May 2006 - Tennessee Press Association

Transcription

The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
TPA is parent to TPS, TPAF; supports industry
CMYK
BY GREG SHERRILL
TPA executive director
This is the first in
a series of stories
on our three companies, Tennessee
Press Association,
Tennessee Press
Service and Tennessee Press Association Foundation.
Sherrill
Since I came to
Tennessee Press
in 1996 (that’s right, you’ve endured
me for 10 years now), there has been
enormous change within our industry
as newspapers have hired new staff
and changed hands or ownership. New
papers have started, and many formerly
independent newspapers have gone to
group ownership, often led by personnel
from outside our state or region.
We eagerly welcome Tennessee’s newand-changing newspaper leadership,
and we want to make sure they know
and understand TPA, TPS and TPAF
and make full use of the resources we
bring to support our members.
With each story in this series, I will
highlight one company and attempt to
show just how we are working for you.
I encourage publishers, editors and
other upper newspaper management
to post or circulate these stories to all
departments of your newspaper, and
encourage staff to contact TPA if they
ever have any questions or concerns
—we’re here to help.
Tennessee Press Association Inc. is
the parent company to both TPS and
TPAF. The association was formed
136 years ago in 1870-71 to support and
advance the newspaper industry in our
state. Today TPA is composed of 128
member newspapers, which include
28 daily and 100 non-daily papers. All
of our newspaper members maintain
certain criteria as outlined in the
TPA Constitution and Bylaws, which
include maintaining a minimum of 70
percent paid circulation, having been
in continuous publication for one year,
and publishing at least as frequently as
once a week. TPA also has an associate
class of members, which are vendors
and suppliers to the newspaper industry
who wish to maintain contact with our
member papers.
The association is governed by a 15member board of your peers, which
meets at least three times a year to
deliberate TPA business. TPA is supported through membership dues from
newspapers and associate members,
and from assistance from its related
companies, Tennessee Press Service
and the TPA Foundation. More on these
entities in coming months.
TPA and related companies provide an
impressive list of member services to
newspapers of all sizes. When a newspaper holds a TPA membership, it covers
all employees of that paper in terms
of attending TPA functions or making use of association benefits. Robyn
Gentile, our member services manager,
maintains a Member Services Guide
which explains these in more detail.
The guide can be viewed on our Web
site at www.tnpress.com, or we can mail
one at any time.
Some TPA functions are very visible
to newspapers; some occur behind
the scenes. Perhaps one of the most
important benefits we provide is not
immediately visible to most newspaper
staffers—lobbying for issues that could
affect so many aspects of our operations
or endanger the freedoms that we, as an
industry, are charged with upholding.
Tennessee started more than 30 years
ago with one of the strongest open records and meeting laws in the country.
Through the passage of time, these
vital laws have been under constant
attack, and TPA members, staff and
TPA’s contract lobbyist have been hard
at work trying to protect these laws so
that news departments statewide and
the public have the access to information they need to be informed. TPA is
a primary supporter of the Tennessee
Coalition for Open Government (TCOG)
and is currently working with that organization to strengthen open records
and meetings laws.
In addition to protecting the public’s
right to know, TPA has convinced legislators that taxes on newspaper advertising and circulation are a bad idea.
We issue press credentials for newspaper employees and have just this
year offered color photo ID badges with
digital signature for staffers. We offer
blanket legal hotline coverage to all
member newspapers, which can be a
tremendous asset for staff members at
all levels, from reporters who can’t get
into that county commission meeting to
ad reps who don’t want to say the wrong
thing in a housing ad to publishers who
are worried that they may be sued. Help
is often just a phone call away.
TPA holds several meetings each year
that are open to all newspaper staff.
These include our annual winter and
summer conventions, as well as various
board meetings and training sessions.
The Winter Convention and Press
Institute, our largest meeting, takes
place each February in Nashville and
includes a reception with state legislators, an address by the governor, and
countless educational and training sessions covering all facets of newspaper
operation from reporting to editing to
technology and legal issues.
Each spring, TPA holds an advertising
and circulation conference especially
for these vital revenue-producing newspaper departments.
In addition to quality training by
recognized industry leaders, it’s a great
time for newspaper staff from all across
the state to share ideas. The highlight of
the conference is often the presentation
of the annual Ideas Contest awards.
Each year, newspapers from across the
state submit entries in 27 advertising
and circulation categories to compete
against other papers for the best revenue-producing ideas. The contest is
judged by newspaper professionals
from a different state each year.
The annual Summer Convention, held
in mid-June, rotates yearly to each of
the state’s three grand divisions. This
year’s convention in Chattanooga will
have more training opportunities
than ever before as we partner with
Southern Newspaper Publishers Association (SNPA) for a joint convention
and SNPA Traveling Campus program.
The summer convention also includes
installation of TPA officers, a golf tournament and opportunities for family
and staff outings to experience some
of Tennessee’s many attractions.
The State Press Contests are held each
year to spotlight the “best of the best”
publishing efforts in editorial, sports,
service, promotion, photography, advertising and appearance. TPA members
submit more than 1,000 entries, which
are assembled by TPA staff and transported to another state for judging by
newspaper professionals.
From this, we award first through
sixth place in 20 categories at an annual awards luncheon held in July in
Nashville.
This year’s contests recognize
material that was published during
the 2005 calendar year. I have traveled
to newspaper offices across the state
and seen many of the unique in-laid
tile plaques for first place prominently
displayed in halls, reception areas and
offices. TPA partners with the University of Tennessee, which provides tremendous financial and administrative
support for this immense project.
Over the past two decades, nothing has
changed the newspaper industry more
than the incredible advances of technology. TPA is proud to be recognized as a
national leader in technology and has
helped so many member newspapers
make the jump from total paste-up to
complete electronic pagination. Most of
our technology assistance is handled by
TPS and will be covered next month, but
one important overlap is our Web site,
www.tnpress.com. This site becomes
more heavily used each month as we
add features and member services.
Newspaper staff can now register for
upcoming TPA events, print contests
entry information, browse resumes
for possible hires, list openings at their
papers, download serial stories for
publication, read The Tennessee Press,
and more, all at one place.
I encourage all newspaper staff to
take a look at what TPA offers.
We appreciate each of our member
newspapers and want to make sure
you receive the full benefits of your
membership. Should you have any
questions about TPA, please contact a
staff member at any time.
You can send us an e-mail 24 hours a
day from the “Contact Us” section of
www.tnpress.com.
Next month: Tennessee Press Service
Inc., the business arm of TPA, brings
advertising revenue and many more
services to your newspaper.
Watch for the gold!
State Press, AP
awards events
set July 21
C
M
Y
K
Awards in the
State Press Contests
covering 2005 will
be presented at a
luncheon at noon
on Friday, July 21.
At 11:00, Tennessee
Associated Press
Managing Editors
Stokes
awards for writing
and photography
will be presented.
Both events will
be at the Sheraton
Music City in east
Nashville.
Louisiana Press
Association has
judged the State
Yeomans
Press Contests,
which cover many aspects of newspaper
work.
Charles Primm, representing the
University of Tennessee, is handling
preparation of plaques and certificates,
as well as a PowerPoint presentation of
winners. An official of UT will present
the awards.
W h i l e aw a rd s b e l o n g t o t h e
newspapers, starting this year,
duplicate certificates can be provided to
individual staff members contributing
to the winning entries.
TPA Vice President Henry Stokes,
The Germantown Appeal, is chairman
of the Contests Committee. The awards
program began in the 1940s with just a
few categories, but now, there are 20.
Adam Yeomans, AP bureau chief for
Tennessee, is coordinating the TAPME
ceremony.
Proceeds of the State Press Contests
go to the Edward J. Meeman Fund
at UT. Meeman Awards, named for
a former Memphis Press-Scimitar
editor, are awarded in editorials and
public service.
See other sections
This issue of The Tennessee Press
includes two special pull-out sections.
One reports on the April 6 to 8 TPA
Advertising/Circulation Conference
and Ideas Contest. The other previews
the 137th Annual TPA Summer
Convention.
First place winners in the 2006 UT-TPA State
Press Contests will be notified by mail in a
gold envelope. Letters to all winners will be
mailed by May 15.
The 2006 Awards Luncheon will be held
July 21 in Nashville.
Kudos
STEVE LAKE | PULASKI CITIZEN
(Left photo) Evan Jones, publisher of The Lake County Banner, Tiptonville, sits in his office, which is full of memorabilia. Lori Long,
an employee at the Banner, shows almost baseball-size hail that fell April 2. TPA President Steve Lake and Executive Director Greg
Sherrill visited the newspaper on April 6.
No. 11
MAY 2006
Vol. 69
Tom Griscom and the Chattanooga
Times Free Press staff were the first to
register for the summer convention.
Hotel
ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
TENNESSEE STATE PARKS
RIVERBEND FESTIVAL
Convention headquarters is the Chattanooga Choo Choo The traditional Summer Convention
Holiday Inn in the heart of Tennessee’s fourth largest Golf Tournament will be held at the
BearTrace golf course designed by Jack
city.
Nicklaus. It is at Harrison Bay State
Park north of Chattanooga.
A Riverbend poster and the festival during
fireworks. The festival began in 1978.
Chatta’new’ga: Here we come!
BY ELENORA E. EDWARDS
Managing editor
Train, plane or car—grab one and
head for Chattanooga in June for the
Tennessee Press Association 137 th
Anniversary Summer Convention.
The Convention Committee, headed
by Kevin Burcham, publisher of The
News-Herald, Lenoir City, has put
together a schedule somewhat different from those of the past—one that’s
sure to please.
For one thing, the convention will
start a day earlier than usual—on
Wednesday. And it will run three whole
days. It’ll be June 14 through 16, with
headquarters at the Chattanooga Choo
Choo Holiday Inn.
Another difference is that the entire
first day will be one of training, and
training opportunities will continue
the next two days. TPA is being joined
by the Southern Newspaper Publishers
Association Traveling Campus, which
will provide most of the training.
The deadline for making reservations
is the end of the day Wednesday, May 24.
One should call the inn at 1-800-872-2529
or (423) 266-5000 to reserve a room. A
standard room is $92 plus tax per night,
while a rail car room will cost $142 plus
tax per night.
The Riverbend
Festival will be in
full swing at that
time, so TPA recommends members not
delay in seeing to
reservations.
The fact that the
festival is under way
Burcham
is a good thing for
TPA, since conventioneers will take it in on Thursday
night. They will be treated to VIP
seating and refreshments, thanks to
the host newspaper, the Chattanooga
Times Free Press.
Another important event will be the
passing of the presidential gavel from
Steve Lake, publisher of the Pulaski
Citizen, to Henry Stokes, publisher of
The Germantown Appeal and former
managing editor of The Commercial
Appeal, Memphis. That will take place
at the Summer Banquet on Friday
night.
Burcham said the committee is pleased
that TPA can take advantage of the
excellent training opportunities SNPA
is offering. There will be learning as
well as a lot of fun activities connected
with the Riverbend Festival, he noted.
“There’s something for everybody.
Take advantage of everything the
DETAILS
Who: Newspaper staff
members
What: TPA Summer
Convention
When: Wednesday-Friday,
June 14-16
Where: Chattanooga Choo
Choo Holiday Inn
Deadline: End of day
Wednesday, May 24
TPA has arranged as well as the SNPA
program,” he said.
A s t h e S u m m e r C o nve n t i o n
Committee finalizes details, further
information will be posted on the TPA
Web site, www.tnpress.com. TPAers will
receive a packet containing registration
information and various sites of
interest in the Chattanooga area. See
the special section in the center of this
newspaper for information on various
aspects of the convention.
The schedule is as follows.
Wednesday, June 14
SNPA will provide the Traveling Campus training program.
9:30 a.m. Session A: SNPA
9:30 a.m. Session B: SNPA
1:30 p.m. Session C: SNPA
1:30 p.m. Session D: SNPA
Thursday, June 15
8:30 a.m. TPA registration opens
9:00 a.m. Session A—Introduction to
Adobe InDesign for Newspapers—Kevin Slimp
Session B: SNPA
12:00 p.m. Lunch on your own
1:30 p.m. Ice Cream Reception sponsored by Mayfield Dairy
2:00 p.m. TPA Board of Directors;
TPA Business Session; TPS
Stockholders; TPAF Board
of Trustees
2:00 p.m. Session C—Using InDesign/
InCopy LiveEdit Workflow—
Kevin Slimp
Session D—SNPA
5:00 p.m. Take free shuttles to Riverbend Festival
6:00 p.m. Riverbend Festival VIP
event sponsored by the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Return on one’s own.
SEE CONVENTION, PAGE 3
INSIDE
HINES
PROFILE
4
4
GIBSON-TCOG
GENTRY ANNIVERSARY
5
6
HENNINGER
NIE-LITERACY
7 OBITS
8 SLIMP
9
11
IN CONTACT
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Online: www.tnpress.com
CMYK
12
MAY 2006
From Memphis to Mountain City
(USPS 616-460)
Published monthly 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
20
Member
06
Tennessee Press Association
The Tennessee Press
is printed on recycled paper
and is recyclable.
www.tnpress.com
The Tennessee Press can be read online at:
CMYK
OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
Steve Lake, Pulaski Citizen/The Giles Free Press................................President
Henry Stokes, The Germantown Appeal......................................Vice President
Pauline Sherrer, Crossville Chronicle..........................................Vice President
Bill Willliams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer...........................................Treasurer
Greg M. Sherrill, Knoxville....................................................Executive Director
DIRECTORS
Keith Wilson, Kingsport Times-News...................................................District 1
Kevin Burcham, The News-Herald, Lenoir City....................................District 2
Tom Overton III, Advocate and Democrat, Sweetwater......................District 3
Bill Shuster, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville................................................District 4
Dennis Stanley, Smithville Review.......................................................District 5
Hulon Dunn, Lewis County Herald, Hohenwald..................................District 7
Dennis Richardson, Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon.........District 8
Victor Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange...........................................District 9
Jay Albrecht, The Covington Leader....................................................District 10
Mike Fishman, Citizen Tribune, Morristown...........................................At large
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE
Bob Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange.............................................President
Dale C. Gentry, The Standard Banner, Jefferson City.................Vice President
W. R. (Ron) Fryar, McMinnville..............................................................Director
Mike Pirtle, Murfreesboro.......................................................................Director
Pauline Sherrer, Crossville Chronicle.....................................................Director
Michael Williams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer......................................Director
Greg M. Sherrill............................................................Executive Vice President
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION
W.R. (Ron) Fryar, McMinnville.............................................................President
Larry K. Smith, LaFollette.............................................................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, TN 37717-0502; or e-mail
[email protected]. The June issue deadline is May 8.
Former TPA President Mike Pirtle recently
Believe it or not, my journey begins in Memphis
retired as editor from The Daily News Journal,
with incoming TPA President Henry Stokes and
Murfreesboro.
The Commercial Appeal. At the time they were
My good friend, and up to this point TPA board
busy looking for a publisher. They’ve long since
member, Clint Brewer recently left The Lebanon
hired Joseph Pepe and even decentralized their
Democrat. The Democrat suffered an enormous loss
operation, as Henry now runs The Germantown &
recently with the death of renowned staff reporter
Collierville Appeal.
