CALENDAR
April
3 — Newspaper In Education
Committee, 10:30 a.m.,
MPA ofﬁce, Columbia
30-May 1 — Missouri Advertising
Managers’ Association, Sheraton Westport Chalet, St. Louis
May
7 — Missouri Press Foundation
Board meeting, 2 p.m., Resort
at Port Arrowhead, Lake Ozark
7 — Past Presidents and Spouses
Dinner, 6 p.m., Michael’s Steak
Chalet, Osage Beach
June
11-12 — Show-Me Press
Association, Resort at Port
Arrowhead, Lake Ozark
12 — MPA Porter Fisher Golf
Classic, Sycamore Creek,
Osage Beach
19 — Southeast Missouri Press
Association annual meeting,
Southeast Missouri State
University, Cape Girardeau
July
15-17 — Living Textbook Newspaper In Education Workshop,
University of Missouri, Columbia
September
24-27 — NNA Annual Convention
and Trade Show, Mobile, Ala.
October
15-17 — MPA Convention and
Trade Show, Sheraton Hotel,
Kansas City
Friday,
June 12
MPA Porter Fisher
Golf Classic.
Sycamore Creek,
Osage Beach
No. 1240 — 26 March, 2009
Learn how to sell more ads!
Ad Managers’ meeting April 30-May 1 in St. Louis
Don’t delay. Get your ad people signed up for the
Missouri Ad Managers’ Meeting on April 30-May 1 at
Sheraton Westport Plaza Hotel, St. Louis.
What your people will learn will pay for the cost of
the program quickly. After that, their increased revenue-generating skills will go straight to your bottom
line.
Candide Gregoire will be the speaker. Her “Idea's
Worth Sharing Workshop” will focus on concepts that
are easily implemented and will assist newspapers with
money-making ideas.
A registration form is enclosed.
The three-hour workshop includes:
Candide Gregoire
• A discussion on the importance of special theme
pages, supplements and features for the growth of a newspaper.
• An introduction of planning tools to assure the results you expect.
• How to get your sales team to buy into your ideas.
• Creating special theme pages and supplements that work in a small market.
• How to get new revenue streams to assure revenue growth.
• A presentation of the industry’s top money-making ideas.
• A discussion of the attendees’ best ideas of the year.
Get a preview of Gregoire’s workshop at http://www.niwsworkshop.com/.
New postal labeling rules eﬀective March 29
By March 29, you must place the labels on your mailed newspapers — broadsheet and tabloid — according to these guidelines.
With the final fold on the right, the address label must be in the top half
either parallel or perpendicular to the top edge, but not upside down as read in
relation to the top edge.
If you do not comply with this requirement, you may pay additional postage or
you may have to relabel your papers.
Mailers are encouraged to place the address as close to the top edge as possible,
but it must also be at least 1/8 inch from any edge.
Addresses must be printed in a minimum 8-point type size. However, if the
address label contains an 11-digit POSTNET or Intelligent Mail Barcode with a
delivery point routing code (the last two digits after the now-required 9-digit barcode), a minimum of 6-point type in all capital letters is allowed.
All CAPS type and a sans serif font are preferred.
Talk with your postmaster if you have questions.
Missouri Press Association Bulletin, March 26, 2009, Page 2
Application for
MPA membership
This is the First Notice of the
application for Active Membership
in Missouri Press Association from
the St. Louis/Southern Illinois Labor
Tribune, a newspaper published by
Edward M. Finkelstein at 505 S. Ewing Ave., St. Louis, MO 63103; (314)
535-9660, eﬁnkelstein@labortribun
e.com.
Active Members of Missouri
Press are entitled to all rights and
privileges of membership. Membership is subject to approval by the
MPA Board of Directors.
The Board of Directors considers
applications for membership at its
next meeting after an application
has been printed in three issues of
the Bulletin.
Any MPA member with comments
about applications should direct
them to the MPA ofﬁce in Columbia.
Who should be
in Hall of Fame?
Get nominations in now for the
Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame
and the Missouri Photojournalism
Hall of Fame. Nomination forms are
at mopress.com/current_forms.php.
Newspaper Hall of Fame nominations must be sent by April 30. The
Photojournalism Hall of Fame deadline is May 1.
The nomination forms have
information about qualiﬁcations
for induction and how to nominate
someone.
Supporting material, including a
letter from you explaining who the
person is (was) and why he or she
should be in the Hall of Fame, brief
letters from others supporting your
nominee, and as much biographical information as you can provide
about your nominee will help the
selection committee decide on this
year’s honorees.
Nominees not selected this year
will remain in consideration for two
more years.
$15 collection letters
If you’re having trouble getting
paid, remember that Missouri Press
Association legal consultant Jean
Maneke will write collection letters
for MPA member newspapers for
$15 a letter.
You can contact Maneke at
[email protected] or (816)
753-9000.
NIE story goes nationwide
Foundation provides free distribution of ‘Twist of Fate’
These days everyone is aching for some good news. Missouri Press Foundation
has a serial story filled with hope and happy endings that is available free to newspapers nationwide through the National Newspaper Association.
“Twist of Fate: The Miracle Colt and His Friends” is an eight-chapter story
written by Chris Stuckenschneider,
Washington, Mo., about a group of
horses rescued from a truck crash on Interstate 44 outside of St. Louis.
