Group formed to define newspaper

The Tennessee Press
12
MARCH 2012
SUNSHINE, NIE WEEKS, READING DAY
FROM PAGE ONE
JUDGES NEEDED!
TPA members are
needed to judge the
Texas Press Association’s
Better Newspaper Contest
NASHVILLE
Thursday, April 19
around them. Furthermore, in using
the newspaper as a primary source,
students learn how to navigate varied
text features. Newspapers also help
students understand and relate to current events, practice valuable reading
and writing skills and learn how to
make informed decisions.
Integration of newspapers is an excellent way to introduce students to
expository text with the added benefit
of teaching a variety of topics. News
stories and columns about government, current events, technology, public affairs and international relations
can be connected directly to subjects
students are learning in their contentarea classes while cultivating valuable literacy skills.
Read Across America is always
March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss
(Theodore Geisel), author of The Cat
in the Hat and many other much-loved
children’s books. The Cat is the symbol of this day.
Read Across America, a project
sponsored since 1977 by the National
Education Association, is a reading
motivation and awareness program
that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading and provides NEA members, parents, caregivers and children the resources and
activities they need to keep reading on
the calendar 365 days a year.
In cities and towns across the nation, teachers, teenagers, librarians,
politicians, actors, athletes, parents,
grandparents and others such as
newspapers develop activities to bring
reading excitement to children of all
ages. Governors, mayors and other
elected officials recognize the role
reading plays in their communities
with proclamations.
Motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement
and creating lifelong successful readers. For more, see www.nea.org.
Contributors to the TPAF ‘I Believe’ campaign thus far:
• Chattanooga Times Free Press
• Crossville Chronicle, In Memory
of Perry Sherrer
• Jones Media, In Memory of
Edith O’Keefe Susong and Quincy
Marshall O’Keefe
The Daily Post Athenian, Athens
The Herald-News, Dayton
The Greeneville Sun
News-Herald, Lenoir City
The Daily Times, Maryville
The Newport Plain Talk
The Rogersville Review
The Advocate & Democrat,
Sweetwater
• News Sentinel, Knoxville
• The Paris Post-Intelligencer, In
Memory of W. Bryant Williams
• Republic Newspapers
The Courier News, Clinton
• Nathan Crawford, In Memory of
James Walter Crawford Sr. and C.T.
(Charlie) Crawford Jr.
National FOI Day
Conference set
The 14th annual National Freedom
of Information Day Conference will be
held Friday, March 16 — James Madison’s birth date — at the Knight Conference Center at the Newseum, 555
Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington,
D.C.
There is no charge to attend, but attendees are encouraged to guarantee
seating in advance. To register, email
or telephone Ashlie Hampton of the
FAC at [email protected]
or (202) 292-6288.
Speakers will include Robert O’Neil,
former director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free
Expression. Program details are at
www.firstamendmentcenter.org.
GOAL: $1,000,000
$800K
$700K
$600K
MARK HUMPHREY | AP
Gov. Bill Haslam, fresh into the second year of a four-year term, speaks
Feb. 9 to the Tennessee Press Association. He talked about his proposal to
remove the class size limit in schools to provide local flexibility, but within
a few days, after objections from many sources, he abandoned the idea.
Thorough coverage of the Winter Convention and Press Institute will be
presented in a special section of the April issue of The Tennessee Press.
$500K
$249,500
2-12
C
M
Y
$200K
K
Friday, April 20
$100K
A group of 10 Tennessee Press Association (TPA) members has begun a
review of the terms
of what defines a
“bona fide” newspaper of general circulation in TennesParkins
see. The Newspaper
Definition Task Force was named at
the TPA Winter Convention Feb. 8 in
Nashville. Its first meeting was to be a
teleconference held March 1.
Chairing the group is Victor Parkins,
The Milan Mirror-Exchange, TPA past
president. Other members are Eric
Barnes, The Daily News, Memphis;
Patrick Birmingham, News Sentinel,
Knoxville; Elizabeth K. Blackstone,
Kennedy Newspapers, Columbia; Don
Bona, Hamilton County Herald, Chattanooga; Jim Charlet, Honorary Member, Brentwood; Jeff Fishman, The
Tullahoma News, TPA president and
ex officio; Lynn Richardson, Herald
& Tribune, Jonesborough, TPA vice
president for non-dailies; Michael
Williams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer,
TPA vice president for dailies; and
Keith Wilson, Kingsport-Times News.
Working as task force advisors are
Frank Gibson, Nashville, TPA public
policy director; Bo Johnson, Johnson
& Poss, Nashville; and Kent Flana-
gan, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government,
Nashville.
Tennessee’s current newspaper definition is derived from the 1972-1973
TPA Newspaper Definition Committee chaired by the late W. Bryant Williams of The Paris Post-Intelligencer.
Members of that committee included
Jim Charlet, W.T. Franklin, John Paul
Jones, Allen Pettus, William C. Postlewaite, Morris Simon and James W.R.
White.
Results of that committee’s work
now reside in the TPA Constitution
and the Tennessee election laws.
Generally, the seven-part definition
includes a name or title, regular publication at least weekly for a definite
price paid, mailed by Second-Class
(later renamed Periodicals) permit,
circulated in the political subdivision
in which it is published, consisting
of no fewer than four pages, and published continuously for one year.
Publications distributed by associations, professions, religions or special
interest groups generally do not meet
the definition of newspapers of general interest circulation.
Suggestions to create a Newspaper
Definition Task Force emerged from
the Feb. 8 discussions at the TPA Government Affairs Committee as part of
a meeting during the Winter Convention.
Committee members reasoned it
might be prudent to reexamine current elements of the “bona fide” newspaper definition, considering current
technologies affecting newspapers.
The TPA Board of Directors agreed,
and creation of the Newspaper Definition Task Force resulted.
Summer Convention in Chattanooga
The TPA Summer Convention Committee met Feb. 23 to continue work on
that convention’s schedule.
While not ready to be fully released
yet, we can tell you that you should
plan to be at the convention Thursday through Saturday, June 14-16. The
convention coincides with the popular
Riverbend music festival. A special
boat cruise and Riverbend access are
planned for Saturday night.
So many session ideas have been
discussed that the challenge will be to
work them all into the schedule. Details will be available in early April,
but please mark your calendar now.
The committee is chaired by Lyndsi
Sebastian of the Chattanooga Times
Free Press.
March brings Sunshine Week,
NIE Week, special reading day
$400K
KNOXVILLE
If you can serve as a judge,
contact Robyn Gentile,
[email protected] or
(865) 584-5761, ext. 105
Group formed to define newspaper
$900K
$300K
No. 9
MARCH 2012
Vol. 75
Not only do we hope this month, in
which spring arrives, will bring sunshine, but it brings Sunshine Week as
well as Newspaper in Education Week
and Read Across America Day.
All provide opportunities for newspapers to carry special material
and connect with readers about the
people’s right to know, the excellent
resource newspapers can be for classrooms and the importance of reading
to and with children.
Sunshine Week will be observed
March 11 through 17, set to coincide
with the birthday on March 16 of
James Madison, considered the Father of the U.S. Constitution. Sponsored by the John S. and James L.
Knight Foundation, the observance
was begun by the American Society
of Newspaper Editors in 2005, which
last year was joined by the Reporters
Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Sunshine Week’s purpose is to promote a dialogue about the importance
of open government. Though cre-
INSIDE
FISHMAN
FORESIGHT
ated by journalists, Sunshine Week is
about the public’s right to know what
its government is doing, and why.
Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten
and empower people to play an active
role in their government at all levels
and to give them access to information
that makes their lives better and their
communities stronger. Individuals
and public officials who embody the
spirit of government transparency
and fight for it in their communities
are recognized each year with Local
Hero Awards.
Participants include news media,
ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
Pam Corley, senior print media buyer with Tennessee Press Service, works to organize packages of UT-TPA
State Press Contests entries—and these are only the ones that arrived at TPA offices by USPS on Feb. 21.
Awards in those contests, a tradition of more than 70 years, will be presented July 13 in Nashville. TPA also is
handling the advertising and circulation Ideas Contest. Those awards will be presented May 4 at the Advertising/Circulation Conference in Gatlinburg. See additional photos on page 6.
SEE SUNSHINE WEEK, PAGE 12
2
3
NEW TPA MEMBER
STASIOWSKI
3
4
REWRITES
OBITS
5 GIBSON
5, 8 SLIMP
9
11
IN CONTACT
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Online: www.tnpress.com
CMYK
loaded from www.naafoundation.org
free of charge.
Our curriculum this year celebrates
the power of newspapers as a vehicle
for engagement as students read nonfiction text and learn about the world
CMYK
government officials at all levels,
schools and universities, libraries and archives,
individuals,
non-profit and
civic organizations, historians
and anyone else
with an interest
in open government. For more
information, go
to www.sunshineweek.org.
Newspaper In
Education Week
is
celebrated
annually
during the first full
school week of
March. For 2012,
the sponsor, the
NAA
Foundation, is providing a teacher’s
guide. First introduced for NIE
Week 2002, this year the curriculum
has been updated to include standardized lesson plans that include
common core standards, technology
standards, leveled activities and assessments. Everything can be down-
MARCH 2012
Column a bit out of comfort zone
(USPS 616-460)
Published quarterly by the
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE, INC.
for the
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION, INC.
435 Montbrook Lane
Knoxville, Tennessee 37919
Telephone (865) 584-5761/Fax (865) 558-8687/www.tnpress.com
Subscriptions: $6 annually
Periodicals Postage Paid At Knoxville, TN
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Tennessee Press,
435 Montbrook Lane, Knoxville, TN 37919.
The Tennessee Press is printed by The Standard Banner, Jefferson City.
Greg M. Sherrill.....................................................Editor
Elenora E. Edwards.............................Managing Editor
Robyn Gentile..........................Production Coordinator
Angelique Dunn...............................................Assistant
The Tennessee Press
is printed on recycled paper
and is recyclable.
www.tnpress.com
The Tennessee Press can be read on
CMYK
OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
Jeffrey D. Fishman, The Tullahoma News...........................................President
Michael Williams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer............................Vice President
Lynn Richardson, Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough...................Vice President
Dale Gentry, The Standard Banner, Jefferson City.............................Treasurer
Greg M. Sherrill, Knoxville....................................................Executive Director
DIRECTORS
Keith Wilson, Kingsport Times-News....................................................District 1
Jack McElroy, News Sentinel, Knoxville..............................................District 2
Chris Vass, Chattanooga Times Free Press...........................................District 3
Darren Oliver, Overton County News, Livingston...............................District 4
Hugh Jones, Shelbyville Times-Gazette...............................................District 5
Joe Adams, The Lebanon Democrat.....................................................District 6
John Finney, Buffalo River Review, Linden.........................................District 7
Brad Franklin, The Lexington Progress.................................................District 8
Joel Washburn, Dresden Enterprise.....................................................District 9
Eric Barnes, The Daily News, Memphis..............................................District 10
Victor Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange..................................Past President
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE
Michael Williams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer....................................President
Victor Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange.................................Vice President
Jeff Fishman, The Tullahoma News........................................................Director
Pauline D. Sherrer, Crossville Chronicle................................................Director
Jason Taylor, Chattanooga Times Free Press.........................................Director
Greg M. Sherrill............................................................Executive Vice President
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION
Gregg K. Jones, The Greeneville Sun..................................................President
Victor Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange.................................Vice President
Richard L. Hollow, Knoxville....................................................General Counsel
Greg M. Sherrill....................................................................Secretary-Treasurer
CONTACT THE MANAGING EDITOR
TPAers with suggestions, questions or comments about items inTheTennessee
Press are welcome to contact the managing editor. Call Elenora E. Edwards,
(865) 457-5459; send a note to P.O. Box 502, Clinton,Tenn. 37717-0502; or email
[email protected]. The deadline for the April issue is March 12.
There are many duties expected of the TPA preseducation reform by doing what’s best for Tennesident, not least of which is to provide a monthly
see children; and ensure the state budget is mancolumn for The Tennessee Press newspaper. I have
aged conservatively and state government is run
written plenty of news stories, sales proposals
efficiently while delivering quality service to the
and internal company correspondence, but I have
citizens.
never written a regular column. Although most
During Gov. Haslam’s first year in office, the legpeople who know me will readily admit I am not
islature passed his budget proposal unanimously
shy on opinions, I have never had the responsi– a budget that absorbed more than a $1 billion
bility to provide those thoughts in writing. A big
reduction in federal funding; included the first
factor is the realization that what I write needs to
salary increase for state employees in four years;
be engaging and challenging (oh, and don’t forget YOUR
and softened the impact of the Hall Income Tax on
coherent) and is targeted to an audience filled PRESIDING seniors. With job growth inextricably tied to eduwith people I admire, many of whom have known
cation and businesses looking for more certainty,
me for many, many years. They have watched me REPORTER
he signed into law his priorities of tenure reform;
grow up. They know the good, the bad and the
tort reform; allowing more charter schools; and
ugly. And they are editors at heart.
allowing college students to use HOPE lottery
Jeff
Fishman
So, put it all together. I have to write a regular
scholarships for summer classes. He rolled out
column for mentors and peers who are mostly
JOBS-4-TN, the state’s economic development plan
family and editors. If I think about it too long it becomes a
that regionalizes the Economic and Community Developpretty big deal. It may not surprise you that TPA staff has to
ment Department and leverages existing assets in the state’s
chase me each month to get my column finished, but please
unique and distinct areas.
forgive me, as this duty is a bit out of my comfort zone.
He was born and raised in Knoxville, and he and his wife
Feb. 8, 9 and 10 was the TPA winter convention in Nashof 30 years, Crissy, have three grown children, a son-in-law, a
ville. The purpose of this gathering is two-fold.
daughter-in-law and a new grandson!
1. Training: The challenges facing newspapers are such
By the way, Gov. Haslam is a great example of a political
that our best and brightest are not always getting the guidleader who values sunshine in government. When some legance and training they need to become the next generation
islators wanted to water down Tennessee’s Sunshine Law, he
of leaders. They need workshops and seminars close to
stood firm for open government.
home at a reasonable cost. TPA and our sister organization
We are fortunate to have great sponsors for our Press InstiTPAF are doing something about this. The Press Institute
tute. Their generosity made possible the opening reception
is our premiere training event, featuring new techniques in
Wednesday night. AT&T was our primary sponsor, and the
such disciplines as reporting, technology, advertising and
following newspaper companies contributed:
circulation for both print and digital delivery.
Jones Media and The Greeneville Sun
2. Government relations: We had a great turnout Feb. 8
News Sentinel, Knoxville
from our elected state officials. We rekindled some old relaCitizen Tribune, Morristown and Lakeway Publishers
tionships as well as fostered new friendships. TPA’s recepThe Daily News, Memphis
tion has been in the past, and continues to be, one of the
The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro
must-shows among the hundreds of private gatherings on
The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville
The Hill. We will work with both Democrats and RepubliThe Courier, Savannah
cans who were supportive in the past and enlist their help
The Courier News, Clinton
to identify and build relationships with those who might be
Gallatin News Examiner
helpful in the future.
Hamilton County Herald, Chattanooga
We all face increasing pressure in the effort to preserve
Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough
open records and open meetings, and we have new commuand last but not least,
nication tools bringing on new challenges as people try to
The Tullahoma News!
keep emails, tweets, Facebook and text messages out of pubWe are also grateful to the University of Tennessee for prolic view, hiding the public’s business from them.
viding many years of support for the Institute sessions and
Somebody ought to do something about that. And TPA is!
to our other convention sponsors: TPAF, President Gregg K.
In last year’s legislative session more than 20 bills were
Jones; the Associated Press, Adam Yeomans; The Daily News,
introduced that directly targeted our industry. Most focused
Memphis, Eric Barnes; the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.
on public records and open meetings. Thus we hired a fullThe planning committee for this convention, chaired by
time public policy director (PPD).
Eric Barnes, did an outstanding job providing great content
Creating and staffing this position wasn’t without controin good venues for both training and networking. Thank Eric
versy. Gregg K. Jones and TPA immediate past president
when you see him for an outstanding job.
Art Powers are two of many who deserve thanks for their
TPA has enjoyed a partnership with UT for more than 60
courage, vision and leadership in recognizing the problem
years with joint projects including the annual Press Instiand then fostering a solution. TPA has made a great hire in
tute, UT-TPA State Press Contests, Tennessee Newspaper
Frank Gibson to be our PPD. We lured him from the TennesHall of Fame and the Institute of Newspaper Technology.
see Coalition for Open Government, leaving a void at TCOG.
It was our privilege to have DiPietro speak to us at lunch.
We were able to help TCOG backfill that integral leadership
He is a veterinarian by training. His career in higher educaposition with our old friend Kent Flanagan. If choosing a
tion includes serving as the dean of the University of Flordream team, regardless of budget, we would be hard-pressed
ida’s College of Veterinary Medicine and chancellor of the
to find a pair of professionals who are as passionate and caUT Institute of Agriculture. During his tenure at the Instipable as this dynamic duo!
tute, it began interdisciplinary programs such as the Center
Henry Ford said, “Coming together is a beginning. Keepfor Renewable Carbon, the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative and
ing together is progress. Working together is success.” Let’s
the master’s degree in landscape architecture. Between 2006
all work together with our old friends in office, new lawmakand 2010, external grant support for the Institute increased
ers and others who value the public’s business being con30 percent from $26.6 million to $34.8 million annually.
ducted in sunshine.
After this very impressive person was feebly introduced
Among others, our three main guests for the winter conby me he told the story of how, although he possesses great
vention’s keynote luncheon were Gov. Bill Haslam, UT
training in the field of veterinary pathogens and parasites,
President Dr. Joe DiPietro and MTSU President Dr. Sidney
he was unable to diagnose his own cat with what looked to
McPhee. These are all men whom I have had the pleasure of
be a very serious and mysterious affliction. It turned out to
knowing over the years but have never had the responsibilbe fleas! Guess it goes to prove that common sense trumps
ity of sharing the podium with. Pretty daunting!
higher learning sometimes! Dr. Joe was a great sport and we
are grateful for the relationship.
Gov. Haslam was elected the 49th governor of Tennessee
Keep reading The Tennessee Press for information and upwith the largest margin of victory in any open governor’s
dates on our upcoming events.
race in our state’s history. His administration’s three top
priorities are: To make Tennessee the number one location
in the Southeast for high quality jobs; continue our state’s
JEFF FISHMAN is publisher of The Tullahoma News.
The Tennessee Press
MARCH 2012
11
Recommendation to publishers: move ahead
BY KEVIN SLIMP
TPS technology director
I’ve had an interesting couple of
weeks.
For the first time,
I was invited to
speak at the Michigan Press Association’s convention
in Grand Rapids. I
Slimp
never know what
to expect when I’m with a new group.
Will the group be somber and quiet,
or will the attendees be lively and responsive?
My worries were relieved after just a
few minutes. Publishers who arrived
early waited to tell me how excited
they were to hear what I had to say
about our industry’s future. Others
came by while I was setting up to tell
me how much they enjoy reading my
columns.
With ample ego strokes, I presented
two topics on Friday related to online
revenue and customer service, then
went on to set up for a morning keynote on Saturday.
The president of the association
came by to say hi and to let me know I
shouldn’t be disappointed in the turnout. “It’s always a light crowd on Saturday morning,” he said.
“No problem,” I responded, “I never
expect a crowd on Saturday morning
at 8:00.”
The room was substantial and had
seats arranged in eight or 10 rows,
maybe 20 to 25 chairs in a row. It was a
wide room but not very deep. I figured
maybe 30 people would show up and
I’d speak in front of an empty room.
Just as happened in Kentucky the
week before, when dozens of chairs
had to be added, the room began to
fill, and before I knew it, all the seats
were taken. The topic was “What I’ve
learned this year from successful
newspapers.”
I talked about papers I had visited
in Tennessee, Ontario, Kentucky, Minnesota and points all over the map. I
shared some of the commonalities
among these papers. Things like the
following:
•Investment in staff, training and
equipment
•Trust among staff, publishers and
other managers
•Keeping staff in place whenever
possible.
The audience laughed out loud when
I told of some of the things I had seen
at newspapers and wrote furiously as
I shared advice as they plan for the
future.
When the Michigan keynote ended,
a line formed. One publisher after
another wanted to talk about his or
her situation. College students (there
were probably 30 or 40 in attendance)
asked me for advice concerning their
futures.
Finally, after visiting with at least
two dozen folks, the line was gone.
From my left appeared a man who
asked if he could talk with me. He
shared that he published a newspaper
in the state and was already making
plans to cease his printed newspaper
and go with an online version.
“I’ve got to tell you,” he said. “You
may have changed my mind.”
Like thousands of other publishers,
he’s heard the reports of gloom and
doom. And like some others, he was
ready to accept his newspaper’s fate.
It’s not my job to talk people into
anything. I just present the facts and
share what I see at newspapers all
over North America. I’m constantly
amazed that anyone has any interest
in hearing anything I have to say. It
surprises me even more when I hear
from publishers that tell me they’ve
changed their future plans after reading or hearing what I think.
Iowa was more of the same the week
after Michigan. Another convention.
More chairs had to be added to the
already large room. That was three
weeks in a row.
Next up are conventions in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas, New York,
Kansas and back to Iowa.
We keep hearing that our industry is
at a crossroad. Coming to a crossroad
doesn’t mean it’s best to take a hard
right or hard left turn. Sometimes you
move ahead.
Let me suggest that for most of us,
it’s time to move ahead. Sure, you’ll
pick up some new tools along the way.
But the introduction of mobile media,
social media and competing sources
for news doesn’t mean that newspapers are outdated or history.
Be careful when you come to that
crossroad. Straight ahead might be
the best route for your newspaper.
API, NAAF approve merger to meet newspapers’ needs
The American Press Institute (API)
and the Newspaper Association of
America Foundation (NAAF) announced Jan. 25 that they will merge
to create a new organization focused
on meeting newspapers’ crucial multimedia training and development
needs. The merger agreement has
been approved by the boards of directors of both organizations.
Over the course of the next several
months, leadership of the new entity
will map out the specifics of integrating existing API and NAA Foundation
programs into the new organization.
Organizational and related details
will also be addressed through a comprehensive review process under the
direction of board governance that
will be drawn from both the NAA
Foundation Board of Trustees and the
API Board of Directors.
Find solutions to suppositions
that trouble circulation leaders
BY JIM BOYD
Chairman of the board, SCMA
Here’s a supposition: Training, networking and idea-sharing opportunities for the circulation leaders at your
newspaper are more limited than was
once the case.
Here’s another supposition: Given
today’s news media environment,
there’s probably never been a time
when hearing about business development opportunities is more important.
Here’s a solution to the resulting conundrum from the statements above:
Attend this year’s Southern Circulation Managers’ Association (SCMA)
Conference April 22 through 24 at the
Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham, Ala.
Simply put, it will be the single most
cost-effective expenditure your company will make in 2012.
Addressed at this year’s meeting will
be three of the most vexing questions
circulation leaders face:
• How do I significantly drive revenue without perpetuating the erosion
of my customer base?
• How do I grow audience and make
money with our digital product offerings?
• What on earth do I do about my
not-so-robust daily single copy sales?
