- South Carolina Press Association

APRIL 2011
Board releases records after high court ruling
After a four-year legal struggle, the
Berkeley County School Board has released to The Post and Courier copies of
individual evaluations of former superintendent Chester Floyd's performance.
Five of the nine board members rated
Floyd's performance in 29 areas of responsibility as "commendable" or "satisfactory." The other four appeared to have
concerns about Floyd, especially in how he
interacted with board members who did
not agree with him, and how he handled
district finances, especially construction
"change orders" for Cane Bay High School.
members' individual summations of
Floyd's performance. The board released
“This is a significant victory
only an overall evaluation of the superfor open government in South
intendent's performance and found it
commendable. The board then gave
Carolina. Congratulations to
Floyd a 5 percent raise, which boosted
The Post and Courier.”
his salary to $196,980.
The district said individual documents
– SCPA Executive Director Bill Rogers
were protected under attorney-client
privilege because its lawyers had faciliOn those four evaluation sheets, Floyd's pertated the process.
formance received mostly ratings of "needs
The newspaper's suit countered that the tacimprovement" or "unknown."
tic circumvented the state's FOIA. "It is unforThe dispute between the Berkeley
tunate that we had to go to court to force
County School District and the newspathe release of what in every other jurisdicper dates to 2007, when district officials
refused the newspaper access to board
Please See FOI page 9
Foundation to sponsor coach at 12 newspapers
The SCPA Foundation has hired an
outstanding newsroom coach to work with
member newspapers.
The coach is Trisha
O’Connor, who retired
from almost 12 years as
executive editor and vice
president of The Sun News
in December following a
O’Connor
30-plus year career as a
journalist and editor.
As our newsroom coach, she will visit
newsrooms across the state this summer
to do critiques and training sessions as
requested for both reporters and editors.
This will include advanced preparation
so that actual examples of staff work can
be integrated into the training sessions as
well as the critiques. The coach will spend
at least half a day at each location.
To register, email [email protected]. The
number of newspapers visited is limited to
12 and they will be selected on a first-come,
fIrst-served basis.
O’Connor is now the first Media Executivein-Residence for the Thomas W. and Robin
W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine
Arts at Coastal Carolina University where
she is teaching journalism and working with
the Department of Communication and
Journalism to build a multi-media journalism and mass communication curriculum.
Under O’Connor’s leadership, The Sun News
received many statewide and national
SCPA Foundation dedicates
Smoak Conference Room
The SCPA Foundation dedicated the
“Joseph F. Smoak Conference Room” at SCPA
Offices in memory of the Evening Post Publishing Company’s long-time vice president
and chief financial officer on April 14.
Smoak, who died 1993,
was president of SCPA in
1991-92. As a result of his
sound financial advice and
guidance, the Press Association was able to buy its first
headquarters building on
Calhoun Street in Columbia.
Smoak
Smoak’s wife, Phyllis,
and his son, Joey, along with several of his
Please See COACHING page 13
Please See SMOAK page 4
INSIDE
By Diane Knich
The Post and Courier
2: PEOPLE SCPA President Bill
Hawkins lauds growing membership
5: PEOPLE Regional publisher
named at Morning News
14: ADVERTISING Response to ad
shows newspapers offer impact
Page 2 • April 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin
Strength of our association lies in members
I am honored to
serve as your president this year.
It would not have
happened without
an assist from Jack
Osteen, who delayed
what should have
been his term to
By Bill Hawkins
allow an old guy to
slide in.
SCPA President
and publisher of
As background, I
The Post & Courier
came to The Post and
Courier as executive editor in 2005 from Durham North
Carolina, where I was executive editor of
The Herald-Sun.
I was named editor and publisher, appropriately enough, on April Fool’s Day, 2009.
I step into the President’s role with
somewhat of a unique perspective, having
served as President of the North Carolina
Press Association in 2002.
The North Carolina association shares
many similarities with ours. It is a mix of
group and family newspapers, dailies and
From the
President’s Desk
weeklies, all of them very good. Both associations offer excellent hotlines and boast
very effective lobbyists. And they share
many of the same challenges.
Not the least of which is to keep the
Legislature from usurping our legals and
pushing for stronger FOIA laws.
Our business models are also very similar, with press services providing valuable
advertising support to our members.
But I can say without equivocation that
South Carolina enjoys a much more robust
association that has been more forward
thinking than its northern counterpart.
Proof of that is the magnificent building
that serves as our association headquarters. North Carolina talked about its own
building for decades, but lacked the association leadership and member confidence
to make it happen.
Their annual meeting, in contrast to our
bash, has fallen on hard times.
There are great people on both association staffs, but I give the edge to the team
here for overall professionalism, enthusiasm and a passion for serving members.
Bill and his staff do a tremendous job and
I don’t believe there is a better press association in the country.
Make no mistake. The reason we are a
thriving organization today is the strength
of our growing membership. We have no
problem attracting members to step up
and serve on our committees, or appear
before the Legislature. The importance of
that cannot be overstated, because at the
end of the day we are a volunteer-driven
organization.
We are now in the process of putting the
finishing touches on a committee structure
and I am grateful for those who have said
yes.
I look forward to your support and to
your suggestions about how we can make
our association even stronger and even
more valuable to all of our members.
Cheers!
Letter to the Editor:
Thanks to S.C. newspapers
for supporting education
On behalf of the Education Oversight Committee, I am expressing our sincere appreciation for the support and partnership you
have exhibited in the S.C. Literacy Champions Award. Thank you
for attending our meeting as well.
We are well advised to spend time appreciating the work of others, particularly work that prepares our young people to be writers, artists, and members of a larger community. The AC Moore
project certainly is evidence of the compatibility of those three
purposes. I hope that all of S.C. newspapers and media outlets
give proper attention to this work.
Over the years you have been strong advocates for improved
school results. I thank you for your unfailing confidence in what our
young people and the schools that serve them can accomplish.
Wishing you the very best I remain,
JoAnne Anderson
SC Education Oversight Committee
Longtime SCPA Associate Member Dick Briggs stopped by SCPA
Offices to donate more than 100 journalism reference books.
Briggs, of Dick Briggs and Associates in Landrum, is retiring.
Any member in need of back copies of Editor & Publisher yearbooks and other directories, we would be glad to share. “Dick
has been a great asset to SCPA over the years and was always
available to help,” said SCPA Executive Director Bill Rogers.
April 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin • Page 3
FOI & Legal Briefs
Museum foundation
withholds records
County and state leaders have asked the
York County Culture and Heritage Foundation to hand over detailed financial records
about a failed plan to build a museum and
a residential-commercial development
near the Catawba River. Because the deal
fell through, the foundation and its subsidiary owe $3.78 million on 400 acres that
initially were donated to the foundation.
The foundation has responded to the requests with financial summaries, claiming
they don't have to open their books completely because the foundation is private.
However, the foundation is a "public
body" under the state FOIA. That law says
an agency is public if it is supported "in
whole or in part by public funds" or if it
spends public funds. Bender and SCPA
Executive Director Bill Rogers, say the foundation has received financial and other
support from the York County Culture and
Heritage Commission, a county government agency. That support meets the
"whole or in part" provision of the FOI law.