Chapter Three
The camera-ready PDFs are posted at
www.mo-nie.com, and Missouri newspapers can access the features using download code: nnaread. Our standard rules
for publication apply, and those can be
accessed at www.nna.org.
The story will be available at no cost
through NNA until August. A free companion teacher guide also is available, and
there is a version for Missouri newspapers
with correlations to Missouri’s learning
standards.
The 17-page guide has activities for elementary students featuring constructed
response items, performance tasks, newspaper related activities, character building
questions and research prompts. Newspapers may distribute print copies of the guide to teachers or offer it online for the
duration of the project.��
Stuckenschneider is an award-winning children’s book columnist and book editor at the Washington Missourian. A children’s book based on this newspaper serial
story is being released.
Contact Dawn Kitchell, Missouri Press Newspaper In Education director, if you
have questions: (636)932-4301, [email protected].
By Chris Stuckenschneider
His name might be strange, but Bazonka
Donk’s a class act. In fact, he’s in a class by
himself at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch; he’s
the only hinny on the property. A hinny’s
kind of like a mule, except it has the opposite
parentage. Bazonka Donk’s dad was a horse
and his mom was a donkey.
There’s no hee-haw about it. Donk’s unique,
and he’s bilingual. Folks at Longmeadow
say he can bray like a donkey and neigh
like a horse.
Hinnies and mules are categorized as long
ears, and Donk’s got a set to be proud of,
though they’re not as long or as pointy as
a mule’s.
The little fella had a rough way to go in the
accident. The impact of the crash forced his
back legs through the air vents of the trailer,
slicing them to the bone. If a horse had been
caught in twisted metal, it would have ﬂailed
around further injuring itself, but Donk was
calm. His courage girded him like armor
as he lay tangled in the wreckage.
Hinnies are known to be intelligent,
cooperative and tough. Donk lived up to
his breed’s reputation. He seemed to have
an inborn sense that rescue workers were
doing all they could to free him.
The lacerations Donk suffered required
extensive care, and the attention paid off.
Now Donk’s got legs as pretty as the late
Betty Grable’s—if you don’t know who that
is, ask your grandparents; they’ll ﬁlly you in.
Donk, one has to be
careful because when long
ears kick, they do it with purpose,
Earlene says. She knows all about
Donk because she treated his wounds.
Donk is a sorrel, which is a shade of copper
red with a mane and tail to match. He looks
more like a horse than a donkey. Stan the
Thoroughbred and Donk were friends, but
they’ve been having issues, so they’re no
longer turned out in the arena together.
Stan can be a tease, and he was getting
on Donk’s last nerve.
Cautious Donk associated Earlene with
pain, so it’s took her a while to win back
his trust. Earlene extended her gentle hand
in friendship. She enters his stall speaking
in hushed tones of encouragement.
If the staff at Longmeadow wants to coerce
the hinny into doing something he doesn’t
want to do, they bribe him with a treat.
Donk appreciates his food, just like Stan.
Let one handful of hay drop on the barn
ﬂoor, and Donk sucks it up like a Hoover
vacuum. Donk makes a clean sweep every
time, and could teach Clueless Too a thing
or three about life in general.
While the injuries to Donk’s body have
healed, his spirit is lagging. Earlene believes
Donk may have been abused before he
stepped foot on the slaughterhouse truck.
Little is known about his past life, but
Earlene has a hunch that Donk was a pack
animal, a Western dude who carried supplies
for people traveling to remote sites to hunt
or ﬁsh. One thing’s for sure, Donk’s never
had a rider on his back. He wants no part
of that malarkey—the very idea makes him
bristle like a porcupine.
Though Donk loves his stablemate and
girlfriend D.D., he’s picky about humans.
The hinny can be as skittish as a new kid
on the ﬁrst day of school. Approaching
All the animals at Longmeadow have
tried to clue Clueless in on ranch life, but
the 2-year-old is as curious as the monkey
who hangs out with the man in the yellow
hat that Snortin’ Norton told me about at
bedtime one night.
Watch for the next chapter, buckaroos, and
you’ll meet Clueless Too, and his best bud,
Laredo. They’re a couple of wild chaps.
Bazonka Donk
and Earlene
In 2006, a truck carrying horses bound for a meat-packing plant
overturned in Missouri. Twenty-six animals survived and were
taken to a rescue ranch for treatment and care. One of the horses
was pregnant and miraculously delivered a colt the following
spring. This story is told from the colt’s perspective. Learn more
about these animals today at longmeadowrescueranch.org.
Illustrations by Tony Rainey; photographs by Jeanne Miller Wood.
Produced by the Missouri Press Foundation. © 2007.
AG hires traveling sunshine law instructor
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has hired a full-time staff member dedicated to educating government officials about the Missouri Sunshine Law. Public
Education Director Tom Durkin will travel the state giving presentations and
seminars to state, city and county agencies who request information on Missouri’s
open meetings and records law.
Durkin previously served as an administrative assistant in the Missouri Senate
and as the communications coordinator for the Missouri Supreme Court.
