 news book about the Treaty of Madrid.

The Newseum owns about 35,000 historic newspapers.

Of course, we have a lot more than newspapers, from the most pieces of the Berlin Wall outside of Germany to the Unabomber cabin.

This shows how engaging a newspaper can be, even for young people.

I want to relay an incident from last week that brings the story of the Newseum and newspapers together.

Regrettably, we announced last week that the Newseum was going to eliminate 29 positions to help balance revenue and expenses.

Attendance at the Newseum has been good, up from our first year of operation. But fund-raising has been somewhat slower this year compared to last year.

But that has been true for most museums and non-profits.

We get daily reports of Newseum mentions in Newspapers and web sites.

Gawker wrote: “News and museum combo The Newseum is laying off 13% of its staff, the second round of job cuts since the place opened just in time for the total collapse of the newspaper industry. These are the most predictable museum layoffs since … whatever is the auto industry museum. They probably had layoffs, too.”

So the narrative is that newspapers are failing. Therefore, the Newseum must be failing. The Newseum certainly is not failing, and I believe newspapers control their destinies more than some people realize.

I gave a speech a few years ago that dealt with fairness in the media.
We held town hall meetings with community leaders, with news people and with average readers to ask them about fairness. We found that fairness was not a one word definition with these groups. Newspapers could be accurate, for instance, but still not considered fair.

From those sessions, I realized that too many editors and reporters failed to take into account that fairness encompassed a lot of things, some large, some small, in order for readers to view a story or a newspaper as fair.

So I came up with a simplistic formula that helped summarize readers’ views toward fairness: A + B + C + D + E equals F, Fairness.

Accuracy, plus balance, plus completeness, plus detachment, plus ethics equals Fairness.

If a reporter can put all of those things into a story, then a reader will deem it fair. If the reporter misses just one of those things—even if the other four are there—then the reader might not think the story is not fair.

Over the last week, in preparation for my remarks to you today, I went back over the stories and reports I have been collecting about newspapers. I don’t have to tell you that most of the news is negative—declining circulation, declining revenues, doomsday predictions that the end is near.

The news about newspapers seems to get worse every month. There are a lot of people who seem almost gleeful about these doomsday reports. And the people who aren’t necessarily gleeful seem generally willing to accept and pass on to others this message of collective doom and destruction.

I enjoy reading history, and I have recently completed a couple of books about the early days of World War II. Now if you want gloom and doom, read about London in the early 1940s.

There were two primary optimists during that period—a couple of leaders named Churchill and Roosevelt. They refused to accept the conventional wisdom that Hitler was going to take over all of Europe. At the time, it was more than conventional wisdom. It was seen as inevitable that Hitler would win and dominate Europe and beyond.
But on the strength of those two leaders Churchill and Roosevelt —determined, optimistic, unyielding—they stopped Hitler and changed the world. They made a lot of mistakes getting to the point of success. But they turned around public opinion, they motivated the Allied armed forces, and they provided the bold vision needed to stop the most dangerous tyrant of the 20th century.

It is a hard thing to change public opinion, but it is done all the time as a result of strong leadership, bold actions, clear communications, and unyielding determination.

I’ve put together another simplistic formula for today’s newspapers dilemma.

A + B + C + D + E equals F, Future.

Act, Believe, Compete, Differentiate, Evolve. These concepts equal the future.

ACT
Do something, even if it’s wrong. It can’t be worse than simply giving away the news for free.

The time for wringing our hands about the plight of newspapers is over. It is time to act now. Every day that newspaper owners continue to give away their product on the internet is a lost opportunity.
This is not rocket science. In any business, if an owner decides to give away the product without gaining revenue from somewhere, that business will fail as a profitable enterprise.

I believe the decision to start giving away the content of newspapers on the internet more than 10 years ago created a Lost Decade for newspapers. I’m hoping the next decade will be the Found Decade.
It should not take us 10 years to recognize giving away the product was a mistake. Why don’t more newspaper owners act to correct this mistake? I believe they are paralyzed by critics who insist that to be cool and to be “with it” you must surrender your product to the internet for free.