Appellate court ruling
in favor of The Ledger
A panel of state Appellate Court judges
has shot down an appeal of a Circuit Court
judge’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit by
a former Cherokee County School Board
member against The Gaffney Ledger.
The ruling by the Appellate Court, dated
Feb. 24, upheld an April 2009 decision by
Circuit Court Judge Mark Hayes, which
found the Greenes had no basis for a lawsuit against the newspaper.
The Appellate Court ruling was made without the court hearing any oral arguments.
“This was a remarkable case,” said SCPA
Attorney Jay Bender.“ A person who ran for
and repeatedly held public office complained that her activities were subjected to
public scrutiny. The other plaintiff was unhappy that his woefully inadequate performance as an employee in the school district
where his mother held office was revealed
to the public. In my view the paper did what
newspapers have historically done in our
democracy, illuminate the performance of
our public officials and public employees so
that those for whom they work can decide if
their work measures up.”
The Greenes’ lawsuit was filed in 2007.
Sandra Green sued the paper for “outrage” claiming she sustained injuries as a
result of the newspaper’s alleged intentional infliction of emotional distress on
her and her family. Joel Greene, who had
been hired by the school district during his
mother’s service on the school board, sued
for libel, claiming a column written by The
Gaffney Ledger’s publisher, Cody Sossamon,
that referenced his background, pay history and performance while working for the
school district, contained false information.
Circuit Court Judge Mark Hayes, in a 2009
ruling on the paper’s request for summary
judgement, determined the newspaper
did nothing but report on matters of public interest and found Sossamon’s column
contained constitutionally protected opinions on matters the court believed were
“substantially and materially” true.
The judge also noted, “The community
served by the newspaper has a substantial
interest in receiving information from the
newspaper as to the operations of the
school district.”
• • •
The U.S. Department of Education proposed new student privacy regulations,
which may have implications for journalists
trying to obtain information from schools
and colleges. According to a news release, the
initiatives are designed to “safeguard student
privacy while clarifying that states have the
flexibility to share school data that are necessary to judge the effectiveness of government investments in education.”
Under current regulations, the department
can pull federal funding from schools that
release private education records. The new
proposal would expand the department’s
enforcement authority and allow it to pull
funding from other entities that have access
to student records – including state departments of education and student loan lenders.
Another change concerns so-called “directory information” – basic information such as
a student’s name and address – that can be
shared without the student’s permission. The
department’s proposal would allow schools
to limit the release of that information to
“specific parties, [or] for specific purposes.”
According to the department’s news
release, the change is designed to prevent
marketers and criminals from gaining access to the information. For more on this,
visit: www.splc.org.
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Page 4 • April 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin
Journalism students honored at SCPA Collegiate Meeting
By Jonathan McFadden
The Johnsonian, Winthop University
About 80 student journalists converged
on Winthrop University’s campus to take
part in the South Carolina Press Association’s Collegiate Meetings and Awards on
April 8.
Representatives from various universities
including Francis Marion University, Claflin
University, Clemson University and the
University of South Carolina participated
in workshops on reporting, design and
newsroom management.
Professionals in attendance included
Paul Osmundson of The [Rock Hill] Herald,
Kim Woods, advertising director for The
Herald and Patricia Guilfoyle of The Catholic
News Herald.
Session topics consisted of tips on how
to get hired in journalism to a session on
feature and column writing, taught by The
Herald’s Andrew Dys.
Once the sessions and roundtable
discussions were over, students funneled
into Winthrop’s DiGiorgio Campus Cen-
ter’s movie theatre, Dina’s
Place, for the climax of the
evening, the awards and
presentations.
After awards were presented, the event capped
off with the presentation
of a new award – collegiate
journalist of the year, won
by The Johnsonian’s editorin-chief, Anna Douglas.
Some said the awards
and workshop sessions
inspired them.
“We want to produce
more,” said Desmond
Moore, photographer for
Claflin University’s, The
Winthrop senior Anna Douglas was named 2010 ColPanther, who also took
legiate Journalist of the Year on April 8 at the SCPA Colhome some awards.
legiate Meeting & Awards Presentation.
Aiming to expand the
Daily Gamecock said each award USC won
number of people on their staff, The
was well deserved but that her staff enjoys
Panther’s sports reporter Steven Dial said
sharing the day with other collegiate
they want to make sure they have a more
journalists.
dedicated staff next year.
“We like seeing competition,” Goff said.
Senior photographer Keri Goff from The
Post and Courier reporter wins USC Smoak
investigative reporting award
Continued from page 1
Doug Pardue, special-assignments editor for
The Post and Courier, has received the University
of South Carolina’s 2010 Taylor/Tomlin Award,
which recognizes excellence
in investigative journalism.
Pardue was recognized for
his “The Price of Living” series
which revealed how the
probate court – an institution set in place to protect
Pardue
the incapacitated elderly
from abuse and financial exploitation – can
turn against them.
The series ran on Nov. 28 and 29, 2010, and
explained how the courts use court-approved
fees for lawyers, guardians and conservators
to drain the life savings of the elderly.
Just a week after the series ran, Jean Toal, the
chief justice of the S.C. Supreme Court, said, “I
will be taking action to move this issue forward.”
While the series was being reported,
the Charleston County Probate Court also
began limiting fees.
The Taylor/Tomlin judges called the
series “a classic example of excellent
investigative reporting by a reporter who
used all of the tools of his trade – energy,
doggedness, documents and personal
contacts – to shed light on the plight of elderly citizens in the probate court system.”
Pardue received a $2,500 prize for winning.
Before joining the Charleston paper, he
was projects editor for USA Today. Projects
he directed there include: The Florida election recount; misconduct in the National
Guard and a series reconstructing what occurred inside the World Trade Center towers
after the first terrorist attack. His work has
received three National Headliner Awards,
a Robert F. Kennedy Citation, a Gerald Ford
Award for coverage of National Defense
and two Southern Journalism Awards. He
was part of Roanoke (Va.) Times team that
was a 1990 Pulitzer Prize finalist for coverage of the year-long Pittston Coal strike. He
also been a projects/investigations editor at
The Tampa Tribune and The State.
To read the series, visit postandcourier.com.
co-workers joined the Foundation Board and
SCPA staff for a special dedication ceremony.
Scott Hunter, publisher of the Aiken Standard, fondly remembered Smoak as a great
leader and a “great newspaperman who really
understood the nuts and bolts of the business.”
Vickey Boyd, publisher of the Moultrie
News, remembered Smoak’s kindness and
patience.
Larry Tarleton, The Post and Courier, called
Smoak “the ultimate professional in our business” and talked of how much we all miss him.
After members shared remarks on Smoak’s
positive legacy and legendary smile, Phyllis
Smoak cut the ceremonial ribbon.
“ We think this is a fitting tribute to Joe,
who meant so much to the Association over
the years,“ said SCPA Foundation Secretary
Bill Rogers.
“Joe had such a sharp business acumen,
but he also had a way with people, as was
recalled by folks in the Evening Post newspaper family who worked with him over the
years,” he added.