Matt Lindsay of Mather Economics,
Eric Wynn of The Oklahoman, Jim
Fleigner of Impact Consulting, Jeff
Hartley of Morris Publishing Group,
Martha Hines of Grand Rapids Press,
John Murray of Newspaper Association of America and other true industry experts will be there to provide
actionable answers.
For more information and to receive
a registration form, contact Glen Tabor, circulation director, Kingsport
Times-News, treasurer, at gtabor@
timesnews.net or Debra Casciano,
circulation director, Press-Register,
Mobile, Ala., at [email protected].
The new organization will have a
board chaired by Mark Newhouse,
executive vice president/newspapers
of Advance Publications Inc., that
combines representation from the
API Board of Directors and the NAAF
Board of Trustees. Bob Weil, vice president of operations for the McClatchy
Co., will serve as vice chairman.
NAA represents nearly 2,000 newspapers and their multiplatform businesses in the United States and Canada and is headquartered in Arlington,
Va.
The NAA Foundation strives to de-
velop engaged and literate citizens
in our diverse society through investment in and support of programs
designed to enhance student achievement through newspaper readership
and appreciation of the First Amendment.
API is the trusted source for career
and leadership development for the
news media industry in North America and around the world. It was founded in 1946 by the late Sevellon Brown,
editor and publisher of the Providence
Journal.
(NAA)
HOW TO CONTACT US
Tennessee Press
Association
Mail: 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Web: www.tnpress.com
E-mail: (name)@tnpress.
com
Those with boxes, listed
alphabetically:
Laurie Alford (lalford)
Pam Corley (pcorley)
Angelique Dunn (adunn)
Beth Elliott (belliott)
Robyn Gentile (rgentile)
Frank Gibson (fgibson)
Earl Goodman (egoodman)
Kathy Hensley (khensley)
Barry Jarrell (bjarrell)
Greg Sherrill (gsherrill)
Kevin Slimp (kslimp)
Heather Wright (hwright)
Advertising e-mail:
[email protected]
MARKETPLACE
HELP WANTED—The Courier, Savannah, a family-owned, 127-year-old
award-winning weekly newspaper in
Hardin County, seeks a strong managing editor to lead its well-established
news organization and direct the dayto-day print and online news operation.
Candidates are expected to be able to
supervise news and sports reporters,
page designers and Web manager. We
are looking for someone who knows
how to lead a community newspaper,
directing reporters in meaningful coverage of events important to readers’
lives, both in print and online. We’re
looking for a skilled editor with layout
experience, a command of AP style
and the personal qualities needed to
develop a rapport with staffers as well
as community members. The managing editor will also need strong writing, editing, design and pagination
skills to ensure stories are accurate,
fair, complete and a good read. Candidates must also possess sound news
Tennessee Press Service
judgment, a belief in classic journalistic standards, as well as solid coaching, management and departmental
budgeting skills. The managing editor will participate as a member of
the senior leadership team. A full list
of requirements can be found in our
posting in the employments section of
www.tnpress.com.
Hardin County is bisected by the Tennessee River and is home to Shiloh National Military Park, Pickwick Dam
and Lake. It shares a tri-state southern border with Mississippi and Alabama. Hardin County offers many
recreational opportunities and rural
community charms with the amenities of an urban setting just an easy
drive away.
Interested applicants should submit a
resume, three recent writing samples
and salary expectations to: The Courier, P.O. Box 340, Savannah, TN 38372.
Submissions also may be made via email to [email protected].
Mail: 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Web: www.tnadvertising.
biz
Tennessee Press
Association Foundation
Mail: 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Web: www.tnpress.com
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
2
Two newspapers end publication
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Roane County News, Kingston
CMYK
A long, storied chapter in the journalistic history of Roane County has
come to an end.
After the Feb. 27 edition of the combined weekly newspaper Rockwood
Times and Harriman Record goes out,
the newspaper is no more.
The primary unique content — Josephine McKinney’s column “’Round
Rockwood” and Louise Warmley’s column “Harriman Happenings” — will
be moved into the Roane County News’
Monday edition, which weekly subscribers will receive instead.
Those who subscribe to the Roane
County News as well as the weekly will
receive extensions on their subscription. Subscribers will receive letters
explaining the change.
Roane County News editor Terri Likens, who also oversees the weeklies,
said the decision was made to concentrate limited resources on the bigger
publication.
“I hated being part of pulling the
plug on these newspapers, but I was
relieved when I delved into their histories,” Likens said. “Not only had the
Roane County News already absorbed
much of what they once offered their
communities, but the weeklies themselves were products of long-ago
mergers between a handful of nearly
forgotten newspapers.”
“Even so, the work of the journalists who built them up should be recognized,” Likens added.
Both newspapers claimed existences of more than a century — including the newspapers they had merged
with.
The Rockwood Times traced its roots
back to the Roane County Republican,
which was started in 1880.
The Harriman Record’s bloodlines
included The East Tennessean of
Kingston, which got its start in 1865.
In their heydays, both skillfully covered major stories — like the floods of
1929 and the Rockwood mining disaster of 1926.
The Harriman Record had more
than one editor know for passionate
journalism.
Wesley M. Featherly, who headed
the newspaper from 1900 to 1919, was
described as an “old-time, outspoken,
fighting editor.”
“He got into a physical fight almost
every time The Record came out,” the
late County Judge Elmer Eblen was
quoted in historical accounts by a
later editor, Walter T. Pulliam.
Once, in county court, Featherly
was denounced as “that baboon from
Michigan.” The newspaperman
leaped over the benches to the front
Tennessee Press Association
Summer
Convention
Don’t miss Saturday night’s finale,
featuring a boat cruise, fireworks
and special access to Riverbend
Festival’s Coke Stage.
Sponsored by Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Chattanooga
June 14-16, 2012
and “floored” the speaker.
Perhaps the newspaper’s most glorious years were in the 1960s and 1970s
under Pulliam, a former Washington
Post city editor with area roots. Pulliam, now in his 90s, lives in Knoxville.
In 1963, after the murder of President John F. Kennedy, what came to be
known as The Harriman Record’s “Assassination Edition” sold an astonishing 58,000 editions, Pulliam reported.
Pulliam and the Harriman newspaper also received national recognition during the Watergate Era. It was
the smallest newspaper in the United
States — and the only one in Tennessee — to publish the full transcripts of
Nixon’s Watergate tapes.
The account took up 40 pages in the
newspaper.
Pulliam also used his Washington
connections to get a scoop.
On Aug. 8, 1974, the Harriman newspaper was the first in Tennessee to announce news of embattled President
Richard Nixon’s resignation.
Some of the Rockwood’s newspaper’s best coverage was of a fatal 1926
mine explosion. The paper put out
extra editions as more bodies were
found.
The following is an excerpt from the
newspaper:
“News of the disaster was brought
to the surface by Eugene Tedder, who
was knocked down by the force of the
explosion while working in a room
two miles distant, and caused great
excitement in the city. The first report
was that 65 men were in the entry,
while a subsequent check of names
at the Roane Iron company office reduced the list to 32, the final list showing 31 names.
“A large crowd gathered at the
mouth of the mines soon after news
was received at the surface between
10:30 and 11:00 o’clock, and local policemen and American Legion members were station to guard the roped
off areas that was soon established.
No cars were allowed to take the road
to the mines without a pass.
“The first newspaper accounts of the
explosion were contained in two extra
editions of The Times, one of which
was on the streets at 1:30 Monday afternoon with a list of the entombed
men and an account of the sending of
the first rescue party.
“The second extra was off the press
shortly before 6:00 o’clock with a report of the rescue of Ebbie Davis,
E.G. Boles, Will Teague and Arthur
Teague, all alive, and the finding of
the body of W.C. Elliot.
“The Times extras had a sale of 1,000
copies and many more were called for
after the editions were exhausted.”
(Jan. 23, 2012)
Nada
“No one should be able to pull the
curtains of secrecy around decisions
which can be revealed without injury
to the public interest.”
Lyndon B. Johnson, U.S. president
MARCH 2012
TPA OKs new associate members
The TPA Board of Directors approved Capitol Newswatch, Liberty
Mutual and TNReport.com as associate members at its meeting on Feb. 8.
Following is pertinent information
on all three:
Capitol Newswatch is represented
by Amelia Morrison Hipps, executive
editor and CEO, and Jim Hipps. Amelia Hipps was managing editor of The
Lebanon Democrat.
[email protected]
www.capitolnewswatch.com
Phone: (615) 442-8667
Toll Free: (888) 417-8567
1260 Trousdale Ferry Pike
Lebanon, Tenn. 37087
Liberty Mutual is represented by
Stephen Dorris. Previously, Dorris
was regional manager for Publishing
Group of America and owner of the
Mt. Juliet News.
Stephen.Dorris@LibertyMutual.
com
Phone: (615) 822-7196
100 Bluegrass Commons Blvd.
Hendersonville, Tenn. 37075
TNReport.com News Service is represented by Mark Engler, editor. Engler is a journalist with experience in
newspapers in the Pacific Northwest.
www.tnreport.com
[email protected]
Phone: (615) 489-7006
P.O. Box 119
Buffalo Valley, Tenn. 38547
Help campaign on electronic subscriptions
At long last, after nearly four years
of efforts by National Newspaper Association’s (NNA) Max Heath and the
Postal Committee, the U.S. Postal Service is considering a proposal to allow
electronic subscriptions to count as
paid circulation.
If the proposal succeeds, newspapers could begin immediately to ramp
up e-subscriptions to count them in
the October Statement of Ownership. As long-distance mail service
deteriorates, members tell NNA these
electronic subscriptions have become
more important.
There are two ways to help.
1. You can write USPS directly with
your comments. You can find the proposal here, along with instructions
on where to write. Comments are due
March 5.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR2012-02-03/pdf/2012-2374.pdf
2. Or you can join with other NNA
members in providing your comments
through this short survey. All signed
comments will be provided to USPS.
Anonymous submissions will not be
included.
To take the survey, click on this link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/
YYW27WR
NCEW changes name, becomes
Association of Opinion Journalists
The National Conference of Editorial Writers has announced that its
membership has renamed it the Association of Opinion Journalists (AOJ).
Founded in 1947, the organization remains dedicated to the craft of opinion journalism through education,
professional development, exploration
of issues and vigorous advocacy within journalism.
“The debate that took place on the
nation’s opinion pages and, in later
years, through broadcast editorials,
now happens on a variety of online
TRACKS
Lebanon Publishing Co., which
owns The Lebanon Democrat, Mt. Juliet News and Hartsville Vidette, has
hired Clay Morgan as director of
content and audience development.
In addition to serving as managing
editor, he will direct expansion of the
company’s footprint in digital content
development, social media and mobile
content delivery.
Morgan has more than two decades
of news experience with magazines
and newspapers in Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and Texas. He was
born and reared in Memphis.
and other media platforms,” said organization president Froma Harrop,
a columnist with Creators Syndicate
and member of The Providence (R.I.)
Journal editorial board. “Our new
name encompasses the many media in
which opinion writers work.”
For more information on AOJ, please
contact Lisa Strohl, AOJ Manager, at
(717) 703-3015 or [email protected].
The group’s new website is www.
opinionjournalists.org.
(SNPA eBulletin, Jan. 19, 2012)
Have a
job opening?
Post your
open positions
and review
resumes in the
employment
area of
www.tnpress.com.
The Tennessee Press
MARCH 2012
Win a trip to the 2012 Ad/Circ Conference
BY BETH ELLIOTT
TPS ad networks manager
Have you heard?
Tennessee Press
Service is having
a contest for sales
reps at newspapers
that participate in
Tennessee’s Advertising Networks.
Time is running
Elliott
out, though. The
contest ends in April.
Here’s what’s at stake: a trip to the
2012 Ad/Circ Conference in Gatlinburg or a chance to win $50! The trip
includes conference registration, one
night’s stay at the Park Vista Hotel and
some transportation money. The rep
that sells the most TnSCAN, TnDAN
or TnNET ads by April will win the
trip. All other reps will be entered into
a drawing to win $50.
You may be saying to yourself, “Selling one of these ads sounds easy, but
my market is just too small.” Do you
have any businesses with multiple locations? Do you have any businesses
needing to recruit for specialized positions? Do you have local festivals, sales
or events that want to draw crowds
outside your area? Do you already
place ads in your newspaper that have
an area code outside your own? If you
answer yes to any of these questions,
then you have a good candidate.
The next step is being knowledgeable about the networks. In a nutshell,
Tennessee’s advertising networks
are a low-cost option for advertisers
to place ads in multiple newspapers
through one point of contact, preferably their local newspaper sales rep.
The networks are groups of TPA member newspapers that publish classified
line ads (TnSCAN), small display ads
(TnDAN) and online ads (TnNET) for
one low rate. Materials explaining the
networks in full detail are posted on
www.tnpress.com/statewides/, or you
may contact TPS.
After becoming familiar with the
networks, don’t forget to promote
them. Up-sell the network ads to your
existing advertisers; the networks can
be offered as additional exposure in
multiple markets. The networks provide advertisers wider coverage than
your newspaper and with the convenience of one order, one payment, one
contact – YOU.
Once you land the sale, collect the
payment from your advertiser and
send the ad to TPS for placement. TPS
does all of the legwork, by distributing the ads each week and verifying
publication.
Make your sale by April and be entered into the contest. In addition to
the contest, your newspaper makes a
nice commission on every ad you sell.
Advertising &
Circulation Conference
Join us to learn how your
newspaper can get
“A Bigger Slice”
Friday, May 4
Gatlinburg
Watch for conference details March 8.
As of mid-February, five reps have
sold ads that qualify* for the contest.
They are Teri Jennings with The
Leader, Covington; Jon Weaver with
the Dale Hollow Horizon, Celina; Richard Southerland with The Greeneville
Sun; Sharon Moses with The Greeneville Sun; and Stephanie White with the
Johnson City Press.
If your newspaper does not participate in all three networks, you could
be missing out—missing out on exciting contests such as this one; missing
out on a new revenue stream; missing
out on filling remnant space with paid
ads. Contact TPS for more information, (865) 584-5761 x117 or belliott@
tnpress.com.
*Ads that are sold by an agency and
not by a participating newspaper, then
submitted to TPS for placement do not
qualify for the contest.
Board OKs Leader
as member newspaper
The Fulton Leader, Fulton, Ky., was
accepted as a member of the Tennessee Press Association on Feb. 8. The
newspaper, owned by Magic Valley
Publishing Co. Inc., serves Fulton, Ky.
and South Fulton, Tenn., which is located in Obion County.
The following are pertinent data:
The Fulton Leader
Paid Circulation: 1,406
Established: 1898
P.O. Box 1200
304 East State Line Rd.,
Fulton, Ky. 42041-1200
(270) 472-1122
Publisher: Dennis Richardson
Editor: Stephanie Veatch
Advertising Manager: Benita Gamon
Contests Committee
to meet March 2 at TPA
TPA’s Contests Committee chairman
has called a meeting of the committee
for Friday, March 2, at 10 a.m. at the
TPA headquarters in Knoxville. Members with an interest in serving on the
committee responsible for the State
Press Contests are invited.
Terri Likens, editor of the Roane
County News, Kingston, is chairman.
Please advise Robyn Gentile, TPA
member services manager, if you
plan to attend the meeting—rgentile@
tnpress.com or (865) 584-5761 x105.
3
NAME to meet
in Chattanooga
The Chattanooga Times Free Press
will serve as host to the Mid-Atlantic
Newspaper Advertising Marketing
Executives (NAME) at the annual conference Thursday through Saturday,
April 12-14.
The Sheraton Read House Hotel in
Chattanooga will be convention headquarters. One should call (423) 2664121 to make your reservations—and
make it clear that you will be part of
the conference. The rate is $129 plus
taxes of $22.25, for a nightly total of
$151.25.
The conference will start at 1 p.m. on
Thursday with a session on electronic
media. A bus will load at 5 p.m. for the
trip to the Civil War Dinner Theater.
This cost will be included with conference registration.
Bill Cummings, advertising sales
manager of the Johnson City Press, is
NAME executive vice president, while
Leslie Kahana, advertising director
of the Times Free Press, serves as
secretary-treasurer and Sissy Smith,
advertising director of the Shelbyville
Times-Gazette, is a director. John E.
Cash, senior vice president/advertising with Jones Media, Greeneville, is
president of the NAME Scholarship
Foundation.
Hill Science Lecture
set March 13 at UTK
The Alfred and Julia Hill Science
Lecture will take place at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 13, in the Shiloh Room of
the University Center on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville.
The speaker will be Stephen S. Hall,
a science writer for The New York
Times. The topic is “Alternate Universes: Different Ways of Thinking
about Science and Science Journalism.”
This is the 20th year for the lecture,
named for the late founders and publishers of The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge.
Judging days set
Staff members from Tennessee
Press Association newspapers will
judge the news contest of the Texas
Press Associaton this year. Judging
will take place April 19 in Nashville
and April 20 in Knoxville. Those willing to participate should contact TPA
at (865) 584-5761.
Tennessee Press Service
Advertising Placement Snapshot
ROP:
Network:
January 2012:
$251,789
$69,624
Year* as of Jan. 31:
$498,468
$117,861
*The Tennessee Press Service Inc. fiscal year runs Dec. 1 through Nov. 30.
FORESIGHT
2012
MARCH
2: TPA Contests Committee, 10
a.m., TPA headquarters
2: Read Across America Day
5-9: Newspaper in Education
Week
8-9: NNA We Believe in Newspapers Conference (formerly,
Government Affairs Conference), Hyatt Crystal City, Washington, D.C.
11-17: Sunshine Week
13: Hill Science Lecture, 8 p.m.,
Shiloh Room of University Center, UT, Knoxville
16: 14th Annual National Freedom
of Information Day Conference,
Knight Conference Center at the
Newseum, Washington, D.C.
25-30: Investigative Reporters
and Editors Computer-Assisted
Reporting (CAR) Boot Camp,
Columbia, Mo.
30-31: SPJ Region 12 Spring
Conference, Holiday Inn Crowne
Plaza, Lafayette, La.
APRIL
2-4: Newspaper Association
of America and the American
Society of Newspaper Editors,
Washington, D.C.
12-14: American Copy Editors Society, Sheraton Canal Street,
New Orleans, La.
12-14: Mid-Atlantic Newspaper
Advertising Marketing Executives, Sheraton Read House
Hotel, Chattanooga
13: Investigative Reporters and
Editors Better Watchdog Workshop, Chattanooga
19: Judging of Texas Press Association contests, Nashville
20: Judging of Texas Press Association contests, Knoxville
22-24: Southern Circulation Managers Association, Birmingham,
Ala.
MAY
4: TPA Advertising/Circulation
Conference, Gatlinburg
11-12: FOI Summit, Wisconsin
Freedom of Information Council
and National Freedom of
Information Coalition, Madison
Concourse Hotel and Governor’s
Club, Madison, Wis.
JUNE
14-16: TPA Summer Convention,
Chattanooga
16: TAPME awards event, Nashville
JULY
13: UT-TPA State Press Contests
awards luncheon, Nashville
(tentative)
SEPTEMBER
13: Associated Press Media Editors Annual Conference, Nashville (tentative)
Sept. 30-Oct. 2: News Industry
Summit (annual convention),
The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, Fla.
OCTOBER
4-7: NNA 126th Annual Convention, Embassy Suites Airport
Convention Center, Charleston,
S.C.
version
X.V
11-13: 15th Institute of Newspaper
Technology, UT-Knoxville
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
10
MARCH 2012
ENGRAVINGS
Coaches honor Lane for 50 years of covering high school sports
BY PAT KENNEY
Kingsport Times-News
“I really don’t deserve this,” said
Times-News sportswriter Bill Lane.
“But then, I’ve had a broken finger,
broken nose, a severe sinus condition
and a shoulder replacement, and I
didn’t deserve them either.”
Lane was responding to a plaque he
received Feb. 9 at the Big 8 Conference
basketball coaches meeting at Sullivan Central. The coaches were recognizing Lane for his 50 years of coverage of high school sports in Northeast
Tennessee.
“Every year we try to honor someone,” said Central Athletic Director
Brandon Krantz. “A lot of us wouldn’t
be where we are today without Bill
Lane. I remember when he covered me
at Sullivan North and ETSU, he made
me seem bigger than life.
“With Bill celebrating his 50th year
of covering sports it seemed like the
perfect time to honor and recognize
him.”
Central boys basketball coach Tony
Vaughn is another individual that
Lane covered as both a player and a
coach.
“Bill has pushed sports in Northeast
Tennessee,” said Vaughn. “He’s been
such an asset to everyone who plays,
coaches or is a fan.”
Looking back 50 years, Lane’s career could have taken a completely
different turn.
“I was just one year short of becoming an accountant,” Lane said. “But I
guess all sportswriters are just frustrated athletes.
“When I was in high school I kept up
with all the sports in the paper. When I
read the stories I kept thinking I could
write as well as those guys.”
And there was one other factor that
drove Lane toward sportswriting.
“I kept thinking that those box
scores would be a whole lot easier to
deal with than a balance sheet,” joked
Lane.
Answering an ad in the Kingsport
paper, Lane began his career as a general assignment reporter.
“I covered the police beat and the
courts,” said Lane. “I saw some pretty
hard stuff. When I started I was just 20
CMYK
Chamber recognizes Wilson
The Kingsport
Area
Chamber
of Commerce on
Feb. 3 recognized
Keith Wilson with
its Lifetime Member Award for outstanding service to
the community. He
Wilson
is publisher of the
Kingsport Times-News and president
of Northeast Tennessee Media Group
(NTMG). He is the 23rd recipient of
the honor.
A record crowd of more than 1,800
guests gathered at the Kingsport Area
Chamber of Commerce’s 65th annual
dinner to celebrate the city’s successes
of the past year.
Held at the MeadowView Marriott
Conference Resort and Convention
Center, the sold-out event is the largest
annual chamber dinner in the nation,
attended by folks from throughout the
region.
Wilson graduated from Indiana
University with a degree in political
science. He became the general manager of the IU student newspaper and
then worked for several newspapers
in Indiana and Kentucky. In 1986, he
joined the Kingsport Times-News as
advertising manager. He was named
publisher in 1993 and NTMG president in 2011.
In May 2010, Wilson was inducted
into the Junior Achievement of TriCities Business Hall of Fame, the
honor conferred for his contributions
to the region through their entrepreneurial and civic activities.
(Adapted, Kingsport Times-News,
Feb. 3, 2012)
TRACKS
Kevin Kile has been named publisher of the Roane County News, Kingston. During his six months as interim
general manager, he oversaw one
of the newspaper’s biggest projects
in nearly a decade, the change from
imagesetter to computer-to-plate technology and major building renovation
the project entailed.
Before joining the News as advertising director in 2007, Kile worked as an
ad director for Jones Media Inc.
Terri Likens, editor of Roane
County News since 2002, is assuming
responsibility for managing the editorial area of the Morgan County News.
Likens’ experience includes work at
a variety of community newspapers
in Kentucky and Arizona, as well as
work as a reporter and editor at daily
newspapers including the Wilmington
(N.C.) Morning Star and the Evansville (Ind.) Courier. She worked five
years as a reporter and supervisor
for the Associated Press in Chicago.
As a freelancer, Likens worked for the
national and international desks of
ABCNews.com; for Plateau Journal,
American Profile and High Country
News magazines; for the Arizona Republic and Indianapolis Star and for
the EarthNotes regional public radio
program.
