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| In This Issue |
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October 8, 2009 |
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| News You Need |
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| Announcing PNA
Annual Convention’s keynote presenter: Albert Boscov |
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Just confirmed and not to be missed! Our keynote
presenter is Albert Boscov, Chairman, Boscov’s Department Store, Inc.
He is scheduled to speak Thursday, Nov. 12, at 9 a.m. Pennsylvania’s department
store icon and well-known newspaper advertiser brings his own message -- not unlike
Milton Hershey’s -- of leading a business, expanding and adjusting to the
times and enduring challenges and failures.
We’re “Unwrapping Solutions” at this
year’s publishers’ convention. The newspaper industry has never faced
challenges like we’re confronting today. But, from November 11 to 13, we’ll
meet at The Hotel Hershey in the town that Milton Hershey envisioned, created
and built. With Milton Hershey as a backdrop, perhaps we can learn from
his many successes and failures while exploring possibilities and ideas for our evolving media companies.
Click here for a full agenda and for registration information.
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| PNA
announces 2009 G. Richard Dew, Public Service and Newspaper of the Year award winners |
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The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association is pleased to announce the winners
of the 2009 G. Richard Dew Award, the 2009 Public Service Award and the 2009 Newspaper
of the Year Award. These awards are presented at the Annual Convention, which
this year will be held Nov. 11 to 13 at The Hotel Hershey.
The G. Richard Dew Award, the PNA's
most prestigious honor for outstanding journalism, was established in memory of
G. Richard Dew, former general manager of PNA (then named PNPA) and former executive
director of the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors (PSNE). This award is
given to an individual or organization that has made an outstanding contribution
to the community or state through an article or series of articles. This year’s
G. Richard Dew award winner is the York Daily Record/Sunday News.
Continuing the tradition
of the news media as the "fourth estate," the Public Service Award is presented
to the newspaper that has helped improve the community through public service
leadership. This non-journalistic award is presented to a newspaper that has made
a significant contribution to the betterment of its community through public service
leadership. The winner of this year’s Public Service Award is the York
Daily Record/Sunday News.
The purpose of the Newspaper of the Year contest is to recognize
outstanding newspaper work, with the emphasis on overall excellence. This contest
gives newspapers the opportunity to showcase the efforts of their entire staff.
The overall winners of Newspaper of the Year for daily newspapers are first place:
Erie Times-News and second place: The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News.
For non-daily newspapers, first place is awarded to The Almanac (McMurray)
and second place to Philadelphia Business Journal.
Division winners include:
Division
1 – First place: The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News; Second place: The Philadelphia
Inquirer
Division 2 – First place: Erie Times-News; Second place: York
Daily Record/Sunday News
Division 3 – First place: Altoona Mirror; Second
place: The Citizen’s Voice (Wilkes-Barre)
Division 4 – First place:
Public Opinion (Chambersburg); Second place: The Reporter (Landsdale)
Division
5 – First place: The Almanac (McMurray); Second place: Philadelphia Business
Journal
Division 6 – First place: The Ebensburg Mountaineer-Herald; Second
place: Allied News (Grove City)
Click here for a list of category winners in all divisions.
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| PNA partners with
OnDemand Energy Solutions to provide reduced energy costs |
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With electricity rate caps expiring next year, business owners could be
looking at a 30 to 60 percent increase in their electric utility bills. That’s
why the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association has partnered with OnDemand Energy
to provide PNA members with reduced energy costs.
Through the PNA/OnDemand Energy Agreement, PNA members
will have the opportunity to participate in a Chamber Choice energy pool, an aggregated
buying pool designed to purchase electricity in bulk for a fixed time period as
a way to lock in a lower price. This allows members to save money, gain purchasing
power and increase flexibility.
Click here for details.
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| Last chance to register for multimedia reporting training |
Online readers are looking for visuals
to draw them in to stories. Are you incorporating all of the visual multimedia
that you can? Don’t get left in the dark. Join us for an interactive seminar
Friday, Oct. 9, led by Robb Montgomery. He will teach you techniques
that you can use immediately to attract and inform your online readers. You will
learn to use your digital camera or mobile phone as your reporter’s notebook
and how to make online maps and charts.