April 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin • Page 5
People & Papers
Regional publisher
takes helm at
Morning News
Media General has named Mark L. Blum
regional publisher for its S.C. community
newspapers.
In his new role, Blum will
oversee all operations at the
Morning News in Florence,
and he will be responsible
for a group of weeklies including The (Hartsville) Messenger, Marion Star & Mullins
Blum
Enterprise, The (Hemingway)
Weekly Observer and Lake
City News & Post.
Blum had been publisher of The Sentinel
in Carlisle, Pa., since June 2004. While there,
he grew circulation and led the newspaper
to a Lee Enterprises’ Innovation Award.
From 2002 to 2004, he was corporate controller for Lee Enterprises. From 1993 to 2002,
he was chief financial officer for the Utica (N.Y.)
Observer Dispatch, a Gannett newspaper.
He graduated from the University of
Akron and earned a Master of Business
Administration at Monmouth University.
He is also a certified public accountant.
Former Florence publisher
joins W.B. Grimes & Co.
Mark Laskowski has joined W.B. Grimes
& Company as a senior associate with
responsibility for the Southeast and South
regions. Laskowski has 36 years experience with daily and weekly community
newspapers across the U.S. with 15 of
those years at newspapers in Virginia and
North and South Carolina.
He began his career as a reporter and editor before moving into retail and classified
sales, followed by management positions
in advertising, circulation and pre-press
production. Laskowski spent the last 23
years as publisher of daily and weekly community newspaper groups and commercial
printing operations in Virginia, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and South Carolina and with
groups including Media General, Worrell
Enterprises and Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Laskowski has led
acquisition teams
whose work resulted
in the purchase
of newspapers in
Alabama and South
Carolina. He has been
a guest speaker at
the NAA Marketing
Conference and the
American Press Institute and has headed
two study groups of
newspaper professionals that visited
Cuba and the Republic of China. Nearly 20
The Summerville Journal Scene’s Jim Tatum, left, shown
years ago, Laskowski
with Lt. Col. Caroline Watson and Brig. Gen. Eli Wishart
created an alternate
(Ret.) recently received an award from the national Medal
delivery business
of Honor Society in grateful appreciation for work he did
that served 135,000
on the book, “The Medal of Honor: Our American Heroes.”
homes and compleTatum served as Creative Editor for the book, which traces
mented the group of the history of our nation’s highest military honor and the
weekly newspapers
history of those who received it in our nation’s conflicts.
he managed then.
He has been
actively involved with SNPA and the SCPA
Award as Newspaper Publisher of the Year
and is a past president of the Pennsylvania
for the Evening Post Publishing Co.
Newspaper Association.
Priest is president and publisher of Sum• • •
merville Communications, which includes
The Clarendon Sun will now publish
The Berkeley Independent, The Summerville
weekly on Tuesday as a section of The Item. Journal Scene and The Gazette.
Their office in Manning will remain.
“Ellen took on one of our company’s
• • •
toughest challenges,” Evening Post PublishLongtime S.C. ad executive Bill Cranford
ing President Cathy Wilkerson said. “As
has been named director of advertising
publisher of not one, not two, but three
and marketing for the St. Tammany News in
of our community newspapers, she has
Slidell, La. Cranford has more than 20 years
excelled in producing quality community
in the newspaper industry. His first newspajournalism products and team building,
per job was a sports photographer for his
and has become an active member of the
hometown weekly newspaper in Cheraw.
communities she serves.
Most of his career has been spent as
“We are so proud of her and thankful for the
advertising director with The New York
great talent she brings to our organization.”
Times Co. in Spartanburg and The Post and
Priest has been publisher since 2007. She
Courier in Charleston.
serves on various boards including secreCranford has served on many boards and
tary of the board of the YMCA, treasurer of
organizations, including the Newspaper
the Mayor’s Committee on the Employment
Association of America, Southern Classified
of People with Disabilities, board member
Managers Association, North Carolina/ South of the North Area Business Council of the
Carolina Classified Managers, Executive Asso- Chamber of Commerce, co-chair of the Funciation of Greater Charleston, South Carolina
draising and PR committee and secretaryPress Association, Lowcountry Tennis Assoelect of the Rotary Club of Summerville, as
ciation and Trident United Way.
well as the SCPA Executive Committee.
• • •
Please See PEOPLE page 9
Ellen Priest has received the President’s
Page 6 • April 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin
Red flags thrown at Saturday mail elimination
By Tonda F. Rush
National Newspaper Association
Elimination of Saturday mail service requires more study and a better implementation plan to protect impacted customers,
the Postal Regulatory Commission said.
And if Saturday mail goes away, the Postal
Service should permit newspapers to use
the mailbox for Saturday delivery, it said.
The PRC’s long-awaited opinion on 5-day
mail delivery, takes a skeptical look at many
of the Postal Service’s assumptions about the
impact of the proposed change. While it does
not firmly recommend for or against 5-day
mail, the PRC advises the Postal Service and
Congress that USPS has over-estimated how
much money it would save, under-estimated
how much business it would lose and failed
to sufficiently analyze the impact on rural,
remote and non-contiguous areas (like Alaska
and Hawaii) if Saturday delivery is eliminated.
National Newspaper Association President Elizabeth K. Parker, said the Commission’s analysis would enlighten lawmakers.
“We have said all along that ending Saturday mail would hurt mail-dependent rural
areas and slow down other mail service at a
very critical time in our economy,” Parker said.
Apart from the impact on our newspapers – which would be substantial – taking
this route to fix the Postal Service’s financial woes sets the nation’s universal mail
service on a course fraught with danger for
all postal customers. The Commissioners
agree with us that more analysis is needed,
and we appreciate the time and attention it
gave to this serious concern.
NNA Postal Committee Chairman Max
Heath, who presented critical testimony to
the PRC on the impact upon community
newspapers, said the Commission had
taken notice that forcing newspapers out
People
Continued from page 5
APSE recently announced the winners of
the 2010 APSE national sports journalism
writing contest. Winners will be honored
at APSE’s annual awards banquet, taking
place this year on June 25 in Boston.
South Carolina winners include:
In the 75,001-175,000 circulation division, Josh Kendall of The State placed in
The Union County News was named 2011 Small Business of the Year by the
Union County Chamber of Commerce on March 24.“This business, though relatively new in some respects, provides excellent customer service, not only at
the front office, but throughout Union County,” said Chamber director Torance
Inman. “This business is locally owned and operated and employs Union
people. Although manned by a small staff, they do a great job in a big way.”
of the mail could hurt local readers and
also create a backlash effect against USPS
by costing it more business.
“If we can’t get Saturday mail delivery and
have to create our own delivery forces to
reach our readers, we wind up pulling our
mail out of a system that needs our business.
If that happens, we create a new competitive
delivery force, and that isn’t good for USPS.
It isn’t great for newspapers either, in a high
fuel-cost environment and at a time when
our investment needs to be in covering
the news in ever-changing products, not
in creating new delivery teams. I’m pleased
that the Commission took notice of our
viewpoint,” he said. “The best thing about the
Commission’s opinion is the attention it gave
to the importance of local newspapers in
informing local communities.”