Brooks Franklin, who succumbed to cancer at 47.
I’ve been asked at a number of stops along the
A number of papers in this state are thinking
way what I hope to accomplish visiting newspapers
outside the box and doing some extraordinary things
throughout the state, something legendary TPA
to make that bottom line. The one that blew me away
President Carl A. Jones Jr. of the Johnson City Press YOUR
did in his term of 1956-57 and Larry Smith of The PRESIDING like no other is the arrangement Publisher Lynn
Richardson of the Herald and Tribune, JonesborLaFollette Press repeated in his of 1977-78.
Truth be known, as I’m sure it was to some extent REPORTER ough, has with her city: 100 percent saturation as
the city pays for all residents to have a subscription
to these two predecessors, my aim is both selfish and
to the paper, all in return for extensive, full coverage
selfless. The way I look at it, it’s a good excuse to get Steve Lake
out from behind my desk, enjoy some sunshine and a little of civic boards, with the understanding that government
extra time with my wife and 9-month-old daughter, who have employees receive no special treatment or favors in the
joined me for a good portion, and see our great state, many paper—sounds like a dream setup for both parties.
During my Sandusky circuit in the eastern corner of
places of which I’ve never seen before.
It’s a great opportunity to put names with papers and their the state, Keith Wilson, TPA board member and publisher
settings, enjoy a little camaraderie, and see how others oper- extraordinaire of the Kingsport Times–News, ran through a
ate, perhaps bringing something home of use to myself and laundry list of innovative ideas his paper is pursuing. Keith
other members, find out what TPA is doing right and where is one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met, with just a
it may go wrong, see where we can make improvements and touch of madness, necessary for any creative genius. He’s
how we can be of better service to our members, educate them hired genuine artists for composing positions and made them
about various TPA offerings, and encourage members to get part of the advertising department; has made a small fortune
in sales on a photo book with pictures brought in by readers
more involved in our organization.
If there is one observation I’ve made thus far in my visits of the paper, his angle being photos that tell a story and the
to approximately two-fifths of our member publications story behind the photos, with local sponsorship basically
across the state (should be much more by the time you read offsetting production costs; and is in the process of creating
this), it’s that newspapers are as diverse as the people and a community Web site of high-interest silos, allowing readers
to contribute news. He mentions as an example here he’ll
areas they cover.
Most operate on a shoestring with a very tight, limited staff, get a call asking him to cover Little League. Keith tells the
with employees of smaller papers forced to wear many hats, caller that his staff simply can’t cover every Little League
as larger operations can afford to be a little more specialized. game, but that if the caller would do so, he’d publish it on
Offices open and close at various hours on various days. the Times-News Web site.
The Times-News is now providing tearsheets electronically
Some are steeped in history while others have more or less
blossomed out of nowhere. I couldn’t help noticing as a whole and saving a bundle. Most advertisers are very appreciahow much bigger cities and papers seem in the eastern grand tive of the new format. Only five continue to request the
newsprint tearsheets.
division of our state, contributing 15 of our 28 dailies.
My favorite stop thus far—hands down—The Erwin Record.
In Pigeon Forge, circulation at the Tennessee Star Journal
varies considerably in and out of tourist season, according Knowing the approximate time I was to arrive, the entire
to a most friendly and talkative Editor Jim Callicott. He also staff was more or less on hand to greet me in their front
noted his town is the only one he knows of that doesn’t have lobby. After a tour of their beautiful old building, renovated
with historic preservation in mind, the entire staff gathered
a so-called downtown area.
In Clarksville, home of Fort Campbell and the 101st Air- in the conference room, as a fruit tray was brought in, for
borne Division, a large proportion of the community has a lengthy discussion of issues relevant to TPA and state
been deployed overseas, obviously taking its toll on the local newspapers. Editor Mark Stevens admitted upon hearing
economy. Leaf–Chronicle Publisher and two-time former TPA my goal last year to visit every member newspaper, he didn’t
President Gene Washer said having to incessantly report think there was any way I’d do it. Another first happened
deaths of local soldiers in Iraq has made for a very sad situ- on my way out as a picture was requested, set up and taken
of me with the staff, considering me news in itself. It’s no
ation and taken its toll on advertising itself.
Dyersburg State Gazette Editor and Co-Publisher Chris wonder the Erwin Record consistently wins press awards,
Rimel, settling into his position once more, recently returned including a three-year running of the Sweepstakes; they’ve
from a 14-month stint in Iraq, specifically noting the real story, got a very good thing going.
On my northwest Tennessee excursion, I happened into
as he puts it, “is that we’re doing a very good job there.”
Deadly tornados have followed my travels as they first McKenzie well after hours, thought I’d find the newspaper,
struck the Dyersburg area shortly after my visit; then the then a motel and bed down for the night, but there happened
Gallatin area a couple of weeks following while attending to be a light on at the paper as Webmaster Deborah Turner
the Advertising/Circulation Conference at Paris Landing was burning the midnight oil. Editor Joel Washburn was
State Park. Visiting Tiptonville and the Lake County Ban- gracious enough to leave his home and come visit with
ner with TPA Executive Director Greg Sherrill before the me. They have recently moved to the Olive System and
conference, Publisher Evan Jones showed us hail almost like others are putting their entire paper online, available
the size of a baseball packed up and saved in a freezer from under a subscription basis. There is also a free front page
for non-subscribers. What I found most interesting is that
that first storm.
Speaking of Gallatin, Gannett papers immediately Joel encourages those out of state to buy the online version
surrounding the Nashville area that I’ve visited thus far of the paper (as opposed to and at the same cost as printed
including The News–Examiner (Gallatin), Ashland City version) due to the U.S. Postal Service’s poor delivery, notoriTimes, Robertson County Times (Springfield), The Dickson ous in our industry.
Bill Ridings in Waverly recently underwent back surgery
Herald and The Fairview Observer were in the process and
have recently converted to tabloid dimensions. All say this is but seems to be bouncing back nicely. Enjoyed hearing him
something Tennessean Publisher and boss Ellen Leifeld did reminisce about TPA’s good old days.
Had a pleasant meeting with TPS President Bob Parkins,
with suburban papers at her place of previous employment,
publisher of The Milan Mirror-Exchange, and his son, Vicwhich witnessed great success.
On the flip side, a couple of start-up papers, yet ineligible tor, who serves as editor and is also a TPA board member.
for TPA membership, have emerged within the past year: The Bob Parkins’ office is a sight to behold, if you ever have the
Williamson Herald in Franklin and The Gallatin Newspaper
SEE LAKE, PAGE 3
are fighting Gannett head-on.
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
11
Designing newspaper ads doesn’t have to be dull
HOW TO CONTACT US
BY KEVIN SLIMP
TPS technology director
I’m in a familiar
predicament. There
are at least a dozen
new software applications on my
desk, all waiting to
be reviewed. There’s
backup software,
Slimp
drive rescue software, photo editing
software and word processing software, not to mention a pile of books.
I decided to go with the most unique
looking box.
Comic Life, by Freeverse Software,
fit the bill.
At first, you might think this is an
application a newspaper would never
use.
Not so, my friends. I installed and
opened the application. Within 15
minutes, I had created my first comic.
The comic I provided with this column
was my second effort. It took about 10
minutes to create. Let me tell you how
it works.
After installing the software, I immediately opened Comic Life. The workplace was very user friendly. Basically,
the left half of the screen is the template
for your comic. I counted 16 templates
to choose from or you can create your
own. The right half includes a library
of photos and all the tools. Comic Life
gets its photos from your iPhoto library.
Snapshots look
at newspaper reach
Sometimes good medicine comes in
small doses. The following are links
to brief sales sheets that demonstrate
newspaper’s reach among consumers in
various service and product categories.
They also highlight newspaper’s competitive edge over other media.
These sheets, in PDF format, can be
printed and added to sales kits and
shared with customers. For questions
regarding the data in these sales sheets,
one should contact William Johnson in
NAA’s Business Analysis & Research
Department at [email protected]. Find
the sheets at http://www.naa.org/CirculationPages/Circulation-Statisticsand-Trends/Snapshots.aspx.
The Tennessee Press
has the perfect
spot for your
ad
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)
Yes, this application is only available on
the Mac platform. I added the photos I
wanted to use to my iPhoto library, then
headed back to Comic Life.
Laying out a page is as simple as
dragging photos from the library into
frames on the template. Once in the
frames, pictures can be manipulated by
dragging a handle, much as you resize
photos in pagination applications. Each
“cell” of your comic contains an image.
Comic balloons, bubbles and boxes are
added to cells by choosing styles from
the bottom area of the workspace. Text
is created within each balloon or box.
You can even move a balloon’s tail by
moving it with your mouse.
My favorite aspect of Comic Life
is the ability to use filters to create a
“look” for your comic. I selected “Color
Pencils” to give my creation the look
of an old-fashioned comic book. When
completed, files can be saved in tif, jpeg
and other formats.
Why would a newspaper be interested
in Comic Life? First, it’s an easy way to
be creative with advertising. Let’s face
it. We only have so much time to spend
on each ad. Why not dazzle your client
with an ad that looks hand drawn but
takes only 10 minutes to create? And
Moody Castleman
(mcastleman)
Angelique Dunn (adunn)
Beth Elliott (belliott)
Robyn Gentile (rgentile)
Kelley Hampton (khampton)
Kathy Hensley (khensley)
Barry Jarrell (bjarrell)
Brenda Mays (bmays)
Amanda Pearce (apearce)
Greg Sherrill (gsherrill)
Kevin Slimp (kslimp)
Advertising e-mail:
Knoxville office:
[email protected]
second (are you sitting down?), The
price. Comic Life retails for $30 US/$35
CAN/$50 AUS. I can’t remember a
product that offered so much potential
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Comic Life is available from most
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order it.
Tennessee Press Service
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
--134 Heady Drive
Nashville, TN 37205
Phone: (615) 356-3914
Fax: (615) 356-3915
Tennessee Press
Association Foundation
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Contact Robyn Gentile for more
information at (865) 584-5761, ext. 105
or [email protected].
Read
The Tennessee Press
—then pass it on!
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
2
By SAM VENABLE
News Sentinel, Knoxville
*As of March 31, 2006, The Tennessee Press Service, Inc., fiscal year runs Dec. 1 through Nov. 30.
CMYK
October 12-14, 2006
www.newspaperinstitute.com
Jay
Tracy
Andy
Clint
Ron
Gary
John
Jim
Vickey
Stephen
Laura
Elenora
Chris
John
Sheila
Martha
Jennifer
Bonnie
April
Melissa
Joe
Steven
Bob
Valerie
Terri
Greg
Brad
Jack
Albrecht
Ayers
Barnes
Brewer
Bridgeman
Burton
Carpenter
Charlet
Cooke
Crass
Dougherty
Edwards
Fletcher
Gibson
Holden
Horn
Horton
Hufford
Jackson
Jones
Karl
Kaylor
Kyer
Laprad
Likens
Little
Martin
McElroy
The Covington Leader
Pulaski Citizen
Kingsport Times-News
The Lebanon Democrat
The Courier-News, Clinton
The Ashland City Times
The Herald-News, Dayton
Brentwood
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Cleveland Daily Banner
The Paris Post-Intelligencer
The Tennessee Press
The Daily Herald, Columbia
The Tennessean, Nashville
Pulaski Citizen
Pulaski Citizen
The Wilson Post, Lebanon
UT School of Journalism, Knoxville
Humboldt Chronicle
Rogersville Review
Smoky Mountain Herald, Seymour
Bristol Herald Courier
The Tullahoma News
Middle Tennessee Times, Smithville
Roane County News, Kingston
Hickman County Times, Centerville
3
CONVENTION
FROM PAGE ONE
Everybody’s favorite Buddy
March 2006: $458,487
Year* to date: $1,852,711
INSTITUTE OF
NEWSPAPER TECHNOLOGY
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
TRACKS
Tennessee Press
Service handled this
much advertising for
TPA member newspapers:
Stay ahead of the
technology learning curve!
MAY 2006
Sad news for News
Sentinel readers
who buy groceries
and drugs: Your local contact is retiring.
At the end of
(February), Buddy
Turpin (bid) adieu
Venable
to our advertising
department after nearly 38 years.
You’ve probably never met Buddy.
Such is your loss because this guy is
the original good times class clown.
But I’ll guarantee you’ve seen the fruits
of his labor—and, hopefully, then been
inspired to purchase fruit, as well as
meat, bread, milk and a kajillion other
products, at your local supermarket.
For 34 years, Buddy has been in
charge of food and drug advertising.
If there’s a store in our midst not trod
by his trademark cowboy boots, I’m
unaware of it.
(Point of order: Whenever a nickname
is mentioned in the newspaper, the
person’s real handle is specified. Horatio Alphonse (Booger) Johnson III, for
example. Not the case here. The name
on this guy’s birth certificate is Buddy
Lynn Turpin. For eons, the license plate
on his pickup truck has simply read
“BLT.” He is Buddy, the whole Buddy
and nothing but the Buddy. True, certain
friends, including columnists, do use
other names, but not ones that would
TPA wishes to
thank these
individuals for
serving as judges
of the
Louisiana Press
Association’s
Better Newspaper
Contest.
The UT-TPA State Press
Contests would not be possible without members willing
to judge the entries of our
reciprocal partners.
pass public muster.)
And speaking of names, “Turpin”
has been a mainstay inside these walls.
Buddy’s late mother, Agnes, invested 42
years in our accounting department.
Buddy started full time in 1968 but had
already spent two years working part
time while studying business at the
University of Tennessee. Suffice to say
we have been thoroughly Turpinized.
Why hang it up?
“There are trout that need to be
caught; deer, elk and turkey that need to
be hunted; campfires that need to be sat
around; and brown whiskey that needs
to be drunk,” he answered.
“Yeah, but you’ve been doing that all
your life,” I pointed out.
“I know,” he replied with a sigh, “but
now it’ll have to be on my time instead
of the company’s.”
If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m
gonna miss this goof. Although we don’t
share as much time outdoors as we
once did—these days, Buddy logs more
woods-and-waters hours in Wyoming
and Montana than in Tennessee—he
and I have fished and hunted together
all over this part of the land. At one
point, our second office was his bass
boat on Douglas Lake.
But you don’t know how delighted I
am to be writing about his retirement
instead of his obituary.
Last June 6, Buddy suffered a massive
heart attack at his desk. It went unnoticed for several minutes. Finally, coworkers heard him breathing loudly.
“They thought I was snoring,” he said
Cheryl
Heather
Tom
Bob
Victor
Sharon
Chris
Mia
Darrell
Kay
Paul
Dick
Clay
Robb
Tracy
Sissy
Nancy
Mark
Richard
Scott
Jessica
Karen
Joi
Jamie
Holly
Jim
Patricia
Thank You!