Click here to learn more and register now!
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| PNA Member News |
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| Philly newspaper
creditors seek right to make credit bid |
Senior
creditors argued for the right to “credit bid” and use the money owed
to them as part of any bid at the planned auction of the papers. The company opposes
credit bidding, arguing that it would allow the lenders to effectively block other
bidders. A bankruptcy judge indicated a ruling could be expected next week.
Click for More
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| Newspapers
go pink for breast cancer awareness |
The Doylestown Intelligencer,
Bucks County Courier Times and the Burlington County Times were printed on pink
paper Oct. 1 in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The newspapers will raise
money for the Fox Chase Cancer Research during the month of October by donating
10 cents from the sale of each newspaper and $10 from each home-delivery subscription.
Click for More
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| SEE YOUR NEWS HERE! |
Send
us updates of happenings at your newspaper to communications@pa-news.org.
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| People News |
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| Kay Williams,
ad director for Bucks County Herald, dies at 62 |
Kay Williams, 62, founding advertising director for the
Bucks County Herald (Lahaska), died Sept. 18 at her home in Newtown. Before joining
the Herald in 2002, she was advertising director for the Bucks County newspapers
in Journal Register Company’s InterCounty Newspaper Group, including The
Advance of Bucks County (Newton), the Yardley News (Newton), The New Hope Gazette,
The Doylestown Patriot, the Bristol Pilot (Newton) and the Pennington Post.
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| Legal and Lobbying |
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| "If shield law
fails, we may all pay price" |
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The Senate Judiciary Committee
is expected to vote soon on the Federal Shield Law, legislation that would
grant protection to journalists and their sources in federal courts. The Society
of Professional Journalists last week spoke out against the Obama administration's proposed changes to the shield law bill.
An editorial in the REPUBLICAN
& Herald (Pottsville) also expresses dismay at the administration's changes,
which, according to the paper, would render the Free Flow of Information Act useless.
Click for More
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| From the Legal Hotline |
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Q: Is there
a Pennsylvania law that requires massage advertisers to be licensed by the state?
A: Yes,
there is law in Pennsylvania governing massage advertising. The Massage Therapy Law, Act 118 of 2008, was signed
into law in October 2008 and becomes effective in October 2010.
Click for More
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| The
Times-Tribune (Scranton) wins open records appeal, but e-mails gone |
The Office of Open Records upheld an appeal filed by the newspaper seeking
e-mails between Dunmore Councilwoman Melanie Naro and other council members regarding
the former borough manager. However, the office’s final determination says
the e-mails cannot be provided because Naro had previously destroyed them.
Click for More
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| Hearing this week on Mercer County open records appeal |
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The Sharon Sanitary Authority filed an appeal with the Office of Open Records
over its ruling that it must turn over records of delinquent sewer accounts to
The Herald (Sharon). The authority says the OOR’s determination requires
it to violate the Fair Credit Extension Uniformity Act and would require the creation
of a record it does not have. Counsel for the newspaper disagrees.
Click for More
Read an editorial from The Herald - Sharon Sanitary Authority: Whom are they protecting?
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| The Daily Review
(Towanda) fights for access to judge’s computer files |
The newspaper is weighing its options for moving forward with its request
for access to Bradford County President Judge Jeffrey Smith’s computer files,
which reportedly include material downloaded from the Internet that contaminated
the county’s computer network. The county denied The Review’s formal
right-to-know request, and Smith has hired a private attorney.
Click for More
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| Pittsburgh Post-Gazette granted access to police records |
The Office of Open Records ruled in favor of the newspaper, stating that
the City of McKeesport must provide correspondence and other records relating
to an audit of police department time records - or provide an explanation for
withholding them. The paper filed an appeal with the OOR after the city
failed to respond to its July 8 request in a timely manner.