Heath also said that the Commission
noted that newspapers are presently
permitted to use the mailbox on rural
routes for Sunday delivery and that he had
recommended if Congress does eliminate
Saturday mail, that exception should be
extended to Saturdays. The Commission
accepted his recommendation.
The opinion is not the final word on
5-day mail. Congress currently requires
6-day and rural delivery at the 1983 level.
But that requirement is up for renewal
each year with postal appropriations
legislation. USPS has said it intends to
continue to push for repeal of the law so it
can gain permission to set delivery levels
on its own.
the game story contest.
In the 30,000-75,000 circulation division,
Eric Boynton of the Herald-Journal took
fifth place in feature writing.
In the game story contest, Alan Blondin
of The Sun News took fourth place. Todd
Shanesy of the Herald-Journal won an
honorable mention.
In the Under 30,000 division, Justin Jarrett of The Island Packet won an honorable
mention in the breaking news contest.
Sam McDowell and Jarrett of The Island Packet won an honorable mention in
explanatory reporting. Jarrett also won an
honorable mention for game story.
• • •
The Pageland Progressive Journal has hired
a new staff writer. Jonathan Wedlock, 27,
who started at the newspaper March 7.
He is a 2007 graduate of Winston-Salem
State University, where he earned a degree
in mass communications.
April 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin • Page 7
Industry Briefs
The Post and Courier
featured in national
newspaper project
The Post and Courier has been recently
featured on the “Who Needs Newspapers?”
website. To see the report, visit:
www.whoneedsnewspapers.org
Here’s a teaser from the report:
“Editor and Publisher William (Bill)
Hawkins thinks the newspaper needs to do
a better job of letting the community know
how and why they do things: ‘demystifying
what it is that happens in this old institution.’ Change is what is happening at The
Post and Courier. It delivers news and
information in many different formats: print;
web; mobile; social media -- they’ve experimented with tweeting from courtroom
trials to supplement reporting; and video is
a daily occurrence -- they produce a weekly
show on a local cable channel. ‘We will be
the source for reliable news for this community,’ says Hawkins, ‘any way you want it.’”
The “Who Needs Newspapers?” project
is chronicling 50 newspapers in 50 states
to see how the newspaper industry is handling changes in technology, newsgathering and more.
Civil War series available
Missouri Press Foundation has a 10part series available on the civil war that
we have made available to newspapers
nationwide. These features were originally
created by The Joplin (MO) Globe’s Newspaper In Education program. The series
is available in a 5x10” size format with 10
companion activity pages that can be
posted on a newspaper's website or downloaded by educators and parents. To access
this series, visit www.mo-nie.com and use
download code: civilwar.
• • •
The National Newspaper Association
recently announced that Charleston will
be the destination for its 126th Annual
Convention & Trade Show, Oct. 4-7, 2012.
Convention headquarters will be the Embassy Suites Airport Convention Center.
Established in 1885, the National Newspaper Association is the voice of America’s
community newspapers and the largest
newspaper association in the country.
The nation’s community papers in form,
educate and entertain nearly 150 million
readers every week.
• • •
Gannett CEO Craig Dubow devoted much
of the Q1 conference call with investors
touting the company’s multi-pronged
digital initiatives. The local digital programs
will now be rolled out nationwide: DoubleTake, a Groupon-like experiment begun
at Clipper Magazine, followed by “Daily
Chicken,” which based in Phoenix. The social
media programs aren’t just for Gannett’s 80
community newspapers. The plan also calls
for greater matching of hyperlocal community efforts tied to its TV broadcast stations
as part of Gannett’s rebranding campaign
emphasizing itself as a traditional media
company with a digital core.
Dubow also said he was thrilled with
CareerBuilder’s results, which were up 16%.
• • •
Newspaper advertising is the leading
advertising medium cited by consumers in
planning, shopping and making purchasing
decisions, according to data from a Frank N.
Magid Associates survey of 2,500 adults. The
findings, announced recently by NAA, paint
a strong picture of the unmatched value
newspaper advertising continues to deliver
in today's media landscape.
The study, titled "How America Shops
and Spends 2011," is the latest in an
ongoing series of NAA research investigating consumer shopping habits and the
influence media has on shopping today.
Highlights include:
• 79% of those surveyed said they "took
action" as a result of newspaper advertising in the past month, including:
• Clipping a coupon (54%)
• Buying something (46%)
• Visiting websites to learn more (37%)
• Trying something for the first time (20%)
• 52% of all adults identify newspapers as
the medium they use to help plan shopping or make purchase decisions
• 72% of all adults regularly or occasionally read newspaper preprints; For Sunday
inserts, this figure increases to 90% of all
adults. Over the course of 30 days, 79%
acted on newspaper preprint advertising.
For more of the results, visit NAA’s website.
• • •
NNA President Elizabeth K. Parker welcomed the recent 87-12 Senate vote to restore 1099 tax form reporting to 2010 levels
and eliminate a threatening new burden on
small businesses. Without the repeal, businesses would have been required to report
to the IRS each year their payments for
virtually all products and services, including
purchases of office supplies, advertising,
rent and other common payments – even
made to corporations that already report
those revenues as income – if totals exceeded an annual $600 threshold.
The impending implementation of 1099
requirements, set to go into effect on Dec.
31, 2011, had already begun to affect small
newspapers as their vendors were requiring W-9 statements with taxpayer IDs to
set up massive compliance systems.
“This 1099 expansion was intended
to capture scofflaws who don’t pay their
taxes, but instead it simply saddled small
businesses with a lot of new accounting
expense,” Parker said. “According to a study
by the Small Business Administration, the
cost of complying with the tax code is already 66% higher for small businesses than
for large businesses. This 1099 burden, just
as many community newspapers are beginning to find economic recovery, would
have been a severe setback.”
“Congress passed this provision during
the health care reform bill with the belief it
would bring in $17 billion in tax payments
from scofflaws,” Parker said. “But it became
quickly clear that the expense of compliance, both by businesses and by the IRS,
could outweigh the benefits. Plus, it simply
added to the headaches of businesses that
fairly pay their taxes. Congress was wise
to rethink its action and let us get back
to focusing on how to improve our local
economies and run our newspapers.”
Page 8 • April 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin
Hedge fund era adds worry to newspaper industry
By John Morton
American Journalism Review
Second, these new investors may be highly adept at parsing balance
sheets and profit-and-loss statements, but they do not have a deep
understanding of how the newspaper business works. They apparently
Time was, it was mostly newspaper people who owned newspapers.
realize that newspapers have made substantial reductions in operatThere was something comforting about that. As disappointing as some ing costs, and they apparently are banking on the notion that once the
newspaper owners could be, in most cases their hearts were in newsindustry starts to regain business lost during the recession, most of the
papering. They may also have made serious money in the process, but
higher revenue will fall to the bottom line.
this was not their sole preoccupation.