Roane County News and Morgan
County News are owned by Landmark
Community Newspapers.
years old. I truly grew up at the newspaper.”
Once he got his chance to become a
sportswriter, Lane never looked back.
“I never really thought about doing
anything else,” said Lane. “It seemed
like swimming the English Channel.
Once you get halfway it’s either go
back or go on. I guess I’ve just kept on
going on.”
Several years ago, Lane began a column called “Memory Lane,” a look
back at athletes from the past.
“That has been one of the most en-
joyable things I’ve ever done,” said
Lane. “It’s fun to reminisce with former players. It’s nice to give them another moment in the sun.”
Trying to compare eras is difficult,
but Lane did have some insights.
“Our area has been blessed in baseball. In the decade of the ’80s, we had
11 state champions within 45 miles of
here.
“Basketball players today are so
much quicker but not necessarily
more talented than in the old days.”
Throughout his 50-year career, there
has been one constant.
“I can’t thank my wife, Rita, enough,”
said Lane. “My schedule is so crazy,
not many women would be willing to
be home alone that much.”
Over the years, thousands of area
athletes have benefited from Lane’s
coverage.
“I always try to remember how I felt
to see my name in the paper,” said
Lane. “So every chance I get to put a
high school player’s name in print, I
do it.”
(Feb. 9, 2012)
Face on book cover asks a question
From the cover of the book, two things startle
law has no substance. The entire range of public
me.
services is put to work on behalf of the criminal:
First, the face of Anna Politkovskaya, bordered
the lawyers, prosecutors, courts – and even, sad
aptly in black, is challenging, intelligent and, eerito relate, public opinion. There is precious little
ly, exactly the face of my sister, Susan Stasiowski
help for the victims, especially if they happen to
George.
be Chechens.”
Both women died too young, Politkovskaya vioThink of her daily life. In the morning paper, she
lently.
indicts her country’s entire superstructure (the
Second, the largest letters on the cover spell out
people with guns, ammo and the legal authority to
her name, which stretches nearly from side to WRITING
use them), then she drives to work, shops in groside. Odd: Why wouldn’t the title of the book be in
cery stores, walks to appointments. We do all of
COACH
the largest letters?
that without fear; she did it without protection.
Because, I’m guessing, the title is so frightenShe once went to France for the publication of a
ing, the publisher thought it would repel potential Jim Stasiowski book of her columns. Her account of the trip inbuyers rather than sell them: Is Journalism Worth
cluded this heartbreaking passage:
Dying For?
“The starting point of the journey which brought
It is a collection of columns written by Politkovskaya, me to the capital of France was Ingushetia and Chechnya:
shot to death in her apartment building on Oct. 7, 2006. She refugee camps; foothills; forests; soldiers desperate to go
was 48.
home; hungry people crying; the routine horror of life in
I was startled a third time when I learned on page 18 our homeland where everybody lives as best they can, just
the title’s question has nothing to do with Politkovskaya’s trying to survive; That is why ‘my’ Paris seemed such a
murder, which certainly occurred because of her columns sweet, heavenly treat. It was like the taste in your mouth
blaming Vladimir Putin and others in power for many of
after wormwood, when a single chocolate has the impact of
Russia’s woes and misdeeds.
kilograms of honey.”
The title comes from the headline on a Politkovskaya
Once in my reporting career, an irate city councilman
column describing “an attempt … on the life of 30-year-old vigorously shook my hand and grinned malevolently as he
Mikhail Komarov,” deputy editor of the newspaper she told me that when he read a column of mine, he wanted to
worked for, Novaya gazeta.
wring my neck.
Komarov, she wrote, was an investigative journalist who
But we were in his lavishly decorated home for his annual
“delv(ed) into the commercial activities of the local oli- Christmas party, attended by dozens of elected officials. I
garchs.” In Russia, “oligarchs” is code for “rich goons.”
was covering the party for the newspaper. I suspect his wife
A Sept. 13, 2011, editorial in The New York Times said 52 would have objected had he grabbed me by the throat.
journalists have been killed in Russia since 1992. Eighteen
Another time, I was in a restaurant, interviewing a conof the murders, including that of Politkovskaya, remain gressman, when a robber tried to hold up the place. The
unsolved.
petite female cashier refused to give him any money, so he –
I bought the book because of the title; it is not easy read- the robber, not the congressman – fled into the men’s room.
ing.
The cops arrived and, uh, flushed him out.
What made it most difficult was that I was ignorant of
I’ve been at gunman-barricaded-inside-house-holdingwhat has gone on in Chechnya the last two decades. In family-hostage scenes, but I crouched behind cop cars for
agonizing wars, Russia tried to subdue the disgruntled the duration of those. They ended without gunfire or injupopulace of Chechnya, which the Kremlin looks upon as ries.
an irritant.
Is journalism worth dying for?
Politkovskaya was a second Kremlin irritant. Her colThat’s another way of saying: “Jim Stasiowski, if you
umns bravely and constantly exposed the Russians’ gov- were in the same situation as Anna Politkovskaya, would
ernment-sponsored brutality, duplicity and inhumanity.
you expose moral corruption as she did?”
Many incidents in the book are gruesome, unfathomable
I do not know. But the face on the book’s cover asks me
to those of us who cover the normal, erratic, mostly benign that every day.
lurching of city councils, school boards, legislatures and
THE FINAL WORD: At the end of a serious column, I
politics.
needed fun. I nominate “eleemosynary” as the weirdestPolitkovskaya lived with death threats. She negotiated looking word in the English language.
with volatile, desperate hostage-takers. She survived what
The dictionary says it is an “old-fashioned” adjective
probably was a deliberate poisoning.
meaning charitable.
Our most frequent risk is a nasty letter to the editor.
“There is something fundamentally wrong in Russia,” JIM STASIOWSKI, the writing coach for The Dolan Co., welshe wrote. “Life has been turned upside-down and the comes your questions or comments. Call him at (775) 354-2872
or write to 2499 Ivory Ann Drive, Sparks, Nev. 89436.
The Tennessee Press
MARCH 2012
9
There’s no room for politics in public notice debate
It was only a matter of time before political
rhetoric entered the ongoing debate over whether public notices should remain in newspapers
or go online to government websites.
When you read about the debate going on in
state legislatures from Arizona to Virginia and
New Jersey to Florida, there is a political undercurrent. In some places it is fueled by politicallyconservative bloggers and private website operators. There’s a common thread of talking points
from one state to another.
Last year, when state senators brought bills to
take notices out of Tennessee newspapers completely and put them on websites operated by local governments in Knox and Hamilton counties,
the primary argument was that newspaper readership was on the decline and Internet usage
was on the rise. There was no mention of which
medium reaches the most readers, citizens and
taxpayers.
Those bills have failed to go anywhere, so far,
because members of key legislative committees
quickly realized that large segments of the population in Tennessee are not connected to the Internet because they don’t own a computer, don’t
have broadband access or are not comfortable on
the Web.
How does government taking over a
This year, Sen. Mike Bell, a freshman
service provided for decades by the priRepublican from Riceville, in southeastvate sector add up to “an element of free
ern Tennessee, brought legislation to
market competition?”
move notice of sunset public hearings
Sen. Bell told the reporter newspapers
from newspapers to websites run by the
can charge whatever they want to run
state comptroller and the General Asthe notices. Tennessee Code Annotated
sembly. The purpose of such notice is to
8-21-1301 actually limits what a newspaassess the performance of state departper can charge: “not more than its reguments and agencies.
lar classified advertising rate.”
PUBLIC
His basic argument was that he has
In Arizona, the co-editor of the Intelnever seen anyone at a public hearing POLICY
lectual Conservative attacked “three
who attended because they read a notice
Republican legislators who hold themin a newspaper. According to a news re- OUTLOOK selves out as conservatives” because
port in The Daily Post-Athenian, Athens,
they “went against the position of conSen. Bell has asked the comptroller’s of- Frank Gibson servative groups and voted down a bill
fice to verify his claim.
in committee that would have eliminated the
He told the Athens reporter that newspapers newspaper monopoly.”
have a monopoly on publishing public notices.
Complaining because Web-only publications
His legislation “may bring an element of free do not get to carry public notices, she described
market competition into the public notice busi- public notices as “corporate welfare” and “crony
ness,” Bell was quoted as saying. He said he capitalism.”
would consider adding an amendment to his bill
She wrote that the fact that the three Republithat would welcome newspapers to publish the can lawmakers in Arizona voted against the bill
notices for free.
to move notices to the Internet “makes no sense,
Personally, I found his comments confusing. considering it would have the accompanying
benefit of speeding up the demise of the liberal
news media that consistently attacks Republicans.”
The political current also surfaced in a recent
piece by newspaper industry analyst Rick Edmonds at the Florida-based Poynter Institute.
Noting that newspapers had been able to fight
off attempts to move public notice over the last
few years, Edmonds said: “But, the tide could
be shifting. In Virginia, (eight) bills have been
introduced by Republicans. The governor is Republican and both houses of the legislature have
Republican majorities.
“Having a cordial relationship with print media may be a low priority for that state’s political
establishment or in Arizona, where a deregulation bill was introduced” in early February.
Public notice should not be a political issue. It
should be about getting information to the greatest number of readers, citizens and taxpayers as
possible and in the most efficient way.
FRANK GIBSON is TPA’s public policy director.
One can reach him at [email protected] or (615)
202-2685.
TRACKS
Anderson to retire after 70 years at Chattanooga Times Free Press
BY JOHN VASS
Business editor
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Lee S. Anderson, associate publisher
and editor of the Chattanooga Free
Press opinion page, will retire on April
18 after 70 years with the Chattanooga
Times Free Press.
The 86-year-old Anderson called his
career “fortunate, delightful, enjoyable and busy. I wouldn’t change a
thing.”
His career started in the era of manual typewriters and newsboys yelling
“Extra!” on the corner and is coming
to a close in the days of high-tech computers and a 24/7 news cycle on the
Internet.
“What has not changed, however, is
the newspaper’s vital role in its community – and Lee never lost sight of
that critical mission,” observed Edward VanHorn, executive director of
the Southern Newspaper Publishers
Association, a trade group that was
founded in 1903 and formerly based in
Chattanooga that since has moved to
Atlanta.
Walter E. Hussman Jr., publisher
and chairman of the Times Free
Press, said Anderson’s dedication, loyalty, work ethic and passion for newspapers have been an inspiration.
“Lee is one of a kind, a unique person,” he said.
Jason Taylor, president and general
manager of the Times Free Press,
called Anderson’s career “nothing
short of legendary.”
“Lee’s dedication and passion toward this newspaper and Chattanooga
States, opening
the way for him to
work at the paper
when he wasn’t in
school.
Anderson graduated from Chattanooga
High
School in 1943
and enrolled in
the
University
of Chattanooga.
He volunteered
for the Air Force
aviation cadet program at age 17 and
served 21 months
on active duty.
He returned to
the newspaper in
late 1945, coming
in at 6 a.m. before
heading to the University of ChattaLee Anderson, who’s worked at the Chattanooga nooga, where he
Times Free Press since age 16, is retiring.
attended classes
until 9:30 p.m. He
are an inspiration to so many,” he said. graduated in three years in 1948.
At the Chattanooga News-Free Press,
“We look forward to the weeks ahead
as we help lead the community in cel- Anderson tackled a wide range of assignments before being named associebrating Lee’s storied career.”
At age 16, Anderson was hired at the ate editor in 1948, then editor in 1958.
Chattanooga News-Free Press on April In 1990 he added the title of publisher
to his role as editor.
18, 1942, by then-Editor W.G. Foster.
Anderson’s leadership at the News“They surprised me and hired me,”
Anderson recalled. “I said, ‘When do Free Press continued after the paper’s
you want me to come to work?’ They acquisition in 1998 by WEHCO Media,
the Little Rock, Ark.-based company
said, ‘Immediately.’”
He has noted many times that, with headed by Hussman that also owns
so many American men being drafted the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. WEfor service in World War II, there HCO also subsequently bought The
were few available for such jobs in the Chattanooga Times.
On Jan. 5, 1999, WEHCO merged the
two Chattanooga newspapers into one
publication, now known as the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
The Times Free Press has continued
the tradition of offering two editorial perspectives by publishing two
opinion pages each day. Anderson has
headed the Free Press editorial page.
The separate editorial pages have
been a hallmark of the merged paper,
Hussman said.
“That’s been a great plus for Chattanooga,” he said, adding that the paper
plans to continue its commitment to
provide both conservative and liberal
perspectives.
During his newspaper career, Anderson also has had other business
interests, including as co-owner of a
tourist attraction known as the Confederama, which offered visitors a
presentation of the Civil War battles
in the Chattanooga area.
He also has been a leader in community endeavors, serving as chairman
of the United Way campaign, president of the Chattanooga Convention
and Visitors Bureau and chairman
of the local chapter of the American Red Cross. He also has been an
active Rotarian, serving as president of the Chattanooga Downtown
Rotary Club.
His leadership has continued at
First Presbyterian Church, where
for years he led a large Sunday
school class and served as an elder.
Anderson’s editorials over the
years have received key awards
for their conservative philosophy,
including a number of Freedoms
Foundation awards.
In 1950, Anderson married Elizabeth Williams (Betsy) McDonald, a
daughter of Chattanooga News-Free
Press founder and publisher Roy
McDonald.
The Andersons have two daughters, Corrine Elizabeth Adams and
Mary Stewart Anderson, both of
Atlanta, and they have two grandchildren.
(Feb. 7, 2012)
Have questions about the Sunshine Law, Open
Records Law or other legal matters of concern to
newspapers?
Member newspapers can call
Richard L. (Rick) Hollow on the
TPA LEGAL HOTLINE
at (865) 769-1715
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
4
The Tennessee Press
?
‘A legend died’
Did you know...
79% of community
newspaper readers
read all or most of
their paper?
NNA Readership Study 2010
OBITUARIES
FROM PAGE 5
tic Beach, Fla.; four grandchildren
and two great-grandchildren; and a
brother, the Rev. David Miller of Black
Mountain, N.C.
(Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough,
Jan. 10, 2012)
Barney Sellers
CMYK
CA photographer
Barney Sellers, a
photographer for
The
Commercial
Appeal, Memphis,
for 36 years, died
Jan. 2 at his home
in Southaven, Miss.
He was 85.
He and his wife,
Sellers
Betty Sue, celebrated their 64th wedding
anniversary the day before his death.
Sellers was a native of Walnut Ridge,
Ark. He graduated from Arkansas
State University and became The Commercial Appeal’s first photographer
with a journalism degree. He also
graduated from the old Woodward
School of Photography in Memphis.
He retired in 1988.
Beginning in 1977, he presented a
heavily-attended one-man show at
Black Rock, Ark., where he once attended school. He prepared “A Video
Postcard,” a 33-minute tape of 200 colorful scenes. He was known in later
years for shooting and displaying
“Barney’s Barns...and Rural Scenes.”
He was a Navy veteran.
Besides his wife, Sellers leaves two
sons, Stanley Sellers of Nixa, Mo. and
Richard Sellers of Burke, Va., and a
daughter, Sue S. McIntyre.
MTSU offers free
minicourse on CAR
Middle Tennessee State University
is offering a free online computerassisted reporting minicourse created
by School of Journalism professor Dr.
Ken Blake.
It uses YouTube-hosted videos and
downloadable practice datasets to show
how journalists can use Excel, Access,
Google Fusion Tables and Excel’s Data
Analysis ToolPak to quickly find news
in databases they can download from
the Internet or create themselves. For
more information, see http://mtweb.
mtsu.edu/kblake/CAR.htm.
MARCH 2012
By his family’s conservative estimate, the number of photographs
Barney Sellers took in his 36-year
career at The Commercial Appeal and
later shooting old Mid-South barns
was “thousands and thousands and
thousands.”
His wide-ranging pictures included
a young Elvis Presley playing touch
football, civil rights marches, screaming football coaches, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital founder Danny Thomas with his visiting celebrity
friends and, often, shots that reflected
the trademark Sellers humor.
“We have negatives on top of negatives on top of negatives,” said his
daughter, Susie Sellers McIntyre.
“You couldn’t even imagine. He didn’t
like to throw anything away. He got
okay with the digital age for a while,
and then he just decided he liked film
much better. He was used to it.”
Sellers, who won awards for news
photography and legions of admirers for his images of barns and rural
scenes, died early Jan. 2 at his home
in Southaven, Miss. after an illness.
He was 85.
A native of Walnut Ridge, Ark., Sellers was a Navy veteran and a graduate of Arkansas State University, the
newspaper’s first photographer with a
journalism degree who built his portfolio with a Speed Graphic camera.
“At the time I started here, just about
every photographer in the USA wanted to work for Life magazine,” Sellers
said when he retired in 1988, “but I
wanted to stay here because this is my
home region.”
In 1957, Sellers shot a photograph
for the newspaper at a clothing store
showing a man shaking hands with
an arm coming out of a coat jacket
hanging on a rack. The comical picture caught the eye of editors at Life
magazine, which later gave it the full-
page treatment.
Colleagues said Sellers was a go-to
person for the newspaper’s daily diet
of quality photos.
“He was good at just about any phase
of photography,” said former photo
editor Bob Williams, who joined The
Commercial Appeal in 1949, three years
before Sellers. “He was an institution
at the paper. I depended a lot on Barney B. (His middle name was Bryan.) I
loved him like a brother.”
Sellers’ post-newspaper career included teaching continuing education
classes in photography and pursuing his passion of photographing old
barns and rural landscapes.
For years his “Barney’s Barns”
and rural-scene photographs drew
fans and customers to photo exhibits
around the Mid-South.
“He probably knew every barn and
cow and dog in Arkansas and West
Tennessee,” said recently retired photographer Dave Darnell, who began
learning from Sellers as an intern in
1966. “I got to work with all the really
great photographers and he was the
best. He was known for barns, but
Barney could shoot anything. I can’t
count the times when it would be (near
deadline) and somebody would say we
need a picture and Barney would come
back 30 minutes later with a page-one
picture.”
He said Sellers’ people skills rivaled
his considerable skills with a camera.
“Barney always had something funny to say and he’d stop and talk to anybody,” Darnell added. “He put people
at ease. He was just unassuming and
people trusted him. He was a special
person. I’ll tell you, a legend died.”
Sellers died one day after he and his
wife, Betty Sue, observed their 64th
wedding anniversary.
He also leaves two sons, Stanley Sellers of Nixa, Mo., and Richard Sellers
of Burke, Va.
(Jan. 3, 2012)
A life of fulfillment: John Fox lived such a life
John Fox was a good man, a man
who loved his community, loved his
country and wanted always to do good
by both. His death last weekend at
the age of 93 brought back memories
among many who recalled Fox’s service to Sevier County and his efforts
to make positive change.
We at The Mountain Press are understandably proud of Fox’s years as
a reporter and later a columnist. Well
into his 80s and almost until his 90s
he kept writing the column until he
simply couldn’t do it any more. But he
was more than just a newspaperman.
He was a Sevier County treasure.
A man whose roots run back to
some of the first settlers in Sevier
County — he worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park, Fox
attended Sevier County High School
and played on the 1934 football squad
that went undefeated.
As an adult he worked on an isotopeseparating machine at the Y-12 Plant
in Oak Ridge during World War II
and was director of the Boys Club
of Elizabethton. He worked in public
relations at the American Museum of
Science and Energy, Tennessee Tech
and Carson-Newman College.
He eventually returned to Sevier
County and became manager of Gold
Rush Junction in Pigeon Forge, which
evolved into Silver Dollar City and
then Dollywood. After that, he became
a reporter and later a regular columnist at The Mountain Press.
Former Sevierville Mayor Gary
Wade, now a Tennessee Supreme
Court justice, credits Fox and his wife,
Ruby, who was director of the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce, with
starting the process that led to Walters
State Community College coming to
Sevierville. They asked Wade to meet
Walters State President Jack Campbell
because they believed Sevier County
residents needed a local college.
“I can say without reservation that
Walters State Community College
would not be in Sevier County without
John and Ruby deciding we needed a
community college,” Wade said. High
praise indeed for the couple.
After his days as a reporter ended,
Fox wrote “Going My Way,” a popular column and a weekly fixture in
The Mountain Press. He would bring
TCOG re-elects Pierce president; Ott new treasurer
The Tennessee
Coalition for Open
Government elected officers and reelected some board
members when it
met Feb. 8 at the
DoubleTree Hotel
in Nashville.
It was the first
Pierce
meeting for Kent
Flanagan as the new executive director. He served on the board and was
treasurer at the time of his hiring.
Doug Pierce, an attorney with King
& Ballow and representing the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters
(TAB), was re-elected president. Lucian Pera was re-elected vice president and Dorothy Bowles, secretary.
Pera
Bowles
Marian Ott was elected treasurer.
Re-elected to the board were the following: Doug Pierce, TAB; Ron Fryar,
representing the Tennessee Press
Association (TPA); Adam Yeomans,
Associated Press; Gregg K. Jones, at
large; Dorothy Bowles, East Tennessee
Society of Professional Journalists;
Robb Harvey, media law; Bill Phillips,
citizen; Elenora E.
Edwards, at large;
and Whit Adamson, TAB.
Continuing
to
serve are these
members, whose
terms will expire in
2013: Tom Griscom,
at large; Jack McElOtt
roy, metro editor;
Chris Peck, metro editor; Lucian Pera,
media law; John Stern, citizen; Marian Ott, League of Women Voters; Bill
Shory, television news.
Continuing to serve are these members, whose terms will expire in 2014:
Dick Williams, Common Cause, and
Chris Fletcher, Tennessee Associated
Press Managing Editors.
5
OBITUARIES
Photographer Barney Sellers leaves legacy of images
BY LAWRENCE BUSER
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis
The Tennessee Press
MARCH 2012
handwritten copies of his columns
to the paper. He became a regular at
The Dawg House in Reams Drug Store,
where he and friends would settle the
issues of the day and toss around a
juicy tidbit of gossip now and then.
When we lose some of the good ones,
the people who helped make Sevier
County a good place to live and work,
we mourn their passing but celebrate
what they did. That’s the case with
John Fox. He lived a long, productive
life and he lived it well. That’s really
about all you can ask of a person.
(The Mountain Press, Feb. 9, 2012)
TRACKS
Ward Phillips has been named publisher/general manager of The NewsDemocrat and Shopper’s Guide in
Waverly. He has worked for the newspaper since 1980. He succeeds Bill Ridings, who recently retired.
Alexander Gould is a new regional
general manager for Heartland Publications, responsible for The Claiborne
Progress, Tazewell; The Middlesboro
(Ky.) Daily News and the Harlan (Ky.)
Daily Enterprise.
Danny Peppers is the new advertising manager for The Paris PostIntelligencer. Previously he was an
advertising representative with The
Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville.
Mitchell Petty has joined the staff
of the Shelbyville Times-Gazette. He
will serve as a news clerk and general
assignment reporter. Petty is a recent
MTSU graduate.
John Stamm, former executive
news editor, has been named metro
editor for The Commercial Appeal,
Memphis.
John N. G. Fox Jr.
Was Press reporter
John Nelson Greer Fox Jr., formerly
with The Mountain Press, Sevierville, died Feb. 4 in Pigeon Forge. The
Gatlinburg resident was 93.