McGraw
Nicholson
Overton
Parkins
Parkins
Patrick
Peck
Rhodarmer
Richardson
Rose
Roy
Schneider
Scott
Scott
Sharp
Smith
Stephens
Stevens
Stevens
Stewart
Turner
Weathers
Whaley
White
Whitt
Zachary
Zechman
with a laugh.
Emergency medical personnel were
summoned. Quick-thinking staffer
Toby Steele administered a heart defibrillator. Yet by the time they wheeled
Buddy out of here, he was already
turning blue. At the emergency room,
doctors could find no pulse or brain
activity.
Amazingly, Buddy was discharged
from the hospital five days later. He
was back on the job in six weeks, good
as new and with no memory of the
entire affair.
As I’ve told Buddy several times since
then, it (was) a blessed relief to stand in
his presence and say words like “happy
retirement” instead of “don’t he look
natural?”
(Feb. 21, 2006)
(Clockwise from top right) Steve Lake with
Keith Moore, liaison of The Knoxville Journal,
TPA’s newest member. John M. Jones Jr. at The
Greeneville Sun. Lake and Art Powers, publisher
of the Johnson City Press. The newsboy statue
at the Bristol Herald Courier.
TPA Legal Hotline
is available to all
TPA members.
IRE Conference set June 15-18
The best in the business will gather for more than 100
panels, workshops and special presentations about covering
public safety, courts, national security, the military, business, education, local government and much more when
the Investigative Reporters and Editors meet.
The conference will be at the Renaissance Worthington
Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas.
If one has hotel or general conference questions, he or
she may contact Ev Ruch-Graham, conference coordinator,
at [email protected] or (573) 882-8969.
Tornado damages Vol State campus
Call Rick Hollow, TPA general
counsel and provider
of the hotline service, at
Volunteer State Community College (VSCC) suffered
severe damage to two buildings during the April 7 tornado
that struck Gallatin, Tenn. Classes were canceled April
10-14.
VSCC is an associate member of Tennessee Press
Association. T. Clayton (Clay) Scott, assistant professor
and TPA contact, was on campus during the tornado. He
was among those sheltered in the basement of the Student
Center.
(865) 769-1715.
Hollow & Hollow, LLC,
Knoxville
The Bolivar Bulletin Times
Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater
The Milan Mirror-Exchange
Southern Standard, McMinnville
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis
The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge
Shelbyville Times-Gazette
The Independent Herald, Oneida
The Jackson Sun
Volunteer State Community College, Gallatin
The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville
Weakley County Press, Martin
The Fairview Observer
The Erwin Record
The Leaf-Chronicle , Clarksville
Pulaski Citizen
Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon
The Mountain Press, Sevierville
Pulaski Citizen
Pulaski Citizen
Rogersville Review
Friday, June 16
6:30 a.m. Golfers depart for course; transportation on your
own
7:00 a.m. Golf outing at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay
9:00 a.m. Session A: NIE Workshop, Robie Scott, The Post
and Courier, Charleston, S.C.
9:00 a.m. Session B: SNPA session to be determined
9:00 a.m. InDesign, The Next Step, a computer lab
class—Kevin Slimp
12:00 p.m. Lunch on one’s own
3:00 p.m. NIE presentation for publishers
6:00 p.m. Reception
7:00 p.m. Installation Banquet
9:00 p.m. Dessert Reception
LAKE: From Memphis to Mountain City, president visits newspapers
opportunity, and I’m going to leave it at
that. Gibson County boasts of four community newspapers in separate towns.
The other three are The Chronicle,
Humboldt, The Herald Gazette, Trenton,
and The Tri-City Reporter in Dyer.
Publisher Bill Shuster, a TPA board
member and very good friend of our
family, graciously took time out of
his busy schedule to show me about
the relatively new facilities of the
Herald–Citizen, Cookeville, a paper
my father published in the early to
mid-1970s. And, yes, there are a few
holdouts on staff from his day.
Had a nice visit with Jim Zachary of
the Rogersville Review. His son James
entertained at the dessert reception
after the Governor’s Banquet at the
Winter Convention. He noted that
Tennessee’s very first newspaper, the
Gazette, was printed in Rogersville in
November 1791 and moved to Knoxville
the following year to become the Knoxville Gazette. Rogersville is also home to
the Tennessee Newspaper and Printing
Museum, a worthy visit for anyone in
our industry.
A most promising prospect getting
involved with TPA is Richard Esposito,
brought on last year as publisher of
The Oak Ridger. I had a very pleasant
visit with him and Editor Darrell
Richardson.
The only appointment I’ve missed
thus far was with Tom Gentry, The
Standard Banner, Jefferson City,
which broke my heart, but I simply
overbooked and ran out of time. I will
certainly make this up to him and his
son, former TPA President and Editor
Dale Gentry.
Most everyone has spoken highly of
our TPA/TPS staff, consistently calling Executive Director Greg Sherrill
and Member Services Manager Robyn
Gentile by name. Others have been affectionately mentioned as well.
So far as changes and recommendations go:
Numerous members—granted, I’m
visiting predominantly with publishers or in some cases editors—have
requested the annual awards banquet
to be tied once more with the summer
convention; and I do believe in years
to come that it is in our best interest.
Last year when Mike Fishman, Citizen
Tribune, Morristown, served as TPA
president and his brother Jeff, The
Tullahoma News, as chairman of the
Contests Committee, they actually opposed each other on this issue. Jeff ’s
argument, and a very good one, is that
publishers primarily attend the summer convention and not usually the
people who are actually winning these
awards for their respective papers; unlike when they are separate.
Deborah Turner, again, The McKenzie Banner, had a legitimate complaint of something I believe we’ve all
experienced: inadequately returned
forms from contest entries. Feedback
is critical to us all. We must take care
when judging other states’ contests
to provide valuable information and
encourage or entice other states to do
the same for us.
Jerry Hilliard, associate editor of
The Erwin Record and former Tennessee Press columnist, mentioned that
with NIE programs, schools should
have journalism textbooks and AP
Stylebooks. Journalism classes aren’t
getting the tools they need.
Gene Washer recommended establishing a relationship with the attorney
general, perhaps taking him out to
dinner.
Someone mentioned placing all
inserts into a paper’s weekly shopper, mailing it total market, free of
charge, and leaving them out of main
editions.
Jack McElroy, editor of the News
Sentinel, Knoxville, suggested an RSS
feed throughout state papers providing
news stories that can be freely used by
members.
Ron Bridgeman, The Courier-News,
Clinton, argued for a TPA statewide
public notice Web site.
Jim Zachary really wants members
to come visit the Tennessee Newspaper
and Printing Museum (mentioned
above) in Rogersville. It would certainly make for an excellent story in
The Tennessee Press, not to mention a
nice excursion some time a convention
is held nearby.
Interestingly, I’ve had small papers say
TPA focuses on larger papers and larger
papers say TPA focuses on smaller.
I’ve also learned that most publications in our state have been active in
one shape or form in TPA at one time
or another. Let me encourage everyone
to continue your involvement and do
what you can for our association, as it
increases its value for us all.
Thank you, everyone, for welcoming
me into your papers. I’ve enjoyed visiting with you, and if I haven’t been by
yet, I hope to be by soon.
Feel free to e-mail other comments or suggestions to steve.
[email protected].
FORESIGHT
2006
MAY
1: Law Day
3: World Press Freedom Day
3-5: NNA on the Road: Texas
Style, Ft. Worth, Texas
JUNE
14-16: TPA 137th Annual
Summer Convention and
SNPA training, Chattanooga
Choo Choo
14-17: AAEC Annual Conference, Embassy Suites Hotel,
Denver, Colo.
15-17: 8th Great Obituary Writers’ Conference, Plaza Hotel,
Las Vegas, N.M.
15-18: Investigative Reporters and Editors, Renaissance
Worthington Hotel, Fort
Worth, Texas
17: ETSPJ Front Page Follies,
Knoxville Convention Center
JULY
21: TAPME awards ceremony,
10 a.m., Sheraton Music City,
Nashville
21: UT-TPA State Press Contests Awards Luncheon,
noon, Sheraton Music City,
Nashville
AUGUST
31-Sept. 2: Society of News
Design Annual Workshop
and Exhibition, Orlando, Fla.
SEPTEMBER
8: International Literacy Day
13-15: National Conference
of Editorial Writers Convention, Sheraton Station
Square Hotel, Pittsburgh, Pa.
15: SNPA First Amendment
Summit, Atlanta
OCTOBER
1-7: National Newspaper Week
12-14: TPS Institute of Newspaper Technology, UT Campus, Knoxville
Want to serve TPA
on a committee?
The 2006-07 committees will soon
be appointed. If you are interested in
serving on a TPA committee. Please
contact TPA or complete the committee
interest for at www.tnpress.com/committees.html.
If you are interested in serving
as a committee chair, please contact Henry Stokes, TPA vice president for dailies, (901) 529-2301 or
[email protected].
PLASTIC PRESS CARDS
AVAILABLE
TPA can provide member newspapers
plastic, professional-looking press cards for
$5 each. In interested, one should contact
TPA at (865) 584-5761 or visit
www.tnpress.com/presscredentials.html.
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
10
MAY 2006
Lots of Volunteers in Vol State
CMYK
After reading about the deadly tornados across TenBut the one university-related story that gets into
nessee and the Southeast, more roadside bombings in
the paper the next day is the negative situation
Iraq, unethical politicians, higher gas prices, global
involving that one student.
warming, bird flu and another black church burning
How can you avoid such complaints from your
in the South, I was getting rather depressed from
valuable readers? You do have to cover the news.
reading the national news in several newspapers in
But can you uncover positive stories that don’t
April. But their local sections were no better. Fires,
make the police blotter?
wrecks, sexual assaults, political bickering and robWhat about those tireless public school teachberies filled those pages. Are Tennessee readers as
ers and the many service projects and learning
sick as I am about all the bad news?
PRESSING activities that take place on a regular basis? How
Apparently they are, according to a survey buried
about the college fraternities and sororities—too
in my files from a few months ago. Conducted by ISSUES
often the targets of negative news—that devote
The Segmentation Co., a division of Yankelovich,
thousands of volunteer hours for breast cancer
the national poll of 1,004 adults revealed that a Randy Hines research and Ronald McDonald houses, along with
whopping 94 percent want to hear more good news.
other nonprofit causes, every year?
And 77 percent said the media do not provide them
Despite their yearlong dedication to the unforenough coverage of good news.
tunate, churches usually can’t escape from the religion
Did you notice those percentages, editors? More than nine section unless a clergy member is facing charges such as
out of 10 readers want you to provide them more good news embezzlement. How about the many businesses in your town
and almost eight out of 10 said you do not provide them that adopt a highway and their employees actually go out to
enough good news. Maybe you could take this column into clean up the litter on a regular basis?
your next staff meeting when you start dishing out story
Positive article possibilities are all around your circulation
assignments.
area. All you need to do is dig a little deeper, ask different
It seems the depressing news articles mentioned in the lead questions from sources, and visit sites beyond your usual
paragraphs have an effect on their Tennessee readers. About beat. And maybe the police blotter fluff can fit on your agate
half the survey participants admit that learning about bad page, rather than becoming a Page One story.
news makes their day worse. More than three-fourths said
Ironically, the study was funded by Bayer Health Care,
that the bad news creates feeling of anxiousness.
which probably profits from the bad vibes people feel after
“Simply put, good news can uplift the spirits, while bad news getting their daily doses of negativism from reading many
can, at times, directly impact our emotions and our outlook Tennessee daily and nondaily newspapers.
on the world around us in a negative way,” said David Bersoff,
senior vice president of Monitor, a Yankelovich division.
DR. RANDY HINES, former Tennessee educator, teaches in the
Complaints often originate when a reporter writes a piece, Department of Communications at Susquehanna University. His
for example, about a University of Tennessee student picked address is 514 University Ave., Selinsgrove, Pa. 17870. He can be
up for drunken driving on I-40. Perhaps the other 25,978 UTK reached at (570) 372-4079 or [email protected].
students were not arrested and charged with any offense.
Commercial Appeal takes six
awards in region contest
BY SHERRI DRAKE
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis,
was honored in six categories in this
year’s Green Eyeshade Excellence in
Journalism Awards, open to working
journalists in the South.
“We had six journalists and teams
honored this year for their work. That’s
the most wins we’ve had in the last three
years,” said Chris Peck, editor of The
Commercial Appeal. “I think it speaks
well of the quality and dedication of
our staff, and I’m happy to see their
good work recognized.”
The contest recognizes outstanding
journalists in print, radio and television
across an 11-state region encompassing
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Columnist Geoff Calkins won first
place in sports commentary for various columns.
Former Commercial Appeal Reporter
Aimee Edmondson, Photographer
Karen Pulfer Focht and former Memphis Zone Editor Mickie Anderson won
first place in investigative reporting
for the infant mortality series “Born
to Die.”
“Karen Focht’s photography about
the overwhelming number of infant
deaths in Memphis truly is one of the
finest pieces of documentary photography ever done at this newspaper,’’
Peck said.
“I’m very proud of our infant mortality project and the journalists who
worked on it,’’ he said.
“This was an important story that
showed the tragedy of Memphis having
the highest infant mortality rate of any
of the 60 largest cities in the country.
Much good has come of this work,
including Shelby County Mayor A. C.
Wharton’s ‘1 For All’ initiative designed
to get every baby born in Memphis to a
healthy 1 year of age. For us, this kind
of work and good result is what makes
journalism worth the effort.’’
John Beifuss won second place in
criticism for “Hustle & Flow,” Blake
Fontenay won second place in editorial
writing, former Commercial Appeal
Columnist Wendi C. Thomas placed
third in humorous commentary for
various columns, and Dennis Copeland, director of new media, placed
third in general news reporting for
“68 Seconds.”
Focht’s “Born to Die” work also won in
the photography feature story category
in the Society of Professional Journalists National Journalism Awards.
Watch for the gold!
Republic Newspapers, Knoxville, sells its last Florida property
BY CARLY HARRINGTON
Knoxville-based Republic Newspapers Inc. has sold the last of its Florida
papers, The Sanford Herald, to an Oklahoma company.
Family Media Inc. acquired the twiceweekly paper in Sanford Fla., effective
March 31. Terms of the deal were not
disclosed.
“We’ve been gradually getting out of
Florida for several years. The Sanford
Herald was the last one,” said Nick
Drewry, president of Republic Newspapers, which owns the Farragut Press,
the Courier News in Clinton and three
weeklies near Charlotte, N.C.
At one time, the small nondaily
newspaper company, founded in 1988,
owned about a dozen community
papers in four states that reached as
far south as Florida and as far north
as Kentucky.
Drewry said the company, whose
offices are at 11863 Kingston Pike, has
been turning its attention to opportunities closer to home, including the
possible purchase of other nondailies
in Tennessee and North Carolina.
Republic Newspapers also owns and
operates Tucker Publishing, which
produces outlet mall shopping guides
that include one in Pigeon Forge. Others
are in Florida, north Georgia, Las Vegas
and several New England states.
Republic Newspapers is solely owned
and was founded by real estate deveoper
Doug Horne.
PROFILE
bought The Print Shop in Waverly. And, on Jan. 1, 2006, started
a free newspaper, The Hollow Rock-Bruceton News.
