newsbeat aug2018 · 2019. 3. 21. · 120 van rensselaer blvd., albany, ny tuesday, january 8, 2019...

PA2 0 1 8 Fall Publishers Conference‘Fall Publishers Conference

NewsBeat Published by the New York Press Associationon behalf of New York’s Community Newspapers

August 2018 PANY

CROSS LINEthe

2 NewsBeat August 2018

NewsBeatA NEWSLETTER FOR NEW YORK’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERSPublished by the New York Press Association621 Columbia Street Ext., Suite 100, Cohoes, NY 12047518.464.6483 • 518.464.6489 fax • www.nynewspapers.comExecutive Editor — Michelle K. Rea Layout & Design — Rich Hotaling

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Mark your calendar

Thursday, September 13, 2018NYPA/NYPS Boards of Directors MeetingsNYPA Foundation Board of Directors MeetingMontréal Marriott Château Champlain

Friday & Saturday,September 14 & 15, 2018NYPA Fall ConferenceMontréal Marriott Château Champlain

Friday, November 9, 2018NYPA/NYPS Board of Directors MeetingsNYPA Foundation Board of Directors MeetingWolferts Roost Country Club120 Van Rensselaer Blvd., Albany, NY

Tuesday, January 8, 2019NYPA Better Newspaper Contest Deadline

Thursday, April 4, 2019NYPA/NYPS Boards of Directors MeetingsNYPA Foundation Board of Directors MeetingHilton Albany, Albany, NY

Friday & Saturday,April 5 & 6, 2019NYPA Spring Convention and TradeshowHilton Albany, Albany, NY

C L I P & S A V E


On one side of the line you’ll be positioned to identify opportunities to make good things happen — maximize resources, get better results, build stronger relationships, and make more money. On the other side, less so. What’s your plan for crossing the line?Join your colleagues in Montréal September 14th and 15th for NYPA’s Fall Publishers’ Conference where you’ll find everything you need to cross the line.

Compelling speakers — a wide range of experts from our industry and beyond, addressing the most important issues in publishing.

Superb networking — the perfect place to meet old friends and make new ones. We’re better together. The newspaper industry is stronger when its leaders stand together to repel threats and seize opportunities. Threats like newsprint tariffs and postal increases; and opportunities like rethinking real estate and automotive advertising, growing print revenue and recruiting salespeople who can sell!Let’s get together to talk about what’s working, what’s holding us back, and where we go from here.

Did we mention the great venue?Montréal is a great place to get inspired, rejuvenated and enjoy fabulous food.

REGISTER TODAY — Visit www.nynewspapers.com to register for the conference and to make hotel reservations.

You’ll find a direct link on our site.Cut off for hotel reservations is August 22nd.

A Landmark Hotel in Downtown MontréalMontréal Marriott Château Champlain

Every once in a while, a hotel manages to define and epitomize the very best qualities of a world-class city. In Montreal, that hotel is undeniably the Four-Diamond Montréal Marriott Château Champlain.

Rising 36 floors above the historic statues and the parkland setting of Dorchester Square, Marriott Château Champlain provides stunning views of Montreal’s downtown core, Mount Royal, Old Montreal and the waterfront.

This ideal location puts the very best of Montréal’s magnificent architecture, shopping districts, restaurants, nightlife, neighbourhoods and atmosphere of ‘joie de vivre’ within easy walking distance.

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CROSS LINEtheSEPTEMBER 14 & 15

August 2018 NewsBeat 3

Here is a look at what’s on tap:

Chuck Underwood – The generational imperativeThree, and sometimes four, generations are active in the American workplace:

Boomers; GenX; Millennials; and, in some cases the Silent Generation.

Each generation brings unique core values, career attitudes, strengths and weaknesses to their work. And it is imperative for employers, management, and employees to understand those differences.

Here are the challenges: retaining Boomers and getting the best possible leadership from them. Retaining GenX’ers and preparing them for leadership. Recruiting, onboarding, and retaining Millennials, and helping them to embrace realistic expectations. Training in generational workforce management is no longer optional. It’s imperative. It’s all about productivity, reducing turnover, teamwork, culture, and bottom line.

Aaron Kotarek – Print has left the station?Not so fast folks. You’ll hear from a publisher who has bucked the national

trend over the past 5 years to grow overall print volumes through a diversified product portfolio approach using print centric strategies and tactics.

Jason Feifer – The importance of embracing change in the newspaper industryThe editor of Entrepreneur magazine (who started his career at community

newspapers in Massachusetts) will talk about importance of embracing change. He sees too many newspapers doubling down on what used to work instead of figuring out what will work in the future – and when a new or slightly new thing is introduced everyone plays follow the leader and goes all in. He’ll talk about why he thinks pivoting to video is a huge mistake. And why in a landscape that is constantly changing the newspaper industry can’t rely on one single business model.

Chris Stahl – Driving new auto dollarsAuto advertisers have substantial local dollars to spend. But, it’s not about helping

them in the showroom anymore. Both the “big dog” dealers and “rock lot” sellers need better ways to move their USED inventory. And, ask any auto dealer and they’ll tell you

that they get most of their profits not from the showroom, but, from the service bays! Learn how several local newspaper leaders garnered significant new revenue from this critical advertising category.

Ira Wolfe – Recruiting in the age of “Googlization”It’s time for every business to “get its SHIFT together” and get a grip on reality.

Tried and true recruiting practices aren’t working. Traditional jobs are disappearing, new job categories are emerging, and employment technologies are exploding. The automation of work makes it seem like science fiction is taking over the workplace.

The eye of the “Perfect SHIFT Storm” is going to make a direct hit. The end result is that the competition for qualified workers is both terrifying and intensifying. The wired, tired, and technology are converging yet many companies continue to recruit and screen talent like it was still 1970. Isn’t it time for human resources to SHIFT and get off the pot?

Recruiting in the Age of Googlization. is a brilliant and practical blueprint for small and medium sized businesses to attract, acquire and retain more talent.

Nicco Mele – How the technology we love is hurting the newspaper industryFive years ago. Nicco Mele warned that technology — particularly social media —

was taking power from big institutions and giving it to individuals.

When used for good, new technologies can empower individuals, give smaller players a fighting chance and challenge incumbents. But there is also a dark side to the power shift.

It’s good when the institution is corrupt and needs reform and won’t change itself. It’s good when the institution has acquired too much power. It’s good when you’re giving individuals the power to do beautiful things in the world.

But it’s bad when the institutions are performing a vital role and you’re allowing any individual to disrupt it. It’s bad when you’re talking about terrorism. It’s bad when you’re talking about the integrity of information in our communities.

Ned Hirt – What you need to know about New York’s new sexual harassment lawsMandatory sexual harassment training is coming to New York in October

(October 9th to be exact). The new law requires ALL employers to provide INTERACTIVE training to ALL employees ANNUALLY!!!

Learn what you need to do to be in compliance, and best practices for policies and training programs that comply with the new laws.

Mike Fortman – You made how much money doing what?!Learn how a few events, book publishing, rejuvenating a tired TV Magazine and an

exciting new entertainment venture added nearly $600K in revenue. In addition, you’ll hear about a new way to engage the younger generation and about the data that was captured from these activities and how they plan to use it for future opportunities.

Jeremy Mims – SpokenLayerThe emerging voice ecosystem – human-read voice experiences that create,

distribute and monetize audio content at scale for community newspapers

Don’t delay! Make your hotel reservations today! Go to www.nynewspapers



Drone storytelling and how to get started flying them

Here are five tips to help you get started if you’re new to drones!