"Having a Sunshine Law expert dedicated to offering personal presentations will
provide government officials with the support they need to be well informed in
conducting their business in a transparent way," Koster said.
Durkin is available to provide educational materials and make in-person presentations upon request. The Attorney General’s Office also offers a free booklet
containing a summary of the Sunshine Law, frequently asked questions, interpretations of the law and sample forms for public governmental bodies.
To request a personal seminar or to order publications, call 573-751-8844 or
submit a request online at ago.mo.gov.
Missouri Press Association Bulletin, March 26, 2009, Page 3
Keep track of bills in Capitol
Missouri Press Association
Missouri Press Service
802 Locust St.
Columbia, MO 65201-4888
(573) 449-4167; FAX (573) 874-5894
www.mopress.com
PRESIDENT: Vicki Russell,
Columbia Daily Tribune
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT: Kevin Jones,
St. Louis American
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT: Vacant
SECRETARY: Richard Gard,
St. Louis Daily Record
TREASURER: Linda Geist, Monroe
City Lake Gazette
DIRECTORS: Jack Whitaker,
Hannibal Courier-Post
Brad Gentry, Houston Herald
Mark Maassen, The Kansas City Star
Joe May, Mexico Ledger
Jon Rust, Cape Girardeau
Southeast Missourian
Dennis Warden, Gasconade County
Republican, Owensville
Kate Martin, Perry County
Republic-Monitor, Perryville
NNA REPRESENTATIVE: Jeff Schrag,
Springﬁeld Daily Events
STAFF
Doug Crews: Executive Director,
[email protected]
Greg Baker: Advertising Director,
[email protected]
Kent Ford: Editor, [email protected]
Connie Whitney:
[email protected]
and Jennifer Plourde:
[email protected]
Advertising Sales and Placement
Karen Philp: [email protected]
Receptionist, Bookkeeping
Kristie Williams: Member Services;
Meeting Coordinator,
[email protected]
Michael Daugherty: Advertising and Website management,
[email protected]
Rachael Heffner: Advertising, Graphic
Design, [email protected]
Jean Maneke:
Legal Hotline Counselor
(816) 753-9000
[email protected]
Dawn Kitchell:
Newspaper In Education Director
(636) 932-4301; [email protected]
Ron Cunningham:
Postal Consultant
(417) 849-9331; [email protected]
Missouri Digital News has complete records
By Phill Brooks, Missouri Digital News
If you ever need to find out what a particular bill really does or to track down a
specific bill, Missouri Digital News — at http:\\www.mdn.org\2009\forms\bills.
htm — is the place to go. Not only can you track bills, it’s also a great place to
come up with story ideas.
You can search a database of bills that goes back to 1985. It is the longest continuing online database of legislation in the state. Having started years before
existence of the web, the bills database originally was intended to be an in-house
resource for my own reporters. It was not planned to be made public.
So, in those early years, you may find comments or grammar that you would not
expect in a journalistic product intended for public consumption. But enough years
have passed that I concluded it was OK to make this historical information public.
One major advantage of our database is that you’ll find that the bills are described in plain, journalistic language — not the legalistic mumbo-jumbo that
sometimes can be used to obscure the real impact of a bill. The reason is that I
write the descriptions — every single one of them.
The description may not cover every aspect of a bill. Rather, in a
short sentence or two, it will cover what
I think is the most significant, newsworthy aspect. For the most part, the description reflects the original version of
the bill. Only in a few cases with major
bills will the description be updated to
reflect changes made as the bill moves through the legislative process.
As for the other fields and search categories:
Sponsor: Only one name, the principle sponsor, is entered for a bill. The link, by
the way, connects to MDN’s database of legislators.
Status: This is the current location of the bill. Unless a bill is in a House-Senate conference committee, the first letter will indicate the chamber. Most of these
committee names have been shortened.
Subject: This field originally was used to assign bills to my reporters, so the subjects reflected our actual beats. Only a bill I deemed worthy of coverage would be
given a subject category. Now every bill is given a subject category and most bills
will have two or more categories.
MDN Key Words: The search will pull up any bill for which the words you
have entered appear in the description. The search is case insensitive.
Bills: Just enter the bill type followed by the number (i.e. HB100, SB100,
HJR10, SJR10). You can enter several bills; just put a space between each bill.
Budget Control: In both the House and Senate, a committee reviews bills that
would cost the state any significant amount of money. The bill has to be approved
by this committee prior to a final vote in the chamber. Check this box to limit
your search to bills that are in this committee. In the bill display, the words “IN
BUDGET” will be added to the status.
Calendar: This button in the search page will take you to the current calendars
of the House and Senate.
Finally, I have a request. These bill descriptions are written at a frantic pace during a pretty hectic period of the legislative session. Already this year, more than
1,600 bills have been introduced, so there will be entries with typos, and there may
be an occasional entry that’s nonsensical. Please let me know when you encounter
one of these “Brooksisms.”
—Prof. Phill Brooks is the Director, State Government Reporting Program,
Missouri Digital News, and the Missouri School of Journalism Statehouse Correspondent, KMOX.
Missouri Press Association Bulletin, March 26, 2009, Page 4
Paul Stevens subs
for Kia Breaux at AP
AP’s Kansas City interim chief of
bureau Kia Breaux will be on leave
beginning in late March. During
her absence, which is expected to
be three months, Paul Stevens will
assume chief of bureau responsibilities on an interim basis for Kansas/Missouri.