I am reminded of my wife’s uncle, Chauncey Godwin, who owned a shirt factory in Tupelo, MS. He told me that he once pulled into a gas station, and the station owner said, “Hey, Chauncey, when are you going to give me some shirts from your factory?” Without blinking an eye, Chauncey said, “When you start giving me your gas.”

The notion of giving away news is short-sighted and counter-productive. Newspaper owners spend a lot of money hiring reporters and editors to assemble news every day for their communities.
They need to act now to reverse this destructive trend.

BELIEVE
Newspaper owners, newspaper staffs and state newspaper association managers must begin by believing in their own product and believing in the viability of the news and advertising that is assembled every day.

I have had the opportunity to work with Howard Baker, the senator from Tennessee who was majority leader of the Senate, chief of staff for President Reagan and ambassador to Japan. He is highly popular wherever he goes and in whatever role he accepts. In Tennessee, he was not known for having a great grassroots organization of precinct and county chairmen.

But he always won.

Someone asked him what the most important thing in politics was. He said, “You have to get the talk right.”

In order to do that, you need the people around you and your supporters believing in you and telling others.

The talk is not right about newspapers today. And part of that reason is that newspapers staffs and even some owners have quit believing in the future of newspapers.

If the people who work for newspapers don’t believe the content is worth paying for, who will? From top to bottom, the people in the newspaper business have to start believing in themselves again.
The community leaders need to believe that the content of newspapers is worth paying for.

What if the people around Barak Obama had gone around saying, “We’ll never win.” Obama supporters really believed they were going to win, they dedicated themselves to winning, and they did.
We need the same belief and dedication from people about newspapers and news content. Sure, it’s worth paying for. It always has been, and it always will be.

This is nothing less than a campaign. Before it can be launched, the people closest to the newspaper business have to believe in it. The talk has to be right.

COMPETE
For too long, newspapers did not have to compete to get people to buy newspapers and newspaper ads. They had to ask for the order—at least most of the time—but they didn’t really have to compete in the dog-eat-dog way required of many businesses.

As a result, I believe newspapers got a little flabby, a little content, a little over confident. And that probably contributed to the disastrous decision to give their content away on the internet.

Now, with circulation and ad revenues down, newspapers need to learn to compete aggressively to win back readers and advertisers.
It is an all-out fight, and just doing what has always been done will not suffice. Newspaper publishers have to be willing to embrace new—even radical—approaches to change the momentum of what is happening.

I believe newspapers must embrace the idea that they have to campaign to win back their communities. I want to repeat that for emphasis. Newspapers have to campaign to win their communities back.

For a business that specializes in communicating to readers, newspapers do a pretty poor job of communicating about themselves.
The publisher and the editor and the ad manager have to treat this like a political campaign. They have to organize, develop and target the right messages, gain endorsements, persuade doubters, confront the skeptics and use every means available to win the community
back.

This will take more than rhetorical flourishes and a few well-turned phrases. The competition starts with content and pricing. If it means producing different or better content, produce it. If it takes better pricing, adopt it.

This goes on in every other business every day. Everybody in the newspaper business should wake up every morning thinking of ways to compete better for the paying reader.

DIFFERENTIATE
To reclaim paying customers, newspapers need to do more to differentiate their content from the things that are free on the internet.

First, that means either charging on the internet for those different things or not putting them on the internet at all.

I have been involved with newspapers for more than 50 years, first as a newspaper carrier and then a reporter and editor.

Even I wince at writing a check for $18 each month for my subscription to my local newspaper. I wince because I already read that information on the internet for free. Every month when I write that check for $18, I feel that I am making a charitable contribution to that newspaper. Because my local newspaper is owned by Gannett, I feel I am making a charitable contribution to Gannett.

How many people out there want to make charitable contributions to Gannett or any other big media company? People want substance, and they are willing to pay for it. They want to give their charitable dollars to other causes.