Born April 28, 1918 in Sevierville,
Fox was the son of John Nelson Greer
Fox Sr. and Hazel Bud Delius Fox. Ancestors of this line of the Fox family
were among the first settlers in Sevier
County, laying claim to parts of the
Fair Garden area.
Fox was a spinner of yarns, a treasure trove of East Tennessee and
Sevier County lore. Colorful anecdotes
of his childhood on Cedar St. took the
listener back to a happy, simple way of
life. He attended school in Sevierville
and played on the undefeated 1934
Sevier County High School football
team. His memory was sharp and he
was able to recount in detail his days
working with a Civilian Conservation
Corps gang in the Little River area of
the Smoky Mountains National Park
and operating an isotope-separating
machine at Oak Ridge’s Y-2 plant during World War II.
As a young man, Fox left Sevier
County for Knoxville, where he
worked at Standard Knitting Mill and
volunteered as a basketball referee for
the Knoxville Recreation Department.
His career aspirations took him in
many directions. He served as director of the Elizabethton Boys Club. He
found his niche in public relations and
worked in that field at the American
Museum of Science and Energy, Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, CarsonNewman College and Tennessee Technological University. Fox returned to
his Sevier County roots when he was
hired as manager of Goldrush Junction, which eventually became Dollywood. In his later years, he was a
reporter for The Mountain Press and
authored the column “Going My Way”
well into his 80s.
His life-long love, wife, Ruby Ola Fox,
died May 10, 2001. The dynamic pair
loved Sevier County and the Smoky
Mountains National Park and promoted the beauty, recreation, history and
activities of the area.
Fox leaves a son, David Fox of Gatlinburg; a daughter, Patricia Ann Adams
of Noblesville, Ind.; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
(The Mountain Press,
Feb. 7, 2012)
Jim Hargrove
Wrote about history
Local historian Jimmy Hargrove,
who wrote for The Herald-Chronicle,
Winchester, died Jan. 26. He was a wellknown, life-long citizen of Franklin
County and the author of two books
of photos and historical factors about
that area.
Hargrove enjoyed writing about
local history and sharing what he
learned with Herald-Chronicle read-
ers. He was active in historical events
and spoke to various clubs and at
meetings.
Tommy Hawkins
Lewisburg printer
BY CLINT CONFEHR
Senior staff writer
Marshall County Tribune, Lewisburg
Lewisburg businessman Thomas
Hale (Tommy) Hawkins III is dead. He
was 68.
Hawkins was the patriarch of Lewisburg Printing, which he turned over
to his three children several years
ago. He was publisher of the Lewisburg Tribune and the Marshall County Gazette, which he sold in 2005. And
he was a founder of First Commerce
Bank where he remained active until
his passing Jan. 26.
He is remembered as a “good father,
grandfather and husband,” according
to a statement from the family. “He
will be missed beyond words.”
Hawkins died while on vacation in
Aruba. Reportedly, the cause was a
heart attack.
Hawkins leaves his wife of more
than 45 years, Patricia; a daughter,
Re Kelso; and two sons, Hale and Tim
Hawkins. His Lewisburg Printing associates considered him family, and
he, them.
Born Dec. 28, 1943, Hawkins was the
son of Thomas Hale Hawkins Jr. of
Lewisburg and the former Marie McGlasson of Shelbyville.
Hawkins made his home on Collins
Hollow Rd.
Bill Marsh, chairman, president and
chief executive officer of First Commerce, remembers a statement from
his friend that substantiates a conversation recalled by Terry Wallace, the
county executive and mayor here for
16 years, who quoted Hawkins to illustrate the nature of the man that was
Tommy Hawkins.
“Tommy, Dean Delk and I always
went to the TSSAA tournament in
Murfreesboro,” Wallace said. “The
last year we were over there, we were
eating at a restaurant at 8 a.m., just
sitting around joking. Somebody had
died, or something had gone wrong. I
don’t know how we got on the subject,
but he just up and said, ‘We’ll, I’ll tell
you what, if I do pass before you, you
just tell everybody that Tommy Hawkins had a good life. I’ve enjoyed my
life.’
“That’s verbatim, exactly what he
said,” Wallace said of Hawkins, whom
he called a best friend.
Marsh remembers substantially the
same thing.
“’I will have lived a fine life to the
fullest,’” is what Marsh heard Hawkins say when he was with him under
different circumstances.
“We’re stunned about our friend
Tommy,” Marsh said. “He was nice to
everyone. He took care of all the employees there” at the businesses he
owned.
“When someone
was hurt or down
and out on their
luck with medical
issues or something, Tommy was
always the first one
there,” Marsh said.
“He’d take care of
Hawkins
them straight out
of his pocket. I’ve
seen him fork it out of his pocket if
they needed help.”
Hawkins was instrumental in the
organization of First Commerce Bank
and remained an active member of
the board of directors, serving on the
executive committee and the human
resources committee.
“He was always supportive of our
bank management team,” Marsh said.
“He was the most gracious person I’ve
ever known. I’ll miss him. We’re all
saddened.
“He’s done some farming, but they
were mainly in the printing and the
newspaper publishing business,”
Marsh said. “His father, Thomas Hale,
and his father’s brother, Hawk Hawkins, owned the papers and the printing
business.”
Hawkins closed his sale of the Tribune and the Gazette on Sept. 30, 2005
to Rust Communications. Hugh Jones,
publisher of the succeeding paper, the
Marshall County Tribune, and its sister newspaper, the Shelbyville TimesGazette, recalls the purchase arrangements went smoothly.
Hawkins was “always easy to get
along with,” Jones recalled of the
business relationship that culminated with the sale that was announced
with acknowledgement of Hawkins’
“strong home town loyalty. He had
a good sense of humor mixed with a
smart head for business.
“I knew of his quality commercial
printing business from my time in
commercial printing,” Jones said.
“He’s remembered as a strong family
man. His passing is a great loss for the
whole family, obviously.”
County Commissioner Dean Delk,
principal of Chapel Hill Elementary
School, said his close friend “supported county-wide athletics from
preschoolers all the way through high
school. He followed athletics very
closely and he was a die-hard UT supporter, and he didn’t mind showing
it.”
Wallace concurred.
“I’m a Vanderbilt fan and he’s a UT
fan,” Wallace said. “We used to have
a little wager. He wouldn’t bet with
me this year. After this last game, I
started to call him, but I knew he was
in Aruba.”
Lewisburg Printing staff grieved
Thursday morning.
“Tommy always had a smile on his
face when he came in,” Lewisburg
Printing Operations Director Brian
Tankersley said. “He was always asking how everyone was doing. He’s family. We’re all family here, so we’re in a
state of shock.”
Hawkins transferred ownership
and operational control of Lewisburg
Printing to his three children.
While he was technically retired,
“Tommy was here quite a bit. It’s a loss
you can’t quite express in words.”
Hawkins’ annual vacation was in
Aruba.
“That’s why it’s so unexpected,”
Tankersley said. “We’re here tending
the business, so the family can have
their time.”
Still, “Tommy was a father figure to
a lot of the people here,” Tankersley
said.
Lewisburg Printing Personnel Director Cathy Talley was Hawkins’ personal secretary.
“I think we’re in a state of shock,”
Talley said. “He’s such a great guy.
“I’ve worked for the company for 35
years in April and for 30 of those I was
his personal secretary and the main
part of any of our conversations re-
volved around our children. He was so
very proud of his kids and grandkids.
“I don’t know as if I’ve ever known
anyone who loved life as much as he
did.”
County Mayor Joe Boyd Liggett
said, “Tommy was a very congenial
type person. I never saw him when he
didn’t have a smile on his face. He had
a very positive attitude.”
Hawkins’ friend Delk said he was “a
very fair man who saw good in everybody. His heart was a big as he was. He
was a very giving person. He was fun
to be around because he was always
up-beat.”
Delk’s son, David, said Hawkins
“helped me out professionally and on
a friendship level. My family and I
consider him a great man and a great
friend. He will be missed by everyone.”
(Jan. 26, 2012)
H. Don Miller
Former manager
H. Don Miller, former manager of
the Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough,
died Jan. 6 in Johnson City. He was 87.
Born in Johnson City, Miller was the
son of the late Earl Matson and Carrie Horton Carr Miller. In addition to
them, he was predeceased by three
brothers and three sisters.
He retired after serving several years
as manager of the Herald & Tribune.
He was a graduate of Milligan College
and a member of First Presbyterian
Church, where he served as a deacon.
He was a Navy veteran, having served
on Guam in the Pacific Theatre of
World War II.
Miller was an avid golfer and a former TSSAA basketball official.
He leaves two sons, Mat Miller
and Gary Miller of Jonesborough;
a daughter, Donna Bagby of AtlanSEE OBITUARIES, PAGE 8
REWRITES FROM THE TENNESSEE PRESS
MARCH 1962
TPA joined a battle against a postal
rate bill recently passed by the U.S.
House of Representatives. John M.
Jones Sr. served as chairman of a special committee working on the matter.
The bill was to raise the second class
postal rate by one cent per copy of a
newspaper mailed beyond the county
of publication.
A contest for sports writing was
added to the categories in the UT-TPA
competition.
Franklin Yates, Shelbyville Time-Gazette, was named chairman of the 1963
TPA Press Institute.
Ben Hale Golden, publisher of The
Chattanooga Times, was named by the
Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce
to head a special industrial development program.
UT and TPA were among 23 organizations cooperating with The Newspaper Fund to hold summer workshops
for high school journalism teachers
and advisers.
J.Z. (Zollie) Howard, managing editor of the Memphis Press-Scimitar,
was named president of the Tennessee
Association of the Associated Press.
A former Kentucky newspaper editor and sheriff was the new publisher of the Upper Cumberland Times,
Jamestown. Vernon McKinney sold
the paper to T.C. Sizemore.
MARCH 1987
Nancy Petrey, co-publisher of The
Newport Plain Talk, was appointed
chairman of the 1988 TPA Press Institute.
TPA advertising sales seminars were
to be held in April and May at Middle
Tennessee State University, East Tennessee State University and Memphis
State University.
The Nashville Banner won the 1987
Ida B. Wells Award, an honor established by Memphis State University to
recognize distinguished service in the
field of race relations.
“The Public Stake in Freedom of Information” was the topic of the Sixth
Annual Freedom of Information Congress March 5 at Memphis State University.
Patricia Zechman became managing
editor of the Southern Standard, McMinnville, the first woman in that job
in 100-plus years of publication.
Bill Kovach, editor of the Atlanta
Constitution/Journal, spoke at the
TPA Winter Convention. Tom T. Hall
told stories and sang ballads at a
luncheon. Julia Pulliam, Mrs. X, surprised Helena Jones with a $50 door
prize.
U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper told Tennessee
news executives that the publishing
industry must lower the number of illiterate people in the state.
CMYK
8
MARCH 2012
Tennessee Schmaltz mixes klezmer wine with a little moonshine
EDITOR’S NOTE: Rob Heller, a
member of Schmaltz, teaches
journalism at the UTK School of
Journalism and Electronic Media.
He often leads sessions on photography and related technology
at TPA conventions and the TPS Institute of Newspaper Technology.
CMYK
BY WAYNE BLEDSOE
knoxville.com
After playing Bonnaroo in 2008, being featured in a Turner South TV
promo and performing for thousands
before a Nickel Creek Sundown in the
City concert, Tennessee Schmaltz has
been a little quiet for a while.
“This is our comeback!” says
Schmaltz leader Rob Heller with a
laugh.
The group did perform at the Rossini Festival (in 2011), but, overall, the
band, now celebrating its 16th year,
has been less active than in the past.
“We lost our women,” says Heller.
“Our vocalist Carolyn Silver-Alford
left town and took a job up in Maryland. Our fiddler, Lucie Carlson, got
married and had a baby — so no bad
reasons, all good ones, but now we’re
the men of Tennessee Schmaltz.”
That leaves Heller on clarinet and,
sometimes, washtub bass, Dan Shapira on accordion, Manny Herz on keyboard and Larry Hoffman on clarinet.
Tennessee Schmaltz began in mid1995 when flutist Judy Megibow visited a klezmer music camp in New York
Tennessee Schmaltz recently marked its 16th birthday. Members are,
from left, Rob Heller, Dan Shapira, Manny Herz and Larry Hoffman.
and returned to Tennessee with a idea
to start her own klezmer group. She
recruited Heller, Herz, Shapira and
Shapira’s violinist daughter Efrat.
The group recorded the album “Old
Country Klezmer” in 2000 and began
gaining a reputation for a fun combi-
nation of traditional klezmer and surprising takes on Appalachian favorites, including the “Orange Blossom
Special.” The band’s second album,
“Pachelbel’s Canon and Other Jewish
Hits,” was released in 2006.
The lineup has changed somewhat
through the years. Major changes include the departure of Megibow, who
moved to Boulder, Colo. in 2005, and
the addition of Hoffman, who joined
after his own Oak Ridge Klezmer Band
disbanded.
Heller says the new configuration
has resulted in some challenges. For
example, all of the men are reluctant
vocalists.
“Carolyn was a good vocalist, but
also a good entertainer. She really
got the crowd going and we’re kind
of missing that. Wait, I don’t want to
sound too negative. I am also a fantastic entertainer as well and I’m stepping right into the role!”
Humor is always a big part of the
band’s charm, and Heller is quick
with puns and quips. And, the band
often surprises audiences with unexpected songs such as a version of the
“St. Louis Blues” (renamed “St. Louis
Jews”), which melds into klezmer
takes on “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
and “Down By the Riverside.”
The group has been working up a
combination of an Elvis Presley hit
with a Yiddish song.
The band members have also expe-
rienced some health problems in the
past year and a half.
“Three of us, the three younger of
us, all had heart issues over the past
year and a half. We’re all doing fine
now,” says Heller, noting it’s Herz, the
oldest member of the group, who is the
healthiest.
Heller’s own surgery meant that
he’s had to cut back on his washtubbass playing. While some may look on
washtub bass as a joke, Heller, like true
old-time music enthusiasts, recognizes
that it’s a legitimate instrument.
“And, physically, it’s actually pretty
demanding,” says Heller.
He’s only recently been able to start
playing it again.
For all the players, the group remains a side career, but Heller, a professor in the University of Tennessee
School of Journalism and Electronic
Media, doesn’t mind using Tennessee
Schmaltz’s achievements to his professorial advantage:
“You realize that for the rest of my
teaching career I will introduce myself as ‘The only teacher you may have
here that’s played Bonnaroo.”
(Dec. 1, 2011)
Contests deadline day, Feb. 16
The Tennessee Press
MARCH 2012
WHAT’S BEING DONE
Good cause persuades crime writer to glide onto dance floor
BY JAMIE SATTERFIELD
News Sentinel, Knoxville
I’ve been threatened, bullied,
smacked around and even shot at, but
I had never faced the sheer terror that
is the dance floor.
How exactly had I found myself,
a hard-core crime writer, labeled a
“star” and competing with the likes
of television personalities with perfect hair and teeth, a former Knoxville
first lady, a hipster local DJ, a singer
with actual dance training under her
belt and fitness baddie Missy Kane?
Blame News Sentinel entertainment
writer and longtime pal Terry Morrow, who was the first from our newspaper to compete in the Dancing with
the Knoxville Stars event that raises
money for the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and is a take-off on
the hit television show “Dancing With
the Stars.”
For months, he badgered me. “Don’t
you love children?” he would ask.
“Why do you hate the children?”
In a smackdown, I could take Morrow in a heartbeat. He’s even skinnier
than me and fights like a girl. But the
truth is, I have a soft spot for Children’s Hospital, and he went for it.
It was roughly 18 years ago when
my daughter suffered a fever seizure.
I acted on instinct, grabbing the phone
to call 911 while rushing her into the
bathroom to try to cool her burning
body. When her bowels loosed on me,
I thought she was going to die. When
the ambulance arrived, the paramedic
WORTH REPEATING
BY SAM VENABLE
Columnist, News Sentinel, Knoxville
-------Advertising--------
Assure their survival by making
digital copies now.
With ArchiveInABox from
SmallTownPapers, you simply pack
your bound volume and historic
archive materials into our shipping
box and we do all the rest. For one
low price, you own the scans and
control how your archive is accessed.
Best of all, there is no additional cost
to host your online archive.
SAUL YOUNG | NEWS SENTINEL
Knoxville News Sentinel court reporter Jamie Satterfield rehearses her
dance routine with Academy Ballroom dance instructor Al Henriquez on
Feb. 1. Satterfield is a participant in Dancing with the Knoxville Stars, a
charity event to raise funds for Children’s Hospital.
One small effort to bring change
Your bound volume archives are
unique and priceless.
As the steward of your community’s
published history, you know the value
of your printed newspaper archive –
chronicled stories of the people,
places and events recorded in real
time over decades or even centuries!
David Popiel, publisher of The Newport Plain Talk, is ready to hand over the newspaper’s
entries in the UT-TPA State Press Contests. He has been handling preparation of the enJana Thomasson, publisher of The Mountain Press, Sevi- tries since 1973.
erville, is leaving as Jim Zachary, editor of Grainger ToPHOTOS BY ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
day, Bean Station, is coming in with entries.
Hundreds of satisfied publishers
in North America.
“We made a conscious decision that it
was time to begin digitization, due to
the accessibility and condition of our
bound archives. The best course of
action is the scanning program
offered by SmallTownPapers. It
works. It is low cost, and the
digitization is accomplished over
time, so we spread out, what little
expense there is, over a long period.”
--Tom Mullen, newspaperman
See Tom's archive website here:
http://smc.stparchive.com.
For more information, please visit
www.ArchiveInABox.com.
Terri Likens, editor of Roane County News, Kingston, and chairman of the Contests Committee, hands
over entries to Angelique Dunn, TPA administrative assistant.
Marcus Fitzsimmons, The Daily Times,
Maryville, delivers a box full of entries.
7
I had lunch with
my retired News
Sentinel colleague
Bobby Wilson the
other day. As happens when graybeards get together,
Bobby and I quickly lapsed into a sesVenable
sion of “remember
when.”
We repeated oft-told tales about the
nutty, creative characters we’d worked
with through the years, noting that
their nuttiness and creativity often
were proportional to their intake of
alcohol. Usually while on the job.
This time we also delved into memories of newsroom dogma.
Then (as now), many ironclad rules
were slow to die, even if ridiculous
and outdated.
One of these was racial identification in news stories — and I can’t
think of a better time to share it than
the observance of Martin Luther King
Jr. Day.
At one time, most Southern newspapers took great pains to point out if a
person was black (often the description
was “negro,” capitalized in some publications, lowercase in others), even if
race wasn’t germane to the story.
This Jim Crow practice had mostly
faded by the early ’70s. But some institutions clung on stubbornly. Among
them was our sister paper in Memphis, the Press-Scimitar.
Bobby, who worked at the PressScimitar before coming to Knoxville,
told me a classic story about one staff
member’s effort to bring change.
His name was Jim Willis. Then a
general assignment reporter, Willis
rose in the ranks of Scripps Howard,
eventually retiring as editor of the
Birmingham Post-Herald.
It was sometime around 1975, Willis
recalled when I telephoned for details.
There had been an altercation at a local TV station involving weather reporter Dave Brown:
“A guy just showed up one day and
took a swing at Brown for no apparent
reason. Not long after, he came back
to the station and asked to see Dave
Brown again.
“The receptionist recognized him.
She called upstairs to alert Dave, and
they concocted a story to trap the guy
in a hall until police could get there.”
The ruse worked. Cops arrived. A
mentally disturbed man, last name of
White, was taken into custody. End of
story.
Literally.
You see, it was at the end of his story that Jim Willis crafted a brilliant
sentence. In an effort to highlight the
silliness of his paper’s race rule, he
closed with this gem:
“Brown is white and White is
black.”
No, that alone didn’t stop unnecessary racial ID. The edict continued
until there was a change of leadership
at the paper.
“Still,” Willis told me with a laugh,
“it’s the first story that comes up when
old Memphis reporters get together.”
I suspect Dr. King, who spent his life
encouraging people to see beyond skin
color, would have loved it.
(Jan. 15, 2012)
saw just how crazed I had become and
gently coaxed me into letting loose of
her.
“I need to take her now, OK?” he
said.
I ran barefoot through the mud to
join her in the ambulance. I smelled
like urine. I was oblivious to my own
state, however. All I could think was
this — get my baby to East Tennessee
Children’s Hospital. Now!
Not once did the staff at Children’s
Hospital crinkle their noses at my
smelly clothes and mud-caked bare
feet. They were kind and reassuring.
My daughter received top-notch medical care and lots of love and attention
during her stay.
So how could I say no to raising
money for an institution that saved
my daughter’s life and treated me with
such dignity in what was my most undignified state?
But dancing? I can’t walk a straight
line sober. There is no swivel in these
hips. Yet, here I was, staring at a dude
the size of a linebacker ushering me
onto the dance floor. Turns out my
instructor, Al Henriquez of the Academy Ballroom in Bearden, was a quarterback at North Dakota State before
taking up dance in 1988. Don’t let this
guy’s size fool you. He is one nimble
twinkletoes and together with his wife
and fellow dancer, Rachel Henriquez,
an excellent choreographer.
It didn’t take him long to size me up,
opting for a dance number with few
complicated moves and an emotional
punch. If I can’t dance, I can at least
tug the judges’ heartstrings. I’m not
above a sympathy vote.
It’ll be easy, he assured me, with
him doing the heavy lifting — literally — with lots of splashy lifts and
midair twirls. How hard could it be?
Pretty darn hard, as it turns out. You
try being hoisted into the air, flipped
sideways and twirled. He even drags
me across the floor at one point. We’re
less than a week away, and I still can’t
nail basic turns.
So, now, I’m reduced to begging. Donate to a worthy cause in my name. It
is my only hope.
Curse you, Terry Morrow.
(Feb. 11, 2012)
Millionth book
at MTSU
library printed
by Roulstone
Laws of the State of Tennessee,
printed on hand-made paper
The Middle Tennessee State University
James E. Walker Library recently
reached a historic milestone with the
acquisition of its one-millionth volume,
the first book published in Tennessee,
in the university’s 100th year.
Laws of the State of Tennessee was
printed in Knoxville in 1803 by George
Roulstone, who also printed the first
newspaper in the state. He was a native
Bostonian who moved his printing
press to Tennessee at the urging of
William Blount. Blount was governor
of the territory south of the Ohio River
before Tennessee’s admission to the
Union in 1796.
Roulstone initially set up the first
printing press in Rogersville, in
what would become Tennessee, and
began printing the Knoxville Gazette
newspaper, as well as legal and
theological works, in 1791.
Laws of the State of Tennessee was
printed on “low-quality handmade
paper,” said Alan Boehm, director of
special collections, and it was bound
with what appears to be pigskin
stretched over pressed sheets of paper
to form the cover.
Because the title page is not set
off from the table of contents and
there is little space separating topics
on the pages, Boehm concluded that
Roulstone “couldn’t afford to waste
paper, apparently.”
The Early Tennessee imprints
collection in the library’s special
collections section contains some
200 books and other print materials
produced in Tennessee between 1791
and 1866, the first year after the Civil
War began.
“Every book is a cultural artifact,
and its physical and material properties
tell you something about literacy and
reading and writing and authorship in
that book’s time,” Boehm said.