Randy Picht, who has been
the leader of the Member Choice
implementation team since last
spring, will continue on that assignment full-time.
Stevens was Kansas City chief
of bureau from 1984 to 2003, when
he was named vice president for
the AP's Central Region. His direct
line in Kansas City is 816-6541079 and his e-mail address is
[email protected].
More furloughs for
Gannett employees
(AP) — Newspaper publisher
Gannett will require most of its
workers to take another week of
unpaid leave before July.
The furloughs spelled out recently in a company memo are
being imposed to avoid laying off
more employees as Gannett tries
to offset a steep drop in advertising
revenue.
This is the second time this
year that most of Gannett's 41,500
workers have had to give up a
week's pay. Most employees, including CEO Craig Dubow, were
furloughed for at least ﬁve days
during the ﬁrst three months this
year.
This time around, the owner of
the USA Today and more than 80
other daily newspapers is requiring
its higher-paid workers to relinquish up to two weeks pay during
the April-June period.
The Springﬁeld News-Leader
is the only Gannett newspaper in
Missouri.
Circulation meeting
The 2009 Midwest Circulation
Management Association Marketing Conference will be April 16-18
in Branson.
David Mapel of The Sun Tribune, Gladstone, is the Missouri
director of the MCMA. This year’s
president and host of the conference is Missy D. Rech of the Norfolk, Neb., Daily News.
For information about the meeting go to midwestcirculation.com.
KNOW IT.
ALL.
“I am a community
know-it-all...
or maybe you’d
call me a busy bee.”
BE A
KNOW IT.
ALL.
Bonnie Carter
Knows it. ALL.
-Becky Cox
Membership Director
Four Rivers Area Family YMCA
I love to open the paper to see friendly faces I know from
church, school and my YMCA.
I love to read who is getting married or having a baby.
I love Karen’s Features in the PEOPLE section that connect
me with great causes and human interest stories.
I spent hours of time clipping sports stories and stats on
my friends when I was in high school... now I read about my
friends’ kids... Wow am I that old?
politics
opinion
sports
classiﬁeds
entertainment
auto
So Bonnie is a Know It. All. And she shares it. All.
Bonnie taught Texas County children for 45 years and has continued to tutor since her retirement. It
takes two papers and two hours, but she cuts out any article that mentions her young and now-old kids.
Cover to cover, she hunts down obituaries, anniversaries, birthdays, honor roll mentions, news and nibbits. She laminates the newsprint, writes a word of encouragement and encloses a card or written word
of wisdom. Bonnie heralds the news and good cheer.
“THAT is what I do with the paper,” said Bonnie.
Be like Bonnie and read the HERALD. Know it. All.
Spread it around.
I faithfully check what time the movies are playing at the
Cinema, and I adore Chris’ “Sights and Insights.”
news
Bonnie Carter gets two copies of the Herald every week, and then,
spends two hours snipping, laminating, licking and sticking.
HOUSTON HERALD
houstonherald.com
417-967-2000
news
politics
opinion
sports
classiﬁeds
auto
coupons
KNOW IT. ALL.
coupons
Every town has ‘Know It. Alls.’
Your newspaper is important — your readers know it
Newspapers all over Missouri and the country are using the “Read a Newspaper.
Know It. All.” promotional advertisements.
The ads are posted on the MPA website along with an overview of the campaign, which began last fall. All materials may be downloaded free of charge from
http://mopress.com/know_it_all.php.
Missouri Press Association has given permission to any newspaper in the country that is a member of a newspaper association to use the ads without charge.
Missourian Publishing Co. in Washington is using the theme but substituting
photos of local people and its own copy in the ads (above left). A terrific project. If
you do this, be sure to get a signed release from the people that you photograph. A
release is available at mopress.com/nt_photography.php.
The Houston Herald created the “Know It. All.” ad above right to promote itself.
April’s issue of Missouri Press News will feature a “Know It. All” ad created by the
Cuba Free Press.
The theme of the campaign, “Read A Newspaper. Know It. All.” focuses on the
value local newspapers bring to their readers. In the locally produced ads, readers
share their thoughts about why their local newspaper is important to them and to
their community.
Your newspaper should be using these ads, either the ones already made up for
you or ones you produce yourself using people who live in the communities your
newspaper serves.
Simply contact people you know who are faithful newspaper readers — even
longtime advertisers — and ask them to be a part of the promotion. Get creative,
have fun and show the people you serve how important what you do is to their
lives.
Missouri Press Association Bulletin, March 26, 2009, Page 5
Another version of online auction
Generate cash by selling merchandise, certiﬁcates
Color e-newspaper
tested in Tokyo
Fujitsu has conducted its ﬁrst
public trials of a color e-newspaper
called the FLEPia. The week-long
trial in February saw four of the
devices — which use color epaper
— left for customers at a Tokyo
restaurant. Each had a “BB Mobile
Point” wireless LAN connection to
regularly update.
Battery life, up to 50 hours despite the regular use, was good
enough to require one recharge in
the evening once the cafe closed.