Just look at television. Television used to be free. Now people pay a lot of money every month to cable companies to get stuff on their TV. Why do people pay the cable companies? Because they are getting content they can’t get anywhere else for free. Newspapers would do well to study the cable television model and figure out what they can provide that customers will pay for. The premium channels on cable bring in a lot of money. A few newspapers are beginning to look at providing readers with premium packages for a fee.

The key to more paying customers is differentiation. Newspapers have the ability to produce better, more interesting daily products than any other local media. The question is will they do it and will they have the courage to quit giving it away.

Again, this is like a political campaign. The best candidates work hard to make their message different and frame it in a way that voters can understand and appreciate.

Newspapers need to do the same thing. Each local newspaper needs to figure out the major things that make it different.

Too many newspapers are dangerously close to cutting their news budgets in a way that will make it harder to produce distinctive, different news products.

You cannot produce interesting, informative different news products every day on the cheap. Readers notice, especially when given a choice between paying and free.

EVOLVE
Now after all this, you might think that I believe only in a 7-day-a-week home delivered print newspaper. That would be wrong.

I believe in news, and I believe in delivering it to the public for a fee. But the paper part of that surely will evolve over time. Of course, it is already evolving.

I subscribe to the print versions of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA TODAY. I also get the New York Times and Wall Street Journal on my Kindle. I get the e-edition of USA TODAY on the internet.

Candidly, I don’t consider the Kindle or e-editions as satisfying as the print versions, but sometimes they are more convenient for me.
I believe we are evolving toward a wireless tablet, large enough to capture the feel of newspapers, both in pictures and display ads.
That time is probably closer than we realize, but in the meantime there are other evolutionary things that are important to the future of newspapers.

You have probably read that the Federal Trade Commission is holding hearings about the future of struggling news organizations. It makes me nervous to think of the government “helping” newspapers, particularly since I work in a building that has a 74-foot high marble sign on Pennsylvania Avenue with the 45 words of the First Amendment. I don’t have to tell you that the First Amendment starts out this way: “Congress shall make no law . . .”

The best thing Congress could do is eliminate some of the laws they have already written pertaining to newspapers, particularly relating to bans on cross-ownership of media. There is plenty of competition in the media world.

Many newspapers are experimenting with evolving models, and that’s a good thing. In Detroit, the Detroit Free Press delivers to homes Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays but continues to print all seven days. They sell the paper on the other days as single copies at 18,000 different locations.

In San Francisco, the Chronicle is trying glossy paper to improve the look and feel of the paper.

The point is that every community newspaper should feel free to experiment, to evolve into the future.

FUTURE
That brings us to the F word, Future. The country has always depended on the delivery of news to its citizens.

The Newseum carries the famous quote from Thomas Jefferson: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter.”

Of course, after Jefferson became president, he had other ideas about newspapers, but go to the Newseum if you want to hear about that.

President Obama offered his own version of the Jefferson quote recently: “A government without a tough and vibrant media of all sorts is not an option for the United States of America.”

The future of our democracy depends on an informed citizenry. Newspapers – and the content they provide in evolving models – are central to that future.

So, I ask you to consider the A, B, C, D and E of the Future.

ACT
BELIEVE
COMPETE
DIFFERENTIATE
EVOLVE

The future of newspapers and the important content they provide will continue to be essential to our citizens, IF our leaders act decisively and wisely.

It's our job to wake the dead
By Victor Parkins, TPA President

As reporters, editors and publishers, it’s our job to inform our readers that newspapers are far from dead.

Newspapers across the country have been their own worst enemy over the past two or three years.

We use big, bold headlines to announce our layoffs, hardships and declines in sales and circulation.

We’re spending too much time and money trying to make our Web sites bigger and better and less time improving our print products that got us where we are today.

We’re giving our competition everything they need to sit down in front of our customers and say, “I told you so,” and then walk out the door with what used to be our accounts.