(The Murfreesboro Post,
Nov. 11, 2011)
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
6
MARCH 2012
Tennessee Schmaltz mixes klezmer wine with a little moonshine
EDITOR’S NOTE: Rob Heller, a
member of Schmaltz, teaches
journalism at the UTK School of
Journalism and Electronic Media.
He often leads sessions on photography and related technology
at TPA conventions and the TPS Institute of Newspaper Technology.
CMYK
BY WAYNE BLEDSOE
knoxville.com
After playing Bonnaroo in 2008, being featured in a Turner South TV
promo and performing for thousands
before a Nickel Creek Sundown in the
City concert, Tennessee Schmaltz has
been a little quiet for a while.
“This is our comeback!” says
Schmaltz leader Rob Heller with a
laugh.
The group did perform at the Rossini Festival (in 2011), but, overall, the
band, now celebrating its 16th year,
has been less active than in the past.
“We lost our women,” says Heller.
“Our vocalist Carolyn Silver-Alford
left town and took a job up in Maryland. Our fiddler, Lucie Carlson, got
married and had a baby — so no bad
reasons, all good ones, but now we’re
the men of Tennessee Schmaltz.”
That leaves Heller on clarinet and,
sometimes, washtub bass, Dan Shapira on accordion, Manny Herz on keyboard and Larry Hoffman on clarinet.
Tennessee Schmaltz began in mid1995 when flutist Judy Megibow visited a klezmer music camp in New York
Tennessee Schmaltz recently marked its 16th birthday. Members are,
from left, Rob Heller, Dan Shapira, Manny Herz and Larry Hoffman.
and returned to Tennessee with a idea
to start her own klezmer group. She
recruited Heller, Herz, Shapira and
Shapira’s violinist daughter Efrat.
The group recorded the album “Old
Country Klezmer” in 2000 and began
gaining a reputation for a fun combi-
nation of traditional klezmer and surprising takes on Appalachian favorites, including the “Orange Blossom
Special.” The band’s second album,
“Pachelbel’s Canon and Other Jewish
Hits,” was released in 2006.
The lineup has changed somewhat
through the years. Major changes include the departure of Megibow, who
moved to Boulder, Colo. in 2005, and
the addition of Hoffman, who joined
after his own Oak Ridge Klezmer Band
disbanded.
Heller says the new configuration
has resulted in some challenges. For
example, all of the men are reluctant
vocalists.
“Carolyn was a good vocalist, but
also a good entertainer. She really
got the crowd going and we’re kind
of missing that. Wait, I don’t want to
sound too negative. I am also a fantastic entertainer as well and I’m stepping right into the role!”
Humor is always a big part of the
band’s charm, and Heller is quick
with puns and quips. And, the band
often surprises audiences with unexpected songs such as a version of the
“St. Louis Blues” (renamed “St. Louis
Jews”), which melds into klezmer
takes on “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
and “Down By the Riverside.”
The group has been working up a
combination of an Elvis Presley hit
with a Yiddish song.
The band members have also expe-
rienced some health problems in the
past year and a half.
“Three of us, the three younger of
us, all had heart issues over the past
year and a half. We’re all doing fine
now,” says Heller, noting it’s Herz, the
oldest member of the group, who is the
healthiest.
Heller’s own surgery meant that
he’s had to cut back on his washtubbass playing. While some may look on
washtub bass as a joke, Heller, like true
old-time music enthusiasts, recognizes
that it’s a legitimate instrument.
“And, physically, it’s actually pretty
demanding,” says Heller.
He’s only recently been able to start
playing it again.
For all the players, the group remains a side career, but Heller, a professor in the University of Tennessee
School of Journalism and Electronic
Media, doesn’t mind using Tennessee
Schmaltz’s achievements to his professorial advantage:
“You realize that for the rest of my
teaching career I will introduce myself as ‘The only teacher you may have
here that’s played Bonnaroo.”
(Dec. 1, 2011)
Contests deadline day, Feb. 16
The Tennessee Press
MARCH 2012
WHAT’S BEING DONE
Good cause persuades crime writer to glide onto dance floor
BY JAMIE SATTERFIELD
News Sentinel, Knoxville
I’ve been threatened, bullied,
smacked around and even shot at, but
I had never faced the sheer terror that
is the dance floor.
How exactly had I found myself,
a hard-core crime writer, labeled a
“star” and competing with the likes
of television personalities with perfect hair and teeth, a former Knoxville
first lady, a hipster local DJ, a singer
with actual dance training under her
belt and fitness baddie Missy Kane?
Blame News Sentinel entertainment
writer and longtime pal Terry Morrow, who was the first from our newspaper to compete in the Dancing with
the Knoxville Stars event that raises
money for the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and is a take-off on
the hit television show “Dancing With
the Stars.”
For months, he badgered me. “Don’t
you love children?” he would ask.
“Why do you hate the children?”
In a smackdown, I could take Morrow in a heartbeat. He’s even skinnier
than me and fights like a girl. But the
truth is, I have a soft spot for Children’s Hospital, and he went for it.
It was roughly 18 years ago when
my daughter suffered a fever seizure.
I acted on instinct, grabbing the phone
to call 911 while rushing her into the
bathroom to try to cool her burning
body. When her bowels loosed on me,
I thought she was going to die. When
the ambulance arrived, the paramedic
WORTH REPEATING
BY SAM VENABLE
Columnist, News Sentinel, Knoxville
-------Advertising--------
Assure their survival by making
digital copies now.
With ArchiveInABox from
SmallTownPapers, you simply pack
your bound volume and historic
archive materials into our shipping
box and we do all the rest. For one
low price, you own the scans and
control how your archive is accessed.
Best of all, there is no additional cost
to host your online archive.
SAUL YOUNG | NEWS SENTINEL
Knoxville News Sentinel court reporter Jamie Satterfield rehearses her
dance routine with Academy Ballroom dance instructor Al Henriquez on
Feb. 1. Satterfield is a participant in Dancing with the Knoxville Stars, a
charity event to raise funds for Children’s Hospital.
One small effort to bring change
Your bound volume archives are
unique and priceless.
As the steward of your community’s
published history, you know the value
of your printed newspaper archive –
chronicled stories of the people,
places and events recorded in real
time over decades or even centuries!
David Popiel, publisher of The Newport Plain Talk, is ready to hand over the newspaper’s
entries in the UT-TPA State Press Contests. He has been handling preparation of the enJana Thomasson, publisher of The Mountain Press, Sevi- tries since 1973.
erville, is leaving as Jim Zachary, editor of Grainger ToPHOTOS BY ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
day, Bean Station, is coming in with entries.
Hundreds of satisfied publishers
in North America.
“We made a conscious decision that it
was time to begin digitization, due to
the accessibility and condition of our
bound archives. The best course of
action is the scanning program
offered by SmallTownPapers. It
works. It is low cost, and the
digitization is accomplished over
time, so we spread out, what little
expense there is, over a long period.”
--Tom Mullen, newspaperman
See Tom's archive website here:
http://smc.stparchive.com.
For more information, please visit
www.ArchiveInABox.com.
Terri Likens, editor of Roane County News, Kingston, and chairman of the Contests Committee, hands
over entries to Angelique Dunn, TPA administrative assistant.
Marcus Fitzsimmons, The Daily Times,
Maryville, delivers a box full of entries.
7
I had lunch with
my retired News
Sentinel colleague
Bobby Wilson the
other day. As happens when graybeards get together,
Bobby and I quickly lapsed into a sesVenable
sion of “remember
when.”
We repeated oft-told tales about the
nutty, creative characters we’d worked
with through the years, noting that
their nuttiness and creativity often
were proportional to their intake of
alcohol. Usually while on the job.
This time we also delved into memories of newsroom dogma.
Then (as now), many ironclad rules
were slow to die, even if ridiculous
and outdated.
One of these was racial identification in news stories — and I can’t
think of a better time to share it than
the observance of Martin Luther King
Jr. Day.
At one time, most Southern newspapers took great pains to point out if a
person was black (often the description
was “negro,” capitalized in some publications, lowercase in others), even if
race wasn’t germane to the story.
This Jim Crow practice had mostly
faded by the early ’70s. But some institutions clung on stubbornly. Among
them was our sister paper in Memphis, the Press-Scimitar.
Bobby, who worked at the PressScimitar before coming to Knoxville,
told me a classic story about one staff
member’s effort to bring change.
His name was Jim Willis. Then a
general assignment reporter, Willis
rose in the ranks of Scripps Howard,
eventually retiring as editor of the
Birmingham Post-Herald.
It was sometime around 1975, Willis
recalled when I telephoned for details.
There had been an altercation at a local TV station involving weather reporter Dave Brown:
“A guy just showed up one day and
took a swing at Brown for no apparent
reason. Not long after, he came back
to the station and asked to see Dave
Brown again.
“The receptionist recognized him.
She called upstairs to alert Dave, and
they concocted a story to trap the guy
in a hall until police could get there.”
The ruse worked. Cops arrived. A
mentally disturbed man, last name of
White, was taken into custody. End of
story.
Literally.
You see, it was at the end of his story that Jim Willis crafted a brilliant
sentence. In an effort to highlight the
silliness of his paper’s race rule, he
closed with this gem:
“Brown is white and White is
black.”
No, that alone didn’t stop unnecessary racial ID. The edict continued
until there was a change of leadership
at the paper.
“Still,” Willis told me with a laugh,
“it’s the first story that comes up when
old Memphis reporters get together.”
I suspect Dr. King, who spent his life
encouraging people to see beyond skin
color, would have loved it.
(Jan. 15, 2012)
saw just how crazed I had become and
gently coaxed me into letting loose of
her.
“I need to take her now, OK?” he
said.
I ran barefoot through the mud to
join her in the ambulance. I smelled
like urine. I was oblivious to my own
state, however. All I could think was
this — get my baby to East Tennessee
Children’s Hospital. Now!
Not once did the staff at Children’s
Hospital crinkle their noses at my
smelly clothes and mud-caked bare
feet. They were kind and reassuring.
My daughter received top-notch medical care and lots of love and attention
during her stay.
So how could I say no to raising
money for an institution that saved
my daughter’s life and treated me with
such dignity in what was my most undignified state?
But dancing? I can’t walk a straight
line sober. There is no swivel in these
hips. Yet, here I was, staring at a dude
the size of a linebacker ushering me
onto the dance floor. Turns out my
instructor, Al Henriquez of the Academy Ballroom in Bearden, was a quarterback at North Dakota State before
taking up dance in 1988. Don’t let this
guy’s size fool you. He is one nimble
twinkletoes and together with his wife
and fellow dancer, Rachel Henriquez,
an excellent choreographer.
It didn’t take him long to size me up,
opting for a dance number with few
complicated moves and an emotional
punch. If I can’t dance, I can at least
tug the judges’ heartstrings. I’m not
above a sympathy vote.
It’ll be easy, he assured me, with
him doing the heavy lifting — literally — with lots of splashy lifts and
midair twirls. How hard could it be?
Pretty darn hard, as it turns out. You
try being hoisted into the air, flipped
sideways and twirled. He even drags
me across the floor at one point. We’re
less than a week away, and I still can’t
nail basic turns.
So, now, I’m reduced to begging. Donate to a worthy cause in my name. It
is my only hope.
Curse you, Terry Morrow.
(Feb. 11, 2012)
Millionth book
at MTSU
library printed
by Roulstone
Laws of the State of Tennessee,
printed on hand-made paper
The Middle Tennessee State University
James E. Walker Library recently
reached a historic milestone with the
acquisition of its one-millionth volume,
the first book published in Tennessee,
in the university’s 100th year.
Laws of the State of Tennessee was
printed in Knoxville in 1803 by George
Roulstone, who also printed the first
newspaper in the state. He was a native
Bostonian who moved his printing
press to Tennessee at the urging of
William Blount. Blount was governor
of the territory south of the Ohio River
before Tennessee’s admission to the
Union in 1796.
Roulstone initially set up the first
printing press in Rogersville, in
what would become Tennessee, and
began printing the Knoxville Gazette
newspaper, as well as legal and
theological works, in 1791.
Laws of the State of Tennessee was
printed on “low-quality handmade
paper,” said Alan Boehm, director of
special collections, and it was bound
with what appears to be pigskin
stretched over pressed sheets of paper
to form the cover.
Because the title page is not set
off from the table of contents and
there is little space separating topics
on the pages, Boehm concluded that
Roulstone “couldn’t afford to waste
paper, apparently.”
The Early Tennessee imprints
collection in the library’s special
collections section contains some
200 books and other print materials
produced in Tennessee between 1791
and 1866, the first year after the Civil
War began.
“Every book is a cultural artifact,
and its physical and material properties
tell you something about literacy and
reading and writing and authorship in
that book’s time,” Boehm said.
(The Murfreesboro Post,
Nov. 11, 2011)
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
6
The Tennessee Press
?
‘A legend died’
Did you know...
79% of community
newspaper readers
read all or most of
their paper?
NNA Readership Study 2010
OBITUARIES
FROM PAGE 5
tic Beach, Fla.; four grandchildren
and two great-grandchildren; and a
brother, the Rev. David Miller of Black
Mountain, N.C.
(Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough,
Jan. 10, 2012)
Barney Sellers
CMYK
CA photographer
Barney Sellers, a
photographer for
The
Commercial
Appeal, Memphis,
for 36 years, died
Jan. 2 at his home
in Southaven, Miss.
He was 85.
He and his wife,
Sellers
Betty Sue, celebrated their 64th wedding
anniversary the day before his death.
Sellers was a native of Walnut Ridge,
Ark. He graduated from Arkansas
State University and became The Commercial Appeal’s first photographer
with a journalism degree. He also
graduated from the old Woodward
School of Photography in Memphis.
He retired in 1988.
Beginning in 1977, he presented a
heavily-attended one-man show at
Black Rock, Ark., where he once attended school. He prepared “A Video
Postcard,” a 33-minute tape of 200 colorful scenes. He was known in later
years for shooting and displaying
“Barney’s Barns...and Rural Scenes.”
He was a Navy veteran.
Besides his wife, Sellers leaves two
sons, Stanley Sellers of Nixa, Mo. and
Richard Sellers of Burke, Va., and a
daughter, Sue S. McIntyre.
MTSU offers free
minicourse on CAR
Middle Tennessee State University
is offering a free online computerassisted reporting minicourse created
by School of Journalism professor Dr.
Ken Blake.
It uses YouTube-hosted videos and
downloadable practice datasets to show
how journalists can use Excel, Access,
Google Fusion Tables and Excel’s Data
Analysis ToolPak to quickly find news
in databases they can download from
the Internet or create themselves. For
more information, see http://mtweb.
mtsu.edu/kblake/CAR.htm.
MARCH 2012
By his family’s conservative estimate, the number of photographs
Barney Sellers took in his 36-year
career at The Commercial Appeal and
later shooting old Mid-South barns
was “thousands and thousands and
thousands.”
His wide-ranging pictures included
a young Elvis Presley playing touch
football, civil rights marches, screaming football coaches, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital founder Danny Thomas with his visiting celebrity
friends and, often, shots that reflected
the trademark Sellers humor.
“We have negatives on top of negatives on top of negatives,” said his
daughter, Susie Sellers McIntyre.
“You couldn’t even imagine. He didn’t
like to throw anything away. He got
okay with the digital age for a while,
and then he just decided he liked film
much better. He was used to it.”
Sellers, who won awards for news
photography and legions of admirers for his images of barns and rural
scenes, died early Jan. 2 at his home
in Southaven, Miss. after an illness.
He was 85.
A native of Walnut Ridge, Ark., Sellers was a Navy veteran and a graduate of Arkansas State University, the
newspaper’s first photographer with a
journalism degree who built his portfolio with a Speed Graphic camera.
“At the time I started here, just about
every photographer in the USA wanted to work for Life magazine,” Sellers
said when he retired in 1988, “but I
wanted to stay here because this is my
home region.”
In 1957, Sellers shot a photograph
for the newspaper at a clothing store
showing a man shaking hands with
an arm coming out of a coat jacket
hanging on a rack. The comical picture caught the eye of editors at Life
magazine, which later gave it the full-
page treatment.
Colleagues said Sellers was a go-to
person for the newspaper’s daily diet
of quality photos.
“He was good at just about any phase
of photography,” said former photo
editor Bob Williams, who joined The
Commercial Appeal in 1949, three years
before Sellers. “He was an institution
at the paper. I depended a lot on Barney B. (His middle name was Bryan.) I
loved him like a brother.”
Sellers’ post-newspaper career included teaching continuing education
classes in photography and pursuing his passion of photographing old
barns and rural landscapes.
For years his “Barney’s Barns”
and rural-scene photographs drew
fans and customers to photo exhibits
around the Mid-South.
“He probably knew every barn and
cow and dog in Arkansas and West
Tennessee,” said recently retired photographer Dave Darnell, who began
learning from Sellers as an intern in
1966. “I got to work with all the really
great photographers and he was the
best. He was known for barns, but
Barney could shoot anything. I can’t
count the times when it would be (near
deadline) and somebody would say we
need a picture and Barney would come
back 30 minutes later with a page-one
picture.”
He said Sellers’ people skills rivaled
his considerable skills with a camera.
“Barney always had something funny to say and he’d stop and talk to anybody,” Darnell added. “He put people
at ease. He was just unassuming and
people trusted him. He was a special
person. I’ll tell you, a legend died.”
Sellers died one day after he and his
wife, Betty Sue, observed their 64th
wedding anniversary.
He also leaves two sons, Stanley Sellers of Nixa, Mo., and Richard Sellers
of Burke, Va.
(Jan. 3, 2012)
A life of fulfillment: John Fox lived such a life
John Fox was a good man, a man
who loved his community, loved his
country and wanted always to do good
by both. His death last weekend at
the age of 93 brought back memories
among many who recalled Fox’s service to Sevier County and his efforts
to make positive change.
We at The Mountain Press are understandably proud of Fox’s years as
a reporter and later a columnist. Well
into his 80s and almost until his 90s
he kept writing the column until he
simply couldn’t do it any more. But he
was more than just a newspaperman.
He was a Sevier County treasure.
A man whose roots run back to
some of the first settlers in Sevier
County — he worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park, Fox
attended Sevier County High School
and played on the 1934 football squad
that went undefeated.
As an adult he worked on an isotopeseparating machine at the Y-12 Plant
in Oak Ridge during World War II
and was director of the Boys Club
of Elizabethton. He worked in public
relations at the American Museum of
Science and Energy, Tennessee Tech
and Carson-Newman College.
He eventually returned to Sevier
County and became manager of Gold
Rush Junction in Pigeon Forge, which
evolved into Silver Dollar City and
then Dollywood. After that, he became
a reporter and later a regular columnist at The Mountain Press.
Former Sevierville Mayor Gary
Wade, now a Tennessee Supreme
Court justice, credits Fox and his wife,
Ruby, who was director of the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce, with
starting the process that led to Walters
State Community College coming to
Sevierville. They asked Wade to meet
Walters State President Jack Campbell
because they believed Sevier County
residents needed a local college.
“I can say without reservation that
Walters State Community College
would not be in Sevier County without
John and Ruby deciding we needed a
community college,” Wade said. High
praise indeed for the couple.
After his days as a reporter ended,
Fox wrote “Going My Way,” a popular column and a weekly fixture in
The Mountain Press. He would bring
TCOG re-elects Pierce president; Ott new treasurer
The Tennessee
Coalition for Open
Government elected officers and reelected some board
members when it
met Feb. 8 at the
DoubleTree Hotel
in Nashville.
It was the first
Pierce
meeting for Kent
Flanagan as the new executive director. He served on the board and was
treasurer at the time of his hiring.
Doug Pierce, an attorney with King
& Ballow and representing the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters
(TAB), was re-elected president. Lucian Pera was re-elected vice president and Dorothy Bowles, secretary.
Pera
Bowles
Marian Ott was elected treasurer.
Re-elected to the board were the following: Doug Pierce, TAB; Ron Fryar,
representing the Tennessee Press
Association (TPA); Adam Yeomans,
Associated Press; Gregg K. Jones, at
large; Dorothy Bowles, East Tennessee
Society of Professional Journalists;
Robb Harvey, media law; Bill Phillips,
citizen; Elenora E.
Edwards, at large;
and Whit Adamson, TAB.
Continuing
to
serve are these
members, whose
terms will expire in
2013: Tom Griscom,
at large; Jack McElOtt
roy, metro editor;
Chris Peck, metro editor; Lucian Pera,
media law; John Stern, citizen; Marian Ott, League of Women Voters; Bill
Shory, television news.
Continuing to serve are these members, whose terms will expire in 2014:
Dick Williams, Common Cause, and
Chris Fletcher, Tennessee Associated
Press Managing Editors.
5
OBITUARIES
Photographer Barney Sellers leaves legacy of images
BY LAWRENCE BUSER
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis
The Tennessee Press
MARCH 2012
handwritten copies of his columns
to the paper. He became a regular at
The Dawg House in Reams Drug Store,
where he and friends would settle the
issues of the day and toss around a
juicy tidbit of gossip now and then.
When we lose some of the good ones,
the people who helped make Sevier
County a good place to live and work,
we mourn their passing but celebrate
what they did. That’s the case with
John Fox. He lived a long, productive
life and he lived it well. That’s really
about all you can ask of a person.
(The Mountain Press, Feb. 9, 2012)
TRACKS
Ward Phillips has been named publisher/general manager of The NewsDemocrat and Shopper’s Guide in
Waverly. He has worked for the newspaper since 1980. He succeeds Bill Ridings, who recently retired.
Alexander Gould is a new regional
general manager for Heartland Publications, responsible for The Claiborne
Progress, Tazewell; The Middlesboro
(Ky.) Daily News and the Harlan (Ky.)
Daily Enterprise.
Danny Peppers is the new advertising manager for The Paris PostIntelligencer. Previously he was an
advertising representative with The
Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville.
Mitchell Petty has joined the staff
of the Shelbyville Times-Gazette. He
will serve as a news clerk and general
assignment reporter. Petty is a recent
MTSU graduate.
John Stamm, former executive
news editor, has been named metro
editor for The Commercial Appeal,
Memphis.
John N. G. Fox Jr.
Was Press reporter
John Nelson Greer Fox Jr., formerly
with The Mountain Press, Sevierville, died Feb. 4 in Pigeon Forge. The
Gatlinburg resident was 93.
Born April 28, 1918 in Sevierville,
Fox was the son of John Nelson Greer
Fox Sr. and Hazel Bud Delius Fox. Ancestors of this line of the Fox family
were among the first settlers in Sevier
County, laying claim to parts of the
Fair Garden area.
Fox was a spinner of yarns, a treasure trove of East Tennessee and
Sevier County lore. Colorful anecdotes
of his childhood on Cedar St. took the
listener back to a happy, simple way of
life. He attended school in Sevierville
and played on the undefeated 1934
Sevier County High School football
team. His memory was sharp and he
was able to recount in detail his days
working with a Civilian Conservation
Corps gang in the Little River area of
the Smoky Mountains National Park
and operating an isotope-separating
machine at Oak Ridge’s Y-2 plant during World War II.
As a young man, Fox left Sevier
County for Knoxville, where he
worked at Standard Knitting Mill and
volunteered as a basketball referee for
the Knoxville Recreation Department.