As with other epaper devices,
the FLEPia uses power only when
changing the displayed image,
not to maintain it. Current content
includes newspaper articles and
train timetables, with the FLEPia
automatically changing to show ads
when not being used.
The hardware — which currently
costs around $900 — is 12mm thick
and has both WiFi and USB 2.0
connectivity. There’s also an SD
slot, stereo speakers and a touchscreen for navigation.
The FLEPia runs Windows CE,
and the display is up to three times
larger than that of the Kindle 2.
Fujitsu is apparently looking into
commercial viability in cafes and
restaurants, where the up-front cost
would be subsidized by ads.
—SlashGear
San Diego paper sold
Copley Press Inc. said it’s selling
the San Diego Union-Tribune, the
last of its once formidable press empire, to Beverly Hills, Calif.-based
Platinum Partners. Platinum said in a statement
that Black Press owner David H.
Black will serve as part of the team
overseeing The Union-Tribune.
Black owns newspapers in Canada,
western Washington and in Hawaii,
where the company publishes the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
The Bloomington Herald-Times in Indiana is selling on its website gift certiﬁcates
and merchandise provided by local businesses.
Local businesses provide the newspaper with gift cards and merchandise. The
paper then sells these products on a special website, IndianaBuyItNow.com, to the
public at 30 to 40 percent off face value.
The newspaper receives the money paid for the items, and the face value of the
products is given to the businesses in the form of advertising space in the newspaper
or on its website.
This is a program similar to the auctions and block sale promotions being conducted by a number of newspapers, including some in Missouri.
Newspapers using IndianaBuyItNow primarily target businesses that are not
regular newspaper advertisers, expecting to show them the value of newspaper advertising. Businesses also must provide a minimum retail value merchandise or gift
card to participate.
Regular newspaper advertisers can participate, but they must spend additional
dollars above and beyond their regular ad spending.
The newspaper reports getting numerous comments from people who love the
program because they can purchase items at deep discounts. Businesses like the
program because they can get advertising without having to pay cash for it.
—from Publishers’ Auxiliary
‘Why don’t more papers do this?’
The twice-weekly Wise County Messenger in Decatur, Texas, has been publishing
a one-page “Update” five days a week for more than 30 years. About 4,000 copies
of the 8.5 x 11-inch “Update” are printed each day and delivered to banks, grocery
stores, post offices and other high traffic areas throughout the county.
News blurbs on front and back are about meetings, calendar items, accidents,
police reports, weather, funeral notices, etc.
Each edition contains four ads on the front, each selling, per day, for $100 or
$75, depending on size. The entire back page of “Update” sells for $200 a day.
“Update” also goes on the Messenger’s website.
“We’ve done it for so long and we know how profitable it is,” said ad manager
Lisa Davis. “I just don’t know why other papers don’t do this. It’s one of the best
products we have.”
—from Publishers’ Auxiliary
Ann Arbor daily will close this summer
The Ann Arbor (Mich.) News will shut down at the end of July, and three other
Michigan dailies, The Flint Journal, The Saginaw News and The Bay City Times,
will cut back their print publication days to three days a week. Advance Publications Inc. owns all four papers.
The Ann Arbor News will be replaced by a website, AnnArbor.com, which will
continue to publish a twice-weekly paper. Production of the News will move to a
sister publication, The Jackson Citizen-Patriot, according to Crain’s Detroit Business.�
On June 1 the other papers will reduce their print days to Thursdays, Fridays
and Sundays and distribute most of their news online.�
Advance spent more than $50 million five years ago to build two new production plants to print the papers.
—Newspapers & Technology
Missouri Press Association Bulletin, March 26, 2009, Page 6
Monthly legal
podcasts begin
Missouri Press Foundation has
begun providing a monthly podcast
with MPA Legal Hotline Attorney
Jean Maneke. The ﬁrst in the series is available now for listening or
download from mopress.com/podcasts.php.
The March podcast covers common advertising questions. In April,
Maneke’s guest will be Beth Riggert,
communications counsel for the
Missouri Supreme Court. They will
address covering the courts.
The podcasts are audio recordings over the internet. If you can
listen to music on your computer,
you will be able to listen to these
podcasts.
The podcasts also will be available on Itunes.
These monthly podcasts will be
archived on the website so you can
listen to any of them at any time.
The monthly legal podcast is another training opportunity Missouri
Press Foundation is working to bring
its members.
If you have questions or trouble
accessing these recordings, contact
Dawn Kitchell at [email protected]
(636)932-4301.
Free webinars
The NAA Foundation is offering
a free, three-part webinar series to
provide media professionals, both
business and editorial, with real
tools and skills to help them deal
with change. The series also focuses on developing and implementing
strategies for advancing professional development and careers.
The ﬁrst webinar, “Besting the
Bad News,” is scheduled for 1 p.m.
on Tuesday, March 31.
In this webinar, you’ll learn:
• Ways to reduce your fear and
anxiety while unlocking that energy
for action.
• Strategies for identifying pockets of opportunity in the midst of the
bad news.
The second and third webinars in
the series will be held in spring and
summer.
The webinar series will be led by
Pamela Mitchell, founder and CEO
of The Reinvention Institute and a
noted career reinvention expert.