It’s time as an industry that we stop beating ourselves up in our own newspapers and promote the good things that some of us still enjoy.

It’s past time we use big, bold headlines to tell our readers we’re not dead.

While circulation is down in most metro areas (much of that is self-imposed), overall readership is at an all time high across the world when we couple our print and Internet products together.

Rather than bash our industry, we should crow about how our overall readership has doubled or even tripled in some areas.
We should use our products to inform our readers that many newspapers finished 2009 better than they thought they would.

A recent survey conducted by the National Newspaper Association found that newspapers, particular community newspapers, are still one of the most effective and affordable ways to promote a business.

The survey found that most Americans still make purchasing decisions based on advertisements or inserts they read in their local newspaper.

There’s no doubt the entire world has become more and more digital, but that doesn’t mean newspapers are on their way out.

Newspapers still provide the best, most accurate and comprehensive information to the public.

It’s our job to let them know we’re here to stay.

Victor Parkins is editor of The Milan Mirror-Exchange.
The Tennessee Press, January 2010

Do you want campaign ads in your paper?
By Art Powers, TPA vice president for dailies
Publisher, Johnson City Press

Like most newspapers across the state, candidates for next year’s gubernatorial race have been dropping by the Johnson City Press to discuss issues in an attempt to set themselves apart from their opponents. In doing so they know we will write a story about their visit and report their responses to the questions fielded by our editorial board. We always do that as it is news for our readers. Candid photos always accompany the story. Of course, in subsequent months they will return one-by-one for more coverage as well as asking for our editorial endorsement since we are the only medium that does that anymore.

Over the years during sessions like these I have simply been a part of the questioning process. This time around I have changed my participation and have taken the opportunity to state an opinion about something near and dear to all our hearts.

When I find the time is right, I simply say, there is something regarding our industry that I would like to discuss. The newspaper business, just like many other businesses, is making its way through this recessed economy as best we can. I impress on each candidate that our industry is not dead. Yes, our profits are down but our readership is greater than ever when you consider our online readers and print readers. This is particularly true within our state boundaries. Papers across the state are having their difficulties but each continues their in-depth report of local news better than any other media outlet.

I tell them that the candidates who have preceded them come to our office, meet, leave and we write a story. Then the candidate hires a media consultant who “knows best how to get votes” and goes out and buys all the television advertising they can possibly buy with the contributed funds they have accumulated. I explain my point: If newspapers are important enough to sit down to generate stories and photos to be published, and if return visits are important enough to them to ask for our editorial endorsement, then why are we not important enough for them to place their campaign advertising in our columns and on our websites?

I tell them we still have power in spite of what media buyers tell them. They hire people whom they presume to be “professionals” yet they seldom ever purchase advertising in our newspapers. I have even told them should we choose, we have the power to destroy them. And if that is the case then we certainly have the power to assist them in the promotion of those positive attributes which they believe will set them apart from their competition. Usually the candidate agrees at this point and says they will include newspapers in their media buy. So then I ask straight out that I would like them to tell their media consultants to purchase advertising in our newspaper and on our newspaper websites. I have even told them we would like our share of the $3.1 million, the $1.3 million and the $1.2 million each of the three candidates in the Republican primary has already accumulated. Certainly they will grow these numbers before the election in November well over a year away.

I have presented the case and asked for the order. Will it work? Who knows? But I did get it off my chest. I have decided to not sit on my laurels anymore. Won’t you join me when they come to your paper? If we are all asking for campaign ads, perhaps someone will take notice. Good luck!

Facebook helps newspapers protect trademarks
Facebook, the social networking site, began allowing users to register vanity URLs such as www.facebook.com/journalgazette in June. more

Prior to that, the URLs consisted of a string of numbers.
This opens the possibility that trademarked newspaper nameplates could be appropriated by an individual Facebook user.
Recognizing that this could be a problem, Facebook has offered a way for businesses to protect their trademarks.