Dennis Richardson
Is president of Associated Publishers, a co-op owned web
printing plant located in Huntingdon. “Lisa and I are the sole
owners of Magic Valley Publishing Co., which is the name of
the corporation. In 2004 I joined W. B. Grimes & Co. as director
of the south and southwest covering Tennessee, Kentucky,
Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana.”
TPA director, District 8
Publisher, Carroll County News-Leader
Huntingdon
Personal: Grew up in the Whites Creek area of Davidson
County. Father was a sharecropper and died at 42. Attended
UT Martin, UT Knoxville and graduated from UTM with a
B.S. degree in communications.”I had to finish my education
at Martin because I couldn’t pass the typing test at Knoxville.
But that ended up being for the best, since I met Lisa at UTM.
We married in July 1975.” Four children, Mark, who has two
children; Matthew; Gerilyn, a sophomore at UT Knoxville;
Daniel, a senior at Camden High.
Job experience: “I started on Linotype machines at a typesetting company in Nashville.” Later became sports editor of The
Paris Post-Intelligencer, then editor of The Weakley County
Press, Martin, then on the copy desk at The Leaf-Chronicle,
Clarksville. Bought the Carroll County News in 1983. In 1992
bought The Tennessee Republican and combined the two with
a new name, Carroll County News-Leader. In 1994 bought The
Camden Chronicle and in 2002, The Fulton (Ky,) Leader. In 2004
Favorite part of job: “I really like making things work and
exchanging ideas with fellow publishers.”
Least favorite part of job: “The little things that I am grateful that I have quality people to take care of for me.”
Your management philosophy: “I like to delegate to good
people the various departmental duties.”
Tell about your mentor, if you’ve had one.
“I worked under Randal Benderman in Martin and still call
him up to bounce ideas off him.”
Most important issue facing newspapers: “The extinction
of the mom and pop stores that are falling off as Wal-Mart
expands its superstores.”
Recreation you enjoy: “Traveling and, really, my job is my
hobby. I just love coming to work each day, whether it is from
First place winners in the 2006
UT-TPA State Press Contests
will be notified by mail in a gold
envelope. Letters to all winners
will be mailed by May 15. The 2006
Awards Luncheon will be held
the newspaper office or my home office, or on the road. But
any time there is something involving our children, we do
that. Daniel plays football at Camden High School. I am a
former president of the Minor League football team for ages
6-12. Daniel and I coached a team last year and plan to do so
again this year.”
Music you like: country
Reading: Editor and Publisher
Movies: American Grafitti, westerns, The Blues Brothers,
James Bond
Television: Same. Collegiate football and basketball, game
shows
If you had a day to do anything you wanted to do: “I
would piddle around our horse farm.”
If you could have quality time with a historical figure,
who would it be and why? Nathan Bedford Forrest. He
found ways to get it done in many times unconventional ways
What you see as the value of TPA. The TPA is valuable to
provide advertising contacts, especially for smaller papers
with limited resources, and to help provide training, and
provide the legal counsel that papers cannot afford like a
retainer for a good attorney.
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
9
OBITUARIES
Judy Cagle
church pastor. Other survivors include
two grandchildren.
Former general manager
Judy Cagle, who began working for
the Germantown News in 1993, died
Jan. 27 in Proctor, Ark.
“Judy was a dedicated and conscientious employee,” said Alex Coulter,
publisher of the West Memphis Evening
Times, where Cagle began working in
1988. “She was always ready to help do
anything necessary to make the product
and the business better,” he said.
Cagle started her career as a typesetter in the composing room and worked
her way to being the supervisor of that
department. She later was promoted
to production manager at the Evening
Times before she transferred to the
Germantown News as general manager.
She left the newspaper in 2000.
Leon Daniel
UPI reporter
BY JIM CHARLET
Brentwood
Leon Daniel, 74, longtime UPI reporter and Washington bureau chief,
died March 19 in Glen Ellyn, Ill., five
days after undergoing an angioplasty
procedure.
He was a native of Etowah, attended
the University of Tennessee in the 1950s,
and began his journalism career as a
reporter for The Knoxville Journal.
Daniel spent 36 years with United
Press International, starting in Nashville in 1956, headed UPI’s Knoxville
bureau in 1959 before moving to its Atlanta bureau in 1960, where he remained
until 1966. From Atlanta, he covered the
1965 Dominican Republic rebellion, and
also reported on the South’s civil rights
movement before departing to cover the
Vietnam War.
Intermittent assignments in Afghanistan and Okinawa followed until 1975
when he returned to Vietnam to write
eyewitness reports of the fall of Saigon.
In the late 1970s, he was in Hong Kong
as UPI’s editor for Asia, and later in
London as its editor for Europe, the
Middle East and Africa.
In 1977 while vacationing in Knoxville, he learned of the attempted
escape of James Earl Ray from Brushy
Mountain Prison in Morgan County. He
rushed to dictate the UPI bulletin to the
Atlanta bureau desk, and remained at
the Tennessee prison site for three days
to help frame UPI’s account of Ray’s
recapture.
By 1980, he was in Washington as
national reporter, and later managing
editor for global news. He was UPI’s
chief correspondent by 1990, and in
Kuwait directing the news service’s
Gulf War coverage. After retirement,
he continued to write op-ed pieces, some
published in The Chicago Tribune.
He lived in Washington until 1997, and
in 2005 he and his companion, Judith
Paterson, moved to Glen Ellyn where
his daughter, Rev. Lillian Daniel, is a
Ashley W. Fisher
Columnist
Ashley William (Bill) Fisher III died
of cancer Feb. 3 at his home in Millington.
Clara Greever
Virginia newspaper manager
Clara Grubbs Greever, a Johnson
City native and once business manager
of The Richlands Press and Tazewell
County News Progress in the Clinch
Valley region of southwest Virginia,
died March 16 after a brief illness.
She was the daughter of Frank Grubbs
and Clara Bird Lusk of Johnson City,
and a graduate of the University of
Tennessee, and Science Hill High School
in Johnson City.
She was a registered dietician and
after World War II, entered the newspaper profession with her husband, the
late Charles R. Greever Jr., in Tazewell
County, Va.
She leaves one son, two daughters and
two grandsons.
Richard A. Kemp
Former editor
Richard Alexander Kemp, a former
editor of The Elk Valley Times, Fayetteville, died Feb. 7. He was 79. He was
a resident of Enterprise, Ala.
Kemp was a veteran of three wars,
having served in Leyte in the Philippines in the final months of World War
II; in Korea in 1951; and near Saigon in
Vietnam in 1960s.
As a combat correspondent for the
Pacific Stars and Stripes in Korea, Kemp
made his first parachute jump behind
enemy lines carrying a portable typewriter and a carbine, getting a world
beat on the story. Kemp also covered
the replacement of Gen. Douglas MacArthur by Gen. Matthew B. Ridgeway
while in Korea.
In between wars and after retiring
from the Army, Kemp worked as a
newspaper reporter and editor at several newspapers.
A history buff and member of the
Alabama Genealogical Society, Kemp
was active after his Army retirement
in the Sons of the American Revolution
and sons of Confederate Veterans. The
Dothan chapter of Sons of Confederate
Veterans honored him with a lifetime
achievement award named in his honor
and to be presented annually to a Sons
of Confederate Veterans members
residing in southeast Alabama.
Kemp also served six years total as
president of both the Tri-State and
Wiregrass chapters of the Alabama
Sons of the American Revolution.
Through his efforts and leadership, a
monument was erected on grounds of
the Ozark-Dale County Library honor-
ing the Revolutionary soldiers buried
in Dale County. He also was a member
of the First Families of Alabama and a
member of the Society of the Sons and
Daughters of the Pilgrims.
Kemp leaves his wife, Barbara Anne
Kemp of Fayetteville; a daughter,
Jeanne Stratton of St. Petersburg, Fla.;
two sons, Michael Kemp of Dunedin,
Fla. and Matt Kemp of Fayetteville;
and five grandchildren.
Peter H. Prince
Former editor
Peter Hayden Prince, an East Tennessee author, journalist and historian,
died April 10 at his home in Knoxville.
He was 70.
Prince, known to most acquaintances
as Pete, had prepared his own obituary
and asked that it be completed and
sent out upon his death, according to
his son, Dan.
Prince worked for a number of newspapers, including The Knoxville NewsSentinel, the Clinton Courier-News
and the Citizen Tribune, Morristown,
between 1950 and 1985.
In 1982 he was selected chairman of
the Pulitzer Prize nominating jury for
news and feature photography.
He also served as president of the East
Tennessee chapter of the Society of
Professional Journalists in 1973, served
on the SPJ national board for six years
and as a regional director.
He wrote in his prepared obituary that
he changed careers in 1985 because of
a bipolar condition. He wrote that he
was determined not “to be defeated by
the incurable disease.”
Indeed, for Ghost Towns in the Smokies, he collected 61,800 documents and
5,700 century-old photographs. The
work chronicled a logging railroad at
Clingmans Dome, a steamboat at Twentymile, a man staging his mock funeral
at Smokemont and a swinging railroad
bridge at Meigs Falls, according to his
obituary. An avid hiker, he spent years
in North Carolina and Tennessee
researching 251 former towns once
located in the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park.
Prince was born on the Cumberland
Plateau in Sewanee and went to live in
an orphanage at age 11. He and his five
siblings were separated for 53 years.
He graduated from Peabody College
of Vanderbilt in 1958. He hitchhiked to
Knoxville to attend the University of
Tennessee to take journalism classes.
Prince was an avid Rotarian, joining
the club in Morristown 1972.
Prince is survived by sons, Michael
Hayden Prince of Bean Station; Daniel
Melhorn Prince of Knoxville; Jonathan Moinette Prince of Morristown;
grandchildren, Alexus, Hunter, Nash
and Nayland Prince.
In memorium
A contribution
to
Foundation
In memory of
John Burgess
by
The Courier
Savannah
TRACKS
Ray be nimble, Ray be quick
By JIM CHARLET
Brentwood
This is the story of
a man who grew up
in Clarksville, Tennessee, and began
work for the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle
in September 1958
when it was a familyowned newspaper
Charlet
and its Page One
was dressed with
the community’s name in an Old
English flag.
And he remained there his entire
48-year professional career, until retiring March 25 as national advertising
manager. Add the four years he spent
as a newspaper route carrier, and he
invested 52 years of his life promoting
an ink-on-paper news product…quite
unusual in today’s world.
From the day he was hired by newspaper co-owner Martha C. Charlet and
started work in the mailroom at age 17,
(Wilbur) Ray Roby was known for his
slow, shy smile, which sometimes was
punctuated by a high velocity facial
blush. His other trademarks were his
cow-licked blond hair and an almost
“religious dedication” to customer
service.
Ray Roby was among my Clarksville
High School French and English
classmates, and we also shared classes
at Austin Peay State University. While
students in the late 1950s and early 1960s,
we worked together in the mailroom as
hand inserters of preprints, caught the
newspaper folder of the 16-page Duplex
Tubular hot metal printing press, and
worked the hot metal “dump” in the
composing room where we inserted
Linotype line corrections in news columns and ads…one line at a time.
We were there on Feb. 13, 1962 when
The Nashville Record tabloid weekly
newspaper rolled off the 24-page Goss
Suburban offset press, and the next day
when Tennessee’s first daily newspaper
was printed by the offset press, named
“The Duchess.” And while finishing
college, we worked together on the 2to-11 p.m. night shift as ad compositors
assembling ads for the 14 weekly newspapers owned by the Leaf-Chronicle Co.
After college graduation, I left in 1963
for U.S. Air Force officer training, and
Ray remained in college and working
at the newspaper.
In his 48-year newspaper career,
Ray Roby twice survived what Editor
John Seigenthaler of The Tennessean
terms being “sold in chains,” once to
Multimedia Inc. in 1973, and later to
Gannett, Inc. in 1995. Not one to relish
the games of corporate politics, Ray
Roby was known for keeping his head
down, keeping his ear attuned to his
advertising customers, and keeping
his eye on the ball in meeting any
newspaper production requirement to
help his advertisers.
No matter where he worked at the
newspaper, Ray Roby was always the
“go-2-guy” because of his overwhelming positive attitude. He never walked
from task to task, he jumped and ran.
From his days of young, to his days of
old, he was nimble and he was quick,
and he was incapable of saying “it
couldn’t be done”.
Always quiet, always shy, always
positive, for decades he had frequent
contact with professionals at Tennessee
Press Service, where he was regarded
highly as a complete professional, and
as a “customer’s birddog”…always
making sure what appeared in print
was exactly what the customer ordered.
He was the epitome of the “Newspaper
Advertising Man.”
I left the Clarksville newspaper again
in 1979 when 75 years of newspaper
history was reversed by a corporate
headquarters dictate to remove the
community’s name from its Page One
flag, and other nonsensical changesfor-change-sake implemented to show
“corporate’s Visiting Firemen’s” fingerprints. But Ray Roby stayed, and over
the years he became the newspaper’s
anchor in the business community.
After two other careers, I since retired
twice and he kept working there. So I’ll
never forget how we started our professional lives together, at the same time,
same place, when work was fun, and
newspapers had a lotta soul.
Under Ray Roby’s photograph in the
1959 edition of the Clarksville High
School Wildcat yearbook is this quote:
“A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the best of men.”
So welcome out, Ray Roby, it’s time for
a little nonsense. A retirement clock for
you is about as sensible as a rocking
chair for an Indy 500 champ.
You ain’t never been busy, until you
been “retired busy.”
JIM CHARLET is former editor of the
Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle, and copy
editor and makeup editor at The Atlanta
Constitution.
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
4
MAY 2006
CMYK
NIE/literacy conference successful
The Southern Newspaper Publishers
Association Newspaper in Education
(NIE)/Literacy Conference in March
was well-attended and successful. SNPA
partnered with Texas Newspapers In
Education to serve as host for the conference, held in Dallas, Texas.
Evaluations from NIE coordinators
have indicated that it was one of the
best SNPA NIE/Literacy conferences.
Hunter George, executive editor of
The Birmingham News, served as
chairman for the conference. George’s
wit and humor kept everyone entertained. However, Edward VanHorn,
SNPA executive director, and George
succeeded in keeping the conference
right on schedule! Eighty-three people
participated.
The planning committee strived
to offer something valuable for any
size newspaper that was represented.
Sessions were offered for newspapers
that were beginning NIE programs,
advanced sessions for veteran NIE
coordinators, how to secure sponsor
sessions, a session on teaching about
the U.S. Constitution with newspapers
in the classroom, an informative session
for those with an ABC-audited program,
a “make and take” teacher workshop,
and a session for coordinators to share
their individual ideas.
Tennessee had four in attendance:
Ralph Baldwin, publisher of The
Daily Post-Athenian, Athens, and a
vice president with Jones Media; Lu
Shep Baldwin, Jones Media NIE coordinator; Laura Dougherty, advertising
manager/NIE coordinator with The
Paris Post-Intelligencer; and
Jolynna Wilson, education
coordinator with The Commercial Appeal, Memphis.