While “Besting the Bad News”
is free, registration is required. Capacity is limited, so act now. Go to
https://compx11.eventcenterlive.
com/cfmx/ec/register/reg.cfm?BID=
1&RegID=FBA1CA2A.
High schools want control
Wisconsin suit over ownership of media coverage
Citing federal jurisdiction under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the Gannett
Co., Inc., through The Post-Crescent of Appleton and The Press-Gazette of Green
Bay, along with the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, on March 17 filed a “notice of removal” with the U.S. District Court in Madison to shift the legal action
brought by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) from Portage County circuit court.
The removal to the federal court effectively transfers jurisdiction and is based on
the fact that U.S. copyright law “completely preempts all state law” for subject matter falling under federal copyright provisions, Gannett said in its motion.
Gannett, publisher of 10 Wisconsin daily newspapers, and Wisconsin Newspaper Association are co-defendants in a lawsuit filed by WIAA and several others for
infringing on what the WIAA claims are its exclusive media ownership rights.
The suit asks a Portage County judge to rule that the organization has the right
to “control the transmission, Internet stream, photo, image, film, videotape, audiotape, writing, drawing or other depiction or description of any game, game action,
game information, or any commercial use of the same of an athletic event it sponsors, and that it has the right to grant exclusive rights to others … for tournament
events that it sponsors.”
“The rights asserted by WIAA are clearly ‘equivalent’ to the rights of reproduction, performance distribution or display defined by the Copyright Act,” the defendants’ removal filing states. “Accordingly, removal is proper under federal law since
this is a civil action brought in state court over which the federal court has original
jurisdiction based on the existence of a substantial federal question.”
The Gannett-WNA response to the WIAA complaint was to be filed in federal
court this week.
WNA executive director Peter Fox told The Associated Press the WIAA’s claim
is an “uncomprehensible overreach” of rights.
“They are essentially saying all these news reporting products are subject to
WIAA control,” said Fox. “If Wisconsin weekly and daily newspapers go ahead
and capture these athletic events in certain forms of blogging or video or still photography, (the WIAA is saying) that Wisconsin newspapers can’t use them in certain circumstances and they are owned by the private vendors that the WIAA has
selected.”
SPJ to meet April 24-25 in St. Louis
The 2009 Society of Professional Journalists’ Region 7 Spring Conference will
be April 24-25 in St. Louis. The St. Louis Pro Chapter of SPJ has planned a full
day of professional-development sessions that can help you become a better journalist.
The keynote speaker is Brant Houston, a nationally known expert on investigative reporting. Other speakers will:
• Help with job-finding and money-making tips for freelancers.
• Make you think about the future of traditional media in an era of layoffs.
• Tell you how to make people see the great content that you're putting online.
• Introduce you to new storytelling techniques.
Register at stlspj.org/?page_id=100. Follow the payment instructions to pay the
registration fee: $75 for pros, $50 for students, $10 additional after April 1.
The conference will be at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Clayton. If you stay there,
ask for the SPJ rate of $109. Call 1-800-980-6429.
If you have questions, contact [email protected].
Missouri Press Association Bulletin, March 26, 2009, Page 7
Jackie Sue Riley
got her diploma.
Read about the graduate’s plans
in the newspaper.
Jackie Sue Riley
and her classmates
got their high
school diplomas
Sunday. You can
read in your newspaper about all of
the scholarships the
students earned,
where they plan to
attend college, what
careers they will
pursue and who the
proud parents are.
Sometimes people
say newspapers just
print bad news.
That’s not really
true though. Just
ask Jackie Sue and
her classmates.
No medium covers a
community like the local
newspaper. Read yours,
and get in touch
with your community.
This message brought to you by this
newspaper and the Missouri Press Association.
Newspapers
connect people
Missouri Press has provided a
series of “Jackie Sue Riley” ads
with the theme “Read your newspaper and get in touch with your
community.”
Their message is that only the
local newspaper gives you the news
you want about your friends and
neighbors. TV, radio and blogs don’t
do that. Only the newspaper does
that.
The ads are in the Newspaper
Toolbox on the MPA website at
mopress.com/nt_promotion.php.
Low-cost training
with webinars
Training over the internet is available to Missouri Press members
from a variety of sources.
With money and time growing
tighter, newspapers that want training are using these webinars to
improve their products and their
revenue.
Cost for this training is reasonable, and one fee pays for as
many people as you want to gather
around the computer or projector. Invite your associates from the
neighboring county and share the
already low cost.
Here are some of the sources
you can check for online training.
• Inlandpress.org
• Braincast.biz (Kevin Slimp)
• Newspaperwebinars.com.
Ad tax credit would help
Incentives to advertise should be part of stimulus
By Bob Pittman
NEW YORK (Fortune) — The government’s stimulus plan won’t work as
planned if we don’t get consumers spending again. But in the nearly $800 billion
package, there is one thing missing that would surely help accomplish this: advertising. To get people spending again, and the economy moving, the government
needs to provide help for businesses to advertise their products and services.
Let me disclose that I do have a horse in this race: I’m an investor in advertisingsupported businesses. I’ve spent a large percentage of my working career in businesses that sell advertising — including broadcast and cable TV, radio, magazines,
Internet, newspapers and direct marketing. I’ve also led businesses that have used
these media to advertise products and services.