Click for More
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| Association News |
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| Promote yourself with an ad in the 2010 Pa. Newspaper Directory! |
The 2010 Pennsylvania Newspaper Directory is the perfect place to showcase
your company! This annual publication not only goes out to all PNA members but
to advertising agencies and others. Stand out from the rest and purchase a display
ad now! Contact us at (717) 703-3069 or membership@pa-news.org.
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| Foundation Training |
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| Learn to Sell Smarter with AdMall |
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The
PNA Foundation is faciliating a free Webinar demonstration of the Web-based media
sales software system AdMall, which offers tools that can improve your strategic
prospecting efforts and aid in advertiser retention. The Webinar will be held
at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 30.
AdMall
helps sales representatives prospect for business by providing tools to create
powerful presentations and proposals for each sales call. By answering seven questions,
AdMall provides sales reps with all the tools they need to prepare a complete
sales presentation in just seven minutes. AdMall integrates local account research,
consumer spending, media usage and graphics on a browser-based Web application
that can be created and edited from any computer.
Click here to learn more about this powerful software system.
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| Lend your voice to the Philadelphia Initiative for Journalistic Innovation
(PhIJI) |
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PhIJI is a forum for Philadelphia-area journalists and
aspiring journalists to communicate about best practices, discuss issues facing
journalism and journalists, and offer feedback on entrepreneurial ideas. It will
be held Saturday, Nov. 7 at Annenberg Hall at Temple University.
PhIJI is open to all Philadelphia-area journalists (paid
or unpaid), interested in improving upon how Philadelphia and the region are covered.
Panels will address starting your own media outlet; advertising and non-traditional
revenue generating; social media, marketing and branding; search engine optimization;
and best journalism and business practices across different media.
Click here for details about this exciting event!
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| Upcoming Foundation training |
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Do you need help navigating
legal issues facing your online product? Could your circulation department use
a little help in improving performance? Want your sales department to outshine
all the other media available to advertisers?
If you answered “yes”
to any of the above, the PNA Foundation might have just what you need! Be sure
to check out the list of our upcoming training workshops and seminars. It is our
goal to provide affordably priced and easily accessible training opportunities
that are focused on issues and topics relevant to the success of newspapers today.
Click here for the list of our upcoming training workshops and
seminars. For details on training from the PNA Foundation, please e-mail foundation@pa-news.org or call (717) 703-3003.
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| Industry News |
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| FTC issues stricter
rules for blogger endorsements |
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Announced Monday, the Federal
Trade Commission’s new rules require bloggers and celebrities to clearly
state when they receive cash or free items for endorsing a company’s products
or services. Violating the rules, which take effect Dec. 1, could result in fines
of up to $11,000 per violation.
Click for More
Will the FTC’s blogging rules slow endorsements?
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| Papers show interest in small-circulation audit program |
The Audit Bureau of Circulations reports that more than 60 small-circulation
papers in the U.S. have signed up for its Community Newspaper Audit (CNA) program.
The CNA offers newspapers with paid circulations less than 25,000 a cheaper and
simplified audit process.
Click for More
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| Online ad spending drops in the first half of 2009 |
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The Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.com reported
Monday that ad spending online for the first half of 2009 dropped 5.3 percent
to $10.9 billion, and is expected to be lower for the full year.
Click for More
Ad Age reports that revenue from top media firms dropped 4.3 percent
in the first half of 2009. It says Media 100 revenue growth is on track for its
first decline since Ad Age began ranking top media firms in 1981.
Rupert Murdoch says traditional newspaper and TV advertising markets
are picking back up, though not to prior levels.
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| University project develops pay models for news organization |
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The City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism runs
the New Business Models for News Project, which researches best practices
for online journalism. The project tested two pay models: A Web site that charges
for all content, and a site that charges for only some content.
Click here to read the project’s conclusion.
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| Publishers consider collaborating on digital storefront |
With Apple’s tablet expected early next year, magazine and newspaper
publishers have expressed concerns that the same thing that happened to music
executives with iTunes will happen to their subscriptions: Apple will control
pricing and customer relationships. Publishers are considering a digital industry
storefront, which would allow them to control subscription prices and information.
Click for More
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