His career aspirations took him in
many directions. He served as director of the Elizabethton Boys Club. He
found his niche in public relations and
worked in that field at the American
Museum of Science and Energy, Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, CarsonNewman College and Tennessee Technological University. Fox returned to
his Sevier County roots when he was
hired as manager of Goldrush Junction, which eventually became Dollywood. In his later years, he was a
reporter for The Mountain Press and
authored the column “Going My Way”
well into his 80s.
His life-long love, wife, Ruby Ola Fox,
died May 10, 2001. The dynamic pair
loved Sevier County and the Smoky
Mountains National Park and promoted the beauty, recreation, history and
activities of the area.
Fox leaves a son, David Fox of Gatlinburg; a daughter, Patricia Ann Adams
of Noblesville, Ind.; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
(The Mountain Press,
Feb. 7, 2012)
Jim Hargrove
Wrote about history
Local historian Jimmy Hargrove,
who wrote for The Herald-Chronicle,
Winchester, died Jan. 26. He was a wellknown, life-long citizen of Franklin
County and the author of two books
of photos and historical factors about
that area.
Hargrove enjoyed writing about
local history and sharing what he
learned with Herald-Chronicle read-
ers. He was active in historical events
and spoke to various clubs and at
meetings.
Tommy Hawkins
Lewisburg printer
BY CLINT CONFEHR
Senior staff writer
Marshall County Tribune, Lewisburg
Lewisburg businessman Thomas
Hale (Tommy) Hawkins III is dead. He
was 68.
Hawkins was the patriarch of Lewisburg Printing, which he turned over
to his three children several years
ago. He was publisher of the Lewisburg Tribune and the Marshall County Gazette, which he sold in 2005. And
he was a founder of First Commerce
Bank where he remained active until
his passing Jan. 26.
He is remembered as a “good father,
grandfather and husband,” according
to a statement from the family. “He
will be missed beyond words.”
Hawkins died while on vacation in
Aruba. Reportedly, the cause was a
heart attack.
Hawkins leaves his wife of more
than 45 years, Patricia; a daughter,
Re Kelso; and two sons, Hale and Tim
Hawkins. His Lewisburg Printing associates considered him family, and
he, them.
Born Dec. 28, 1943, Hawkins was the
son of Thomas Hale Hawkins Jr. of
Lewisburg and the former Marie McGlasson of Shelbyville.
Hawkins made his home on Collins
Hollow Rd.
Bill Marsh, chairman, president and
chief executive officer of First Commerce, remembers a statement from
his friend that substantiates a conversation recalled by Terry Wallace, the
county executive and mayor here for
16 years, who quoted Hawkins to illustrate the nature of the man that was
Tommy Hawkins.
“Tommy, Dean Delk and I always
went to the TSSAA tournament in
Murfreesboro,” Wallace said. “The
last year we were over there, we were
eating at a restaurant at 8 a.m., just
sitting around joking. Somebody had
died, or something had gone wrong. I
don’t know how we got on the subject,
but he just up and said, ‘We’ll, I’ll tell
you what, if I do pass before you, you
just tell everybody that Tommy Hawkins had a good life. I’ve enjoyed my
life.’
“That’s verbatim, exactly what he
said,” Wallace said of Hawkins, whom
he called a best friend.
Marsh remembers substantially the
same thing.
“’I will have lived a fine life to the
fullest,’” is what Marsh heard Hawkins say when he was with him under
different circumstances.
“We’re stunned about our friend
Tommy,” Marsh said. “He was nice to
everyone. He took care of all the employees there” at the businesses he
owned.
“When someone
was hurt or down
and out on their
luck with medical
issues or something, Tommy was
always the first one
there,” Marsh said.
“He’d take care of
Hawkins
them straight out
of his pocket. I’ve
seen him fork it out of his pocket if
they needed help.”
Hawkins was instrumental in the
organization of First Commerce Bank
and remained an active member of
the board of directors, serving on the
executive committee and the human
resources committee.
“He was always supportive of our
bank management team,” Marsh said.
“He was the most gracious person I’ve
ever known. I’ll miss him. We’re all
saddened.
“He’s done some farming, but they
were mainly in the printing and the
newspaper publishing business,”
Marsh said. “His father, Thomas Hale,
and his father’s brother, Hawk Hawkins, owned the papers and the printing
business.”
Hawkins closed his sale of the Tribune and the Gazette on Sept. 30, 2005
to Rust Communications. Hugh Jones,
publisher of the succeeding paper, the
Marshall County Tribune, and its sister newspaper, the Shelbyville TimesGazette, recalls the purchase arrangements went smoothly.
Hawkins was “always easy to get
along with,” Jones recalled of the
business relationship that culminated with the sale that was announced
with acknowledgement of Hawkins’
“strong home town loyalty. He had
a good sense of humor mixed with a
smart head for business.
“I knew of his quality commercial
printing business from my time in
commercial printing,” Jones said.
“He’s remembered as a strong family
man. His passing is a great loss for the
whole family, obviously.”
County Commissioner Dean Delk,
principal of Chapel Hill Elementary
School, said his close friend “supported county-wide athletics from
preschoolers all the way through high
school. He followed athletics very
closely and he was a die-hard UT supporter, and he didn’t mind showing
it.”
Wallace concurred.
“I’m a Vanderbilt fan and he’s a UT
fan,” Wallace said. “We used to have
a little wager. He wouldn’t bet with
me this year. After this last game, I
started to call him, but I knew he was
in Aruba.”
Lewisburg Printing staff grieved
Thursday morning.
“Tommy always had a smile on his
face when he came in,” Lewisburg
Printing Operations Director Brian
Tankersley said. “He was always asking how everyone was doing. He’s family. We’re all family here, so we’re in a
state of shock.”
Hawkins transferred ownership
and operational control of Lewisburg
Printing to his three children.
While he was technically retired,
“Tommy was here quite a bit. It’s a loss
you can’t quite express in words.”
Hawkins’ annual vacation was in
Aruba.
“That’s why it’s so unexpected,”
Tankersley said. “We’re here tending
the business, so the family can have
their time.”
Still, “Tommy was a father figure to
a lot of the people here,” Tankersley
said.
Lewisburg Printing Personnel Director Cathy Talley was Hawkins’ personal secretary.
“I think we’re in a state of shock,”
Talley said. “He’s such a great guy.
“I’ve worked for the company for 35
years in April and for 30 of those I was
his personal secretary and the main
part of any of our conversations re-
volved around our children. He was so
very proud of his kids and grandkids.
“I don’t know as if I’ve ever known
anyone who loved life as much as he
did.”
County Mayor Joe Boyd Liggett
said, “Tommy was a very congenial
type person. I never saw him when he
didn’t have a smile on his face. He had
a very positive attitude.”
Hawkins’ friend Delk said he was “a
very fair man who saw good in everybody. His heart was a big as he was. He
was a very giving person. He was fun
to be around because he was always
up-beat.”
Delk’s son, David, said Hawkins
“helped me out professionally and on
a friendship level. My family and I
consider him a great man and a great
friend. He will be missed by everyone.”
(Jan. 26, 2012)
H. Don Miller
Former manager
H. Don Miller, former manager of
the Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough,
died Jan. 6 in Johnson City. He was 87.
Born in Johnson City, Miller was the
son of the late Earl Matson and Carrie Horton Carr Miller. In addition to
them, he was predeceased by three
brothers and three sisters.
He retired after serving several years
as manager of the Herald & Tribune.
He was a graduate of Milligan College
and a member of First Presbyterian
Church, where he served as a deacon.
He was a Navy veteran, having served
on Guam in the Pacific Theatre of
World War II.
Miller was an avid golfer and a former TSSAA basketball official.
He leaves two sons, Mat Miller
and Gary Miller of Jonesborough;
a daughter, Donna Bagby of AtlanSEE OBITUARIES, PAGE 8
REWRITES FROM THE TENNESSEE PRESS
MARCH 1962
TPA joined a battle against a postal
rate bill recently passed by the U.S.
House of Representatives. John M.
Jones Sr. served as chairman of a special committee working on the matter.
The bill was to raise the second class
postal rate by one cent per copy of a
newspaper mailed beyond the county
of publication.
A contest for sports writing was
added to the categories in the UT-TPA
competition.
Franklin Yates, Shelbyville Time-Gazette, was named chairman of the 1963
TPA Press Institute.
Ben Hale Golden, publisher of The
Chattanooga Times, was named by the
Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce
to head a special industrial development program.
UT and TPA were among 23 organizations cooperating with The Newspaper Fund to hold summer workshops
for high school journalism teachers
and advisers.
J.Z. (Zollie) Howard, managing editor of the Memphis Press-Scimitar,
was named president of the Tennessee
Association of the Associated Press.
A former Kentucky newspaper editor and sheriff was the new publisher of the Upper Cumberland Times,
Jamestown. Vernon McKinney sold
the paper to T.C. Sizemore.
MARCH 1987
Nancy Petrey, co-publisher of The
Newport Plain Talk, was appointed
chairman of the 1988 TPA Press Institute.
TPA advertising sales seminars were
to be held in April and May at Middle
Tennessee State University, East Tennessee State University and Memphis
State University.
The Nashville Banner won the 1987
Ida B. Wells Award, an honor established by Memphis State University to
recognize distinguished service in the
field of race relations.
“The Public Stake in Freedom of Information” was the topic of the Sixth
Annual Freedom of Information Congress March 5 at Memphis State University.
Patricia Zechman became managing
editor of the Southern Standard, McMinnville, the first woman in that job
in 100-plus years of publication.
Bill Kovach, editor of the Atlanta
Constitution/Journal, spoke at the
TPA Winter Convention. Tom T. Hall
told stories and sang ballads at a
luncheon. Julia Pulliam, Mrs. X, surprised Helena Jones with a $50 door
prize.
U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper told Tennessee
news executives that the publishing
industry must lower the number of illiterate people in the state.
CMYK
8
MARCH 2012
ENGRAVINGS
Coaches honor Lane for 50 years of covering high school sports
BY PAT KENNEY
Kingsport Times-News
“I really don’t deserve this,” said
Times-News sportswriter Bill Lane.
“But then, I’ve had a broken finger,
broken nose, a severe sinus condition
and a shoulder replacement, and I
didn’t deserve them either.”
Lane was responding to a plaque he
received Feb. 9 at the Big 8 Conference
basketball coaches meeting at Sullivan Central. The coaches were recognizing Lane for his 50 years of coverage of high school sports in Northeast
Tennessee.
“Every year we try to honor someone,” said Central Athletic Director
Brandon Krantz. “A lot of us wouldn’t
be where we are today without Bill
Lane. I remember when he covered me
at Sullivan North and ETSU, he made
me seem bigger than life.
“With Bill celebrating his 50th year
of covering sports it seemed like the
perfect time to honor and recognize
him.”
Central boys basketball coach Tony
Vaughn is another individual that
Lane covered as both a player and a
coach.
“Bill has pushed sports in Northeast
Tennessee,” said Vaughn. “He’s been
such an asset to everyone who plays,
coaches or is a fan.”
Looking back 50 years, Lane’s career could have taken a completely
different turn.
“I was just one year short of becoming an accountant,” Lane said. “But I
guess all sportswriters are just frustrated athletes.
“When I was in high school I kept up
with all the sports in the paper. When I
read the stories I kept thinking I could
write as well as those guys.”
And there was one other factor that
drove Lane toward sportswriting.
“I kept thinking that those box
scores would be a whole lot easier to
deal with than a balance sheet,” joked
Lane.
Answering an ad in the Kingsport
paper, Lane began his career as a general assignment reporter.
“I covered the police beat and the
courts,” said Lane. “I saw some pretty
hard stuff. When I started I was just 20
CMYK
Chamber recognizes Wilson
The Kingsport
Area
Chamber
of Commerce on
Feb. 3 recognized
Keith Wilson with
its Lifetime Member Award for outstanding service to
the community. He
Wilson
is publisher of the
Kingsport Times-News and president
of Northeast Tennessee Media Group
(NTMG). He is the 23rd recipient of
the honor.
A record crowd of more than 1,800
guests gathered at the Kingsport Area
Chamber of Commerce’s 65th annual
dinner to celebrate the city’s successes
of the past year.
Held at the MeadowView Marriott
Conference Resort and Convention
Center, the sold-out event is the largest
annual chamber dinner in the nation,
attended by folks from throughout the
region.
Wilson graduated from Indiana
University with a degree in political
science. He became the general manager of the IU student newspaper and
then worked for several newspapers
in Indiana and Kentucky. In 1986, he
joined the Kingsport Times-News as
advertising manager. He was named
publisher in 1993 and NTMG president in 2011.
In May 2010, Wilson was inducted
into the Junior Achievement of TriCities Business Hall of Fame, the
honor conferred for his contributions
to the region through their entrepreneurial and civic activities.
(Adapted, Kingsport Times-News,
Feb. 3, 2012)
TRACKS
Kevin Kile has been named publisher of the Roane County News, Kingston. During his six months as interim
general manager, he oversaw one
of the newspaper’s biggest projects
in nearly a decade, the change from
imagesetter to computer-to-plate technology and major building renovation
the project entailed.
Before joining the News as advertising director in 2007, Kile worked as an
ad director for Jones Media Inc.
Terri Likens, editor of Roane
County News since 2002, is assuming
responsibility for managing the editorial area of the Morgan County News.
Likens’ experience includes work at
a variety of community newspapers
in Kentucky and Arizona, as well as
work as a reporter and editor at daily
newspapers including the Wilmington
(N.C.) Morning Star and the Evansville (Ind.) Courier. She worked five
years as a reporter and supervisor
for the Associated Press in Chicago.
As a freelancer, Likens worked for the
national and international desks of
ABCNews.com; for Plateau Journal,
American Profile and High Country
News magazines; for the Arizona Republic and Indianapolis Star and for
the EarthNotes regional public radio
program.
Roane County News and Morgan
County News are owned by Landmark
Community Newspapers.
years old. I truly grew up at the newspaper.”
Once he got his chance to become a
sportswriter, Lane never looked back.
“I never really thought about doing
anything else,” said Lane. “It seemed
like swimming the English Channel.
Once you get halfway it’s either go
back or go on. I guess I’ve just kept on
going on.”
Several years ago, Lane began a column called “Memory Lane,” a look
back at athletes from the past.
“That has been one of the most en-
joyable things I’ve ever done,” said
Lane. “It’s fun to reminisce with former players. It’s nice to give them another moment in the sun.”
Trying to compare eras is difficult,
but Lane did have some insights.
“Our area has been blessed in baseball. In the decade of the ’80s, we had
11 state champions within 45 miles of
here.
“Basketball players today are so
much quicker but not necessarily
more talented than in the old days.”
Throughout his 50-year career, there
has been one constant.
“I can’t thank my wife, Rita, enough,”
said Lane. “My schedule is so crazy,
not many women would be willing to
be home alone that much.”
Over the years, thousands of area
athletes have benefited from Lane’s
coverage.
“I always try to remember how I felt
to see my name in the paper,” said
Lane. “So every chance I get to put a
high school player’s name in print, I
do it.”
(Feb. 9, 2012)
Face on book cover asks a question
From the cover of the book, two things startle
law has no substance. The entire range of public
me.
services is put to work on behalf of the criminal:
First, the face of Anna Politkovskaya, bordered
the lawyers, prosecutors, courts – and even, sad
aptly in black, is challenging, intelligent and, eerito relate, public opinion. There is precious little
ly, exactly the face of my sister, Susan Stasiowski
help for the victims, especially if they happen to
George.
be Chechens.”
Both women died too young, Politkovskaya vioThink of her daily life. In the morning paper, she
lently.
indicts her country’s entire superstructure (the
Second, the largest letters on the cover spell out
people with guns, ammo and the legal authority to
her name, which stretches nearly from side to WRITING
use them), then she drives to work, shops in groside. Odd: Why wouldn’t the title of the book be in
cery stores, walks to appointments. We do all of
COACH
the largest letters?
that without fear; she did it without protection.
Because, I’m guessing, the title is so frightenShe once went to France for the publication of a
ing, the publisher thought it would repel potential Jim Stasiowski book of her columns. Her account of the trip inbuyers rather than sell them: Is Journalism Worth
cluded this heartbreaking passage:
Dying For?
“The starting point of the journey which brought
It is a collection of columns written by Politkovskaya, me to the capital of France was Ingushetia and Chechnya:
shot to death in her apartment building on Oct. 7, 2006. She refugee camps; foothills; forests; soldiers desperate to go
was 48.
home; hungry people crying; the routine horror of life in
I was startled a third time when I learned on page 18 our homeland where everybody lives as best they can, just
the title’s question has nothing to do with Politkovskaya’s trying to survive; That is why ‘my’ Paris seemed such a
murder, which certainly occurred because of her columns sweet, heavenly treat. It was like the taste in your mouth
blaming Vladimir Putin and others in power for many of
after wormwood, when a single chocolate has the impact of
Russia’s woes and misdeeds.
kilograms of honey.”
The title comes from the headline on a Politkovskaya
Once in my reporting career, an irate city councilman
column describing “an attempt … on the life of 30-year-old vigorously shook my hand and grinned malevolently as he
Mikhail Komarov,” deputy editor of the newspaper she told me that when he read a column of mine, he wanted to
worked for, Novaya gazeta.
wring my neck.
Komarov, she wrote, was an investigative journalist who
But we were in his lavishly decorated home for his annual
“delv(ed) into the commercial activities of the local oli- Christmas party, attended by dozens of elected officials. I
garchs.” In Russia, “oligarchs” is code for “rich goons.”
was covering the party for the newspaper. I suspect his wife
A Sept. 13, 2011, editorial in The New York Times said 52 would have objected had he grabbed me by the throat.
journalists have been killed in Russia since 1992. Eighteen
Another time, I was in a restaurant, interviewing a conof the murders, including that of Politkovskaya, remain gressman, when a robber tried to hold up the place. The
unsolved.
petite female cashier refused to give him any money, so he –
I bought the book because of the title; it is not easy read- the robber, not the congressman – fled into the men’s room.
ing.
The cops arrived and, uh, flushed him out.
What made it most difficult was that I was ignorant of
I’ve been at gunman-barricaded-inside-house-holdingwhat has gone on in Chechnya the last two decades. In family-hostage scenes, but I crouched behind cop cars for
agonizing wars, Russia tried to subdue the disgruntled the duration of those. They ended without gunfire or injupopulace of Chechnya, which the Kremlin looks upon as ries.
an irritant.
Is journalism worth dying for?
Politkovskaya was a second Kremlin irritant. Her colThat’s another way of saying: “Jim Stasiowski, if you
umns bravely and constantly exposed the Russians’ gov- were in the same situation as Anna Politkovskaya, would
ernment-sponsored brutality, duplicity and inhumanity.
you expose moral corruption as she did?”
Many incidents in the book are gruesome, unfathomable
I do not know. But the face on the book’s cover asks me
to those of us who cover the normal, erratic, mostly benign that every day.
lurching of city councils, school boards, legislatures and
THE FINAL WORD: At the end of a serious column, I
politics.
needed fun. I nominate “eleemosynary” as the weirdestPolitkovskaya lived with death threats. She negotiated looking word in the English language.
with volatile, desperate hostage-takers. She survived what
The dictionary says it is an “old-fashioned” adjective
probably was a deliberate poisoning.
meaning charitable.
Our most frequent risk is a nasty letter to the editor.
“There is something fundamentally wrong in Russia,” JIM STASIOWSKI, the writing coach for The Dolan Co., welshe wrote. “Life has been turned upside-down and the comes your questions or comments. Call him at (775) 354-2872
or write to 2499 Ivory Ann Drive, Sparks, Nev. 89436.
The Tennessee Press
MARCH 2012
9
There’s no room for politics in public notice debate
It was only a matter of time before political
rhetoric entered the ongoing debate over whether public notices should remain in newspapers
or go online to government websites.
When you read about the debate going on in
state legislatures from Arizona to Virginia and
New Jersey to Florida, there is a political undercurrent. In some places it is fueled by politicallyconservative bloggers and private website operators. There’s a common thread of talking points
from one state to another.
Last year, when state senators brought bills to
take notices out of Tennessee newspapers completely and put them on websites operated by local governments in Knox and Hamilton counties,
the primary argument was that newspaper readership was on the decline and Internet usage
was on the rise. There was no mention of which
medium reaches the most readers, citizens and
taxpayers.
Those bills have failed to go anywhere, so far,
because members of key legislative committees
quickly realized that large segments of the population in Tennessee are not connected to the Internet because they don’t own a computer, don’t
have broadband access or are not comfortable on
the Web.
How does government taking over a
This year, Sen. Mike Bell, a freshman
service provided for decades by the priRepublican from Riceville, in southeastvate sector add up to “an element of free
ern Tennessee, brought legislation to
market competition?”
move notice of sunset public hearings
Sen. Bell told the reporter newspapers
from newspapers to websites run by the
can charge whatever they want to run
state comptroller and the General Asthe notices. Tennessee Code Annotated
sembly. The purpose of such notice is to
8-21-1301 actually limits what a newspaassess the performance of state departper can charge: “not more than its reguments and agencies.
lar classified advertising rate.”
PUBLIC
His basic argument was that he has
In Arizona, the co-editor of the Intelnever seen anyone at a public hearing POLICY
lectual Conservative attacked “three
who attended because they read a notice
Republican legislators who hold themin a newspaper. According to a news re- OUTLOOK selves out as conservatives” because
port in The Daily Post-Athenian, Athens,
they “went against the position of conSen. Bell has asked the comptroller’s of- Frank Gibson servative groups and voted down a bill
fice to verify his claim.
in committee that would have eliminated the
He told the Athens reporter that newspapers newspaper monopoly.”
have a monopoly on publishing public notices.
Complaining because Web-only publications
His legislation “may bring an element of free do not get to carry public notices, she described
market competition into the public notice busi- public notices as “corporate welfare” and “crony
ness,” Bell was quoted as saying. He said he capitalism.”
would consider adding an amendment to his bill
She wrote that the fact that the three Republithat would welcome newspapers to publish the can lawmakers in Arizona voted against the bill
notices for free.
to move notices to the Internet “makes no sense,
Personally, I found his comments confusing. considering it would have the accompanying
benefit of speeding up the demise of the liberal
news media that consistently attacks Republicans.”
The political current also surfaced in a recent
piece by newspaper industry analyst Rick Edmonds at the Florida-based Poynter Institute.
Noting that newspapers had been able to fight
off attempts to move public notice over the last
few years, Edmonds said: “But, the tide could
be shifting. In Virginia, (eight) bills have been
introduced by Republicans. The governor is Republican and both houses of the legislature have
Republican majorities.
“Having a cordial relationship with print media may be a low priority for that state’s political
establishment or in Arizona, where a deregulation bill was introduced” in early February.
Public notice should not be a political issue. It
should be about getting information to the greatest number of readers, citizens and taxpayers as
possible and in the most efficient way.
FRANK GIBSON is TPA’s public policy director.
One can reach him at [email protected] or (615)
202-2685.
TRACKS
Anderson to retire after 70 years at Chattanooga Times Free Press
BY JOHN VASS
Business editor
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Lee S. Anderson, associate publisher
and editor of the Chattanooga Free
Press opinion page, will retire on April
18 after 70 years with the Chattanooga
Times Free Press.
The 86-year-old Anderson called his
career “fortunate, delightful, enjoyable and busy. I wouldn’t change a
thing.”