Having looked at advertising from both sides, I developed a healthy respect for
the power and necessity of strong advertising to the success of any business.
There’s a reason that America is the largest consumer market in the world: It
also happens to be the largest advertising market in the world. Advertising works
— and it has been proven again and again for over a century. But today’s businesses have responded to the economic crisis by radically cutting payrolls and other
expenses, which includes advertising budgets.
We are now at the lowest levels of consumer spending in recent history and the
lowest levels of advertising spending as well. There is a connection. Maybe some of
the current drop in consumer spending is the result of cuts in advertising.
Corporate earnings are the cornerstone of our market economy. But it’s hard to
make profits when you’re not ringing up sales. Not until companies’ earnings start
increasing again will we see increased employment, higher wages, more tax revenues, fewer loan defaults and even higher stock prices.
I think we can all agree that a meaningful resurgence in consumer spending is
necessary right now to get us out of this economic hole — and advertising would
certainly have a stimulating effect.
What can the government do? If the recovery program includes provisions
promoting job creation, renewable energy and infrastructure improvements,
couldn’t it also include at least a little something to help businesses advertise more?
That would enable them to connect the consumer to those products and services
through awareness, excitement and information.
Ad spending is already tax-deductible as a business expense; a bigger help to
some advertisers would be a tax credit for ad spending up to some percentage of
prior-year sales.
Unfortunately, some consumers today simply can’t spend, since they’ve lost their
jobs or their nest eggs. This is the group which is rightfully a major focus of the
current economic stimulus program.
However, there is a much larger group of consumers that I believe holds the key
to our recovery: those who can spend, but aren’t. They are sitting on the sidelines
and waiting, even though they have the money and security to be spending. How
do we stimulate them to spend again? With advertising.
It’s a mistake to think of advertising merely as a cost — it’s an investment, and
like all investments it can have a wide-reaching impact. Incentives for advertising
need to be an important component of any plan to stimulate our economy.
—Bob Pittman is a co-founder of the Pilot Group investment firm, the former
CEO of MTV Networks, AOL Networks, Six Flags Theme Parks, Time Warner
Enterprises and Century 21 Real Estate, as well as the former chief operating officer of America Online and AOL Time Warner, the company that publishes Fortune.
Missouri Press Association Bulletin, March 26, 2009, Page 8
Job ads need wide distribution
Marketplace
Ads on this page are free to members
of Missouri Press Association unless
the ad is for an out-of-state newspaper.
Cost to non-members and for member
ads for newspapers out of the state is
25¢ per word.
Please email your ads to
[email protected].
To check ads between issues of the
Bulletin, go to mopress.com/jobs.php.
HELP WANTED
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Because of a promotion
into a newly created position, we are seeking a new
associate editor. If you want to make a difference
in the lives of other people and you possess the
skills to work in the Editorial department of a highly
awarded, twice-weekly newspaper, we want to talk
with you about a position in Bolivar. Photography
and Page Design experience preferred and any
Web experience is a plus. Quark, NewsEdit Pro
and Photoshop experience preferred. EOE.
Please send resume to: ASSOCIATE EDITOR,
Community Publishers, Inc., PO Box 330, Bolivar,
MO 65613. Fax: 417-326-8701 or email to careers
@MO.NeighborNews.com. 3/23
EDITOR / GENERAL MANGER: Editor and
general manager sought for a 9,000-circulation free
weekly mailed newspaper. Applicants should have
knowledge in news as well as advertising. Great
pay and beneﬁts. Send resume to Tom Throne,
General Manager, Montgomery Communications,
222 W. Sixth St., Junction City, KS 66441, or email
[email protected]. 3/23
CLASSIFIED/INSIDE SALES: For the St. Louis
American newspaper, the state’s second largest
weekly newspaper. Full time or part time. Salary
plus commission. Send resume to Kevin Jones,
COO, [email protected]. 3/6
JOB WANTED
EXPERIENCED: I’m looking for a job in the Truman
Lake area. Experienced in all aspects of newspaper,
strong in advertising composition. Experienced
in Quark, PhotoShop, InDesign, Illustrator,
Pagemaker. Bookkeeping, too. For resume, contact
Box DB, Missouri Press Association, 802 Locust
St., Columbia, MO 65201. 3-12
FOR SALE
NEWSPRINT: Several rolls of 14- and 28-inch
newsprint for sale. Contact Wendell Lenhart (660)
359-2212 or email [email protected]. 3/10
Order Press Cards for
your staff. Email names to
[email protected]
Pitch statewide ad networks to local employers
Statewide recruitment is crucial for employers who want to maintain high standards.
In the last Bulletin we asked you to pitch Missouri Press statewide advertising
programs to educators and training facilities. If you have not, you are ignoring potential new revenue for your newspaper.
This issue’s focus is on Help Wanted.
When an employer wants to reach a high volume of high-quality candidates, you
should offer statewide advertising. You have, through Missouri Press, two statewide
advertising networks that are read by thousands of smart, motivated individuals
each week.
According to the MRI Survey of American Consumers, “Influentials” use newspapers more than any other medium. Nearly 60 percent of college graduates read
a daily newspaper, 68 percent of 18-34 year olds read a newspaper weekly and 60
percent of adults who earn $75,000 or more read a newspaper daily.