What they do not seem to understand is
Today, many newspapers find themthat newspapers started losing advertising
selves in the hands of hedge funds,
revenue well before the recession began in
“My fear is that if the new
whose sole preoccupation is making
late 2007, even though the traditional sources
investors’ strategy begins to
money. Hedge funds invest in all manner
of that revenue -- sales of everything from
falter, they will press for more
of financial instruments and companies.
automobiles to household goods to homes
When it comes to newspapers, they
-- did not decline until the recession hit. The
cost-cutting, which inevitably
specialize in buying, at exceptionally low
recession, of course, made everything worse,
will hit newspaper journalism to the point that by last year newspaper
prices, the debt of bankrupt companies
the hardest.”
or ownership positions in financially
advertising revenue was significantly less than
distressed companies either coming out
– John Morton, AJR half what it was in 2005.
of bankruptcy or trying to avoid it.
Most industries that lose in a short time more
They are not doing this because they
than half of the dollar stream that contributes
have a warm glow about owning socially useful enterprises devoted
three-quarters of their total revenue would be out of business by now, or
at least partly to serving the common weal. They are in it because they close to it. That didn’t happen to newspapers because, until the storm hit,
perceive a chance to make a lot of money a few years down the road.
they had enjoyed extraordinarily high profit margins -- on average well
By then, they reason, the nation’s beleaguered newspapers will be
above 20%. Now profits are under 10%, and the prospects for improvehealthier, thanks to cost-cutting, better management or a revival of
ment are not great.
the market forces that newspapers depend on -- or a mix of all three.
The reason for this, of course, is the shift of great amounts of
When this prosperous future arrives, they believe, the newspapers
advertising to the Internet. Newspapers now have intense comwill be worth a whole lot more than what the hedge funds paid for
petition for advertising never previously experienced. Moreover,
their interest. And then they’ll force a sale, either back to the original
they face a future in which a consumer wanting to know what a
owners or to outsiders. In investment parlance, this is called “flipping.” favorite department store has on sale can get the answer directly
A hedge fund is a type of mutual fund that can have no more than
from store’s Web site, no advertising needed.
100 investors (individuals, institutions or a combination); is lightly
My fear is that if the new investors’ strategy begins to falter, they will
regulated by government agencies; and is allowed to engage in
press for more cost-cutting, which inevitably will hit newspaper jouraggressive investment tactics (short-selling, arbitrage, derivatives,
nalism the hardest. That means a weaker product in an increasingly
swaps, etc.) denied to more closely regulated conventional mutual
crowded marketplace. This will do nothing but complicate newspafunds. Another type of investor currently in the newspaper industry is pers’ already formidable challenge of recasting their business models
the private-equity firm, which typically buys majority control. For the
to find new sources of revenue.
purposes of this discussion, when it comes to newspapers, privateequity funds pretty much follow the same strategy as hedge funds.
These investors now have large stakes or majority ownership
in numerous newspapers -- in Minneapolis, Philadelphia and San
Diego, for example -- and in such newspaper chains as Tribune Co.,
VISIT SCPRESS.ORG
Freedom Communications, MediaNews Group and Journal Regto
view
these listings and more
ister Co. (Some of them have also bought substantial positions in
publicly traded companies like Gannett, Lee Enterprises, McClatchy
Advertising Account Executive • The Press & Standard
and the New York Times Co., but never of sufficient size to influence
Advertising Sales Executive • Daniel Island News
management significantly.)
Advertising Sales Representative • Jasper County Sun
So what does this mean for newspapers? There are several things
Associate Editor • Daniel Island News
to worry about. First of all is uncertainty, which never is good for
Copy editor/page designer • Index-Journal
employee morale or management’s focus on how to operate in a
Editor • The Press & Standard
highly competitive landscape. For the first time in modern history,
Graphic Artist • The Press & Standard
newspapers have a powerful competitor -- the Internet -- that does
Graphic Designer • The News & Press
what newspapers do: present mass amounts of detailed news
Multimedia Journalist • Morning News
and advertising to consumers. Neither radio nor television do this,
Reporter • Chronicle-Independent
which is the fundamental reason newspapers continued to prosper
Staff Writer • Jasper County Sun
despite the creation and ultimate ubiquity of broadcast media.
April 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin • Page 9
Charleston reporter named as Pulitzer finalist
Post and Courier investigative reporter
Tony Bartelme was named as a finalist for
the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for "One
Brain at a Time," a four-part series last year
on the quest of a Medical University of South
Carolina neurosurgeon to
teach brain surgery in the
African bush.
Bartelme's series
focused on Dr. Dilan ElBartelme
legala's realization that
much of the work by volunteer American and Western physicians to
treat diseased and injured Africans had no
lasting impact, except on those treated. The
volunteer doctors would leave, and more
poor Africans still needed care.
Ellegala set out to pass on his brain surgery
skills to Africans, in the hope that he could
teach them to help themselves, and make
Western medical volunteerism obsolete.
The Pulitzer Prize judges said Bartelme wrote
an "engaging account of a South Carolina
neurosurgeon's quest to teach brain surgery in
Tanzania, possibly providing a new model for
health care in developing countries."
Bartelme is on leave from The Post and
Courier participating in a 10-month Nieman
FOIA
Continued from page 1
tion has been public information," said Bill
Hawkins, publisher of The Post and Courier.
"And it is equally unfortunate that Berkeley
taxpayers had to pay dearly for the school
district's attempt to hide evaluation information. But, in the end, common sense and the
Freedom of Information Act prevailed."
School board Chairwoman Kathy
Schwalbe, in a prepared statement earlier
this month, said the board voted to waive
attorney-client privilege and give the
newspaper access to the documents because the events happened four years ago,
and the district is in a financial crisis and
can't continue to spend money fighting
the suit. It has spent more than $73,000 on
legal bills so far.
The statement also said that the board
was giving access to the documents reluctantly, and that members thought some of
the evaluations contained comments that
were defamatory.
Fellowship at Harvard University. After being named a finalist, Bartelme wrote this reaction on his Facebook page: "What a thrill!
And what great recognition for narrative
writing in small- and medium-sized papers!
"The Post and Courier put together
'One Brain at a Time' during a period of
intense financial pressure. The publisher,
Bill Hawkins, could have said, 'What are
you crazy? You want to go to Africa?' The
paper gave me the time and expense
account to do a story that allows readers
to experience a compelling story about
an important issue that affects billions of
people – the shortage of skilled doctors in
low-income countries."
I'm deeply grateful for the Pulitzer
judges' recognition of our work."
Bartelme was one of three finalists for
the feature Pulitzer, which was awarded to
Amy Ellis Nutt of The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J. She was honored for her deeply
probing story of the mysterious sinking of
a commercial fishing boat in the Atlantic
Ocean in which six men drowned.
The other finalist was Michael M. Phillips
of The Wall Street Journal, for his portfolio
of deftly written stories that provide warweary readers with fresh perspective on
the conflict in Afghanistan.
Here's an example of Bartelme's writing
in the series:
"Open the skull, and look at the brain. It's
beige with a slight tint of pink and shaped
vaguely like the head of a cauliflower. Now
touch it. That's what Dr. Dilan Ellegala asks
his medical students to do. Feels like thick
porridge, the ones in Tanzania tell him.