Those attending the
Awards Banquet had the
opportunity to hear speaker
Michael Malone, an author
from Raleigh, N.C.
Tennessee received several awards, as follows:
Best editorial
(no circulation breakout)
First place: Cleveland
Daily Banner
NIE
CURRENTS
Plans for next year’s conference are already being
discussed.
You may want to consider budgeting
for this conference. It is a wonderful
opportunity to gain new knowledge in
order to boost your NIE program.
Other NIE news:
SNPA will offer an NIE session with
the Traveling Campus scheduled
the last day of the Tennessee Press
Lu Shep Baldwin
Best original in-paper content
(over 150,000 circulation)
First place: The Commercial Appeal,
Memphis, “I Promised I Would Tell”
Best revenue-development idea
(25,000 circulation and under)
First place: The Daily Post-Athenian,
Athens, “NIE Sponsor Appreciation
Luncheon”
Best teacher training
(25,000-75,000 circulation)
Second place: Kingsport Times News,
“NIE Teacher Workshop”
Best NIE or literacy promotion
Athens, “NIE Teacher and Sponsor
Promotions”
NIE Workshop
Friday, June 16
Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn
in conjunction with the TPA Summer Convention
ROBIE SCOTT
Educational Services Manager
The Post and Courier
Charleston, S.C.
NIE Growing With Integrity
This session will focus on the elements that are
necessary to create and sustain a viable and productive
NIE program. We will define the basics with a focus on
long range goals that do not have to be recreated each year. Details will be
provided for teacher training, NIE leadership selection, securing sponsors,
obtaining NIE orders in mass, curriculum options, choosing vendor products
that work and program evaluation and assessments.
Why NIE?
This session will begin with an overview of NIE research and analysis and
continue with a discussion on how to sustain readers ages 7 -17 while
developing them as loyal future readers. Some background NIE basics will
be overviewed, including teacher training and NIE promotion, sponsorship
opportunities and assessments.
Convention details at www.tnpress.com
Best NIE/literacy idea
(25,000 circulation and
under)
Third place: Cleveland
Daily Banner, “Character
Education”
under)
Honorable mention: The
Daily Post-Athenian, Athens, “Grandparents Day”
TRACKS
Association’s Summer Convention in
June in Chattanooga.
Robie Scott, education services manager with The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C., will conduct the session. Robie
is a veteran in Newspaper in Education.
She will speak to publishers about the
impact of NIE in the classroom, based
on research. Then she will conduct a session on the importance of NIE teacher
training for NIE coordinators or other
interested TPA members.
NAA will have its annual YEA/NIE
Conference in July in St. Louis, Mo.
For more information about the SNPA
conference, the TPA Summer Convention or the NAA conference in St. Louis,
contact your press association or Lu
Shep Baldwin at [email protected].
LU SHEP BALDWIN is NIE coordinator for Jones Media, Greeneville. She is
based in Athens.
Thomas Fraser, assistant city editor
and municipal and environmental
reporter for The Daily Times, Maryville,
has accepted a job with The Daily
Journal in southern New Jersey. He
is assistant metro editor and will do
investigative work.
|
Marla Williams has joined the
Nashville Business Journal as senior
account executive. Earlier she worked
there five years.
|
The Lebanon Democrat has named
Heather M. Nicholson as circulation
and marketing manager. She also will
organize special events and promotions
for the Democrat and its sister publications, The Hartsville Vidette and the Mt.
Juliet News.
|
Edward Farrell has joined the Chester County Independent, Henderson, as
a staff writer. He recently worked on
The Collierville Herald.
Promising way to boost advertising
The lady on the plane was telling me about her
new hiking boots. “I shopped around,” she said.
“But I decided to buy from L.L. Bean, because of
the guarantee.”
Guarantees and warranties can be powerful marketing tools. Simply put, a guarantee is a promise
to replace an unsatisfactory product or refund the
purchase price, while a warranty generally offers
to replace defective parts.
L.L. Bean’s famous promise states, “Our products
are guaranteed to give 100% satisfaction in every
way. Return anything purchased from us at any
time if it proves otherwise. We do not want you to
have anything from L.L. Bean that is not completely John
satisfactory.” Every word is true. You may have
heard stories of customers who returned products
for refunds—many years after they were purchased, and
many years after the receipts were lost.
There’s no reason to limit quality-promises to national
marketers. With a little creative thinking, you can help local advertisers develop similar strategies to set themselves
apart from their competitors. Here are some points to keep
in mind:
1. Offer value. Don’t make a half-hearted promise. Be
bold. Let the promise be an expression of the advertiser’s
confidence.
DeWalt Service Centers promise “the price of a repair will
not exceed the published price. You may pay less, but never
more.” This well-known tool company’s guarantee sounds
even better, when they add that they repair “most major
brands of power tools.” How about that for a statement of
quality? They are so knowledgeable that they are qualified
to repair other brands, as well as their own.
2. Be specific. Don’t rely on incomplete promises like “we
guarantee our work.”
I remember seeing a sign in the post
office that read, “Service in five minutes
or less.” What would have happened if a
customer had stepped up to the counter
Hand and glove
“Freedom of speech and freedom
of action are meaningless without
freedom to think.”
Bergen Evans
Author, 1946
and said, “I’ve been standing in line for 15 minutes.
What do I get?”
They would have gotten exactly what the sign
promised: nothing.
The sign implied–but did not state–a specific
guarantee. It was nothing more than an empty
slogan on the wall.
Specificity sells. Can you promise product reliability? (Most local merchants carry national brands
which offer guarantees and warranties. But how
many mention this in their advertising?)
Can you guarantee service? (Here’s a way for the
mom and pops to beat the big box stores.)
Foust Can you guarantee results? (Think of those ads
that used to say, “Lose 20 pounds in 30 days, or your
money back.”)
3. Set a time limit. An ad for Oreck vacuum cleaners
outlines a “full 10-year guarantee against breakage or
burnout of the housing plus a 3-year warranty on the motor.”
Evidently, this is a unique promise, because the next line of
copy states that the guarantee was “not six months or one
year like other brands.”
How long will your promise be good? 30 days? 90 days? A
year? A lifetime?
The right promise can make a big difference for an advertiser.
©Copyright 2006 by John Foust. All rights reserved.
JOHN FOUST conducts on-site and video training for newspaper advertising departments. His three new video programs
are designed to help ad managers conduct in-house training for
their sales teams. For information, contact John Foust, P.O. Box
97606, Raleigh, N.C. 27624; [email protected]; or (919)
848-2401.
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
5
Sunshine bill going to House-Senate study committee
The Sunshine in Government Improvement
Act of 2006 is on its way to a “special” House and
Senate study committee that will include press
and citizen groups as well as representatives of
city, county and state government.
That’s not a bad thing because it gives us a
better opportunity to make real improvements
in the open government laws than we were able
to do in the normal legislative process. It shows,
however, that TPA and allied groups have more
work to do on top of the good work already done
by newspapers this year.
We will not be starting from scratch. Dozens
of papers have made the public more aware of
the problems, and the legislation we proposed to
correct them, through news stories and editorials. The TPA clipping service sent me as many as
10-15 clips on some days in February and March.
To their credit, some papers brought readers and
public officials into the stories. That discussion
needs to continue in coming months.
At press time, the General Assembly was
expected to create a 19-member study panel
and acknowledge by resolution problems with
Tennessee’s open government laws. The resolution
would instruct the panel to report its “initial”
findings and recommendations by Dec. 1 and final
report by Feb. 1, 2007..
The committee includes one representative
each from TPA, the broadcasters’ association, the
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, Common Cause; League of Women Voters, SPJ, two
members each from the House and Senate, two
appointed by the governor; one designated by
the attorney general, two each from TML and
Tennessee County Services, one school board
member and a public utility board member. TML
and TCSA must name one elected official each.
MTAS and CTAS were taken out at insistence of
TML and CTAS.
The study resolution places the discussion
where it belongs—in the context of ethics in
government. MTAS and CTAS have been tasked by
the legislature to produce model ethics standards
for local government. The issue will be taken up
during the 2007 session.
“...Tennessee’s open government laws were adopted to bring transparency and public confidence
in government and to ensure public participation
in the government process,” the draft resolution
states. “… It is the intent of the General Assembly
protect the public’s right to know.
that all Tennesseans have the utmost
In coming months we all need to conrespect and trust in the operation of
centrate on this issue. Here’s how.
government and the enforcement of
1. Assess openness of government
laws enacted for their benefit.”
at your local level. You might not have
What’s next?
any problems, but you could ask your
It is an election year so it is essential
local officials for suggestions they
over the next few months that we
might support for places that do. Redevote some extra attention to the
member we found alleged violations
subject. Transparency means more
of the open meetings law in 10 percent
disclosure and openness to make it TENNESSEE
of the towns and cities and almost a
easier for everyone to know what goes
third of the counties. The resolution
on inside government.
COALITION
also notes a significant rise in the
Lest we forget, two county commisnumber of alleged violations.
sioners, a school board member and FOR OPEN
an aide to a county mayor were among GOVERNMENT 2. Discuss the situation—in print
or as civic-minded residents—in the
those indicted in the Tennessee Waltz
context of government ethics reform,
sting operation. The Chattanooga
Frank Gibson
disclosure and openness.
Times Free Press discovAsk every candidate for
ered through a public
office—local and state ofrecords request that an
fice—where they stand on
indicted Hamilton County Gibson is executive director of the Tenopen government. That
school board member used nessee Coalition for Open Government.
can be a softball question,
his public e-mail account to One can contact him at [email protected];
so you’ll need to be specific.
lobby on behalf of the fake (615) 202-2685; or TCOG, P. O. Box 22248,
Ask whether they will supFBI enterprise. Records in Nashville, Tenn. 37202. For more information
Nashville showed he had on Tennessee’s government access laws and port reasonable improvement to the open meetings
not registered to represent a list of Sunshine Law problems reported in
Tennessee newspapers over the past three
and public records laws
the company.
that come out of this study
It is in the best interest years, go to www.tcog.info.
committee. Keep in mind
of your readers to know
that Tennessee is among
who is trying to influence
officials in your area and how they go about it. only 12 states with no prescribed penalty for
No one suggests that corruption exists in city sunshine and records violations. Public officials
and county government to the level alleged in the can be recalled or removed from a board if found
Waltz scandal, but the lack of transparency makes guilty of sunshine violations in three states. In
another, it is treated as an ethics infraction.
it harder to find potential problems.
It’s your call about what to do with the informaIn the wake of the Waltz sting and the black
eye it gave the state, the legislature and Gov. Phil tion you gather. You can survey and report their
Bredesen launched concurrent reviews of reforms responses in your publications or hang onto it
needed to restore public confidence in government. for later, but send it along to us when you can.
The governor’s ethics advisory panel left it to the It’s important that you get them on the record and
General Assembly and the governor himself to solicit their support.
For those among us who are timid about writing
address questions of open government. The governor has responded by supporting an advisory on this subject, remember whose government it
is and who ultimately benefits from transparency
ombudsman on public access.
Lawmakers have given local governments until in government. Don’t worry whether the public
the next legislative session to apply controls on sees it as self-serving. It’s about assuming civic
responsibility.
local conduct or risk having it done by them.
Sunshine Improvement Act
Since public accountability is the goal, it’s paraSince late December, newspapers across the
mount that we have workable open meetings and
records laws and efficient procedures in place to
state have called for enactment of the Sunshine
in Government Improvement Act.
At the same time, county commissions mounted
a campaign to call their state representatives and
senators. Some lawmakers were getting four or
five calls a day from angry county officials, who,
according to one lawmaker, engaged in “hypothetical hysteria.” They cited different scenarios
in which they would be hanged for going fishing
or attending church with other commissioners
and without ever getting a court hearing. Not
true, but it was convincing.
Some county commissions applied pressure
by passing resolutions calling on their representatives to oppose the legislation. It made no
difference that compromises had already been
made to accommodate some of their concerns.
One committee of commissioners was informed
about compromises we had made already but still
recommended that the full commission oppose the
legislation “as it was originally filed.”
We had difficulty passing the bill because many
county officials misunderstood its intent and
ignored the legislative process in which differences are ironed out. Some opposition was based
on misinformation from their representatives on
Capitol Hill.
The Tennessee Municipal League, which represents more than 300 towns and cities, remained
open-minded and willing to suggest changes to
improve the proposal. They invited us to appear
before their members to explain the proposal.
We were willing to make changes TML sought,
but none of the county commission resolutions
reflected those efforts.
We anticipated opposition to the proposal,
as filed. We knew there would need to be some
tweaking and compromise. We didn’t anticipate a
major association of elected officials would refuse
to discuss it flat out.
That leaves us in the position of having to start
the discussion in a different forum, away from the
heat of a legislative session.
FRANK GIBSON is coordinator of theTPA Freedom
of Information Committee and executive director of the
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. He can be
reached at [email protected] or (615) 202-2685. For
more information online, go to www.tcog.info.
Jones, The Washington Post, becomes president of Newspaper Association of America
Boisfeuillet (Bo) Jones Jr., publisher
and chief executive officer of The
Washington Post, has been elected to
serve as the Newspaper Association
of America’s next chairman. The gavel
was passed to Jones from last year’s
chairman Jay R. Smith, president of Cox
Newspapers Inc. in Atlanta, during the
Association’s Annual Convention April
2-4 at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago.
Smith will continue to serve on the
NAA Board of Directors as immediate
past chairman.
Jones was appointed publisher
Washington Post in 2000. He joined
the Post in 1980 as vice president and
general counsel. Jones also has served
as president and general manager, and
associate publisher.
In addition to serving as 2006-07 NAA
chairman, Jones is a director of the
Associated Press, the Eugene & Agnes
Meyer Foundation, the Federal City
Council, the Cooperative Assistance
Fund, and several Post affiliates. He
also is a member of the University of
Maryland School of Journalism Board
of Visitors.
Other officers elected were Vice Chairwoman Susan Clark-Johnson, president
of the Newspaper Division of Gannett
Co. in McLean, Va.; Secretary Gary B.
Pruitt, chairman, president and chief
executive officer of The McClatchy Co.
in Sacramento; and Treasurer George B.
Irish, president of Hearst Newspapers,
a subsidiary of The Hearst Corp. in
New York City.
Elected to two-year terms on the NAA
Board of Directors were Donna Barrett,
president and chief executive officer,
Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.,
Birmingham, Ala.; Scott Flanders,
Freedom Communications Inc., Irvine,
Calif.; Harold W. Fuson Jr., senior vice
president and chief legal officer, The
Copley Press Inc., La Jolla, Calif.;
Marshall N. Morton, president and
chief executive officer, Media General
Inc., Richmond, Va.; Charles Peters,
The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Steven
J. Smith, chairman and chief executive
officer, Journal Communications Inc.,
Milwaukee; and Virgil L. Smith, president and publisher, Asheville (N.C.)
Citizen-Times.