Trademark holders can go to www.facebook.com and complete a form to protect those trademarks. This will warm Facebook to keep that mark from being taken as a username by an unauthorized customer.
From The Indiana Publisher, Hoosier State Press Association, July 2, 2009

Americans rely on newspaper advertising as essential shopping tool
Newspaper Association of America

When Consumers Read Newspaper Ads, They Take Action
Arlington , Va. – Newspaper advertising remains the leading advertising medium cited by consumers in planning, shopping and making purchasing decisions, according to early data from a MORI Research survey of more than 3,000 adults. The findings, announced today by the Newspaper Association of America, provide conclusive evidence of the ongoing value newspaper ads deliver for marketers trying to reach consumers who are ready to shop and spend.

“Newspaper advertising remains the most powerful tool for advertisers who want to motivate consumers to take action,” said NAA President and CEO John Sturm. “While new technologies have their place in any total marketing program, initial findings from this important research demonstrate the enduring power of today’s newspaper ads. We’re looking forward to offering more comprehensive data on consumer motivation and the influence of newspaper advertising after a full analysis is completed in early fall.”

This study, part of a series entitled “American Consumer Insights,” examined the impact newspaper advertising has on consumer shopping and spending patterns. Early results indicate:

• Nearly six in 10 adults (59 percent) identify newspapers as the medium they use to help plan shopping or make purchase decisions
• 82 percent of those surveyed said they “took action” as a result of newspaper advertising, including:
• Clipping a coupon (61 percent)
• Buying something (50 percent)
• Visiting Web sites to learn more (33 percent)
• Trying something for the first time (27 percent)
• 73 percent of adults regularly or occasionally read newspaper inserts
• 82 percent have been spurred to action by a newspaper insert in the past month.

Preliminary data also reveals that other media trailed well behind newspapers as the primary medium for checking advertising. The closest competitor – the Internet – trailed newspapers by 20 percentage points (41 percent vs. 21 percent). Direct mail only mustered a 14 percent response in the survey, and television was cited by only eight percent of respondents.

New NAA Ad Touts Newspapers’ Influence on Consumer Behavior
Putting its initial findings about the profound impact of newspaper advertising into practice, NAA separately released a new advertisement that describes engaged newspaper readers as “Action Figures.” The ads, produced by Allied Advertising, are available to NAA member newspapers and use early results of the research to highlight the ways newspaper advertising drives consumers to action.

“This ad stems from the fact that readers are not simply exposed to newspaper advertising – these ads resonate and consumers use them to take action,” said Randy Bennett, NAA’s senior vice president of business development. “There is a connection readers feel with newspaper advertising that no other medium can match.”

Mort Goldstrom, NAA’s vice president of advertising, discusses the research and the new ad in the latest NAA podcast.

Primary Medium for Checking Advertising 2009
Newspapers 41%
Internet 21%
Ads received in the mail (Direct mail) 14%
Television 8%
Catalogs 6%
Magazines 3%
Radio 2%
None of these 5%

MORI Research conducted this phone and Internet survey of more than 3,000 adults for the Newspaper Association of America. MORI Research is a division of Frank N. Magid Associates, a leading research-based consulting firm serving an international clientele from offices in Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, and Marion, IA. Engagements range from tactical and operational issues to strategic direction and are informed by the perspective gained from broad and deep experience over the past 50 years in all sectors of the media, communications and entertainment industries.

NAA is a nonprofit organization representing the $47 billion newspaper industry and more than 2,000 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. NAA members include daily newspapers, as well as non-dailies, other print publications and on-line products. Headquartered near Washington, D.C., in Arlington, Va., the Association focuses on the major issues that affect today’s newspaper industry: public policy/legal matters, advertising revenue growth and audience development across the medium’s broad portfolio of products and digital platforms. Information about NAA and the industry also may be found at www.naa.org
Newspaper Association of America, July 15, 2009
www.naa.org

Ed Henninger on Design—Tea and graphics: A relaxing review
I’ve often mentioned the value of doing regular reviews of your design. Failure to examine where you’ve been and what you’ve done makes it more difficult to decide where you’re going and how to get there.