1. Your first drone should be one you can crash — a lot.

Buy a cheap drone for practice so you can crash it without putting a dent in your finances. You’ll learn how to steer and how long the average battery lasts. More importantly, you’ll see if you want to invest time and money into taking the next step: becoming a drone pilot.

2. Budget the cost of becoming a drone pilot.If you decide to take a class to learn the information for the

drone test there are plenty of courses online, they usually range between $200 and $300. You can also take practice tests and download materials off the Federal Aviation Administration website to study independently. Some drone pilots we talked to took the test without taking a paid course, but they said it was harder to learn all the necessary information. Once you believe you’re ready, the test costs $150 and must be retaken every two years. This puts the starting costs of becoming a pilot anywhere between $150 and $500. And after you’re certified, you’ll be investing in a drone that can cost from $100 to thousands depending on what model you pick and your needs. Becoming a drone pilot is not cheap, so like any other niche technology, make sure you’ll get out of it what you’re going to put into it.

3. You must register your droneeven if you’re just flying for fun.Some new drone pilots make the mistake of thinking they don’t

have to register their drones if they buy them just to fly for fun. Even if you buy a drone to fly in your backyard or in empty spaces outside your home, you need to register it if it’s more than 0.55 pounds.

4. Learn about the no-fly zoneswhere you live.How often will you get to fly where you live? Well, it depends.

Big cities, highly populated areas, land near airports and protected sites like national parks are off limits. Get the lay of the land before investing time and money into a drone and license. Visit the FAA website to see where you can fly.

5. Ask questions.Find a knowledgeable drone club, teacher or mentor in your

city. Having a second person to help on flights, double-check equipment and share the joy of flying a drone can make the experience more fun and less stressful.

If you have any additional questions about drones or drone storytelling, contact me at [email protected]! I’m happy to help you get started.

— Reprinted from Reynolds Journalism Institute


What journalists can learn from their local TV weather forecast

arlier this month, the American Press Institute presented an idea that we believe could help with two challenges confronting journalism: a continuing decline in trust by

much of the public, and a lack of understanding about media and its functions.

We believe that if stories are built differently — using forms that follow a philosophy of “show me” rather than “tell me” with their audiences — journalists could build news consumers’ confidence in media and media savvy at the same time.

We came up with a name for this process/design: organic news fluency. We also wanted to find a good example that incorporated the questions, answers and presentation we’d like to see in every type of story.

But there have been examples of this for years, including one that many television viewers are familiar with — in the first 15 minutes of your local news broadcast.

Meteorologists and weather reporters have understood for years, decades even, how to engage their audiences with a topic that can be full of science jargon and fraught with uncertainty.

“The trick is…to approach the weather as if you’re telling a story: Who are the main actors? Where is the conflict? What happens next?” Bob Henson, a meteorologist for the online forecasting service Weather Underground, said in a recent Mental Floss interview. “Along the way, you have the opportunity to do a bit of teaching. Weathercasters are often the only scientists that a member of the public will encounter on a regular basis on TV.”

Good journalism plus an “organic” opportunity to improve audience skills or news fluency is exactly what we’re after. How can journalists do that? By answering a few important questions in a way that’s front-and-center — not hidden within a long story or somewhere else on a website. Those questions might include:

• What’s new here? What have we already reported?

• What do we know now?

• What evidence is there? Who are the sources?

E

Weather Channel co-founder Frank Batten* wrote in his 2002 book that company officials wanted to analyze “how consumers of weather information feel about that information, and how they use it.” The Weather Channel segmented their audience into three kinds of consumers:

Weather CommodityÊ– seek out weather infrequently and mainly for local forecasts

Weather PlannerÊ– heavy viewers of weather information who use it to plan work and recreational activities

Weather EngagedÊ– also heavy viewers, but profoundly passionate and curious about how weather works.

Watch your local weather forecast and you’ll likely see how the weather report informs, in some way, each one of those audiences. This kind of segmentation and interest level can be applied to other news topics: education, sports, business, entertainment.

In summary, here are a few thoughts about how the elements of local weather reports and habits of weather reporters might provide a template for other types of reporting:

• They discuss what’s happening right now, what happened yesterday, and various scenarios for the future.

• They use highly attractive visuals to make complex data easier to comprehend.

• They attribute their information to weather sources and models.

• They provide context: both historic and geographic.

• They offer information for each type of weather consumer.

• They engage with audiences by providing more information through social media and fighting misinformation.

• They display their credentials.

• They build, recycle and update “explainers,” adding depth to their reports.

And we think those actions can lead to a more informed, more fluent consumer.

*Disclosures: The Capital Weather Gang was part of my team when I was an editor at The Washington Post.

And I worked for Frank Batten when he was publisher of the Landmark-owned Virginian-Pilot.

• What are the credentials of this journalist?

• What facts don’t we know yet? What’s in dispute?

• What might happen next? What could change?

• How and when will it be covered?

• How can people respond or get involved?

• Take a look at how these questions align with a daily forecast from your average local TV newsroom:

• The meteorologist explains what will happen with your weather and reminds you what already has happened. Using visual elements like radar maps and chyrons, he demonstrates how air masses affected the region’s snowfall. He explains how this involves you: Your commute will be a mess tomorrow.

He also recognizes the diverse questions and interests of her viewers, offering information on the skiing outlook, travel conditions and the weather’s impact on weekend activities.

And if people want to know what qualifies the meteorologist to deliver the forecast to them in the first place, it’s all available in his online bio - his awards, degrees and certifications; his years as a stormchaser; his position with the American Meteorological Society.

Weather reporters and meteorologists often are highly engaged with people online, continuing the conversation and opportunities for weather fluency.

Weather reporters also tend to dive into a place that many journalists are reluctant to go — fake news on social media. Especially during weather crises, they spend an increasing amount of time trying to correct misinformation and flat-out fakery from troublemaking tweeters. (Marshall Shepherd of the University of Georgia calls them “social mediarologists.”)

This kind of engagement requires knowing and understanding their audience – something many weather reporters have been doing naturally for years. Back in 1994, the Weather Channel did a deep survey of their audiences and came up with a typology — the kind of research that many other news organizations only recently have started to examine.

By JANE ELIZABETHDirector, Accountability Journalism Program at the American Press Institute


By LAURA HAZARD OWEN

After years of growth, the use of social media for news is falling across the world

eople are becoming disenchanted with Facebook for news. The “Trump bump” appears to be sustaining itself. And

younger people are more likely to donate money to a news organization than older people.

These are some of the findings from a big new report out Thursday from Oxford’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. The Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report for 2018 surveyed more than 74,000 people in 37 countries about their digital news consumption. (Included in the report for the first time this year: Bulgaria.)

The research is based on online YouGov surveys earlier this year, followed by face-to-face focus groups in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Brazil on the topics of social media and messaging apps. The report includes a number of findings on fake news, misinformation, and trust in the media; for more on those topics, see this piece by the report’s authors, and I’ll also include some more info in Friday’s fake news column.

P Here are some of the most interesting findings from the report:

The use of social media (read: Facebook) for news is declining.

“For the last seven years we have tracked the key sources for news across major countries and have reported a picture of relentless growth in the use of social media for news,” the researchers write. “Now, in many countries, growth has stopped or gone into reverse.” This is almost entirely due to changes in Facebook habits. In the U.S., for instance, 39 percent of people said they used Facebook as a source of news in 2018, down 9 percentage points from 2017. And if you look just at young people in the U.S., their use of Facebook for news is down by 20 percent compared to 2017. This isn’t true in all countries — “Facebook news usage is up significantly in Malaysia and the Czech Republic — but it’s true in most of the ones Reuters looked at. This continues a trend that began last year in countries outside the U.S.