Directors re-elected to two-year terms
were Jean B. Clifton, president and
chief operating officer, Journal Register
Co., Trenton, N.J.; Joseph J. Lodovic
IV, president, MediaNews Group Inc.,
Denver; David R. Lord, president, Pioneer Newspapers Inc., Seattle; James
M. Moroney III, publisher and chief
executive officer, The Dallas Morning
News; James A. Moss, chairman, Times
Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y.; Scott
C. Schurz, president, Hoosier Times
Inc., Bloomington, Ind.; and Gary K.
Shorts, president and chief executive
officer, Calkins Media, Levittown, Pa.
Directors continuing their terms are:
R. Bruce Bradley, president/publishing
group, Landmark Communications
Inc., Norfolk, Va.; Mark G. Contreras,
vice president/newspaper operations,
The E.W. Scripps Co., Cincinnati; W.
Stacey Cowles, president and publisher,
The Spokesman-Review, Spokane,
Wash.; James C. Currow, executive vice
president/newspapers, Morris Communications Co. LLC, Augusta, Ga.; Walter
E. Hussman Jr., publisher, Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock; Mark
W. Newhouse, vice president/general
manager, The Star-Ledger, Newark,
N.J.; Robert M. Nutting, president and
chief executive officer, The Nutting
Company, Inc., Wheeling, W.Va.; David
M. Paxton, president/chief executive
officer, Paxton Media Group LLC, Paducah, Ky.; Charles V. Pittman, senior
vice president/newspapers, Schurz
Communications Inc., South Bend,
Ind.; Michael E. Reed, president and
chief executive officer, Liberty Group
Publishing Inc., Downers Grove, Ill.;
Janet L. Robinson, president and chief
executive officer, The New York Times
Co.; Hilary A. Schneider, senior vice
president, Knight Ridder, San Jose,
Calif.; Scott C. Smith, president, Tribune Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill.; Paul
Tash, editor, chief executive officer and
chairman, St. Petersburg Times; and
Kathleen M. Waltz, president, chief
executive officer and publisher, The
Orlando Sentinel.
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
8
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
7
50 years of ownership
TRACKS
Tom and Ellin Gentry found a newspaper, and a home, in 1956
CMYK
BY STEVE MARION
Staff writer
The Standard Banner, Jefferson City
Back in 1962, people in downtown Jefferson City were surprised one day to see
the press coming up Main Street.
We’re not talking about Tom Gentry,
publisher and editor of the local newspaper, though he was present. We’re
talking about the press, a four-page
hand-fed Cranston, weighing in at well
over a thousand pounds.
Police blocked off the street as Gentry,
his entire staff of three, and helpers
rolled the iron monster up the street
on heavy metal rollers. The Cranston
emerged from the newspaper’s rented
office on Main Street, made a left turn,
and inched its way west to Gentry’s
new building on the Andrew Johnson
Highway.
Who says journalism wasn’t mobile
in those days?
“I don’t think we caused any problems
for traffic,” Gentry quipped. “There
weren’t many cars on the street.”
The Standard Banner’s press doesn’t
hold Main Street parades any more. It
stays in its den, where it has grown to
a size that makes the old Cranston look
like a pup.
The way the press comes to life with
clock-like regularity hasn’t changed,
though. This week, Tom Gentry’s press
marks 50 years of publishing. Fifty years
of ink and paper. Five decades of deadlines, headlines, bylines. For 50 years
somehow ink has poured out of barrels
and turned into people’s lives, their
births and deaths, milestones, successes
and disappointments, achievements,
dreams, crimes.
Through it all, Gentry’s paper, he is
proud to say, has “never missed the
mail.” Not once on a publication day
have mail trucks left Jefferson City
without their stacks of newspapers,
though more than once the ink has
barely been dry.
“I think we’ve chased down the mail
trucks before they could pull out of
the parking lot a few times,” Gentry’s
son Dale, who is managing editor, said
during a celebration Saturday evening.
“But we’ve never let them get away
without the paper.”
Tom Gentry’s pride in never missing
the deadline that counts most tells you
something about him. He doesn’t easily
lose sight of a goal, no matter how much
turmoil the moment might contain, and
he doesn’t mind working as hard as it
takes to get there.
“I don’t think I’ve seen anybody work
harder than Tom,” said Paul Young, who
has been with the paper 44 years. “In the
early days we put out three papers, and
I’ve seen Tom stay up all night doing
one of them, go home and shower, come
back and pull an all-nighter putting out
the next one.”
Gentry’s wife of 56 years, Ellin, says
Tom Gentry at his trusty typewriter
he inherited his mother’s even temperament. His work ethic may have come
from his father, a teacher who later
was elected superintendent of schools
in Putnam County. Gentry remembers
riding a horse-drawn buggy with his
dad as they visited the schools scattered around the county—and it was
his father who started the family into
the newspaper business in 1923 with
his purchase of the Putnam County
Herald.
“I always liked newspapers and
newspaper work,” Gentry recalled.
“I watched my dad and saw how he
handled things—how he developed a
reputation as a good editor and publisher. I saw how you could do some
good for a community that way.”
In February 1956, Tom and Ellin
Gentry came to Jefferson City and
bought the Jefferson City Standard
and Grainger County News from Judge
George Shepherd.
“We were looking for something we
could afford,” Gentry recalled, “and
we were looking for a place where we
wanted to live.”
The paper had a good Linotype operator and a couple of pressmen. Gentry
did the rest. He gathered news, took
photographs, sold advertising, kept the
books and ran the commercial printing
side of the business.
“I could see after about six months
that it was going to work out,” he said.
“I really appreciated the reception I got
from the business people.”
As he began to expand, he hired Cal
THE STANDARD BANNER
Taylor, who would stay 25 years until
her retirement, to run the office. Mrs.
Taylor’s crisp way of answering the
phone, “Standard Office!”, became
known all over town.
The move to the newspaper’s current
office on Old Andrew Johnson Highway
from its old rented quarters on Main
Street in 1962 was a sign the paper was
going to have staying power. Then, in
1965, Gentry made another bold move.
He consolidated the Banner and Standard to make The Jefferson County
Standard Banner.
Dr. Else Muncy, author of a history
of the county, later placed Gentry’s
arrival in town, and his decision to
consolidate the papers, on a short list
of the best things that happened to the
community in the second half of the 20th
century. People here were beginning to
see themselves as Jefferson Countians,
where previously they had identified
most strongly with the county’s towns
and small communities.
There’s an adage that says newspaper works runs in families because it
takes everybody in the family to get
the work done. Ellin Gentry recalls
that she often ran errands, to pick up
news and advertising copy and take
photos, when her husband’s schedule
was overwhelmed—but she also ended
up running the operation one week in
the fall of 1962.
Tom, a World War II Navy vet, had
joined a group of journalists on a
trip to observe military operations
in Cuba—and it happened to occur
at the same time as the Cuban Missile
Crisis. For a while, Ellin had no way of
contacting her husband, and there was
that record of never missing the mail
to consider.
“It was hectic,” she recalled. “I helped
as much as I could, and we had a good
staff to get us through it.”
The week became more exciting than
she would have liked when Young’s hand
was injured by a piece of machinery as
they worked to get the paper out.
“She had to take me to the hospital,”
Young recalled. “It was a pretty interesting week—maybe more interesting
than she wanted it to be. But we got the
papers out.”
True to form, Tom sent in a story about
his experiences to help things come
together. Back home, he continued his
hectic schedule. Soon, the local sheriff
trusted him enough to take him along
on some of his moonshine raids.
“They would bring the stills back and
display them on the lawn in front of the
jail,” Gentry recalled. “I remember one
time I went on a raid and a guy had barricaded himself in a house. There was
even some shooting. I had to take cover
behind a car.”
The changes that had begun with the
press parade on Main Street continued.
In the early ’60s, the paper made the
switch from letterpress to offset. It
was the first of many technological
advances that have changed almost
everything about the way a newspaper
comes together.
“One of the things I appreciate about
Tom is that he has always made sure
the newspaper had good equipment,”
said Young.
Most recently, The Standard Banner added a new 12-ton “quad stack”
printing unit to its state-of-the-art
press, which now has more color capability than ever before. Photography,
meanwhile, has gone from the days of
flashbulbs and negatives to today’s color
digital process.
Gentry was pleased that his son Dale,
whose first job was to keep the papers
aligned as they came off the old press,
decided to come home to the family
business after majoring in journalism
at the University of Tennessee. Dale has
developed The Standard Banner into a
paper that wins state prizes every year
for its content and design.
“We didn’t push him toward it, but I
could tell he was interested from the
start,” Tom said. “Dale has been a great
asset to the paper.”
At a dinner Saturday night, staff
members at the newspaper presented
Tom and Ellin a framed plaque showing
the paper’s flag in 1956 and the current
one. It also features now and then photos
of the publisher, as well as 1956 and 2006
silver coins. The staff traded stories and
thanked Gentry for believing in them
and the business.
“Tom has given life to it,” Ellin said of
the newspaper. “I think he and Dale have
made a big change in what the newspaper contributes to the community.”
“I think the local newspaper will
continue to have a place,” Tom said.
“We print the local news, and after all,
that is news nobody else has.”
(Feb. 9, 2006)
THE STANDARD BANNER
Tom Gentry and his son, Dale, to his left, and grandchildren Ann Gowan and David Gentry.
ELENORA E. EDWARDS | TPS
HELEN COMER | THE JACKSON SUN
(Left photo) Carol Dix shows Page One of the issue of The Tennessee Press that announced that The Jackson Sun had won the Be Kind to Editors
Contest sponsored by the newspaper. The newspaper held a special thank-you event for all its editors. (Right) Two TPA staff members visited the
newspaper April 5 to treat the staff. From left are Executive Director Greg Sherrill, Autumn Hardee and Dix, Sun staff members, and Member Services
Manager Robyn Gentile.
WHAT’S BEING DONE
Giving readers the good runaround
USE PROPER SPACING: If the space you’re using
The use of runarounds in text offers designers the
for the runaround is too tight, elements almost seem
opportunity to make a visual element an integral
to blend together. Use spacing that’s too wide and
part of the package. The text and the visual become
there’s too much separation. During the past few
inseparable—such treatment helps readers underyears, my standard spacing has been four points—but
stand that neither is complete without the other.
I open the spacing in a package like a feature, where
But a poorly-placed runaround can make you apI use more liberal spacing throughout. Don’t cram.
pear sloppy. OK, the more pleasant term for it is “unCHECK ABOVE AND BELOW: Proper spacing also
professional”—but readers would say “sloppy.”
demands that you don’t run type too tight to the top
The reason is that the text adjacent to the runand bottom of the wrapped element. Here, too, use
around, especially with today’s narrower column
proper spacing.
widths, tends to space badly. Often, there’s enough BY
MAKE THE ELEMENT SMALLER: Time was, we
space between words to march an entire Army bat- DESIGN
used to use mug shots at 6 picas wide by 9 picas deep.
talion through!
that was back in the days of hot type and 85 line
Following are some thoughts—and tips—on how
Ed Henninger But
screens. Most of us are now using smaller mugs. For
to handle runarounds:
the past few years, I’ve been advising clients to size
WHATCHAMACALLIT: Part of the fun of this
mugs at 4x6 picas. Even at that
business is that the lexicon
smaller size, they reproduce
has never quite been graven
well, thanks to improved
in stone. Some call these
prepress and press work.
“runarounds,” others say
Runarounds are an imthey’re “notches.” Still others
portant part of your design
call them “wraparounds” or
repertoire. Use them badly
“text wraps.” Whatever name
and your paper looks sloppy.
they go by at your place,
Use them correctly and your
they’re formed by placing an
paper looks—and becomes—
element in the side of the text,
more professional.
wrapping the type around the
element.
FOR A LIST of tips on how
PLACEMENT: Do we place
to adjust the type adjacent
the element to the left or right
to a runaround, visit Ed
edge of the column of text?
Henninger’s web site at www.
The answer is: “Yep.” If it
henningerconsulting.com
makes more sense to place the
map on the left side, do so. But if the person in a mug shot and leave a request with an e-mail address. We’ll send the list
is looking to the left of your page, you may want to place out to you right away.
that mug toward the right side of the copy.
CHECK AND FIX: Let’s just repeat that, for emphasis. ED HENNINGER is an independent newspaper consultant
Check and fix. Check and fix. Check and fix. Once you’ve and the director of Henninger Consulting, offering comprehenplaced the element in the runaround, check the type adjacent sive newspaper design services including redesigns, workto it. (See: FOR A LIST…below). If you fail to adjust the type shops, staff training and evaluations. One can contact him at
[email protected]; On the Web, henningerconsultas needed, you will look sloppy.
LOCK NAMELINE: If your visual element is a mug shot, ing.com; or (803) 327-3322.
make sure the nameline is locked to the baseline, like the text
in the story. Not locking text to the baseline? You should.
Parade Magazine and Kodak recently
joined forces with the Citizen Tribune,
Morristown, and College Square Mall
to present the Parade-Kodak National
Photo Contest exhibit titled “Love.”
It featured photos submitted by
everyday people doing what they love,
with people and objects they love, from
a couple that had just gotten married
to a mother opossum carrying a back
full of babies.Visitors were admitted
free to the 12-day event.
John Dennan has
been named vice
president of operations at The Commercial Appeal,
Memphis. He oversees circulation,
human resources
and operations.
Dennan
“Memphis is an
exciting place to
be right now because new editions of
our newspaper have been launched to
give readers more local news and local
advertising,” Dennan said.
He said his new position is a chance
to apply the knowledge and experience
gained previously to “contribute to the
success” of the newspaper.
Dennan comes to The Commercial
Appeal from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
where he oversaw completion of a $17
million facility expansion and makeover of a 35-year-old printing plant,
among other accomplishments.
Before working in St. Louis, Dennan was vice president of production
for the San Francisco Chronicle and
vice president of production for the
Philadelphia Inquirer. He began his
newspaper career in Fort Worth.
A rock
“Despite the evident frailties of
mainstream journalism, even those
who operate around its margins—
bloggers, op-ed writers, even some
of the more opinionated sectors of
cable—are still completely dependent
on it and still believe they’re getting
some truth there.”
Todd Gitlin, professor, Columbia
University
IMAGESETTER FOR SALE
ECRM VRL36 with precision rollers for excellent color registration. Can handle
film widths from 12 to 14 inches. Perfect condition. Includes Harlequin RIP
Version 5.5, revision 1a (handles Level III postscript and PDF files accurately).
Will image a broadsheet page in approx. 3 minutes. We will deliver and set up
machine within 200 miles without charge. Will negotiate on further distances.
Includes imagesetter, RIP, G4 Macintosh to host RIP with dongle, 17-inch monitor,
two film input and two take-up cassettes. Entire setup only $5,000 (less than the
price of a RIP program alone). We can include a Glunz & Jensen Devotec 15 film
processor, also in excellent condition, for additional $2000. Todd County Standard,
Elkton, KY. Toll free phone 1-877-220-9446, ask for Mike or Michael.
CMYK
6
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
7
50 years of ownership
TRACKS
Tom and Ellin Gentry found a newspaper, and a home, in 1956
CMYK
BY STEVE MARION
Staff writer
The Standard Banner, Jefferson City
Back in 1962, people in downtown Jefferson City were surprised one day to see
the press coming up Main Street.