Here’s a twist on the routine design review: I call it “Tea and Graphics,” a fun name I came up with when I was an assistant managing editor in charge of the design of a 100,000 circulation daily.

The idea behind Tea and Graphics was to get designers (and others who wanted to be part of the fun) together every couple of months or so to look at the pages they had done. The only requirement was for designers to submit pages for review and comment by all who attended.

And it worked—designers left Tea and Graphics with a better sense of how well they were doing and with more and better ideas for the pages that lie ahead.

Ten tips for Tea and Graphics sessions in your office:

1. Schedule the sessions for every couple of months. More than that may be too much.

2. Appoint someone to gather pdf files from designers a week ahead of the session. Yes, they want their work reviewed but news designers are busy and may forget to submit those pdf files. A gentle reminder helps.

3. Bring in some pizza and Cokes—or coffee and donuts if it’s a morning session. Eats are a treat for some—and a draw for others.

4. Don’t forget the video projector. If yours is a small paper and you don’t have a projector, then show your pdf slides on a large-screen monitor.

5. Give it time. Allow a couple of hours. Remember, this is supposed to be relaxed and fun. It’s not a meeting…it’s just a few people talking about design.

6. Invite the entire newsroom. Reporters—even stringers—may have some fresh insights to share about how a story they wrote could have been better illustrated and designed.

7. Keep the discussion constructive—we all want to know how we could have done something better.

8. Encourage response. If a pdf pops up and no one has a comment, you can always ask the designer what he/she was trying to accomplish with the page or package.

9. Pick a winner and award a prize. One of the pages you’ll review is usually better than others. If two or three pages are tops, there’s nothing wrong with calling it a tie and giving out multiple awards. The awards themselves can be something with value, like a $20 gift certificate, or something fun like a propeller beanie.

10. Take notes and share them. Send a quick outline of key points that arose during the discussion. Not only does it serve as a reminder, but it can also help you raise the bar for your design.

Call it Tea and Graphics. Call it Pizza and Picas. Call it what you want—but call it every couple of months.

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 Ed’s webs site: www.henningerconsulting.com

ED HENNINGER is an independent newspaper consultant and the Director of Henninger Consulting. Offering comprehensive newspaper design services including redesigns, workshops, staff training and evaluations. On the web: www.henningerconsulting.com. Phone: 803-327-3322.

Kevin Slimp's technology column
My inbox has been especially full lately. That makes it harder to answer every question personally, but I try to answer as many questions as I can. Let me share a few I’ve received over the past few weeks:

From Mark in Pennsylvania:
We have a PDF, created by InDesign and cropped in Acrobat. When we place the “cropped” file onto an InDesign page, the original cropped area returns and prints over the words and ads around it. Any idea why this happens?

Mark,
This has perplexed InDesign users from day one. Most applications simply ignore a cropped area as if it’s not there. InDesign knows, however, that it’s there and gives you the option of showing or hiding the cropped area. Simply click on the “Show Options” button in the Place window when placing a PDF file on a page. Next, select “Crop” from the “Crop to” list. That’s it.

From Glenn in Tennessee
I wanted to see if you have a recommendation for a good, workhouse network laser printer for our paper. We used to have two Xante Accel-A-Writer 3Gs, but both are developing fuser problems. The one in the advertising department is already dead, and the news one is starting to look like it wants to join it. The printer needs to be network ready with an ethernet port, and compatible with AppleTalk. It needs to handle 11 x 17 tabloid paper as well as the typical letter and legal sizes. We’re mostly interested in black and white, but we’re open to considering color laser, as long it’s cost effective.

Hi Glenn,
As you know, there aren’t nearly as many options as there used to be. I just checked to see what is currently available. I’d consider the HP 5200-TN or the Xerox 5550-DN. Personally favor the Xerox because it uses true postscript, not HP Postscript Emulation. This helps a lot from time to time. Either way, be sure to look at the specs closely to make sure the printer has all the features you want. Both of these print 11X17, b&w, 1200 dpi.