Reuters ran most of its research before Facebook’s algorithm changes in January 2018. If this can’t be blamed on a decision by Facebook, then what does account for it? The researchers suggest that people feel more comfortable moving their discussions to closed messaging apps like WhatsApp (whose use for news across countries has almost tripled since 2014 — though, in the U.S., only four percent of respondents said they get news from it).

The people that Reuters spoke with said that they do still find stories on Facebook and Twitter, “but then they will often post them to a WhatsApp group for discussion, often using a screen grab or a headline without a link.”

“The source is still Facebook because when we’re going to share something on WhatsApp, usually the article we’ve found is on Facebook,” a U.S. man in the 20- to 29-year-old age group told the focus group. “So Facebook is still king in that sense.”

But messaging apps are picking up the slack, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism finds in its 2018 Digital News Report.

People say they prefer “side-door access” to news.

Most people don’t go straight to a publisher’s homepage or app for news. Sixty-five percent of respondents said they prefer to access news in other ways, like search and

social media. This differs a lot by country, however: “Nordic publishers still have direct relationships with their readers…Korean and Japanese publishers, on the other hand, find themselves much more dependent on third-party platforms to access audiences.”

The Trump bump continues…

Sixteen percent of respondents in the U.S. pay for some kind of online news — with almost all of the growth coming from left-leaning people and people under 35.


A U.S. woman in the 20- to 29-year-old age group said, “Somehow WhatsApp feels a lot more private. Like it’s kind of a hybrid between texting and social media. Whereas in Facebook, for some reason it just feels like it’s public. Even if you’re in Messenger.”

This trend could be a tricky one for publishers:

If these trends towards messaging apps are strengthened, it could create new dilemmas for publishers around being able to engage with ordinary citizens. The shift to messaging apps is partly driven by a desire for greater privacy, so pushing news into these spaces needs to be more organic and more conversational if it is to be accepted. In any case, setting up broadcast lists in WhatsApp is a complex and labor-intensive process (publishers have to provide a phone number which users then subscribe to)…

[If] more immediate and intelligent discussion moves to messaging apps, this could make Facebook and Twitter comments even less representative of general users than they already are.

Donations (i.e., one-off payments, not subscriptions) are also showing potential: While just three percent of U.S. respondents said they made a donation to a news organization in the last year, 26 percent said they’d consider it in the future. One thing that might induce people to donate more would simply be knowing about the trouble the news industry is facing:

One of our new questions this year reveals that more than two-thirds of respondents (68 percent) are either unaware of the problems of the news industry or believe that most news organizations are making a profit from digital news. In reality, most sites are operating at a loss, subsidized by investors, alternative revenue streams, or historic profits from broadcast or print.

Those that were aware that digital newspapers are making a loss (10 percent of our sample) are more likely to pay for a

news subscription or give a donation.

As for why young people are more likely to pay for news, Reuters speculates:

Donations may help bridge the gap between paying nothing and an expensive subscription, but they also work better for a generation that likes to access multiple sources on multiple devices. For both these reasons we can expect pay-as-you-go models like donations and crowdfunding to be an increasingly important part of the picture.


…but, in the U.S., news fatigue is real.

“Our survey shows a sizeable drop in the share of Americans who report using news outlets on a weekly basis,” the researchers write. “Notably, the same pattern appears online and off: local broadcasters, local TV news, and the

major broadcast networks are all down several percentage points from last year, as are major online news aggregators like Yahoo News and HuffPost. Other digital-born media were also not immune, with BuzzFeed and Vice seeing revenue losses.”

— Reprinted from NiemanLab


Show your work

In my 12 years of parochial school education, I routinely earned B’s in math. They should have been A’s because I normally got the answer

correct, but the teachers would dock me because “You didn’t show your work.”

They didn’t believe me that I knew the answers. I could have been cheating because I did not show how I got the answer.

This is one of the reasons for the ever-fading trust in journalism. We don’t show our work.

Most of you have seen both “The Post” and “Spotlight.” In ancient times there was “All the President’s Men.” At the end of both current movies, the audience I was in cheered. These movies showed what it is to be a journalist. How carefully we craft articles after numerous interviews and resolving conflicting versions of the truth, often hidden by government officials or powerful people. Journalism is difficult. We work and work and work until we get the “best obtainable version of the truth” by deadline, Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein said in 1998.

The trouble is the public thinks we make it up. They think we have our minds made up on how the story is going to appear before we have gathered the first fact.

The vast space of the web, and our opportunities on social media, provide journalists with a chance to show the public how we work. We can regain their trust by pulling back the curtain.

Here are nine ideas on how to do it:

1 Tell them how you did it. Jay Rosen wrote in a splendid column for PressThink that we ought to explain how we do what we do. He credited ProPublica for doing this well. Take it a step further. On each web version of locally written stories, attach a note from the reporter detailing the sources used and the documents read. Attach links to these sources and documents when appropriate.

2 Your editor is your best voice for explanation. I regret that only about one of every four columns I wrote at the newspaper dealt with

how we practiced journalism. I should have done this weekly. You get to be editor not necessarily because you are a great columnist. You get to be editor because you know how to edit. The public wants to hear about how you and your staff do your jobs. (And for goodness sake, explain that reporters do not write the headlines. And then explain the difficulty of writing good headlines.)

3 Acknowledge that every article has a point of view, but your job is to be fair. Some people criticize it as “he said, she said,” some journalism. But the public respects journalists who try to fairly represent “the other side” with more than a single comment. An article that seems so one-sided might have the opposite effect and make the reader sympathetic to the other side.

4 Stop being so negative. Most of life is not what’s on the police blotter, or the school board members who can’t get along, or a politician saying there isn’t enough money. Yes, our job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, but even the afflicted and the comfortable have a sense of what’s right about the community. We lose credibility when we are constantly the community scold. You might think you do enough good news. Double what you do.

5 Tell readers what you know and what you don’t know. Rosen also cited this idea in the column and you see it often on major breaking news stories. It ought to be added to the routine stories as well. We don’t know everything by deadline.

6 Explain it to me like I’m a 10-year-old. Too many articles assume the reader knows as much background as the reporter. They don’t. Articles on local government need extensive background. (Here is where your website is your friend.)

7 “You’re doing this just to sell newspapers.” Who hasn’t heard that chestnut? To the extent you possibly can, explain to your readers the economics of how a newspaper works.

8 Print biographies of the people doing this work. Run small bios in print and preserve them on the web. Make them personal so that your readers know this is a newspaper run by human beings like them. It is easier to trust that way.

9 Talk with us about how we produce the newspaper. A tech town hall is a great way to meet with 2,000 of your closest friends.

Show your work. You’ll likely get an A.

Tim Gallagher is president of The 20/20 Network, a public relations and strategic communications firm. He is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning editor and publisher at The Albuquerque Tribune and the Ventura County Star newspapers. Reach him at [email protected].

— Reprinted from Editor & Publisher

By TIM GALLAGHER

Nine ways to regain your readers’ trust


Will print advertising still work in 2018?

F or many years now, marketers have wondered if print is dead. And, with each passing year, those of us who make

a living through print advertising continue to sing its praises.

But sometimes, in order to convince people of something, you need more than sung praises — you need science.

Well consider this: neuroscience has now proven that print ads make a better impression than digital ones. Numerous studies have indicated that on a brain-chemistry level, people process print content with greater engagement and focus, not to mention a deeper emotional response, than they do content viewed on a screen.