His career started in the era of manual typewriters and newsboys yelling
“Extra!” on the corner and is coming
to a close in the days of high-tech computers and a 24/7 news cycle on the
Internet.
“What has not changed, however, is
the newspaper’s vital role in its community – and Lee never lost sight of
that critical mission,” observed Edward VanHorn, executive director of
the Southern Newspaper Publishers
Association, a trade group that was
founded in 1903 and formerly based in
Chattanooga that since has moved to
Atlanta.
Walter E. Hussman Jr., publisher
and chairman of the Times Free
Press, said Anderson’s dedication, loyalty, work ethic and passion for newspapers have been an inspiration.
“Lee is one of a kind, a unique person,” he said.
Jason Taylor, president and general
manager of the Times Free Press,
called Anderson’s career “nothing
short of legendary.”
“Lee’s dedication and passion toward this newspaper and Chattanooga
States, opening
the way for him to
work at the paper
when he wasn’t in
school.
Anderson graduated from Chattanooga
High
School in 1943
and enrolled in
the
University
of Chattanooga.
He volunteered
for the Air Force
aviation cadet program at age 17 and
served 21 months
on active duty.
He returned to
the newspaper in
late 1945, coming
in at 6 a.m. before
heading to the University of ChattaLee Anderson, who’s worked at the Chattanooga nooga, where he
Times Free Press since age 16, is retiring.
attended classes
until 9:30 p.m. He
are an inspiration to so many,” he said. graduated in three years in 1948.
At the Chattanooga News-Free Press,
“We look forward to the weeks ahead
as we help lead the community in cel- Anderson tackled a wide range of assignments before being named associebrating Lee’s storied career.”
At age 16, Anderson was hired at the ate editor in 1948, then editor in 1958.
Chattanooga News-Free Press on April In 1990 he added the title of publisher
to his role as editor.
18, 1942, by then-Editor W.G. Foster.
Anderson’s leadership at the News“They surprised me and hired me,”
Anderson recalled. “I said, ‘When do Free Press continued after the paper’s
you want me to come to work?’ They acquisition in 1998 by WEHCO Media,
the Little Rock, Ark.-based company
said, ‘Immediately.’”
He has noted many times that, with headed by Hussman that also owns
so many American men being drafted the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. WEfor service in World War II, there HCO also subsequently bought The
were few available for such jobs in the Chattanooga Times.
On Jan. 5, 1999, WEHCO merged the
two Chattanooga newspapers into one
publication, now known as the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
The Times Free Press has continued
the tradition of offering two editorial perspectives by publishing two
opinion pages each day. Anderson has
headed the Free Press editorial page.
The separate editorial pages have
been a hallmark of the merged paper,
Hussman said.
“That’s been a great plus for Chattanooga,” he said, adding that the paper
plans to continue its commitment to
provide both conservative and liberal
perspectives.
During his newspaper career, Anderson also has had other business
interests, including as co-owner of a
tourist attraction known as the Confederama, which offered visitors a
presentation of the Civil War battles
in the Chattanooga area.
He also has been a leader in community endeavors, serving as chairman
of the United Way campaign, president of the Chattanooga Convention
and Visitors Bureau and chairman
of the local chapter of the American Red Cross. He also has been an
active Rotarian, serving as president of the Chattanooga Downtown
Rotary Club.
His leadership has continued at
First Presbyterian Church, where
for years he led a large Sunday
school class and served as an elder.
Anderson’s editorials over the
years have received key awards
for their conservative philosophy,
including a number of Freedoms
Foundation awards.
In 1950, Anderson married Elizabeth Williams (Betsy) McDonald, a
daughter of Chattanooga News-Free
Press founder and publisher Roy
McDonald.
The Andersons have two daughters, Corrine Elizabeth Adams and
Mary Stewart Anderson, both of
Atlanta, and they have two grandchildren.
(Feb. 7, 2012)
Have questions about the Sunshine Law, Open
Records Law or other legal matters of concern to
newspapers?
Member newspapers can call
Richard L. (Rick) Hollow on the
TPA LEGAL HOTLINE
at (865) 769-1715
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
4
Two newspapers end publication
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Roane County News, Kingston
CMYK
A long, storied chapter in the journalistic history of Roane County has
come to an end.
After the Feb. 27 edition of the combined weekly newspaper Rockwood
Times and Harriman Record goes out,
the newspaper is no more.
The primary unique content — Josephine McKinney’s column “’Round
Rockwood” and Louise Warmley’s column “Harriman Happenings” — will
be moved into the Roane County News’
Monday edition, which weekly subscribers will receive instead.
Those who subscribe to the Roane
County News as well as the weekly will
receive extensions on their subscription. Subscribers will receive letters
explaining the change.
Roane County News editor Terri Likens, who also oversees the weeklies,
said the decision was made to concentrate limited resources on the bigger
publication.
“I hated being part of pulling the
plug on these newspapers, but I was
relieved when I delved into their histories,” Likens said. “Not only had the
Roane County News already absorbed
much of what they once offered their
communities, but the weeklies themselves were products of long-ago
mergers between a handful of nearly
forgotten newspapers.”
“Even so, the work of the journalists who built them up should be recognized,” Likens added.
Both newspapers claimed existences of more than a century — including the newspapers they had merged
with.
The Rockwood Times traced its roots
back to the Roane County Republican,
which was started in 1880.
The Harriman Record’s bloodlines
included The East Tennessean of
Kingston, which got its start in 1865.
In their heydays, both skillfully covered major stories — like the floods of
1929 and the Rockwood mining disaster of 1926.
The Harriman Record had more
than one editor know for passionate
journalism.
Wesley M. Featherly, who headed
the newspaper from 1900 to 1919, was
described as an “old-time, outspoken,
fighting editor.”
“He got into a physical fight almost
every time The Record came out,” the
late County Judge Elmer Eblen was
quoted in historical accounts by a
later editor, Walter T. Pulliam.
Once, in county court, Featherly
was denounced as “that baboon from
Michigan.” The newspaperman
leaped over the benches to the front
Tennessee Press Association
Summer
Convention
Don’t miss Saturday night’s finale,
featuring a boat cruise, fireworks
and special access to Riverbend
Festival’s Coke Stage.
Sponsored by Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Chattanooga
June 14-16, 2012
and “floored” the speaker.
Perhaps the newspaper’s most glorious years were in the 1960s and 1970s
under Pulliam, a former Washington
Post city editor with area roots. Pulliam, now in his 90s, lives in Knoxville.
In 1963, after the murder of President John F. Kennedy, what came to be
known as The Harriman Record’s “Assassination Edition” sold an astonishing 58,000 editions, Pulliam reported.
Pulliam and the Harriman newspaper also received national recognition during the Watergate Era. It was
the smallest newspaper in the United
States — and the only one in Tennessee — to publish the full transcripts of
Nixon’s Watergate tapes.
The account took up 40 pages in the
newspaper.
Pulliam also used his Washington
connections to get a scoop.
On Aug. 8, 1974, the Harriman newspaper was the first in Tennessee to announce news of embattled President
Richard Nixon’s resignation.
Some of the Rockwood’s newspaper’s best coverage was of a fatal 1926
mine explosion. The paper put out
extra editions as more bodies were
found.
The following is an excerpt from the
newspaper:
“News of the disaster was brought
to the surface by Eugene Tedder, who
was knocked down by the force of the
explosion while working in a room
two miles distant, and caused great
excitement in the city. The first report
was that 65 men were in the entry,
while a subsequent check of names
at the Roane Iron company office reduced the list to 32, the final list showing 31 names.
“A large crowd gathered at the
mouth of the mines soon after news
was received at the surface between
10:30 and 11:00 o’clock, and local policemen and American Legion members were station to guard the roped
off areas that was soon established.
No cars were allowed to take the road
to the mines without a pass.
“The first newspaper accounts of the
explosion were contained in two extra
editions of The Times, one of which
was on the streets at 1:30 Monday afternoon with a list of the entombed
men and an account of the sending of
the first rescue party.
“The second extra was off the press
shortly before 6:00 o’clock with a report of the rescue of Ebbie Davis,
E.G. Boles, Will Teague and Arthur
Teague, all alive, and the finding of
the body of W.C. Elliot.
“The Times extras had a sale of 1,000
copies and many more were called for
after the editions were exhausted.”
(Jan. 23, 2012)
Nada
“No one should be able to pull the
curtains of secrecy around decisions
which can be revealed without injury
to the public interest.”
Lyndon B. Johnson, U.S. president
MARCH 2012
TPA OKs new associate members
The TPA Board of Directors approved Capitol Newswatch, Liberty
Mutual and TNReport.com as associate members at its meeting on Feb. 8.
Following is pertinent information
on all three:
Capitol Newswatch is represented
by Amelia Morrison Hipps, executive
editor and CEO, and Jim Hipps. Amelia Hipps was managing editor of The
Lebanon Democrat.
[email protected]
www.capitolnewswatch.com
Phone: (615) 442-8667
Toll Free: (888) 417-8567
1260 Trousdale Ferry Pike
Lebanon, Tenn. 37087
Liberty Mutual is represented by
Stephen Dorris. Previously, Dorris
was regional manager for Publishing
Group of America and owner of the
Mt. Juliet News.
Stephen.Dorris@LibertyMutual.
com
Phone: (615) 822-7196
100 Bluegrass Commons Blvd.
Hendersonville, Tenn. 37075
TNReport.com News Service is represented by Mark Engler, editor. Engler is a journalist with experience in
newspapers in the Pacific Northwest.
www.tnreport.com
[email protected]
Phone: (615) 489-7006
P.O. Box 119
Buffalo Valley, Tenn. 38547
Help campaign on electronic subscriptions
At long last, after nearly four years
of efforts by National Newspaper Association’s (NNA) Max Heath and the
Postal Committee, the U.S. Postal Service is considering a proposal to allow
electronic subscriptions to count as
paid circulation.
If the proposal succeeds, newspapers could begin immediately to ramp
up e-subscriptions to count them in
the October Statement of Ownership. As long-distance mail service
deteriorates, members tell NNA these
electronic subscriptions have become
more important.
There are two ways to help.
1. You can write USPS directly with
your comments. You can find the proposal here, along with instructions
on where to write. Comments are due
March 5.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR2012-02-03/pdf/2012-2374.pdf
2. Or you can join with other NNA
members in providing your comments
through this short survey. All signed
comments will be provided to USPS.
Anonymous submissions will not be
included.
To take the survey, click on this link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/
YYW27WR
NCEW changes name, becomes
Association of Opinion Journalists
The National Conference of Editorial Writers has announced that its
membership has renamed it the Association of Opinion Journalists (AOJ).
Founded in 1947, the organization remains dedicated to the craft of opinion journalism through education,
professional development, exploration
of issues and vigorous advocacy within journalism.
“The debate that took place on the
nation’s opinion pages and, in later
years, through broadcast editorials,
now happens on a variety of online
TRACKS
Lebanon Publishing Co., which
owns The Lebanon Democrat, Mt. Juliet News and Hartsville Vidette, has
hired Clay Morgan as director of
content and audience development.
In addition to serving as managing
editor, he will direct expansion of the
company’s footprint in digital content
development, social media and mobile
content delivery.
Morgan has more than two decades
of news experience with magazines
and newspapers in Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and Texas. He was
born and reared in Memphis.
and other media platforms,” said organization president Froma Harrop,
a columnist with Creators Syndicate
and member of The Providence (R.I.)
Journal editorial board. “Our new
name encompasses the many media in
which opinion writers work.”
For more information on AOJ, please
contact Lisa Strohl, AOJ Manager, at
(717) 703-3015 or [email protected].
The group’s new website is www.
opinionjournalists.org.
(SNPA eBulletin, Jan. 19, 2012)
Have a
job opening?
Post your
open positions
and review
resumes in the
employment
area of
www.tnpress.com.
The Tennessee Press
MARCH 2012
Win a trip to the 2012 Ad/Circ Conference
BY BETH ELLIOTT
TPS ad networks manager
Have you heard?
Tennessee Press
Service is having
a contest for sales
reps at newspapers
that participate in
Tennessee’s Advertising Networks.
Time is running
Elliott
out, though. The
contest ends in April.
Here’s what’s at stake: a trip to the
2012 Ad/Circ Conference in Gatlinburg or a chance to win $50! The trip
includes conference registration, one
night’s stay at the Park Vista Hotel and
some transportation money. The rep
that sells the most TnSCAN, TnDAN
or TnNET ads by April will win the
trip. All other reps will be entered into
a drawing to win $50.
You may be saying to yourself, “Selling one of these ads sounds easy, but
my market is just too small.” Do you
have any businesses with multiple locations? Do you have any businesses
needing to recruit for specialized positions? Do you have local festivals, sales
or events that want to draw crowds
outside your area? Do you already
place ads in your newspaper that have
an area code outside your own? If you
answer yes to any of these questions,
then you have a good candidate.
The next step is being knowledgeable about the networks. In a nutshell,
Tennessee’s advertising networks
are a low-cost option for advertisers
to place ads in multiple newspapers
through one point of contact, preferably their local newspaper sales rep.
The networks are groups of TPA member newspapers that publish classified
line ads (TnSCAN), small display ads
(TnDAN) and online ads (TnNET) for
one low rate. Materials explaining the
networks in full detail are posted on
www.tnpress.com/statewides/, or you
may contact TPS.
After becoming familiar with the
networks, don’t forget to promote
them. Up-sell the network ads to your
existing advertisers; the networks can
be offered as additional exposure in
multiple markets. The networks provide advertisers wider coverage than
your newspaper and with the convenience of one order, one payment, one
contact – YOU.
Once you land the sale, collect the
payment from your advertiser and
send the ad to TPS for placement. TPS
does all of the legwork, by distributing the ads each week and verifying
publication.
Make your sale by April and be entered into the contest. In addition to
the contest, your newspaper makes a
nice commission on every ad you sell.
Advertising &
Circulation Conference
Join us to learn how your
newspaper can get
“A Bigger Slice”
Friday, May 4
Gatlinburg
Watch for conference details March 8.
As of mid-February, five reps have
sold ads that qualify* for the contest.
They are Teri Jennings with The
Leader, Covington; Jon Weaver with
the Dale Hollow Horizon, Celina; Richard Southerland with The Greeneville
Sun; Sharon Moses with The Greeneville Sun; and Stephanie White with the
Johnson City Press.
If your newspaper does not participate in all three networks, you could
be missing out—missing out on exciting contests such as this one; missing
out on a new revenue stream; missing
out on filling remnant space with paid
ads. Contact TPS for more information, (865) 584-5761 x117 or belliott@
tnpress.com.
*Ads that are sold by an agency and
not by a participating newspaper, then
submitted to TPS for placement do not
qualify for the contest.
Board OKs Leader
as member newspaper
The Fulton Leader, Fulton, Ky., was
accepted as a member of the Tennessee Press Association on Feb. 8. The
newspaper, owned by Magic Valley
Publishing Co. Inc., serves Fulton, Ky.
and South Fulton, Tenn., which is located in Obion County.
The following are pertinent data:
The Fulton Leader
Paid Circulation: 1,406
Established: 1898
P.O. Box 1200
304 East State Line Rd.,
Fulton, Ky. 42041-1200
(270) 472-1122
Publisher: Dennis Richardson
Editor: Stephanie Veatch
Advertising Manager: Benita Gamon
Contests Committee
to meet March 2 at TPA
TPA’s Contests Committee chairman
has called a meeting of the committee
for Friday, March 2, at 10 a.m. at the
TPA headquarters in Knoxville. Members with an interest in serving on the
committee responsible for the State
Press Contests are invited.
Terri Likens, editor of the Roane
County News, Kingston, is chairman.
Please advise Robyn Gentile, TPA
member services manager, if you
plan to attend the meeting—rgentile@
tnpress.com or (865) 584-5761 x105.
3
NAME to meet
in Chattanooga
The Chattanooga Times Free Press
will serve as host to the Mid-Atlantic
Newspaper Advertising Marketing
Executives (NAME) at the annual conference Thursday through Saturday,
April 12-14.
The Sheraton Read House Hotel in
Chattanooga will be convention headquarters. One should call (423) 2664121 to make your reservations—and
make it clear that you will be part of
the conference. The rate is $129 plus
taxes of $22.25, for a nightly total of
$151.25.
The conference will start at 1 p.m. on
Thursday with a session on electronic
media. A bus will load at 5 p.m. for the
trip to the Civil War Dinner Theater.
This cost will be included with conference registration.
Bill Cummings, advertising sales
manager of the Johnson City Press, is
NAME executive vice president, while
Leslie Kahana, advertising director
of the Times Free Press, serves as
secretary-treasurer and Sissy Smith,
advertising director of the Shelbyville
Times-Gazette, is a director. John E.
Cash, senior vice president/advertising with Jones Media, Greeneville, is
president of the NAME Scholarship
Foundation.
Hill Science Lecture
set March 13 at UTK
The Alfred and Julia Hill Science
Lecture will take place at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 13, in the Shiloh Room of
the University Center on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville.
The speaker will be Stephen S. Hall,
a science writer for The New York
Times. The topic is “Alternate Universes: Different Ways of Thinking
about Science and Science Journalism.”
This is the 20th year for the lecture,
named for the late founders and publishers of The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge.
Judging days set
Staff members from Tennessee
Press Association newspapers will
judge the news contest of the Texas
Press Associaton this year. Judging
will take place April 19 in Nashville
and April 20 in Knoxville. Those willing to participate should contact TPA
at (865) 584-5761.
Tennessee Press Service
Advertising Placement Snapshot
ROP:
Network:
January 2012:
$251,789
$69,624
Year* as of Jan. 31:
$498,468
$117,861
*The Tennessee Press Service Inc. fiscal year runs Dec. 1 through Nov. 30.
FORESIGHT
2012
MARCH
2: TPA Contests Committee, 10
a.m., TPA headquarters
2: Read Across America Day
5-9: Newspaper in Education
Week
8-9: NNA We Believe in Newspapers Conference (formerly,
Government Affairs Conference), Hyatt Crystal City, Washington, D.C.
11-17: Sunshine Week
13: Hill Science Lecture, 8 p.m.,
Shiloh Room of University Center, UT, Knoxville
16: 14th Annual National Freedom
of Information Day Conference,
Knight Conference Center at the
Newseum, Washington, D.C.
25-30: Investigative Reporters
and Editors Computer-Assisted
Reporting (CAR) Boot Camp,
Columbia, Mo.
30-31: SPJ Region 12 Spring
Conference, Holiday Inn Crowne
Plaza, Lafayette, La.
APRIL
2-4: Newspaper Association
of America and the American
Society of Newspaper Editors,
Washington, D.C.
12-14: American Copy Editors Society, Sheraton Canal Street,
New Orleans, La.
12-14: Mid-Atlantic Newspaper
Advertising Marketing Executives, Sheraton Read House
Hotel, Chattanooga
13: Investigative Reporters and
Editors Better Watchdog Workshop, Chattanooga
19: Judging of Texas Press Association contests, Nashville
20: Judging of Texas Press Association contests, Knoxville
22-24: Southern Circulation Managers Association, Birmingham,
Ala.
MAY
4: TPA Advertising/Circulation
Conference, Gatlinburg
11-12: FOI Summit, Wisconsin
Freedom of Information Council
and National Freedom of
Information Coalition, Madison
Concourse Hotel and Governor’s
Club, Madison, Wis.
JUNE
14-16: TPA Summer Convention,
Chattanooga
16: TAPME awards event, Nashville
JULY
13: UT-TPA State Press Contests
awards luncheon, Nashville
(tentative)
SEPTEMBER
13: Associated Press Media Editors Annual Conference, Nashville (tentative)
Sept. 30-Oct. 2: News Industry
Summit (annual convention),
The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, Fla.
OCTOBER
4-7: NNA 126th Annual Convention, Embassy Suites Airport
Convention Center, Charleston,
S.C.
version
X.V
11-13: 15th Institute of Newspaper
Technology, UT-Knoxville
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
10
MARCH 2012
Column a bit out of comfort zone
(USPS 616-460)
Published quarterly by the
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE, INC.
for the
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION, INC.
435 Montbrook Lane
Knoxville, Tennessee 37919
Telephone (865) 584-5761/Fax (865) 558-8687/www.tnpress.com
Subscriptions: $6 annually
Periodicals Postage Paid At Knoxville, TN
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Tennessee Press,
435 Montbrook Lane, Knoxville, TN 37919.
The Tennessee Press is printed by The Standard Banner, Jefferson City.
Greg M. Sherrill.....................................................Editor
Elenora E. Edwards.............................Managing Editor
Robyn Gentile..........................Production Coordinator
Angelique Dunn...............................................Assistant
The Tennessee Press
is printed on recycled paper
and is recyclable.
www.tnpress.com
The Tennessee Press can be read on
CMYK
OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
Jeffrey D. Fishman, The Tullahoma News...........................................President
Michael Williams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer............................Vice President
Lynn Richardson, Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough...................Vice President
Dale Gentry, The Standard Banner, Jefferson City.............................Treasurer
Greg M. Sherrill, Knoxville....................................................Executive Director
DIRECTORS
Keith Wilson, Kingsport Times-News....................................................District 1
Jack McElroy, News Sentinel, Knoxville..............................................District 2
Chris Vass, Chattanooga Times Free Press...........................................District 3
Darren Oliver, Overton County News, Livingston...............................District 4
Hugh Jones, Shelbyville Times-Gazette...............................................District 5
Joe Adams, The Lebanon Democrat.....................................................District 6
John Finney, Buffalo River Review, Linden.........................................District 7
Brad Franklin, The Lexington Progress.................................................District 8
Joel Washburn, Dresden Enterprise.....................................................District 9
Eric Barnes, The Daily News, Memphis..............................................District 10
Victor Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange..................................Past President
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE
Michael Williams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer....................................President
Victor Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange.................................Vice President
Jeff Fishman, The Tullahoma News........................................................Director
Pauline D. Sherrer, Crossville Chronicle................................................Director
Jason Taylor, Chattanooga Times Free Press.........................................Director
Greg M. Sherrill............................................................Executive Vice President
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION
Gregg K. Jones, The Greeneville Sun..................................................President
Victor Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange.................................Vice President
Richard L. Hollow, Knoxville....................................................General Counsel
Greg M. Sherrill....................................................................Secretary-Treasurer
CONTACT THE MANAGING EDITOR
TPAers with suggestions, questions or comments about items inTheTennessee
Press are welcome to contact the managing editor. Call Elenora E. Edwards,
(865) 457-5459; send a note to P.O. Box 502, Clinton,Tenn. 37717-0502; or email
[email protected]. The deadline for the April issue is March 12.