We’re not talking about Tom Gentry,
publisher and editor of the local newspaper, though he was present. We’re
talking about the press, a four-page
hand-fed Cranston, weighing in at well
over a thousand pounds.
Police blocked off the street as Gentry,
his entire staff of three, and helpers
rolled the iron monster up the street
on heavy metal rollers. The Cranston
emerged from the newspaper’s rented
office on Main Street, made a left turn,
and inched its way west to Gentry’s
new building on the Andrew Johnson
Highway.
Who says journalism wasn’t mobile
in those days?
“I don’t think we caused any problems
for traffic,” Gentry quipped. “There
weren’t many cars on the street.”
The Standard Banner’s press doesn’t
hold Main Street parades any more. It
stays in its den, where it has grown to
a size that makes the old Cranston look
like a pup.
The way the press comes to life with
clock-like regularity hasn’t changed,
though. This week, Tom Gentry’s press
marks 50 years of publishing. Fifty years
of ink and paper. Five decades of deadlines, headlines, bylines. For 50 years
somehow ink has poured out of barrels
and turned into people’s lives, their
births and deaths, milestones, successes
and disappointments, achievements,
dreams, crimes.
Through it all, Gentry’s paper, he is
proud to say, has “never missed the
mail.” Not once on a publication day
have mail trucks left Jefferson City
without their stacks of newspapers,
though more than once the ink has
barely been dry.
“I think we’ve chased down the mail
trucks before they could pull out of
the parking lot a few times,” Gentry’s
son Dale, who is managing editor, said
during a celebration Saturday evening.
“But we’ve never let them get away
without the paper.”
Tom Gentry’s pride in never missing
the deadline that counts most tells you
something about him. He doesn’t easily
lose sight of a goal, no matter how much
turmoil the moment might contain, and
he doesn’t mind working as hard as it
takes to get there.
“I don’t think I’ve seen anybody work
harder than Tom,” said Paul Young, who
has been with the paper 44 years. “In the
early days we put out three papers, and
I’ve seen Tom stay up all night doing
one of them, go home and shower, come
back and pull an all-nighter putting out
the next one.”
Gentry’s wife of 56 years, Ellin, says
Tom Gentry at his trusty typewriter
he inherited his mother’s even temperament. His work ethic may have come
from his father, a teacher who later
was elected superintendent of schools
in Putnam County. Gentry remembers
riding a horse-drawn buggy with his
dad as they visited the schools scattered around the county—and it was
his father who started the family into
the newspaper business in 1923 with
his purchase of the Putnam County
Herald.
“I always liked newspapers and
newspaper work,” Gentry recalled.
“I watched my dad and saw how he
handled things—how he developed a
reputation as a good editor and publisher. I saw how you could do some
good for a community that way.”
In February 1956, Tom and Ellin
Gentry came to Jefferson City and
bought the Jefferson City Standard
and Grainger County News from Judge
George Shepherd.
“We were looking for something we
could afford,” Gentry recalled, “and
we were looking for a place where we
wanted to live.”
The paper had a good Linotype operator and a couple of pressmen. Gentry
did the rest. He gathered news, took
photographs, sold advertising, kept the
books and ran the commercial printing
side of the business.
“I could see after about six months
that it was going to work out,” he said.
“I really appreciated the reception I got
from the business people.”
As he began to expand, he hired Cal
THE STANDARD BANNER
Taylor, who would stay 25 years until
her retirement, to run the office. Mrs.
Taylor’s crisp way of answering the
phone, “Standard Office!”, became
known all over town.
The move to the newspaper’s current
office on Old Andrew Johnson Highway
from its old rented quarters on Main
Street in 1962 was a sign the paper was
going to have staying power. Then, in
1965, Gentry made another bold move.
He consolidated the Banner and Standard to make The Jefferson County
Standard Banner.
Dr. Else Muncy, author of a history
of the county, later placed Gentry’s
arrival in town, and his decision to
consolidate the papers, on a short list
of the best things that happened to the
community in the second half of the 20th
century. People here were beginning to
see themselves as Jefferson Countians,
where previously they had identified
most strongly with the county’s towns
and small communities.
There’s an adage that says newspaper works runs in families because it
takes everybody in the family to get
the work done. Ellin Gentry recalls
that she often ran errands, to pick up
news and advertising copy and take
photos, when her husband’s schedule
was overwhelmed—but she also ended
up running the operation one week in
the fall of 1962.
Tom, a World War II Navy vet, had
joined a group of journalists on a
trip to observe military operations
in Cuba—and it happened to occur
at the same time as the Cuban Missile
Crisis. For a while, Ellin had no way of
contacting her husband, and there was
that record of never missing the mail
to consider.
“It was hectic,” she recalled. “I helped
as much as I could, and we had a good
staff to get us through it.”
The week became more exciting than
she would have liked when Young’s hand
was injured by a piece of machinery as
they worked to get the paper out.
“She had to take me to the hospital,”
Young recalled. “It was a pretty interesting week—maybe more interesting
than she wanted it to be. But we got the
papers out.”
True to form, Tom sent in a story about
his experiences to help things come
together. Back home, he continued his
hectic schedule. Soon, the local sheriff
trusted him enough to take him along
on some of his moonshine raids.
“They would bring the stills back and
display them on the lawn in front of the
jail,” Gentry recalled. “I remember one
time I went on a raid and a guy had barricaded himself in a house. There was
even some shooting. I had to take cover
behind a car.”
The changes that had begun with the
press parade on Main Street continued.
In the early ’60s, the paper made the
switch from letterpress to offset. It
was the first of many technological
advances that have changed almost
everything about the way a newspaper
comes together.
“One of the things I appreciate about
Tom is that he has always made sure
the newspaper had good equipment,”
said Young.
Most recently, The Standard Banner added a new 12-ton “quad stack”
printing unit to its state-of-the-art
press, which now has more color capability than ever before. Photography,
meanwhile, has gone from the days of
flashbulbs and negatives to today’s color
digital process.
Gentry was pleased that his son Dale,
whose first job was to keep the papers
aligned as they came off the old press,
decided to come home to the family
business after majoring in journalism
at the University of Tennessee. Dale has
developed The Standard Banner into a
paper that wins state prizes every year
for its content and design.
“We didn’t push him toward it, but I
could tell he was interested from the
start,” Tom said. “Dale has been a great
asset to the paper.”
At a dinner Saturday night, staff
members at the newspaper presented
Tom and Ellin a framed plaque showing
the paper’s flag in 1956 and the current
one. It also features now and then photos
of the publisher, as well as 1956 and 2006
silver coins. The staff traded stories and
thanked Gentry for believing in them
and the business.
“Tom has given life to it,” Ellin said of
the newspaper. “I think he and Dale have
made a big change in what the newspaper contributes to the community.”
“I think the local newspaper will
continue to have a place,” Tom said.
“We print the local news, and after all,
that is news nobody else has.”
(Feb. 9, 2006)
ELENORA E. EDWARDS | TPS
HELEN COMER | THE JACKSON SUN
(Left photo) Carol Dix shows Page One of the issue of The Tennessee Press that announced that The Jackson Sun had won the Be Kind to Editors
Contest sponsored by the newspaper. The newspaper held a special thank-you event for all its editors. (Right) Two TPA staff members visited the
newspaper April 5 to treat the staff. From left are Executive Director Greg Sherrill, Autumn Hardee and Dix, Sun staff members, and Member Services
Manager Robyn Gentile.
WHAT’S BEING DONE
Giving readers the good runaround
It featured photos submitted by
everyday people doing what they love,
with people and objects they love, from
a couple that had just gotten married
to a mother opossum carrying a back
full of babies.Visitors were admitted
free to the 12-day event.
BY
DESIGN
Ed Henninger
Permission has not been granted for this column to be
included in the online version of The Tennessee Press.
THE STANDARD BANNER
Tom Gentry and his son, Dale, to his left, and grandchildren Ann Gowan and David Gentry.
Parade Magazine and Kodak recently
joined forces with the Citizen Tribune,
Morristown, and College Square Mall
to present the Parade-Kodak National
Photo Contest exhibit titled “Love.”
John Dennan has
been named vice
president of operations at The Commercial Appeal,
Memphis. He oversees circulation,
human resources
and operations.
Dennan
“Memphis is an
exciting place to
be right now because new editions of
our newspaper have been launched to
give readers more local news and local
advertising,” Dennan said.
He said his new position is a chance
to apply the knowledge and experience
gained previously to “contribute to the
success” of the newspaper.
Dennan comes to The Commercial
Appeal from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
where he oversaw completion of a $17
million facility expansion and makeover of a 35-year-old printing plant,
among other accomplishments.
Before working in St. Louis, Dennan was vice president of production
for the San Francisco Chronicle and
vice president of production for the
Philadelphia Inquirer. He began his
newspaper career in Fort Worth.
A rock
“Despite the evident frailties of
mainstream journalism, even those
who operate around its margins—
bloggers, op-ed writers, even some
of the more opinionated sectors of
cable—are still completely dependent
on it and still believe they’re getting
some truth there.”
Todd Gitlin, professor, Columbia
University
IMAGESETTER FOR SALE
ECRM VRL36 with precision rollers for excellent color registration. Can handle
film widths from 12 to 14 inches. Perfect condition. Includes Harlequin RIP
Version 5.5, revision 1a (handles Level III postscript and PDF files accurately).
Will image a broadsheet page in approx. 3 minutes. We will deliver and set up
machine within 200 miles without charge. Will negotiate on further distances.
Includes imagesetter, RIP, G4 Macintosh to host RIP with dongle, 17-inch monitor,
two film input and two take-up cassettes. Entire setup only $5,000 (less than the
price of a RIP program alone). We can include a Glunz & Jensen Devotec 15 film
processor, also in excellent condition, for additional $2000. Todd County Standard,
Elkton, KY. Toll free phone 1-877-220-9446, ask for Mike or Michael.
CMYK
6
MAY 2006
CMYK
NIE/literacy conference successful
The Southern Newspaper Publishers
Association Newspaper in Education
(NIE)/Literacy Conference in March
was well-attended and successful. SNPA
partnered with Texas Newspapers In
Education to serve as host for the conference, held in Dallas, Texas.
Evaluations from NIE coordinators
have indicated that it was one of the
best SNPA NIE/Literacy conferences.
Hunter George, executive editor of
The Birmingham News, served as
chairman for the conference. George’s
wit and humor kept everyone entertained. However, Edward VanHorn,
SNPA executive director, and George
succeeded in keeping the conference
right on schedule! Eighty-three people
participated.
The planning committee strived
to offer something valuable for any
size newspaper that was represented.
Sessions were offered for newspapers
that were beginning NIE programs,
advanced sessions for veteran NIE
coordinators, how to secure sponsor
sessions, a session on teaching about
the U.S. Constitution with newspapers
in the classroom, an informative session
for those with an ABC-audited program,
a “make and take” teacher workshop,
and a session for coordinators to share
their individual ideas.
Tennessee had four in attendance:
Ralph Baldwin, publisher of The
Daily Post-Athenian, Athens, and a
vice president with Jones Media; Lu
Shep Baldwin, Jones Media NIE coordinator; Laura Dougherty, advertising
manager/NIE coordinator with The
Paris Post-Intelligencer; and
Jolynna Wilson, education
coordinator with The Commercial Appeal, Memphis.
Those attending the
Awards Banquet had the
opportunity to hear speaker
Michael Malone, an author
from Raleigh, N.C.
Tennessee received several awards, as follows:
Best editorial
(no circulation breakout)
First place: Cleveland
Daily Banner
NIE
CURRENTS
Plans for next year’s conference are already being
discussed.
You may want to consider budgeting
for this conference. It is a wonderful
opportunity to gain new knowledge in
order to boost your NIE program.
Other NIE news:
SNPA will offer an NIE session with
the Traveling Campus scheduled
the last day of the Tennessee Press
Lu Shep Baldwin
Best original in-paper content
(over 150,000 circulation)
First place: The Commercial Appeal,
Memphis, “I Promised I Would Tell”
Best revenue-development idea
Athens, “NIE Sponsor Appreciation
Luncheon”
Best teacher training
(25,000-75,000 circulation)
Second place: Kingsport Times News,
“NIE Teacher Workshop”
Best NIE or literacy promotion
Athens, “NIE Teacher and Sponsor
Promotions”
NIE Workshop
Friday, June 16
in conjunction with the TPA Summer Convention
ROBIE SCOTT
Educational Services Manager
The Post and Courier
Charleston, S.C.
This session will focus on the elements that are
necessary to create and sustain a viable and productive
NIE program. We will define the basics with a focus on
long range goals that do not have to be recreated each year. Details will be
provided for teacher training, NIE leadership selection, securing sponsors,
obtaining NIE orders in mass, curriculum options, choosing vendor products
that work and program evaluation and assessments.
Why NIE?
This session will begin with an overview of NIE research and analysis and
continue with a discussion on how to sustain readers ages 7 -17 while
developing them as loyal future readers. Some background NIE basics will
be overviewed, including teacher training and NIE promotion, sponsorship
opportunities and assessments.
Convention details at www.tnpress.com
under)
Third place: Cleveland
Daily Banner, “Character
Education”
under)
Honorable mention: The
Daily Post-Athenian, Athens, “Grandparents Day”
TRACKS
Association’s Summer Convention in
June in Chattanooga.
Robie Scott, education services manager with The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C., will conduct the session. Robie
is a veteran in Newspaper in Education.
She will speak to publishers about the
impact of NIE in the classroom, based
on research. Then she will conduct a session on the importance of NIE teacher
training for NIE coordinators or other
interested TPA members.
NAA will have its annual YEA/NIE
Conference in July in St. Louis, Mo.
For more information about the SNPA
conference, the TPA Summer Convention or the NAA conference in St. Louis,
contact your press association or Lu
Shep Baldwin at [email protected].
LU SHEP BALDWIN is NIE coordinator for Jones Media, Greeneville. She is
based in Athens.
Thomas Fraser, assistant city editor
and municipal and environmental
reporter for The Daily Times, Maryville,
has accepted a job with The Daily
Journal in southern New Jersey. He
is assistant metro editor and will do
investigative work.
|
Marla Williams has joined the
Nashville Business Journal as senior
account executive. Earlier she worked
there five years.
|
The Lebanon Democrat has named
Heather M. Nicholson as circulation
and marketing manager. She also will
organize special events and promotions
for the Democrat and its sister publications, The Hartsville Vidette and the Mt.
Juliet News.
|
Edward Farrell has joined the Chester County Independent, Henderson, as
a staff writer. He recently worked on
The Collierville Herald.
Promising way to boost advertising
The lady on the plane was telling me about her
new hiking boots. “I shopped around,” she said.
“But I decided to buy from L.L. Bean, because of
the guarantee.”
Guarantees and warranties can be powerful marketing tools. Simply put, a guarantee is a promise
to replace an unsatisfactory product or refund the
purchase price, while a warranty generally offers
to replace defective parts.