While digital content is scanned quickly, paper-based reading is slower and more deliberate, leading to greater rates of comprehension and recall. For advertisers, this means that traditional print media ads are more likely to make a lasting impression and, thus, lead to more sales.

Why Print Will Always Remain Relevant – Through 2018 and Beyond

Print will always have many advantages over digital mediums, namely:

layouts allow your messaging (your concise messaging) to be read easily.

Forgo large blocks of copy for smaller ones, and consider using bullet points to clearly define benefits. Beyond this, san-serif fonts have been shown to be the easiest to read.

Mind Your FlowThe human eye naturally wants to start

at the top left of a page or ad and move down toward the bottom right. You can help this visual journey by laying out text along the eye’s natural ‘route’ across the page.

Highlight the BenefitsToo many marketers make the mistake

of pointing out features in their ad instead of benefits. Here’s an example:

“We use only locally-sourced meats and produce.” Okay, that makes you sound lovely, but does your customer really care? No, not really. They care more about the fact that, thanks to your meal delivery service, they don’t have to cook after a long day at work and they can afford this convenience. That’s how your service benefits them.

While your website can list product or service features, your ad should only focus on the biggest benefits to your prospective customers. This is how you hook them and get them to find out more.

It’s not that digital ads should have no place in your marketing arsenal. It’s just, if you want your audience to really connect with your ads, science says your best chances are through print publications.

In conclusion, will print advertising still work in 2018?

Will a hot fudge sundae still taste awesome?

— Reprinted from Mediaspace Solutions

RespectabilityPerhaps the fact that print has been

around so long gives it prestige. Thanks to its rich history, ads that appear in print tend to be taken much more seriously.

TrustStudies suggest that readers trust print

more than any other medium. In fact, according to an October 2016 survey by MarketingSherpa, 82% of U.S. internet users trust print ads when making a purchase decision, more than any other medium.

Clearly Defined Target AudiencesHealthy ROIs require the ability to target

readers effectively. Print ads allow positioning in the most relevant editorial sections of publications. Conversely, when buying ads from digital networks, you can never be quite sure your message will reach the right audience at the right time.

High Engagement RatesHumans have become modern

multitaskers. We check email while texting our friends while binge-watching our favorite TV shows. In other words, we rarely give digital content our full attention.

Print content, on the other hand, allows us to really focus and engage. And, when it comes to getting our message across, you can’t beat full engagement.

Print Drives Online SearchAccording to the National Retail

Federation, shoppers are most likely to start an online search after viewing a magazine ad.

Print Ad TipsNow that you understand just how

effective print advertising can be, here are some tips to make your ads as effective as possible:

Keep it SimpleSimple layouts work best. Busy or

cluttered ads turn readers off. But simple

By JENNA BRUCE


International Trade Commission hears testimony on newsprint tariffs; vote scheduled for August 28th

he United States International Trade Commission will vote Aug. 28 whether to make the U.S. tariffs

on Canadian paper imposed by the Trump’s administration permanent. The rationale behind the decision will be made public Sept. 17.

The Commerce Department will have made its Aug. 2nd final decision on the matter by the time it this newsletter has been printed. If both bodies ruled that the tariffs are needed, they will become permanent.

The preliminary tariffs were imposed earlier this year after a petition from the North Pacific Paper Company (Norpac), a papermill in Washington state.

At a commission hearing in July, a group of 19 bipartisan members of Congress argued that the preliminary tariffs were causing damage in the marketplace as higher newsprint costs were forcing newspapers to cut consumption by lowering page counts, reducing days of delivery and, in some cases, moving from print to digital distribution.

“I support strong trade remedy laws that protect American jobs and industries; however, in this particular case, the tariffs are harming the very U.S. industry they are supposed to protect,” said Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine). “The tariffs will hurt the U.S. paper industry because they will cause

T permanent harm to newspapers, printers, and book publishers, shrinking the U.S. paper industry’s customer base.”

Collins introduced a bill in May to halt the tariffs for an economic impact study. An identical House bill was introduced by Rep. Kristi Noem (R-South Dakota).

“Local newspapers aren’t just any business – they are vital parts of Maine communities, and important participants in our democracy,” said Senator Angus King (I-Maine). “However, the new tariffs under consideration by the ITC threaten to cause permanent harm to these local cornerstones, while also impacting hundreds of thousands of American jobs in the U.S. newspaper business and paper manufacturing industry, which are already operating on razor-thin margins.”

Paul Tash, chairman and CEO of the Tampa Bay Times, and Andrew Johnson, publisher of Dodge County Pionier (Wisconsin), were among those testifying against the tariffs at the hearing. “Today at the ITC hearing it was clear from the testimonies that the buying and selling of newsprint is a regional market that falls along East and West boundaries, not North and South,” said David Chavern, president of the News Media Alliance. “The

commission heard from publishers, newsprint producers and 19 members of Congress that the tariffs will do more harm than good. Tariffs will ultimately hurt U.S. producers — including Norpac — as their customers cut demand as a result of higher costs. We encourage the ITC to reverse these unjustified and damaging tariffs.”

New York hedge fund One Rock Capital Partners owns Norpac. It is one of five mills in the U.S. producing newsprint and the sole company advocating for the tariffs. Norpac pushed for the tariffs in a prehearing filing to the ITC. “Without relief, subject imports will continue to undercut and depress U.S. prices, disproportionately take volume and market share, and cause injury to the domestic industry,” Norpac said. Company representatives testified that the mill has rehired 60 full-time and part-time employees following the imposition of the tariffs.

Four commissioners of the International Trade Commission are to vote on the case. Three votes are needed to reverse the preliminary tariffs. A 2-2 tie would go in favor of the petitioner.


Print versus digital: Four reasons why print always wins

By KAREN K. HO

media update’s Aisling McCarthy looks at the print medium, and why readers keep coming back for more.

ver the past few years, the digital age has made a major impact on how business is done and how consumers are engaged.

However, in the age-old battle of print versus digital, why is it that print still comes out on top?

Print media is surviving despite the predictions of some doomsayers. In fact, in a number of areas, it remains the preferred format. As the dust from digital’s disruption begins to settle, print may be finding some safe footing once again.

“Print has proved to be more resilient than people thought,” says Mark Beare, director at Cape Town-based content marketing agency The Publishing Partnership.

“I think there was an ‘over-correction’ three or four years ago, where people thought that everything must be digital, that print wasn’t going to survive at all.”

However, here we are in 2018 and print is nowhere near dead. So why is that?

“It just works — it works for readers and it works for advertisers, [especially] in terms of response levels. And, for as long as something has an intrinsic value, there’ll be a market for it.”

2. Print stimulates more senses

One exclusive quality that print has and the digital media can never match is just how tangible it is. Consumers can browse through a magazine, feel the paper and even distinguish between certain paper densities and compositions.

For example, one specific ad may be printed on a thicker, more porous paper that is easy to take notice of, compared to the rest of the glossy sheets in the magazine. Also, there’s the smell of ink on paper that adds to the overall experience of reading something printed.

These are important senses that cannot be stimulated in the digital environment — or not yet, at least. Complex information is also better absorbed in print than in digital, because people need to locate themselves in the text when looking at complex ideas — and that’s much easier to do in print than in digital.

“Very often, when you read something from a printed magazine or book you can recall where on the physical page it was when you saw it — you can recall if you were two-thirds of the way through, or half of the way through,” says Beare.

The tangibility that print has to offer also makes readers pay more attention to the content than digital does. This is because readers have to actively engage with printed content to read it — they have to pick up the content, hold it and read it. With digital content, they can passively scroll through it, without having to focus too much.