Feels rougher around the blood vessels, the students in South Carolina say.
Ellegala knows that if he or one of his
students cuts the wrong blood vessel,
the brain will begin to die. They have just
a few seconds to save it. If they fail, their
patient may lose the memory of a child,
or ability to taste or walk or breathe. No,
Ellegala doesn't say anything about the
stakes when his medical students touch
those moist folds; he wants them to
suspend their fears, expand the capacity
of what they think they can do, feel the
wonder and privilege of getting inside
another human being's head."
To read Bartelme's series, One Brain at
a Time, go to: www.postandcourier.com/
brainsurgery.
To see the complete list of winners and
finalists, go to www.pulitzer.org.
Floyd, who is now superintendent for
Lexington County School District 3, did not
return calls for comment.
Former board member Jim Royce's name is
on his copy of the evaluation he completed
because he emailed it to the board's attorney.
Royce said that when he disagreed with
Floyd, Floyd threatened to sue him "for
saying things about him that weren't true."
In response, Royce said, he contacted his
attorney, who contacted Floyd's attorney,
who sent a letter to Royce. "The essence
of the letter was that I was defaming him,"
Royce said.
Royce said he doesn't think he ever
defamed Floyd. "I was on the school board
and my job was to evaluate him. Why
would that be defaming?"
Royce, who served on the board for 12
years, said he was critical of Floyd for giving the go-ahead for more than $1 million
in construction "change orders" at Cane
Bay High School before getting board approval. Board policy requires the superintendent to get board approval before
spending more than $100,000.
An attorney hired by the board in 2007
to review the incident found Floyd and
other school officials didn't deviate from
board policy. School officials allowed
construction to proceed that included
necessary changes, Floyd told the board,
but no money changed hands until after
the board approved the changes.
Royce said he was often critical of Floyd's
performance on financial matters. "We were
spending a lot of money that didn't need to
be spent," he said. "That was my big gripe."
Former board member Terry Hardesty,
who said he also had concerns about
Floyd's performance, took issue with remarks from the current board chairwoman,
who said the evaluations were defamatory.
"There was nothing in my comments that
was defamatory," he said. "They were critical, necessarily critical."
“This is a significant victory for open
government in South Carolina,” said SCPA
Executive Director Bill Rogers. “Congratulations to The Post and Courier.”
Page 10 • April 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin
Six ways to become a better sales person
There’s a lot of truth
in the old saying, “The
biggest room in the
house is room for improvement.” Let’s take
a look at six things to
be learned from the
top sales people in the
advertising industry:
By John Foust
1. Learn about sellFoust is an
advertising
ing. These days, there
trainer
is no excuse for an uninformed sales person.
Visit your local book store or library, and
you will find plenty of how-to information
about selling. Go online, and in a matter of
seconds you can have access to a mountain of helpful ideas. (While writing this
paragraph, I did a quick Internet search of
“sales tips” and found 229 million results.)
2. Know your product. There is more
to product knowledge than knowing your
paper’s deadlines, the difference between
spot color and process color, and how
many column inches are in a 2 x 6 ad.
Consider your rate card. If you are putting
together a proposal for a monthly ad budget
of $1,000, what are three possible options?
Which option do you recommend? Why?
3. Make time management a priority.
Time is precious commodity. That’s why
time management is one of the biggest
challenges in this profession.
Debra is an award-winning sales person.
“I keep a daily log of my activities,” she told
me. “That helps me analyze what is productive and what is not. The ad manager at my
paper wants us to maximize the amount of
time we spend developing new business.”
4. Know how to create effective advertising. Once you make a sale, you become
a marketing partner. Even if your paper has
a first-rate creative department, you are the
main point of contact with that advertiser.
Who is the target audience? What are the
relevant features and benefits? What type
of headline is most appropriate – benefit,
news or curiosity? Should the advertising
have photographs or illustrations? Testimonial quotes or third person copy?
5. Know your competition. One of the
basic principles of debate is to know as
much about your opposition’s point of view
as you know about your own. That goes for
media sales, too. When a prospective advertiser tells you that one of your competitors
is being considered, you can help your case
by providing a point-by-point comparison.
How does your paper deliver more potential customers for less cost than radio, television, or other publications? What does your
web site offer that other web sites don’t?
6. Present a professional image. A
banking executive once told me about a
sales person who showed up for a meeting
wearing blue jeans and tennis shoes. “He
said he was dressed like that because Fridays were casual days in his paper’s office,”
he said. “I don’t have anything against blue
jeans. But it’s not smart to wear jeans if you
are trying to sell something to people who
are wearing business suits.”
This does not mean that you have to run
out and buy new clothes. Simply use common sense in selecting what to wear each
day. A sales presentation always trumps
Casual Friday.
MORE INFORMATION
E-mail JOHN FOUST for information about his training
videos for ad departments: [email protected].
T W O N E W WAY S T O
MAKE MONEY WITH METRO ONLINE
CALL
CATHY AGEE AT 1.800.223.1600 FOR FURTHER INFO
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ONLINE AD DESIGN TOOL
Monetizing your Web site just got easier with these ready-todeploy-and-sell themed microsites. Heeding the call for online
solutions that can deliver immediate results, Metro developed
Timely Features MicroSites to give publications what they
need to successfully implement an extension to their online
efforts in a cost-effective, timely and highly-professional way.
A revolutionary new online application that allows you to make
spec ads and finished ads right on screen. All you need is a Web
browser and an Internet connection. Unlike other templatebased programs, MiAD is content-driven, which gives you
unmatched flexibility and control to meet demanding ad requirements. MiAD is easy to use, yet delivers sophisticated results.
READY-TO-DEPLOY-ANDSELL THEMED SITES
METRO INTERACTIVE
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WWW.METROCREATIVECONNECTION.COM
April 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin • Page 11
MultiAd could make waves in the design world
What if Adobe made
a surprise announcement that it had taken
InDesign, removed a
few of the features that
are rarely used by most
designers, and released
a new version called
InDesign Express? And
By Kevin Slimp
what if the new version
Slimp is Director
sold for $30?
of the Institute of
Stop cheering. Get
Newspaper
off that table. It hasn’t
Technology
happened. And I don’t
expect it will.
MultiAd, however, has done just that. Its
just released application, Creator Express, is
basically a stripped-down version of Creator
Professional. Long time users of Creator might
notice some of the features that are missing:
• PMS color matching: Creator Express
deals out RGB and CMYK only. No spot colors.
• Trapping: Trapping is an important element in the printing world. If you’re printing high resolution magazines, Express
isn’t for you.
• Hyphenation: This is the feature that
makes Creator Express less of an option for
pagination. It doesn’t do hyphens. So long
words will be moved to the next line. Not
as much of a problem for ads and graphics,
but a deal breaker for page layout.
• Color Separations: Express prints only
composites. Since most publications convert
their files to CMYK, this isn’t a major issue for
ads. However, it does limit the use of the application for use when printing directly from
Creator to a RIP or printing device.
Express is available only on the Mac
platform. No Windows version is currently
available. I don’t know if there will be in
the future.