From LJ in Nebraska:
I need to invest in new equipment, quickly. Over the weekend we lost our G5 RIP. It lasted at least five years. Anyway, would the MAC ($1500) you have in your current review be appropriate? I’m the purchasing person not the designer, but I think we have OSX something and CS3. Any expertise that you’re willing to share is helpful.

LJ,
It’s a safe assumption that the current iMac would cover all the bases of your five-year-old G5. Be sure to get plenty of RAM. The model you’re considering comes with 4 GB RAM, which should be fun. But it’s always a good idea to load up on memory when possible. The iMac will come with the latest operating system and CS3 will run fine. If your old machine won’t restart, you might need to call Adobe to switch your CS3 serial number over to your new machine. Creative Suite can be installed (but not run) on two machines at once, so you might be able to install it without first calling Adobe.

From Nick in California:
Which would you choose if spending around $700 for an SLR digital camera: a Canon or a Nikon?

Frankly, Nick, that would depend on the lenses you already have.
Lenses are often more expensive than the camera itself, so I usually recommend that people stick with the brand they already have lenses for. However, if you’re starting from scratch without lenses, the choice isn’t nearly as clear cut. Nikon and Canon both put out quality products and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with either brand. As I visit photographers at larger papers, it seems they are more prone to own Nikons than Canons. However, I tend to buy Canons when I’m purchasing cameras for personal use. An additional consideration these days is whether you want the ability to shoot high definition video with your SLR.

From Brett in Kentucky:
I have an eMac running 10.4.11 operating system. I have been using InDesign 2.0 for several years now and all of a sudden it won’t open. I’ve done everything I know to do, including re-installing the software. When I click to open the program, the dialog box opens up, but when it gets to “loading palettes” it acts like it’s trying to open up but never does. After it tries to boot up for a minute or so, it unexpectedly quits. Do you have an answer to this problem? I appreciate any help you can give me.

Brett:
This is a common problem on both Macs and Windows-based systems running InDesign. It sounds like it’s time to get rid of the old preference and create new ones. Try this to fix the problem on your Mac: 1) Quit InDesign; 2) Drag the “Version [version]” folder from the “Users>username>Library>Preferences>Adobe InDesign folder to the Desktop; 3) Restart InDesign.
In most instances, InDesign will start up after removing this folder. If the problem recurs after this process, it isn’t related to preference files. To restore custom settings, drag the “Version” folder from the Desktop back to its original location, and then click OK when asked if you want to replace the folder.

From Karen in Missouri:
I am having problems with fonts on the computer. I am missing fonts from my font list when working in Quark. These fonts are in at least one of my three font folders, but not available for me to use. My computer has Mac OS X Version 10.5.7. We have no idea which fonts are to be in which folders. When I go to adding some font to the Font Book they will not transfer to that folder. Do you have any advice on straightening these fonts out?

Yes, Karen, I do:
There are several places fonts can reside on both Macs and PCs. When I’m having problems with a font on a Mac, I make sure it’s located in the Library>Fonts folder on the main hard drive. This makes it available to every application on the computer. Just between you and me, that’s where I keep all of my fonts. They used to be spread throughout the computer, depending on my applications and font management utilities. Over time, I’ve learned that fonts kept in the main Fonts folder tend to show up when needed.

The most common question I received in June and July was related to newspaper Web sites. It seems like a lot of newspapers are looking for new hosts to make their sites more attractive to potential visitors and easier to use on the creation side of things. There are too many options to consider here, but let me make one suggestion. When considering a host for your newspaper Web site, be sure to compare at least three potential vendors. There are plenty out there and there is probably one who has just what your newspaper is looking for at a fair price.

Kevin Slimp is the director of technology for Tennessee Press Service and director of the Institute of Newspaper Technology.

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TPA is a primary media sponsor of the Governor's Books from Birth Foundation Imagination Library project.