3. Different print channels have their own benefits

When you think of print media, what do you think of? Newspapers, magazines, leaflets? Each one

Here are four reasons why people and publishers continue to invest in print:

1. People like engaging with print materials

Although digital seems to offer a multitude of benefits, like being immediately adjustable, free to access and interactive, print media is still very much ingrained in consumers’ collective memory. This means that people continue to be attracted to, and willing to read, print media, regardless of whether we’re talking about magazines and newspapers, flyers or catalogues.

The print medium offers a variety of content — and often many publishers and advertisers use more than one type of printed content to get their brand message across.

“[Print has] got its own particular [set of] characteristics that are more in-depth and that are more at leisure with time to spend. And they’re more physically accessible. I think that’s the other thing that’s underestimated — how physically accessible print is,” says Beare.

He believes that print will continue to have a place as it remains a very persuasive medium, which people tend to spend more time on, making it a stronger source of messaging.

O


of these types of content has something to offer and has found its own niche of readers, playing a very specific role in their lives.

For example, newspapers lure their readers through impartially written news and information. But, you might say that digital news is more widely consumed than newspapers. The truth is, however, that online news and printed newspapers play different roles. Online sources are used to keep up to date with the latest news headlines, whereas newspapers are the space for in-depth reporting, satire and analysis.

Magazines continue to sell copies — although many have a combination of print and online presences. Printed magazines continue to be dominated by entertainment content, often with their digital versions leading people to buy the printed copy.

Leaflets and catalogues are used as a mere source of information for consumers to learn from, before making a purchasing decision, often done online.

4. Print can truly captivate readers

What does print offer that digital certainly doesn’t? An uninterrupted reading experience. This means that there are no distractions for a reader that is committed to finishing an article. Once they start reading, there are no other bits of news, auto-playing videos or pop-ups taking the spotlight off the article.

This means that a reader’s full attention is oriented to that specific content, which guarantees a greater engagement with the brand since the reader is more likely to be impacted by it and remember it long-term.

“The unique way in which materials in newspapers and magazines are written, with subheadings, headlines and pictures, further offers the consumer the opportunity to isolate a certain passage into their mind and return to it whenever they need to,” says Ana Kec, writing for Business2Community.

“This happens a lot more rarely in the digital space, where you first need to remember to bookmark a page in order to later return to it.”

— Reprinted from Media Update

n Thursday, July 12, The Times of Gainesville, Georgia, replaced its slogan, Honestly Local, on the front-page masthead with the Capital Gazette reporter Chase Cook’s tweet after the deadly mass shooting in his newsroom:

The Times invited all newspapers to do the same that day, or in the case of non-dailies, the nearest day of publication, as a salute to those at the Capital Gazette who lost their lives and those who rallied in the aftermath.

Capital Gazette reporter’s tweet should be on every newspaper’s masthead

O

July 7, 1990 — A front-page article announced that the notion of a paperless office, something computer companies had trumpeted a decade prior, was “still and elusive goal.”

Among the arguments posited in the report for keeping the stuff around was that paper is not just a storage medium, but a display: “Indeed, even technological sophisticates attach scribbled notes to their desktop computers and work at desks amid stacks of ducuments.

On This Day in History:A MEMORABLE HEADLINE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

Paper, once written off, keeps a place in the office


ewspapers continue to be the heart of the community.

The printed publication is the only media capable of reaching a broad spectrum of an incorporated population area. The growing number of FM stations, weakened by today’s many streaming audio services, cannot. Independent internet blogs and websites, touting irreconcilable philosophies and positions can’t. Only the newspaper can be depended upon to create the consensus of community.

At Iowa Information we recently began a 22-month paid page campaign promoting the importance of the various businesses and professional services necessary to make a community complete. The list includes the local hospital, supermarket, banks, investment office, and electrical,

plumbing and building contractors and 14 more. While creating the list of prospects we made sure to include our local Sheldon Mail-Sun as one of the featured business. (See the list on the side of the sample ads.)

The process color page is scheduled to run the third Wednesday of each month

over a two-year period. A different business or organization will be featured each month. The series kicked off with a local Certified Public Accounting firm and continued this month (July) with the Sheldon Chamber of Commerce.

The logos of all 22 sponsoring businesses are printed at the side of the main message. The names of the businesses are rotated so a new one moves to the top of the list each time the ad is published.

“Building a bigger, better Sheldon”

By PETER WAGNER

All of the businesses are charged $60.00 per month to be a part of the page. There is no additional fee when the firm is the featured business. Each business will be featured with specific photos, copy and their enlarged logo sometime during the 22-month schedule. The copy is written to feature numerous details about how the business or service is key to Building a Better Community.

Peter W. Wagner is founder and publisher of the award winning N’West Iowa REVIEW and 13 additional publications. You can

receive his free monthly GET REAL newsletter, written exclusively for State Press Associations, by contacting your

association manager. To get his free PAPER DOLLARS email newsletter for publishers, editors and sales managers email him

at [email protected]. The two monthly email newsletters contain information completely different than t

published inhe monthly Publisher’s Auxiliary column and are available without charge or obligation. Wagner can be

contacted by emailing [email protected] or calling his cell at 712-348-3550.

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Twenty-two paid process-color pages promoting

FORMAT: One updated page a month for 22 months REVENUE: $1,260.00 per month

Journalists invited to apply for Media Law School 2018 fellowships at USC

Working journalists are invited to apply for fellowships to attend Media Law School 2018, to be held Sept. 19-22 in Columbia, South Carolina at the University of South Carolina.

Media Law School is an intensive seminar that teaches journalists about criminal law and procedure with a focus on how to more effectively cover trials and the judicial process. Sessions are led by the university’s law and journalism faculty and practicing attorneys and judges.

Approximately 30 fellowships in the amount of $400 each are available to cover travel costs to and from Columbia. In addition, lodging and most meals are provided. There is no fee to apply. Fellowship applications are due by Aug. 20. For more information and to apply, visit www.law.sc.edu/medialawschool.

In its third year, the Media Law School has drawn journalists from a variety of news organizations and all U.S. regions. It is presented by the university’s School of Law and College or Information and Communications. It is sponsored by the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Contact Carmen Maye with questions at [email protected].


By JUDY PATRICK

Making state FOIL requests just got a bit easier

A new online website should make it easier to file records requests under the state’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) but

existing obstacles to actually retrieving public information remain.

In June, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office launched Open FOIL NY, a website that centralizes records requests to 59 state executive agencies and authorities to a single point of access. There are a few more agencies yet to be included but all will eventually be added, said Robert Freeman, executive director of the state’s Committee on Open Government.

Advocates of open government have praised the Open FOIL NY portal, saying the single website should make filing FOIL requests easier and more efficient for the public as well as journalists. Gone (we hope) are the days of surfing state websites in search of information on filing a FOIL.

“It’s a critical development,” Freeman said.

Since its launch, the centralized online portal has become another avenue for securing information from the state, with many state agency web pages highlighting a link back to the Open FOIL NY portal. FOIL requests, it should be noted, may still be filed by email or regular mail directly to applicable state agency.

Most everyone who has filed a FOIL request knows how challenging the process can be. Sometimes just determining what agency or entity has the records you want is the problem. Then there’s the struggle with determining exactly how to word your request to seek what you’re finding. Patience comes next, with the wait for records typically stretching well past deadline.

Open FOIL NY does not address those problems although making the initial request phase less complicated is being viewed as a step in the right direction. It allows users to select from a dropdown list of state agencies and apply to three agencies simultaneously. An online tracking system, allowing users to submit, track and receive digital records by creating an Open FOIL NY account, will debut in early 2019, according to the state.