According to Pulse Research’s May 2007 Missouri Statewide Market Survey,
nearly 40 percent of those under 35 looked in the local newspaper for a job.
With the Missouri Press statewide ad networks, your help wanted advertiser can
reach thousands of these individuals, and you benefit with high commissions!
Brochures for you to give these folks to assist you in selling the ads are available
from Missouri Press Service. Just call and ask! (573.449.4167)
Don’t leave any money on the table when you can promote beyond your newspaper’s reach – sell statewide network advertising!
Good workers a valuable asset
Businesses may be damaging their bottom line by laying off employees. New
research by the Forum for People Performance Measurement and Management
examines the concept of employee lifetime value (ELTV) and how companies can
directly measure the positive impact of people on the bottom line.
The white paper Employee Lifetime Value: “The People Impact” of Financial
Success, notes the following research that makes the
case for the value of employees.
• According to the Brookings Institute, approximately 85 percent of a company’s assets are related
to intangible capital that is part of employee knowledge and human talent.
• Other research cited in the study explains that
if a company lost all of its employees, but kept its
equipment, it would never recover. However, a
company that maintained its employees, but lost its
equipment could recover in a relatively short period
of time.
• The decline in people entering the workforce in
the next five to 10 years and increased immigration restrictions will make it difficult for employers seeking both skilled and unskilled labor. This is true even when
considering the impact of the current recession.
“Organizations need to be able to measure the value of people and need to understand the value of people over extended periods of time in order to make intelligent decisions about how to invest in their employees and to ensure they are appropriately valuing their workforce,” said Michelle Smith, president of the Forum
for People Performance Management and Measurement, a research center within
the Medill Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) graduate program at
Northwestern University.
Employee
layoffs may
damage
bottom line.
MA
MA
MISSOURI ADVERTISING MANAGERS’ ASSOCIATION
Sheraton Westport Plaza Hotel, St. Louis, MO
YOUR RECESSION SURVIVAL PLAN FOR 2009!
Thursday April 30 and Friday May 1, 2009
[Thursday, April 30
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
1:00 pm - 1:45
1:45 pm - 2:15
2:15 pm - 2:30
2:30 pm - 3:00
3:00 pm - 4:00
6:30 pm
After Dinner
pm
pm
pm
pm
pm
[Friday, May 1
7:30 am - 8:30 am
MAMA Board Meeting & Lunch in Terrace Restaurant in hotel
Registration
Sheraton Westport Plaza
“Know It. All” Campaign - How it can work for you!
Jean Maneke Q&A - Legal issues affecting newspaper advertising
Refreshment Break
Recession Survivors! Ask the “Old Pros” who have seen hard times before.
Presentation of MAMA Contest Awards
Dinner at Sheraton Westport Plaza Hotel
Entertainment at your door! Over 20 entertainment venues only steps
away. See www.westportstl.com for a map with details.
Breakfast
Ideas Worth Sharing Workshop with Speaker Candide Gregoire
8:30 am - 9:45 am
9:45 am - 10:00 am
10:00 am - 11:30 pm
•
•
•
•
Discussion on special theme pages, supplements and features
Planning tools to assure the results you expect
Get your sales team to buy in on your ideas
Theme pages and supplements that work
Use Candide’s Ideas to
in a small market
Survive the Recession!
• New revenue streams for revenue growth
Refreshment break
• Presentation of the industry’s top
money-making ideas
• Discussion of attendee’s best ideas of the year
MISSOURI ADVERTISING MANAGERS’ ASSOCIATION
Annual Conference Registration• Thursday April 30 and Friday May 1, 2009
Sheraton Westport Plaza Hotel
900 Westport Plaza, St. Louis, MO 63146
Room rate: $105 for a single or double • Reserve your room by calling 800-822-3535
Sleeping room reservations must be made by Wednesday, April 8th
Ask for Missouri Ad Managers’ Association Room Block
MA
MA
Please write names of person(s) who will attend from your newspaper or organization and mark the events/sessions they will attend.
Full
Registration
By
3/18/09
$140
Name
Full
Registration
After
3/18/09
$150
Thursday Only
Afternoon
Sessions &
Awards Ceremony
$45
Thursday Only
Evening
Meal &
Entertainment
$45
Friday Only
Package
Includes Breakfast
& AM Session
$65
Total Per
Person
Grand Total
Name of Newspaper
Address:
Contact Email:
CONVENTION CANCELLATIONS: CANCELLATIONS RECEIVED BY FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2009 WILL BE ENTITLED TO A REFUND. CANCELLATIONS MAY BE FAXED TO 573-874-5894 OR
EMAILED TO [email protected]. CANCELLATIONS RECEIVED AFTER FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2009 ARE NOT ENTITLED TO A REFUND.
❒ Check Enclosed - Please make checks payable to MAMA
❒ Mastercard
Name on Card
❒ Visa
Credit Card No.
Exp. Date
Signature
Please return this form along with check or credit card information to
Missouri Press Association • 802 Locust St. • Columbia, MO 65201 • 573-449-4167 • Fax: 573-874-5894 • [email protected]