There are many duties expected of the TPA preseducation reform by doing what’s best for Tennesident, not least of which is to provide a monthly
see children; and ensure the state budget is mancolumn for The Tennessee Press newspaper. I have
aged conservatively and state government is run
written plenty of news stories, sales proposals
efficiently while delivering quality service to the
and internal company correspondence, but I have
citizens.
never written a regular column. Although most
During Gov. Haslam’s first year in office, the legpeople who know me will readily admit I am not
islature passed his budget proposal unanimously
shy on opinions, I have never had the responsi– a budget that absorbed more than a $1 billion
bility to provide those thoughts in writing. A big
reduction in federal funding; included the first
factor is the realization that what I write needs to
salary increase for state employees in four years;
be engaging and challenging (oh, and don’t forget YOUR
and softened the impact of the Hall Income Tax on
coherent) and is targeted to an audience filled PRESIDING seniors. With job growth inextricably tied to eduwith people I admire, many of whom have known
cation and businesses looking for more certainty,
me for many, many years. They have watched me REPORTER
he signed into law his priorities of tenure reform;
grow up. They know the good, the bad and the
tort reform; allowing more charter schools; and
ugly. And they are editors at heart.
allowing college students to use HOPE lottery
Jeff
Fishman
So, put it all together. I have to write a regular
scholarships for summer classes. He rolled out
column for mentors and peers who are mostly
JOBS-4-TN, the state’s economic development plan
family and editors. If I think about it too long it becomes a
that regionalizes the Economic and Community Developpretty big deal. It may not surprise you that TPA staff has to
ment Department and leverages existing assets in the state’s
chase me each month to get my column finished, but please
unique and distinct areas.
forgive me, as this duty is a bit out of my comfort zone.
He was born and raised in Knoxville, and he and his wife
Feb. 8, 9 and 10 was the TPA winter convention in Nashof 30 years, Crissy, have three grown children, a son-in-law, a
ville. The purpose of this gathering is two-fold.
daughter-in-law and a new grandson!
1. Training: The challenges facing newspapers are such
By the way, Gov. Haslam is a great example of a political
that our best and brightest are not always getting the guidleader who values sunshine in government. When some legance and training they need to become the next generation
islators wanted to water down Tennessee’s Sunshine Law, he
of leaders. They need workshops and seminars close to
stood firm for open government.
home at a reasonable cost. TPA and our sister organization
We are fortunate to have great sponsors for our Press InstiTPAF are doing something about this. The Press Institute
tute. Their generosity made possible the opening reception
is our premiere training event, featuring new techniques in
Wednesday night. AT&T was our primary sponsor, and the
such disciplines as reporting, technology, advertising and
following newspaper companies contributed:
circulation for both print and digital delivery.
Jones Media and The Greeneville Sun
2. Government relations: We had a great turnout Feb. 8
News Sentinel, Knoxville
from our elected state officials. We rekindled some old relaCitizen Tribune, Morristown and Lakeway Publishers
tionships as well as fostered new friendships. TPA’s recepThe Daily News, Memphis
tion has been in the past, and continues to be, one of the
The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro
must-shows among the hundreds of private gatherings on
The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville
The Hill. We will work with both Democrats and RepubliThe Courier, Savannah
cans who were supportive in the past and enlist their help
The Courier News, Clinton
to identify and build relationships with those who might be
Gallatin News Examiner
helpful in the future.
Hamilton County Herald, Chattanooga
We all face increasing pressure in the effort to preserve
Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough
open records and open meetings, and we have new commuand last but not least,
nication tools bringing on new challenges as people try to
The Tullahoma News!
keep emails, tweets, Facebook and text messages out of pubWe are also grateful to the University of Tennessee for prolic view, hiding the public’s business from them.
viding many years of support for the Institute sessions and
Somebody ought to do something about that. And TPA is!
to our other convention sponsors: TPAF, President Gregg K.
In last year’s legislative session more than 20 bills were
Jones; the Associated Press, Adam Yeomans; The Daily News,
introduced that directly targeted our industry. Most focused
Memphis, Eric Barnes; the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.
on public records and open meetings. Thus we hired a fullThe planning committee for this convention, chaired by
time public policy director (PPD).
Eric Barnes, did an outstanding job providing great content
Creating and staffing this position wasn’t without controin good venues for both training and networking. Thank Eric
versy. Gregg K. Jones and TPA immediate past president
when you see him for an outstanding job.
Art Powers are two of many who deserve thanks for their
TPA has enjoyed a partnership with UT for more than 60
courage, vision and leadership in recognizing the problem
years with joint projects including the annual Press Instiand then fostering a solution. TPA has made a great hire in
tute, UT-TPA State Press Contests, Tennessee Newspaper
Frank Gibson to be our PPD. We lured him from the TennesHall of Fame and the Institute of Newspaper Technology.
see Coalition for Open Government, leaving a void at TCOG.
It was our privilege to have DiPietro speak to us at lunch.
We were able to help TCOG backfill that integral leadership
He is a veterinarian by training. His career in higher educaposition with our old friend Kent Flanagan. If choosing a
tion includes serving as the dean of the University of Flordream team, regardless of budget, we would be hard-pressed
ida’s College of Veterinary Medicine and chancellor of the
to find a pair of professionals who are as passionate and caUT Institute of Agriculture. During his tenure at the Instipable as this dynamic duo!
tute, it began interdisciplinary programs such as the Center
Henry Ford said, “Coming together is a beginning. Keepfor Renewable Carbon, the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative and
ing together is progress. Working together is success.” Let’s
the master’s degree in landscape architecture. Between 2006
all work together with our old friends in office, new lawmakand 2010, external grant support for the Institute increased
ers and others who value the public’s business being con30 percent from $26.6 million to $34.8 million annually.
ducted in sunshine.
After this very impressive person was feebly introduced
Among others, our three main guests for the winter conby me he told the story of how, although he possesses great
vention’s keynote luncheon were Gov. Bill Haslam, UT
training in the field of veterinary pathogens and parasites,
President Dr. Joe DiPietro and MTSU President Dr. Sidney
he was unable to diagnose his own cat with what looked to
McPhee. These are all men whom I have had the pleasure of
be a very serious and mysterious affliction. It turned out to
knowing over the years but have never had the responsibilbe fleas! Guess it goes to prove that common sense trumps
ity of sharing the podium with. Pretty daunting!
higher learning sometimes! Dr. Joe was a great sport and we
are grateful for the relationship.
Gov. Haslam was elected the 49th governor of Tennessee
Keep reading The Tennessee Press for information and upwith the largest margin of victory in any open governor’s
dates on our upcoming events.
race in our state’s history. His administration’s three top
priorities are: To make Tennessee the number one location
in the Southeast for high quality jobs; continue our state’s
JEFF FISHMAN is publisher of The Tullahoma News.
The Tennessee Press
MARCH 2012
11
Recommendation to publishers: move ahead
BY KEVIN SLIMP
TPS technology director
I’ve had an interesting couple of
weeks.
For the first time,
I was invited to
speak at the Michigan Press Association’s convention
in Grand Rapids. I
Slimp
never know what
to expect when I’m with a new group.
Will the group be somber and quiet,
or will the attendees be lively and responsive?
My worries were relieved after just a
few minutes. Publishers who arrived
early waited to tell me how excited
they were to hear what I had to say
about our industry’s future. Others
came by while I was setting up to tell
me how much they enjoy reading my
columns.
With ample ego strokes, I presented
two topics on Friday related to online
revenue and customer service, then
went on to set up for a morning keynote on Saturday.
The president of the association
came by to say hi and to let me know I
shouldn’t be disappointed in the turnout. “It’s always a light crowd on Saturday morning,” he said.
“No problem,” I responded, “I never
expect a crowd on Saturday morning
at 8:00.”
The room was substantial and had
seats arranged in eight or 10 rows,
maybe 20 to 25 chairs in a row. It was a
wide room but not very deep. I figured
maybe 30 people would show up and
I’d speak in front of an empty room.
Just as happened in Kentucky the
week before, when dozens of chairs
had to be added, the room began to
fill, and before I knew it, all the seats
were taken. The topic was “What I’ve
learned this year from successful
newspapers.”
I talked about papers I had visited
in Tennessee, Ontario, Kentucky, Minnesota and points all over the map. I
shared some of the commonalities
among these papers. Things like the
following:
•Investment in staff, training and
equipment
•Trust among staff, publishers and
other managers
•Keeping staff in place whenever
possible.
The audience laughed out loud when
I told of some of the things I had seen
at newspapers and wrote furiously as
I shared advice as they plan for the
future.
When the Michigan keynote ended,
a line formed. One publisher after
another wanted to talk about his or
her situation. College students (there
were probably 30 or 40 in attendance)
asked me for advice concerning their
futures.
Finally, after visiting with at least
two dozen folks, the line was gone.
From my left appeared a man who
asked if he could talk with me. He
shared that he published a newspaper
in the state and was already making
plans to cease his printed newspaper
and go with an online version.
“I’ve got to tell you,” he said. “You
may have changed my mind.”
Like thousands of other publishers,
he’s heard the reports of gloom and
doom. And like some others, he was
ready to accept his newspaper’s fate.
It’s not my job to talk people into
anything. I just present the facts and
share what I see at newspapers all
over North America. I’m constantly
amazed that anyone has any interest
in hearing anything I have to say. It
surprises me even more when I hear
from publishers that tell me they’ve
changed their future plans after reading or hearing what I think.
Iowa was more of the same the week
after Michigan. Another convention.
More chairs had to be added to the
already large room. That was three
weeks in a row.
Next up are conventions in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas, New York,
Kansas and back to Iowa.
We keep hearing that our industry is
at a crossroad. Coming to a crossroad
doesn’t mean it’s best to take a hard
right or hard left turn. Sometimes you
move ahead.
Let me suggest that for most of us,
it’s time to move ahead. Sure, you’ll
pick up some new tools along the way.
But the introduction of mobile media,
social media and competing sources
for news doesn’t mean that newspapers are outdated or history.
Be careful when you come to that
crossroad. Straight ahead might be
the best route for your newspaper.
API, NAAF approve merger to meet newspapers’ needs
The American Press Institute (API)
and the Newspaper Association of
America Foundation (NAAF) announced Jan. 25 that they will merge
to create a new organization focused
on meeting newspapers’ crucial multimedia training and development
needs. The merger agreement has
been approved by the boards of directors of both organizations.
Over the course of the next several
months, leadership of the new entity
will map out the specifics of integrating existing API and NAA Foundation
programs into the new organization.
Organizational and related details
will also be addressed through a comprehensive review process under the
direction of board governance that
will be drawn from both the NAA
Foundation Board of Trustees and the
API Board of Directors.
Find solutions to suppositions
that trouble circulation leaders
BY JIM BOYD
Chairman of the board, SCMA
Here’s a supposition: Training, networking and idea-sharing opportunities for the circulation leaders at your
newspaper are more limited than was
once the case.
Here’s another supposition: Given
today’s news media environment,
there’s probably never been a time
when hearing about business development opportunities is more important.
Here’s a solution to the resulting conundrum from the statements above:
Attend this year’s Southern Circulation Managers’ Association (SCMA)
Conference April 22 through 24 at the
Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham, Ala.
Simply put, it will be the single most
cost-effective expenditure your company will make in 2012.
Addressed at this year’s meeting will
be three of the most vexing questions
circulation leaders face:
• How do I significantly drive revenue without perpetuating the erosion
of my customer base?
• How do I grow audience and make
money with our digital product offerings?
• What on earth do I do about my
not-so-robust daily single copy sales?
Matt Lindsay of Mather Economics,
Eric Wynn of The Oklahoman, Jim
Fleigner of Impact Consulting, Jeff
Hartley of Morris Publishing Group,
Martha Hines of Grand Rapids Press,
John Murray of Newspaper Association of America and other true industry experts will be there to provide
actionable answers.
For more information and to receive
a registration form, contact Glen Tabor, circulation director, Kingsport
Times-News, treasurer, at gtabor@
timesnews.net or Debra Casciano,
circulation director, Press-Register,
Mobile, Ala., at [email protected].
The new organization will have a
board chaired by Mark Newhouse,
executive vice president/newspapers
of Advance Publications Inc., that
combines representation from the
API Board of Directors and the NAAF
Board of Trustees. Bob Weil, vice president of operations for the McClatchy
Co., will serve as vice chairman.
NAA represents nearly 2,000 newspapers and their multiplatform businesses in the United States and Canada and is headquartered in Arlington,
Va.
The NAA Foundation strives to de-
velop engaged and literate citizens
in our diverse society through investment in and support of programs
designed to enhance student achievement through newspaper readership
and appreciation of the First Amendment.
API is the trusted source for career
and leadership development for the
news media industry in North America and around the world. It was founded in 1946 by the late Sevellon Brown,
editor and publisher of the Providence
Journal.
(NAA)
HOW TO CONTACT US
Tennessee Press
Association
Mail: 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Web: www.tnpress.com
E-mail: (name)@tnpress.
com
Those with boxes, listed
alphabetically:
Laurie Alford (lalford)
Pam Corley (pcorley)
Angelique Dunn (adunn)
Beth Elliott (belliott)
Robyn Gentile (rgentile)
Frank Gibson (fgibson)
Earl Goodman (egoodman)
Kathy Hensley (khensley)
Barry Jarrell (bjarrell)
Greg Sherrill (gsherrill)
Kevin Slimp (kslimp)
Heather Wright (hwright)
Advertising e-mail:
[email protected]
MARKETPLACE
HELP WANTED—The Courier, Savannah, a family-owned, 127-year-old
award-winning weekly newspaper in
Hardin County, seeks a strong managing editor to lead its well-established
news organization and direct the dayto-day print and online news operation.
Candidates are expected to be able to
supervise news and sports reporters,
page designers and Web manager. We
are looking for someone who knows
how to lead a community newspaper,
directing reporters in meaningful coverage of events important to readers’
lives, both in print and online. We’re
looking for a skilled editor with layout
experience, a command of AP style
and the personal qualities needed to
develop a rapport with staffers as well
as community members. The managing editor will also need strong writing, editing, design and pagination
skills to ensure stories are accurate,
fair, complete and a good read. Candidates must also possess sound news
Tennessee Press Service
judgment, a belief in classic journalistic standards, as well as solid coaching, management and departmental
budgeting skills. The managing editor will participate as a member of
the senior leadership team. A full list
of requirements can be found in our
posting in the employments section of
www.tnpress.com.
Hardin County is bisected by the Tennessee River and is home to Shiloh National Military Park, Pickwick Dam
and Lake. It shares a tri-state southern border with Mississippi and Alabama. Hardin County offers many
recreational opportunities and rural
community charms with the amenities of an urban setting just an easy
drive away.
Interested applicants should submit a
resume, three recent writing samples
and salary expectations to: The Courier, P.O. Box 340, Savannah, TN 38372.
Submissions also may be made via email to [email protected].
Mail: 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Web: www.tnadvertising.
biz
Tennessee Press
Association Foundation
Mail: 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Web: www.tnpress.com
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
2
The Tennessee Press
12
MARCH 2012
SUNSHINE, NIE WEEKS, READING DAY
FROM PAGE ONE
JUDGES NEEDED!
TPA members are
needed to judge the
Texas Press Association’s
Better Newspaper Contest
NASHVILLE
Thursday, April 19
around them. Furthermore, in using
the newspaper as a primary source,
students learn how to navigate varied
text features. Newspapers also help
students understand and relate to current events, practice valuable reading
and writing skills and learn how to
make informed decisions.
Integration of newspapers is an excellent way to introduce students to
expository text with the added benefit
of teaching a variety of topics. News
stories and columns about government, current events, technology, public affairs and international relations
can be connected directly to subjects
students are learning in their contentarea classes while cultivating valuable literacy skills.
Read Across America is always
March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss
(Theodore Geisel), author of The Cat
in the Hat and many other much-loved
children’s books. The Cat is the symbol of this day.
Read Across America, a project
sponsored since 1977 by the National
Education Association, is a reading
motivation and awareness program
that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading and provides NEA members, parents, caregivers and children the resources and
activities they need to keep reading on
the calendar 365 days a year.
In cities and towns across the nation, teachers, teenagers, librarians,
politicians, actors, athletes, parents,
grandparents and others such as
newspapers develop activities to bring
reading excitement to children of all
ages. Governors, mayors and other
elected officials recognize the role
reading plays in their communities
with proclamations.
Motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement
and creating lifelong successful readers. For more, see www.nea.org.
Contributors to the TPAF ‘I Believe’ campaign thus far:
• Chattanooga Times Free Press
• Crossville Chronicle, In Memory
of Perry Sherrer
• Jones Media, In Memory of
Edith O’Keefe Susong and Quincy
Marshall O’Keefe
The Daily Post Athenian, Athens
The Herald-News, Dayton
The Greeneville Sun
News-Herald, Lenoir City
The Daily Times, Maryville
The Newport Plain Talk
The Rogersville Review
The Advocate & Democrat,
Sweetwater
• News Sentinel, Knoxville
• The Paris Post-Intelligencer, In
Memory of W. Bryant Williams
• Republic Newspapers
The Courier News, Clinton
• Nathan Crawford, In Memory of
James Walter Crawford Sr. and C.T.
(Charlie) Crawford Jr.
National FOI Day
Conference set
The 14th annual National Freedom
of Information Day Conference will be
held Friday, March 16 — James Madison’s birth date — at the Knight Conference Center at the Newseum, 555
Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington,
D.C.
There is no charge to attend, but attendees are encouraged to guarantee
seating in advance. To register, email
or telephone Ashlie Hampton of the
FAC at [email protected]
or (202) 292-6288.
Speakers will include Robert O’Neil,
former director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free
Expression. Program details are at
www.firstamendmentcenter.org.
GOAL: $1,000,000
$800K
$700K
$600K
MARK HUMPHREY | AP
Gov. Bill Haslam, fresh into the second year of a four-year term, speaks
Feb. 9 to the Tennessee Press Association. He talked about his proposal to
remove the class size limit in schools to provide local flexibility, but within
a few days, after objections from many sources, he abandoned the idea.
Thorough coverage of the Winter Convention and Press Institute will be
presented in a special section of the April issue of The Tennessee Press.
$500K
$249,500
2-12
C
M
Y
$200K
K
Friday, April 20
$100K
A group of 10 Tennessee Press Association (TPA) members has begun a
review of the terms
of what defines a
“bona fide” newspaper of general circulation in TennesParkins
see. The Newspaper
Definition Task Force was named at
the TPA Winter Convention Feb. 8 in
Nashville. Its first meeting was to be a
teleconference held March 1.
Chairing the group is Victor Parkins,
The Milan Mirror-Exchange, TPA past
president. Other members are Eric
Barnes, The Daily News, Memphis;
Patrick Birmingham, News Sentinel,
Knoxville; Elizabeth K. Blackstone,
Kennedy Newspapers, Columbia; Don
Bona, Hamilton County Herald, Chattanooga; Jim Charlet, Honorary Member, Brentwood; Jeff Fishman, The
Tullahoma News, TPA president and
ex officio; Lynn Richardson, Herald
& Tribune, Jonesborough, TPA vice
president for non-dailies; Michael
Williams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer,
TPA vice president for dailies; and
Keith Wilson, Kingsport-Times News.
Working as task force advisors are
Frank Gibson, Nashville, TPA public
policy director; Bo Johnson, Johnson
& Poss, Nashville; and Kent Flana-
gan, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government,
Nashville.
Tennessee’s current newspaper definition is derived from the 1972-1973
TPA Newspaper Definition Committee chaired by the late W. Bryant Williams of The Paris Post-Intelligencer.
Members of that committee included
Jim Charlet, W.T. Franklin, John Paul
Jones, Allen Pettus, William C. Postlewaite, Morris Simon and James W.R.
White.
Results of that committee’s work
now reside in the TPA Constitution
and the Tennessee election laws.
Generally, the seven-part definition
includes a name or title, regular publication at least weekly for a definite
price paid, mailed by Second-Class
(later renamed Periodicals) permit,
circulated in the political subdivision
in which it is published, consisting
of no fewer than four pages, and published continuously for one year.
Publications distributed by associations, professions, religions or special
interest groups generally do not meet
the definition of newspapers of general interest circulation.
Suggestions to create a Newspaper
Definition Task Force emerged from
the Feb. 8 discussions at the TPA Government Affairs Committee as part of
a meeting during the Winter Convention.
Committee members reasoned it
might be prudent to reexamine current elements of the “bona fide” newspaper definition, considering current
technologies affecting newspapers.
The TPA Board of Directors agreed,
and creation of the Newspaper Definition Task Force resulted.
Summer Convention in Chattanooga
The TPA Summer Convention Committee met Feb. 23 to continue work on
that convention’s schedule.
While not ready to be fully released
yet, we can tell you that you should
plan to be at the convention Thursday through Saturday, June 14-16. The
convention coincides with the popular
Riverbend music festival. A special
boat cruise and Riverbend access are
planned for Saturday night.
So many session ideas have been
discussed that the challenge will be to
work them all into the schedule. Details will be available in early April,
but please mark your calendar now.
The committee is chaired by Lyndsi
Sebastian of the Chattanooga Times
Free Press.
March brings Sunshine Week,
NIE Week, special reading day
$400K
KNOXVILLE
If you can serve as a judge,
contact Robyn Gentile,
[email protected] or
(865) 584-5761, ext. 105
Group formed to define newspaper
$900K
$300K
No. 9
MARCH 2012
Vol. 75
Not only do we hope this month, in
which spring arrives, will bring sunshine, but it brings Sunshine Week as
well as Newspaper in Education Week
and Read Across America Day.
All provide opportunities for newspapers to carry special material
and connect with readers about the
people’s right to know, the excellent
resource newspapers can be for classrooms and the importance of reading
to and with children.
Sunshine Week will be observed
March 11 through 17, set to coincide
with the birthday on March 16 of
James Madison, considered the Father of the U.S. Constitution. Sponsored by the John S. and James L.
Knight Foundation, the observance
was begun by the American Society
of Newspaper Editors in 2005, which
last year was joined by the Reporters
Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Sunshine Week’s purpose is to promote a dialogue about the importance
of open government. Though cre-
INSIDE
FISHMAN
FORESIGHT
ated by journalists, Sunshine Week is
about the public’s right to know what
its government is doing, and why.
Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten
and empower people to play an active
role in their government at all levels
and to give them access to information
that makes their lives better and their
communities stronger. Individuals
and public officials who embody the
spirit of government transparency
and fight for it in their communities
are recognized each year with Local
Hero Awards.
Participants include news media,
ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
Pam Corley, senior print media buyer with Tennessee Press Service, works to organize packages of UT-TPA
State Press Contests entries—and these are only the ones that arrived at TPA offices by USPS on Feb. 21.
Awards in those contests, a tradition of more than 70 years, will be presented July 13 in Nashville. TPA also is
handling the advertising and circulation Ideas Contest. Those awards will be presented May 4 at the Advertising/Circulation Conference in Gatlinburg. See additional photos on page 6.
SEE SUNSHINE WEEK, PAGE 12
2
3
NEW TPA MEMBER
STASIOWSKI
3
4
REWRITES
OBITS
5 GIBSON
5, 8 SLIMP
9
11
IN CONTACT
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Online: www.tnpress.com
CMYK
loaded from www.naafoundation.org
free of charge.
Our curriculum this year celebrates
the power of newspapers as a vehicle
for engagement as students read nonfiction text and learn about the world
CMYK
government officials at all levels,
schools and universities, libraries and archives,
individuals,
non-profit and
civic organizations, historians
and anyone else
with an interest
in open government. For more
information, go
to www.sunshineweek.org.
Newspaper In
Education Week
is
celebrated
annually
during the first full
school week of
March. For 2012,
the sponsor, the
NAA
Foundation, is providing a teacher’s
guide. First introduced for NIE
Week 2002, this year the curriculum
has been updated to include standardized lesson plans that include
common core standards, technology
standards, leveled activities and assessments. Everything can be down-