For local journalists, there’s one big drawback. Open FOIL NY deals only with state records requests, not the much more frequently sought records of local governments.

Freeman knows this first-hand. At public speaking events, Freeman will typically ask for a show of hands of people who have filed state or federal FOIL requests. Very few hands rise. But ask about filing a FOIL with a local government or school district and nearly every hand will rise.

The Open FOIL NY online form will enable people to request records from up to three agencies at the same time, with the system forwarding the requests to the targeted agency for review. Use of the centralized portal should streamline the process, advocates say.

In making the announcement, Cuomo’s office also said the project will, over the next year, use new software to process requests more efficiently in part by simplifying collection and review of agency records. The state also says it wants to make it easier to identify frequently requested records and consider proactively releasing them to the public.

Some information, such as budgets, agendas and minutes, are already widely available online. But public information advocates would like governments to make far more information automatically available, bypassing the need for a FOIL to be filed.

Stories abound about the reporters who leave their beat, or their employer, before their FOIL is fulfilled.

At journalism schools, the problem is compounded by semester time constraints and patience becomes one of the lessons learned. Cailin Brown, chair of the Department of Communications at The College of St. Rose, has worked with students struggling to receive government records for a story on an alleged sexual assault at a campus dormitory. An initial FOIL request was filed in April 2016, and after several more FOILs and appeals, as well as an Article 78 lawsuit against the city on behalf of the student newspaper by an Albany Law professor, the request remains unfulfilled.

While the overall response to Open FOIL NY has been positive, the portion of the online FOIL request form that asks the applicant why they are seeking the records has been criticized as obtrusive, unneeded and counter to the existing law.

The state says it is gathering the information for statistical purposes. Is your request for scholarly or scientific purposes, personal, for a news story or for a business or non-profit purpose, the form asks.

Applicants have no obligation to provide that information, Freeman said, adding that the online form should clearly state that answering the question is optional.

openfoil.ny.gov


Civic engagement declines when local newspapers shut down

t’s not news that it’s tough times for the newspaper industry. A March 2018 study published in the Newspaper Research Journal finds that from 2004 to 2015, the

U.S. newspaper industry lost over 1,800 print outlets as a result of closures and mergers. Journalists suffer layoffs and buyouts; and readers are left in a decimated news landscape, with local papers coming under the ownership of larger publishers focused on their business interests, or ceasing to exist entirely.

Scholars are studying what these closures might mean for the public in terms of political engagement and government accountability. Studies have found that areas with fewer local news outlets and declining coverage also have lower levels of civic engagement and voter turnout. On the other hand, studies show that areas with more local coverage tend to have increased turnout in local elections and lower

I spending on discretionary municipal projects. These findings suggest newspapers might play a role in encouraging political participation and accountability. A new working paper lends further evidence, finding that newspaper closures are linked with increased municipal borrowing costs and decreased government efficiency. Journalist’s Resource has summarized these studies that show why it’s important to keep local news alive.

“Financing Dies in Darkness? The Impact of Newspaper Closures on Public Finance”Summary: This working paper looks at associations between local newspaper closures and municipal borrowing costs. It analyzes daily newspaper data from 1996 to 2015 in U.S. counties with three or fewer newspapers. Of the 1,596 newspapers studied, 296 folded, merged

with other papers or stopped publishing on a daily basis. “Our main finding is that newspaper closures have a significantly adverse impact on municipal borrowing costs. Specifically, following the three-year period after a newspaper closure, municipal bond yields in the secondary market increase by 6.4 basis points, while offering yields increase by 5.5 basis points.” In other words, it becomes more expensive for these localities to borrow money. The authors suggest this might be “because potential lenders have greater difficulty evaluating the quality of public projects and the government officials in charge of these projects” in the absence of local papers. The study also found increased government inefficiencies, such as higher wage rates and numbers of employees per capita, in the absence of daily newspapers — additional indicators of the role local papers play in public accountability.

By CHLOE REICHEL


“The Decline of Local News and Its Effects: New Evidence from Longitudinal Data”Summary: This paper suggests an association between the decline of local news and citizen engagement in politics. The authors analyzed over 10,000 stories about U.S. House campaigns during the 2010 and 2014 elections. They find declines in both volume and substance of campaign coverage between the two election years, as measured by the number of stories published, the percentage of stories mentioning both candidates, the number of mentions of specific issues and the number of references to candidates’ traits. The researchers then looked at survey data collected from the same set of 9,500 respondents before each of the two elections. The survey tested whether respondents could “place the Democratic candidate to the left of the Republican on an ideological scale,” rate their House incumbent and share their vote intention. The authors compared these responses to shifts in coverage. They found that increases in coverage were associated with improved political knowledge and decreases in coverage were associated with decreases in political engagement.

“As Local News Goes, So Goes Citizen Engaement: Media, Knowledge, and Participation in US House Elections”Summary: This study uses methods similar to those described above to analyze the 2010 U.S. House midterm elections. The analysis suggests that hotly contested districts and districts served by smaller news outlets receive more coverage

with more substance than districts with uncompetitive races and larger outlets. Looking at the relationship between this news data and citizen responses to a survey that gauges political engagement, they found people in districts with less coverage were less likely to vote, share opinions about the candidates running and provide evaluations of their current representatives. The finding held regardless of political awareness levels, “indicating that the deleterious consequences of a decline in local coverage are widespread, not restricted to the least attentive citizens.”

“Newspaper Markets and Municipal Politics: How Audience and Congruence Increase Turnout in Local Elections”Summary: This study looks at links between the local media environment and turnout in local elections in Switzerland. The paper finds that particular features of the newspaper market are associated with turnout. These factors are newspaper audience and congruence. Newspaper audience is “the share of newspaper readers in the municipal population.” Newspaper congruence is a measure of the paper’s localization of their content. The researchers looked at circulation data for 384 municipalities in the study. They found that areas with higher newspaper penetration and localized content have higher turnout in municipal elections.

“Newspaper and Political Accountability: Evidence from Japan”Summary: This study looks at associations between local and national newspapers and political accountability, as measured by local public works spending. “Using circulation data for 105 Japanese newspapers, I find that increases in the market share of locally circulating newspapers within a prefecture are associated with decreases in public works spending, particularly expenditures on local governments’ discretionary projects.” The author interprets this as an improvement in political accountability. The study also looks at the role of national news coverage of public works spending, and finds that as it increases, the influence of local newspapers on spending also rises.

“Dead Newspapers and Citizens’ Civic Engagement”Summary: This study presents links between newspaper closures in Seattle and Denver and declines in civic engagement among residents. The study looks at Census data from 2008 and 2009, comparing the civic engagement of citizens in areas that lost a newspaper the following year with people in cities that did not. Civic engagement was measured by responses to questions about contact with public officials, membership in civic organizations and more. The magnitude of the decline in civic engagement in Seattle and Denver was larger than the national trend, and comparison cities with similar qualities “showed little evidence of decline.” This suggests that measurement issues or other, national variables like political or economic conditions do not explain this variation.


‘It’s been a fascinating career’

By ANTHONY RIFILATO

t’s been a fascinating career — I feel very lucky to have lived it,” said Cliff Richner, co-owner of Richner

Communications and the longtime publisher of Herald Community Newspapers, who retired last month after 36 years in a family-run company that has left an indelible mark on local community news on the South Shore. “I think we’ve managed to do well, and do some good along the way and help people.”

Richner, 66, remains an owner of the company with his brother, Stuart, which they joined in 1982 and ’83, respectively.