I received a press release from MultiAd
last week, announcing the soon to be
available product. At first, I imagined it
would be something akin to Photoshop
Elements, a great application that does
some of things Photoshop does but isn’t
of much use to the professional designer.
Or maybe another Microsoft Publisher
type application. And we all know we have
plenty of those.
In Creator Express, there are limitations.
No doubt about it. However, many designers would rarely be affected by many of
these limitations. For
instance, most ad designers simply create
ads, convert them
to EPS or Postscript
files, then convert
those to PDF files.
This process works
exactly that way in
Creator Express.
To test the application, I designed a simple page. It included
a couple of photos
and some text. At one
point, I experimented
with starbursts and
other features. They
worked well.
When the page
was finished, I
Kevin Slimp suffers a cruel joke at the hands of Ed Henninger
exported it as a
as they deliver a joint session at the Tennessee Press
full color EPS file,
Association Convention. Ed and Kevin have drawn great
then ran it through
crowds to hear them discuss their lists of most important
things to know about page design. Photo by Elenora Edwards.
Acrobat Distiller to
get a PDF file. Next,
I placed the PDF on an InDesign page and
within the document) as PDF, PNG, JPEG,
printed the separations. It worked perfectly. EPS, GIF, TIFF or XML.
It was a painless process, without surprisI spoke with Rachel McMenimen, Marketes. I hadn’t used Creator in several years, but ing Director at MultiAd, and learned that the
I still had no problem jumping in and decompany had home users in mind when they
signing a page. The “nuts & bolts” tools work came up with the idea for Creator Express.
very much like similar tools in InDesign or
She said she was as surprised as anyone when
QuarkXpress. Speaking of QuarkXpress, I’ve
they starting hearing from professional debeen told my pre-release copy is on the
signers who were using the new product.
way, so expect a review next month.
After using Creator Express for an hour, I
A few of the attractive features in Express are:
can easily see uses for it in the hands of an
• Clipping Paths: They’re called Masks in
ad designer. My suggestion would be to
Creator, but they work like clipping paths
purchase one copy and give it to somein InDesign and QuarkXpress. I took a phoone in your office who can take it for a
to of a flower with a white background and spin around the block. Then decide if it’s a
let Creator Express clip out the unwanted
worthwhile addition to your design arsenal.
background. It worked like a charm.
Purchasing Creator Express might be
• Variety of Shapes Available: Choose
tricky for some. Currently, it is available
from starbursts, circles, triangles, polygons
only in the Mac App Store. And the App
and more and easily colorize, texturize or
store can only be accessed by Mac users
create gradients within the shapes.
using Snow Leopard. Rachel tells me Mul• Text on a Path: Use it to wrap text around
tiAd is exploring other distribution options
any object or path you draw, or convert the text so customers without Snow Leopard can
to a path so it becomes an editable graphic.
purchase the application.
• Style Models and Element Styles:
For more information, visit MultiAd.com.
Apply multiple formatting instructions to
MORE INFORMATION
selected text or elements.
KEVIN SLIMP is director of the Institute of
• Multiple Export Options: Export docuNewspaper Technology. He can be reached at
[email protected].
ments (or just a selected image or element
Page 12 • April 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin
Your nameplate sells a lot about you
Want to do a better
job of marketing your
newspaper? Have you
taken a look at your
nameplate recently?
Do you know what
it tells readers about
you? Do you know
what it sells readers
about you?
By Ed Henninger
Henninger is
If your nameplate isn’t
an independent
clear, contemporary and
newspaper
compelling, it tells readconsultant
ers you don’t really care
and director
of Henninger
much about your prodConsulting in Rock
uct...and it certainly sells
Hill
them less about you.
Why so much emphasis on the nameplate? Does it really
matter that much?
Yes.
Your nameplate is your statement – in
every issue – of who you are, where you
came from and what you stand for. If it’s
poorly designed, it can actually put a
damper on sales, especially in coin boxes.
Some tips:
SIMPLICITY: Your nameplate can go
from bad to worse if you try to do too
much with it.
Remember that it’s telling your readers – and your advertisers – about your
newspaper, what it stands for and its
place in the community. A nameplate
that’s over-designed appears frivolous.
Keep it clean and contemporary.
COLOR: Using color in the nameplate is
certainly an acceptable approach. But let’s
make sure it’s there for a purpose. Gratuitous color makes a nameplate less than it
can be, not more. You can use the color to
make the town name stand out...or perhaps you want the name of your newspaper to be more prominent. It’s your call.
ANCILLARY TYPE: Volume and
number. Date. Price. A slogan. Number
of pages. Number of sections. UPC code.
Recycle logo. Location. Web address. Place
all of that in and around your nameplate
and it just becomes too much. Your nameplate should be a thoroughbred – don’t
turn it into a pack mule.
SIZE: Be careful about making the
nameplate too large. If you do, it can tend
to dominate the entire top of the front
page. When I design
a nameplate, I like to
leave at least an inch
of space on the sides.
That space helps the
nameplate to stand
out a bit from the
items surrounding it.
Which leads us to...
SPACE: Give the
nameplate some
breathing room.
Closing in too tightly
with other elements
can create a mass in Simple is best. The nameplate at the top is the best of the
which the namethree because it’s uncluttered and clear.
plate is lost. Even an
aircraft carrier can disappear in port if it’s
can work well...again, if it’s done carefully.
moored side-by-side-by-side with cruisers,
And it’s OK to reverse the nameplate ocdestroyers and escort vessels. Which leads
casionally if that helps. Easy does it.
us to...
Want your nameplate to say good things
TEASERS: If you’re placing teasers near
about your newspaper? Treat it with reyour nameplate, it’s OK for teaser photos to spect, and it will.
go in front of/behind the name. But make
sure this is done tastefully and with care.
MORE INFORMATION
ED HENNINGER is an independent newspaper
Be subtle. Be gentle.
consultant and the Director of Henninger Consulting,
TEASER PHOTO: Placement of the
offering comprehensive newspaper design services,
including redesigns, staff training, workshops and
nameplate over a full-width teaser photo
evaluations. You can reach him at: 803-327-3322.
has become a more common approach
E-mail: [email protected]. On the web:
www.henningerconsulting.com
during the past few years. It’s a device that
The Big Bend Bugle
The Big Bend Bugle
Obituaries
Carl E. Langley
Columnist, Aiken Standard
AIKEN
Carl E. Langley, Jr., 78, Aiken area newspaperman for more than 55 years, died
March 25, 2011.
Langley came to the Aiken area in 1957
as a beat reporter and rose to become an
editor with the Augusta Chronicle. While at
the Chronicle, he served as the South Carolina Bureau Chief. He retired in 1989 and
joined the Aiken Standard the same year.
At the Aiken Standard, Langley became
well known for his Sunday columns and
authorship of four books, dealing with his
columns, life in general and public figures.
His last book focused on 10 people who
transformed Aiken. All sales proceeds from
the books went to charities and sales are
being handled by Howell Printing Co.
He retired from the Aiken Standard in
2002, nearly reaching his personal goal of
sticking out the newspaper business until
he turned 70.
A patriot, Langley loved his country and
served in The United States Army during
the Korean Conflict as a code breaker in
Germany.