“I started working there as a kid in 1964,” he said. “I grew up in the business. Now seems like a good time to retire. I leave behind a strong, talented and energetic staff, and I feel like we accomplished a lot. I’m leaving primarily for personal reasons — I want to do some other things that the demands of the job won’t let me do, while I’m young enough and healthy enough to do them.”

I Richner announced the move to the Herald staff before his retirement on June 30. His career spans an ever-changing media landscape that saw the company grow and adapt in a digital age where many other local publications struggled to stay afloat. He also played a lead role in saving the company after a devastating fire threatened to put it out of business in 2004.

Today, Herald Community Newspapers boasts the largest community newsroom on Long Island in its Garden City offices, which opened in 2006, and includes a chain of more than 30 weekly publications.

Joining the family business

A Five Towns native, Richner grew up working in a company owned by his late parents, Robert and Edith, which they purchased in 1964, starting with the Nassau Herald and Rockaway Journal, and operated out of the company’s former office at 379

Central Ave. in Lawrence, where newspapers had been produced and printed for 77 years.

Leatrice Slote-Spanierman, the company’s first executive editor, recalled a boy who was fascinated by the news business.

“I invited him to join me in covering a political campaign tour,” she said. “He was an enthusiastic 12-year-old and I was on the cusp of being chosen for the top job at the company. I took him along on a lark, and was amazed that with his simple schoolboy camera, he hit the mark, shooting some solid photos. After completing his education, and pursuing a career in the law… we were permanently linked by our shared philosophy that grass roots, community journalism is the purest and most rewarding branch of the media.”

Richner earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, and worked as an attorney at two large law firms in New York City for five years.

“I really wasn’t enjoying working in a big firm environment, and I had considered other law options,” he said. “But ... my father was at the point where he kept saying that if we weren’t interested in the newspaper, he was going to sell it. So Stuart and I talked about it, and decided that we’d give it a try.”

In 1987, Cliff and Stuart were named publisher and president of the company, respectively, and have continued to expand it from a small group of community newspapers to 32 weekly publications, a slew of niche and specialty print and mail products, and a high-volume, commercial print and mail house. The publications span from Long Island to the Bronx.

“If all you’re looking for is a business opportunity, there’s easier ways to make a living,” Cliff said. “It’s a great opportunity to, as they say, do well and do good. Hopefully we mostly did good.”

Richner was, and still is, involved in a number of community and industry organizations. He sits on the boards of ERASE Racism and Long Beach Aware, and is the former chairman of the Local Media Association and a past president of the New York Press Association.

Linda Weissman, the assistant dean at Touro Law School — where Richner has been a member of the Board of Governors for more than 20 years — first met him in 1989, when she was executive director of the Five Towns Community Chest.

“I realized how dedicated to the community he was, and he’s a visionary in many ways,” she said. “At Touro, he really understood the law students and wanted to help them, and it became a calling for him. He established a scholarship for Touro students.”

A commitment to quality journalism

A commitment to quality journalism and hyper local news, Cliff said, turned the Herald into a chain of award-winning publications.

“We made a very conscious effort to invest in the product,” Cliff said. “We spend a much greater percentage of our revenues on the editorial product than most local papers do. We certainly have been recognized for it, but we don’t do it to win awards — we do it because it’s good business.”

As the business grew, Cliff played a lead role in the newsroom, where his legal expertise and talent as a writer informed the direction of countless stories, front-page layouts and other editorial and design elements of the paper, both current and former employees said.

“Cliff is incredibly hands on, but at the same time, he gives you the freedom to be a journalist,” said Executive Editor Scott Brinton, who’s been with the company for 25 years. “He’s also a brilliant writer – I think that gets overlooked. You’ll write a whole editorial and he’ll add three paragraphs, and you’re like, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’”

Richner regularly spent late-nights collaborating with the editorial staff, reading over stories, editorials and more as editors and reporters worked to put the papers to bed.

“Cliff has also always set an example in the newsroom that reflects the values that our parents instilled in us: truth, fairness, justice and transparency,” Stuart said. “It’s these qualities that make him such a respected leader in the industry.

He’s successfully captained our news team through the stormy waters of an industry being disrupted. He’s been a great partner, and I’ll miss not only his industry expertise but also the chance to work alongside a good friend each day.”

Working at the Herald helped launch the careers of many young journalists, and Cliff was known as a mentor to reporters and editors. “That’s one of the best parts of the job,” he said. “I think it’s a great place to learn your craft because it’s hands on and you have to get out there and learn on the job.”

The personal trauma of 9/11

Of course, one of the Heralds’ biggest stories was the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. “We’ve had several big, catastrophic stories,” Cliff said. “9/11 was probably the most persistent and longest-lasting, and it affected all of our communities. Everyone at the paper was covering an endless stream of memorial services and people who couldn’t be found. The entire staff was traumatized. It was heartbreaking.”

Just a few days after the attacks, Robert Richner died. “My dad added to the personal trauma of 9/11,” Cliff recalled. “On 9/11, he was in the rehab unit on the fourth floor of Long Beach Medical Center — you could see the smoke from his hospital window. And in fairly short order, he was moved to New York Hospital. Dad was kind of a news junkie, and he spent the last week of his life watching CNN replay all these horrors over and over. We were dealing with our own personal drama in the middle of that.”

Rising from the ashes

In 2004, Richner faced the biggest challenge of his career when a fire destroyed the company’s longtime headquarters in Lawrence, where newspapers had been published since 1927. The fire not only destroyed the paper’s print and photo archives, including bound volumes from 1895, but also threatened to put the company out of business. Still, Cliff said, there was never any talk of giving up.

“First and foremost, at that point, we had an obligation to our employees,” he said. “People needed to work, we needed to work and we wanted to continue.”

The very next day, the Richners found a temporary warehouse space in West Hempstead, and the 150-person company didn’t miss an issue.

“The fire presented all sorts of logistical problems,” Richner recalled. “It was very traumatic but the staff really came through. When it counted the most, people all pulled together and we got the paper out that week. I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve never missed an issue.”

Two years later, the company moved into a state-of-the-art building in Garden City, where the Heralds and other publications are printed.

Looking ahead

Both Richner brothers said they have confidence in the future of the company.

“Everyone on the staff works very hard and takes the responsibility of getting those papers out on time very seriously,” added Cliff. “I really think we made a difference through a lot of stories. We’ve helped a lot of groups over the years — we’ve closed power plants and helped people preserve open space — and we try to make a difference in the things that people are passionate about.”

Longtime Herald publisher Cliff Richner, center, with the Herald’s Long Island editorial staff at a gathering in June to celebrate his retirement after 36 years in the news business. He will remain an owner of the company that was founded by his parents in 1964.

Cliff Richner, longtime Herald publisher, retires after 36 years in the news business

Photo Credit: CHRISTINA DALY/HERALD

“


Signing your name to an article requires courage that we often take for granted

aniel Fowle had just sat down for his midday meal when he heard an unexpected knock at the door. On that day, Oct. 24, 1754, on orders

from the Massachusetts-Bay House of Representatives, police summarily arrested the Boston printer and hauled him before the hastily assembled tribunal.

The Colonial government accused Fowle of printing “The Monster of Monsters,” a scandalous satire critical of members of the House. When he refused to either admit he did or name the true printer (it was his brother), the British overseers threw him in jail.

For five days, Fowle remained imprisoned with a thief and a murderer. The guard allowed Fowle no visitors and no pen to write his wife.

There was no free press in Colonial America. In the same tongue-in-cheek style of his subjects, James A. Oliver writes in “The Pamphleteers: The Birth of Journalism, Emergence of the Press & the Fourth Estate,” “There was freedom of speech in this era, so long as you were prepared to pay for it at the end of a rope.”

Even so, the press had a significant impact on inspiring patriots during our country’s founding. Oddly, there were few newspapers — three dozen at the start of the Revolutionary War. By 1783, primarily due to lack of revenue and the logistical problems caused by the Revolutionary War, the Colonies would be down to only 20 newspapers.

D Colonial revolutionaries used pseudonyms

While the war took its toll on newspapers, pamphlets proliferated. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book “The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution,” Bernard Bailyn catalogued more than 400 pamphlets through 1776. By war’s end in 1783, that number had grown nearly fourfold.

At that time, according to Moses Coit Tyler’s “The Literary History of the American Revolution,” “the subordinate place (was) then occupied by the newspaper, the supreme place then occupied by the pamphlet.”

More: Capital Gazette newsroom shooting: ‘It could have been me’

I used to work at Capital Gazette. The shooting didn’t hit close to home, it was home.

Capital Gazette shooting shows us we need to support the media for sake of democracy.

Pamphlets represented the guerrilla tactic of Revolutionary War communication (on both sides of the Atlantic). They helped frame the logic of our rebellion. They provoked the third of the population who remained independent to take the side of the Patriots rather than the Tories. They form the basis of our unique American origin story. Bailyn writes: “It was in this form — as pamphlets — that

By CHRISTOPHER CAROSA

much of the most important and characteristic writing of the American Revolution appeared.”

Many pamphleteers wrote under pseudonyms — and justly so. British authorities imprisoned Fowle merely for being suspected of printing a pamphlet critical of the government.

The History Channel calls Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, arguing for independence from Britain, “one of the most influential pamphlets in American history: but it was first published anonymously. “His writings put his life at risk in every country he lived in,” Jon Katz wrote in Wired in 1995.

A free press requires courage

No doubt the Founding Fathers recalled these horrors when they adopted the First Amendment and the concept of a free press. Journalism in the new America thrived in the realm of the pamphleteer — the op-ed columnist of the day (something we at the National Society of Newspaper Columnists are quite proud of). We can thank them for the free press we casually count on now.

In light of the tragedy at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, let us not forget that the willingness to sign your name to an article, a column, a masthead continues to require an uncommon bravery we often take for granted.

Christopher Carosa is president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisCarosa


By DERMOT MURPHY

During the past 15 years, local newspaper circulation numbers dropped by roughly 30 percent, while the number of statehouse reporters

covering local government issues dropped by 35 percent. Academic studies suggest that a lack of local media coverage is associated with fewer informed voters, lower voter turnouts, and less engaged local politicians. My colleagues and I, as finance professors, wondered whether a decline in local journalism would also lead to higher borrowing costs for local governments.

Local governments frequently borrow money to finance public works projects such as schools, hospitals, and roadways. Lenders demand higher interest rates if they think they are lending to a riskier borrower—that is, a borrower who is more likely to default on a loan. We suspected that if local media is not present to keep their government in check, then there would be a greater likelihood of mismanaged public funds and other government inefficiencies. As a result, governments lacking local media coverage would be perceived as riskier borrowers and forced to pay correspondingly higher interest rates on the funds they borrow for public

works projects. The costs stemming from higher interest rates would ultimately be borne by local taxpayers.

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We conducted a systematic study of newspaper closures and government borrowing costs in the United States, for the period ranging from 1996 to 2015. We identified newspaper closures using hand-collected newspaper data from the Editor and Publisher yearbooks. Newspaper closures were especially prevalent during that time period because of the rising popularity of online news outlets (which do not focus as strongly on local government issues) and online classified ad sites such as Craigslist (which, as part of the larger effect of the internet on local newspapers, significantly eroded newspaper advertising revenues). We then collected government borrowing cost data from the Mergent Municipal Securities Database and cross-referenced this information with the newspaper closure data.

We found that local government borrowing costs significantly increased for counties that have experienced a newspaper closure compared to geographically adjacent counties with similar demographic and economic characteristics without newspaper closures. Our evidence indicates that a lack of local newspaper coverage has serious financial consequences for local governments, and that alternative news sources are not necessarily filling the gaps.

One challenge in this study was establishing a cause-and-effect relationship between newspaper closures and local government borrowing costs. (For example, depressed local economic conditions could drive both the closures and higher borrowing costs.) To establish a clear, causal relationship between newspaper closures and borrowing costs, we examined the gradual entry of Craigslist into different counties over time. (Craigslist founder Craig Newmark is a member of CJR’s Board of Overseers.) Recent studies show that Craigslist had a strongly negative effect on newspaper revenues. We found that the introduction of Craigslist to a local area significantly increases the likelihood of a newspaper closure, which then has a strong subsequent effect on local government borrowing costs. We also examined government borrowing costs in a county that experienced a newspaper closure and a neighboring county with similar demographic and economic characteristics that still had its own newspaper operation. In this case, we found that borrowing costs only increase in the county that experienced the closure, but not for the neighboring county that did not experience a closure. Both approaches

When local papers close, costs rise for local governments


Altamont Enterprise editor wins international award – againor the ninth time, Enterprise editor Melissa Hale-Spencer was recognized among the best opinion writers in the weekly press.

The Golden Dozen awards were announced in Portland, Oregon, during the 2018 conference of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors.

FHale-Spencer was honored for the

editorial, “We stand as one with transgender students,” written after President Donald Trump rescinded protections for transgender students that, among other things, had let them use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity.

Hale-Spencer has edited The Altamont Enterprise & Albany County Post for more than 20 years and became co-publisher in 2015. She was first named to the Golden Dozen in 1999. She learned to write from her father, a lifelong newspaperman. She took her first reporting job when her parents called on her to help at their Adirondack weekly, the Lake Placid News.

establish that there is a causal connection between newspaper closures and government borrowing costs.

We also found that, following a newspaper closure, local government inefficiencies become more pronounced. County government employee wages (as a percentage of all wages in that county) increase, as does the number of government employees as a percentage of all county employees. (That is, more tax dollars flow to government positions after a newspaper ceases to monitor governmental activities.) Costly financial transactions by local governments, including negotiated municipal bond sales and advance refundings of callable municipal bonds, also appear more likely.

We do not necessarily expect local newspapers to return to those counties where they have shuttered. Alternative news media

such as online news outlets are fundamentally changing the way that people consume news, and they are likely to remain the dominant source for news consumption. However, these online outlets do not necessarily provide a good substitute for high-quality, locally-sourced investigative journalism. David Simon, a former Baltimore Sun reporter and the creator of The Wire, remarked during a 2009 Senate hearing about the future of journalism, “The dayI run into a Huffington Post reporter at a Baltimore Zoning Board hearing is the day that I will be confident that we’ve actually reached some sort of equilibrium.” In the long-run, perhaps a balance will be struck in which these online-based organizations contract with local reporters and tailor their news to local areas. The evidence suggests that economic growth at the county level will be better off in that equilibrium.

ICYMI: Reframing economic injustice in America’s poorest big city

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now?

Dermot Murphy is an assistant professor of finance at the University of Illinois at Chicago who specializes in public finance, fixed income, and high-frequency trading. His current research, coauthored with Pengjie Gao from the University of Notre Dame and Chang Lee from the University of Illinois at Chicago, examines the effect of local newspaper closures on public borrowing costs through the government inefficiency channel. His past research has examined how state government policies for assisting financial distressed municipalities affect public borrowing costs.

— Reprinted from Editor & Publisher

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