He was a graduate of the University
of South Carolina where he studied
journalism.
True to his calling of some 55 years,
Langley sent a letter to the Aiken Standard
that was to be printed following his death.
“To the true soldiers of my heart, to the
ones who followed my writings faithfully
over the years, I say goodbye, not with
sorrow but jubilation that we worked
together to make Aiken a greater place,” he
began his final letter to the editor.
April 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin • Page 13
More S.C. newspapers build paywalls
By Katie Chesley
SCPA Assistant & USC Senior
Online newspaper content used to be
free, but publishers have come to realize
the loss of profit associated with the freecontent model.
Online advertising rates are disproportionate to the number of visitors to
newspaper sites, making it difficult for
newspapers to yield profit.
Many newspapers, most notably The New
York Times, have rolled out paywalls in the
last few months. Newspaper publishers are
desperately trying to recapture lost revenue.
There are several versions of the paidcontent model, but most provide the following options: 1.) Sign up for an account
and purchase a subscription to access a
digital copy of the full version of the print
newspaper, instant access to advertisements on the news pages, and access to
special sections, classifieds and real estate
listings 2.) Free online subscriptions for
those already subscribed to the print version 3.) Free 30-day online trial to decide if
you like what the newspaper has to offer
Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., of the
The New York Times announced that, “The
introduction of digital subscriptions is an
important step that we hope you will see
as an investment in The Times, one that
will strengthen our ability to provide highquality journalism to readers around the
world and on any platform.”
Home delivery subscribers will have free
access up to a defined reading limit, after
which they will be asked to become a
digital subscriber.
Several newspapers in South Carolina
have also introduced paywalls. Among
them are, The Greenville News, The Gaffney
Coaching
Continued from page 1
awards, including almost 100 first-place
honors from the SCPA.
O’Connor began her career as a reporter and
editor with the Anniston (Ala.) Star and worked
as city editor at The Capital Times in Madison,
Wis., and metro editor at the Wichita (Kan.)
Eagle. In 1989, she joined the Charlotte (N.C.)
Observer where she was regional editor for 10
Ledger, The Lexington County Chronicle
& The Dispatch News, Chester News and
Reporter, The Item, The State’s GoGamecocks.com, Index-Journal, The Journal and
Chronicle-Independent, Lancaster News,
The Pageland Progressive Journal, The Loris
Scene, and The Horry Independent.
Publisher Steve Robertson, of Waccamaw
Publishers, which owns The Horry Independent and The Loris Scene, explains their
decision to create a paywall. “We felt like it
was necessary because our business model
is based on paid prescribers. It doesn’t
make sense to ask some people to pay and
give it to others for free, so it seemed like a
smart idea to use a paywall.”
The Horry Independent has seen a small
decrease in the number of hits but they
have also picked up 300 subscribers.
Publisher MacLeod Bellune, of The Lexington County Chronicle & The Dispatch News,
said, “We decided that it didn’t make sense
to give content away so we decided to start
charging people. It’s working fine so far. I’ve
gotten nasty e-mails from people that didn’t
want to subscribe but there were just a few
of those. People understand that nothing in
life is free. Somebody has to pay for it.”
Publisher Susan Rowell, of The Lancaster
News said, “We implemented a paywall
to protect our subscribers, to protect our
investments and to protect our resources.
Our subscribers value our articles, news
and information. It’s a way for us to grow
our business while protecting what we do
best. It’s been successful for us so far. We’re
cleaning up some of the bugs that come
with any change in technology. It will be
6-8 weeks before we can say it’s working
well. There’s enough free information that
visits will continue. We expect to lose some
readers but it is well worth it.”
Building paywalls may be the defense
that the newspaper industry needs to
stay alive. The paid-content model is still
in the early stages of development, but
has the potential to be a major money
maker.
Lexington Chronicle Editor Emeritus Jerry Bellune talks with Mrs. Black’s students
at New Providence Elementary School. The students heard him read from awardwinning humorist Jules Feiffer’s children’s book “Bark,George.” Photo by Marty Fort.
years, before joining The Sun News in 1999.
O’Connor has served as a visiting faculty
member with the American Press Institute
and at the Poynter Institute. She is a former
board member of SCPA and current member of the association’s foundation board, as
well as chair of the state’s FOI committee.
In each of O’Connor’s summer coaching sessions, she will include such things
as writing the story for the reader, layout,
copy editing, headline writing and other
topics desired for your staff.
The visits will be scheduled to suit both the
editors and the coach starting in June.
The Foundation is paying for the coach.
The only cost to the newspapers visited
will be mileage, meals and overnight accommodations, if needed.
“We hope you will take advantage of this
opportunity to have some top-quality inhouse training for your staff at a very modest
cost,” siad SCPA Executive Director Bill Rogers.
Page 14 • April 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin
Response to ad shows papers offer impact
The “pooh” hit the fan over a QuarterPage Network ad we sent out in early April
for the S.C. State Museum.
And the bright side of this problem
is that it showed clearly the power and
impact of newspaper advertising.
The ad in question (located at the right)
was for an exhibit called “Animal Grossology” and offered cartoon images that kids
could color. In one corner of the ad, a tailwagging pooch is sniffing dog droppings.
By Bill Rogers
A bird flying overhead was also bombardExecutive Director
ing the dog with bird droppings.
We debated the ad’s tastefulness and
decided that it was okay and fit in with the nature of the exhibit. The 101 newspapers in the network ran the ad, with only
a few questions to us about the content.
A good number of readers were not happy.
The State Museum got calls about the ad, prompting them to
send out a substitute ad without the dog droppings. Unfortunately, most papers had already run the ad.
The positive side of this problem is that of all the media used
to promote this exhibit, only newspapers brought responses to
the nature of the ads.
The agency buyer said this same ad has been running “everywhere … on the website and on billboards …with no complaints like this.” We were quick to point out to the agency that
they had not previously placed this ad in the hands of engaged
and loyal newspaper readers who are paying attention to the
ads that run in their newspapers. Needless to say, we think he
got the message. This just might be a real “teaching moment”
that we should bring to the attention of our current advertisers
and prospects!
What did we learn from this?
Don’t forget the Sara Bruner test.
Sara is publisher of the Twin-City News and a dear lady more
than 90 years of age. For years, we have asked ourselves “What
would Sara do?” when deciding on an ad. If we didn’t think Sara
would take an ad, we wouldn’t. In hindsight, I don’t think Sara
would have run this ad.
The agency was impressed with the fact that newspaper readers obviously were the only consumers who had been exposed
to the ad and who had a real connection that brought about
such a widespread and genuine response.
With the changes in standards in broadcast and online advertising, newspapers remain a media that our readers hold to a
very high standard.
That is a good thing.
May 6: PALMY winners announced Winners will be
CALENDAR
posted to scpress.org by 5 p.m.
May 19: Arkansas Press Assocation News Contest
Judging SCPA Offices, Columbia.
May 20: Changes to the Directory due Proofs will be
emailed to publishers by May 9.
May 20: PALMY Awards Corrections due Corrections
should be emailed to [email protected].
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