L.L. Bean’s famous promise states, “Our products
are guaranteed to give 100% satisfaction in every
way. Return anything purchased from us at any
time if it proves otherwise. We do not want you to
have anything from L.L. Bean that is not completely John
satisfactory.” Every word is true. You may have
heard stories of customers who returned products
for refunds—many years after they were purchased, and
many years after the receipts were lost.
There’s no reason to limit quality-promises to national
marketers. With a little creative thinking, you can help local advertisers develop similar strategies to set themselves
apart from their competitors. Here are some points to keep
in mind:
1. Offer value. Don’t make a half-hearted promise. Be
bold. Let the promise be an expression of the advertiser’s
confidence.
DeWalt Service Centers promise “the price of a repair will
not exceed the published price. You may pay less, but never
more.” This well-known tool company’s guarantee sounds
even better, when they add that they repair “most major
brands of power tools.” How about that for a statement of
quality? They are so knowledgeable that they are qualified
to repair other brands, as well as their own.
2. Be specific. Don’t rely on incomplete promises like “we
guarantee our work.”
I remember seeing a sign in the post
office that read, “Service in five minutes
or less.” What would have happened if a
customer had stepped up to the counter
Hand and glove
“Freedom of speech and freedom
of action are meaningless without
freedom to think.”
Bergen Evans
Author, 1946
and said, “I’ve been standing in line for 15 minutes.
What do I get?”
They would have gotten exactly what the sign
promised: nothing.
The sign implied–but did not state–a specific
guarantee. It was nothing more than an empty
slogan on the wall.
Specificity sells. Can you promise product reliability? (Most local merchants carry national brands
which offer guarantees and warranties. But how
many mention this in their advertising?)
Can you guarantee service? (Here’s a way for the
mom and pops to beat the big box stores.)
Foust Can you guarantee results? (Think of those ads
that used to say, “Lose 20 pounds in 30 days, or your
money back.”)
3. Set a time limit. An ad for Oreck vacuum cleaners
outlines a “full 10-year guarantee against breakage or
burnout of the housing plus a 3-year warranty on the motor.”
Evidently, this is a unique promise, because the next line of
copy states that the guarantee was “not six months or one
year like other brands.”
How long will your promise be good? 30 days? 90 days? A
year? A lifetime?
The right promise can make a big difference for an advertiser.
©Copyright 2006 by John Foust. All rights reserved.
JOHN FOUST conducts on-site and video training for newspaper advertising departments. His three new video programs
are designed to help ad managers conduct in-house training for
their sales teams. For information, contact John Foust, P.O. Box
97606, Raleigh, N.C. 27624; [email protected]; or (919)
848-2401.
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
5
Sunshine bill going to House-Senate study committee
The Sunshine in Government Improvement
Act of 2006 is on its way to a “special” House and
Senate study committee that will include press
and citizen groups as well as representatives of
city, county and state government.
That’s not a bad thing because it gives us a
better opportunity to make real improvements
in the open government laws than we were able
to do in the normal legislative process. It shows,
however, that TPA and allied groups have more
work to do on top of the good work already done
by newspapers this year.
We will not be starting from scratch. Dozens
of papers have made the public more aware of
the problems, and the legislation we proposed to
correct them, through news stories and editorials. The TPA clipping service sent me as many as
10-15 clips on some days in February and March.
To their credit, some papers brought readers and
public officials into the stories. That discussion
needs to continue in coming months.
At press time, the General Assembly was
expected to create a 19-member study panel
and acknowledge by resolution problems with
Tennessee’s open government laws. The resolution
would instruct the panel to report its “initial”
findings and recommendations by Dec. 1 and final
report by Feb. 1, 2007..
The committee includes one representative
each from TPA, the broadcasters’ association, the
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, Common Cause; League of Women Voters, SPJ, two
members each from the House and Senate, two
appointed by the governor; one designated by
the attorney general, two each from TML and
Tennessee County Services, one school board
member and a public utility board member. TML
and TCSA must name one elected official each.
MTAS and CTAS were taken out at insistence of
TML and CTAS.
The study resolution places the discussion
where it belongs—in the context of ethics in
government. MTAS and CTAS have been tasked by
the legislature to produce model ethics standards
for local government. The issue will be taken up
during the 2007 session.
“...Tennessee’s open government laws were adopted to bring transparency and public confidence
in government and to ensure public participation
in the government process,” the draft resolution
states. “… It is the intent of the General Assembly
protect the public’s right to know.
that all Tennesseans have the utmost
In coming months we all need to conrespect and trust in the operation of
centrate on this issue. Here’s how.
government and the enforcement of
1. Assess openness of government
laws enacted for their benefit.”
at your local level. You might not have
What’s next?
any problems, but you could ask your
It is an election year so it is essential
local officials for suggestions they
over the next few months that we
might support for places that do. Redevote some extra attention to the
member we found alleged violations
subject. Transparency means more
of the open meetings law in 10 percent
disclosure and openness to make it TENNESSEE
of the towns and cities and almost a
easier for everyone to know what goes
third of the counties. The resolution
on inside government.
COALITION
also notes a significant rise in the
Lest we forget, two county commisnumber of alleged violations.
sioners, a school board member and FOR OPEN
an aide to a county mayor were among GOVERNMENT 2. Discuss the situation—in print
or as civic-minded residents—in the
those indicted in the Tennessee Waltz
context of government ethics reform,
sting operation. The Chattanooga
Frank Gibson
disclosure and openness.
Times Free Press discovAsk every candidate for
ered through a public
office—local and state ofrecords request that an
fice—where they stand on
indicted Hamilton County Gibson is executive director of the Tenopen government. That
school board member used nessee Coalition for Open Government.
can be a softball question,
his public e-mail account to One can contact him at [email protected];
so you’ll need to be specific.
lobby on behalf of the fake (615) 202-2685; or TCOG, P. O. Box 22248,
Ask whether they will supFBI enterprise. Records in Nashville, Tenn. 37202. For more information
Nashville showed he had on Tennessee’s government access laws and port reasonable improvement to the open meetings
not registered to represent a list of Sunshine Law problems reported in
Tennessee newspapers over the past three
and public records laws
the company.
that come out of this study
It is in the best interest years, go to www.tcog.info.
committee. Keep in mind
of your readers to know
that Tennessee is among
who is trying to influence
officials in your area and how they go about it. only 12 states with no prescribed penalty for
No one suggests that corruption exists in city sunshine and records violations. Public officials
and county government to the level alleged in the can be recalled or removed from a board if found
Waltz scandal, but the lack of transparency makes guilty of sunshine violations in three states. In
another, it is treated as an ethics infraction.
it harder to find potential problems.
It’s your call about what to do with the informaIn the wake of the Waltz sting and the black
eye it gave the state, the legislature and Gov. Phil tion you gather. You can survey and report their
Bredesen launched concurrent reviews of reforms responses in your publications or hang onto it
needed to restore public confidence in government. for later, but send it along to us when you can.
The governor’s ethics advisory panel left it to the It’s important that you get them on the record and
General Assembly and the governor himself to solicit their support.
For those among us who are timid about writing
address questions of open government. The governor has responded by supporting an advisory on this subject, remember whose government it
is and who ultimately benefits from transparency
ombudsman on public access.
Lawmakers have given local governments until in government. Don’t worry whether the public
the next legislative session to apply controls on sees it as self-serving. It’s about assuming civic
responsibility.
local conduct or risk having it done by them.
Sunshine Improvement Act
Since public accountability is the goal, it’s paraSince late December, newspapers across the
mount that we have workable open meetings and
records laws and efficient procedures in place to
state have called for enactment of the Sunshine
in Government Improvement Act.
At the same time, county commissions mounted
a campaign to call their state representatives and
senators. Some lawmakers were getting four or
five calls a day from angry county officials, who,
according to one lawmaker, engaged in “hypothetical hysteria.” They cited different scenarios
in which they would be hanged for going fishing
or attending church with other commissioners
and without ever getting a court hearing. Not
true, but it was convincing.
Some county commissions applied pressure
by passing resolutions calling on their representatives to oppose the legislation. It made no
difference that compromises had already been
made to accommodate some of their concerns.
One committee of commissioners was informed
about compromises we had made already but still
recommended that the full commission oppose the
legislation “as it was originally filed.”
We had difficulty passing the bill because many
county officials misunderstood its intent and
ignored the legislative process in which differences are ironed out. Some opposition was based
on misinformation from their representatives on
Capitol Hill.
The Tennessee Municipal League, which represents more than 300 towns and cities, remained
open-minded and willing to suggest changes to
improve the proposal. They invited us to appear
before their members to explain the proposal.
We were willing to make changes TML sought,
but none of the county commission resolutions
reflected those efforts.
We anticipated opposition to the proposal,
as filed. We knew there would need to be some
tweaking and compromise. We didn’t anticipate a
major association of elected officials would refuse
to discuss it flat out.
That leaves us in the position of having to start
the discussion in a different forum, away from the
heat of a legislative session.
FRANK GIBSON is coordinator of theTPA Freedom
of Information Committee and executive director of the
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. He can be
reached at [email protected] or (615) 202-2685. For
more information online, go to www.tcog.info.
Jones, The Washington Post, becomes president of Newspaper Association of America
Boisfeuillet (Bo) Jones Jr., publisher
Washington Post, has been elected to
serve as the Newspaper Association
of America’s next chairman. The gavel
was passed to Jones from last year’s
chairman Jay R. Smith, president of Cox
Newspapers Inc. in Atlanta, during the
Association’s Annual Convention April
2-4 at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago.
Smith will continue to serve on the
NAA Board of Directors as immediate
past chairman.
Jones was appointed publisher
Washington Post in 2000. He joined
the Post in 1980 as vice president and
general counsel. Jones also has served
as president and general manager, and
associate publisher.
In addition to serving as 2006-07 NAA
chairman, Jones is a director of the
Associated Press, the Eugene & Agnes
Meyer Foundation, the Federal City
Council, the Cooperative Assistance
Fund, and several Post affiliates. He
also is a member of the University of
Maryland School of Journalism Board
of Visitors.
Other officers elected were Vice Chairwoman Susan Clark-Johnson, president
of the Newspaper Division of Gannett
Co. in McLean, Va.; Secretary Gary B.
Pruitt, chairman, president and chief
executive officer of The McClatchy Co.
in Sacramento; and Treasurer George B.
Irish, president of Hearst Newspapers,
a subsidiary of The Hearst Corp. in
New York City.
Elected to two-year terms on the NAA
Board of Directors were Donna Barrett,
Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.,
Birmingham, Ala.; Scott Flanders,
Freedom Communications Inc., Irvine,
Calif.; Harold W. Fuson Jr., senior vice
president and chief legal officer, The
Copley Press Inc., La Jolla, Calif.;
Marshall N. Morton, president and
chief executive officer, Media General
Inc., Richmond, Va.; Charles Peters,
The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Steven
J. Smith, chairman and chief executive
officer, Journal Communications Inc.,
Milwaukee; and Virgil L. Smith, president and publisher, Asheville (N.C.)
Citizen-Times.
Directors re-elected to two-year terms
were Jean B. Clifton, president and
chief operating officer, Journal Register
Co., Trenton, N.J.; Joseph J. Lodovic
IV, president, MediaNews Group Inc.,
Denver; David R. Lord, president, Pioneer Newspapers Inc., Seattle; James
M. Moroney III, publisher and chief
executive officer, The Dallas Morning
News; James A. Moss, chairman, Times
Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y.; Scott
C. Schurz, president, Hoosier Times
Inc., Bloomington, Ind.; and Gary K.
Shorts, president and chief executive
officer, Calkins Media, Levittown, Pa.
Directors continuing their terms are:
R. Bruce Bradley, president/publishing
group, Landmark Communications
Inc., Norfolk, Va.; Mark G. Contreras,
vice president/newspaper operations,
The E.W. Scripps Co., Cincinnati; W.
Stacey Cowles, president and publisher,
The Spokesman-Review, Spokane,
Wash.; James C. Currow, executive vice
president/newspapers, Morris Communications Co. LLC, Augusta, Ga.; Walter
E. Hussman Jr., publisher, Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock; Mark
W. Newhouse, vice president/general
manager, The Star-Ledger, Newark,
N.J.; Robert M. Nutting, president and
chief executive officer, The Nutting
Company, Inc., Wheeling, W.Va.; David
M. Paxton, president/chief executive
officer, Paxton Media Group LLC, Paducah, Ky.; Charles V. Pittman, senior
vice president/newspapers, Schurz
Communications Inc., South Bend,
Ind.; Michael E. Reed, president and
chief executive officer, Liberty Group
Publishing Inc., Downers Grove, Ill.;
Janet L. Robinson, president and chief
executive officer, The New York Times
Co.; Hilary A. Schneider, senior vice
president, Knight Ridder, San Jose,
Calif.; Scott C. Smith, president, Tribune Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill.; Paul
Tash, editor, chief executive officer and
chairman, St. Petersburg Times; and
Kathleen M. Waltz, president, chief
executive officer and publisher, The
Orlando Sentinel.
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
8
MAY 2006
Lots of Volunteers in Vol State
CMYK
After reading about the deadly tornados across TenBut the one university-related story that gets into
nessee and the Southeast, more roadside bombings in
the paper the next day is the negative situation
Iraq, unethical politicians, higher gas prices, global
involving that one student.
warming, bird flu and another black church burning
How can you avoid such complaints from your
in the South, I was getting rather depressed from
valuable readers? You do have to cover the news.
reading the national news in several newspapers in
But can you uncover positive stories that don’t
April. But their local sections were no better. Fires,
make the police blotter?
wrecks, sexual assaults, political bickering and robWhat about those tireless public school teachberies filled those pages. Are Tennessee readers as
ers and the many service projects and learning
sick as I am about all the bad news?
PRESSING activities that take place on a regular basis? How
Apparently they are, according to a survey buried
about the college fraternities and sororities—too
in my files from a few months ago. Conducted by ISSUES
often the targets of negative news—that devote
The Segmentation Co., a division of Yankelovich,
thousands of volunteer hours for breast cancer
the national poll of 1,004 adults revealed that a Randy Hines research and Ronald McDonald houses, along with
whopping 94 percent want to hear more good news.
other nonprofit causes, every year?
And 77 percent said the media do not provide them
Despite their yearlong dedication to the unforenough coverage of good news.
tunate, churches usually can’t escape from the religion
Did you notice those percentages, editors? More than nine section unless a clergy member is facing charges such as
out of 10 readers want you to provide them more good news embezzlement. How about the many businesses in your town
and almost eight out of 10 said you do not provide them that adopt a highway and their employees actually go out to
enough good news. Maybe you could take this column into clean up the litter on a regular basis?
your next staff meeting when you start dishing out story
Positive article possibilities are all around your circulation
assignments.
area. All you need to do is dig a little deeper, ask different
It seems the depressing news articles mentioned in the lead questions from sources, and visit sites beyond your usual
paragraphs have an effect on their Tennessee readers. About beat. And maybe the police blotter fluff can fit on your agate
half the survey participants admit that learning about bad page, rather than becoming a Page One story.
news makes their day worse. More than three-fourths said
Ironically, the study was funded by Bayer Health Care,
that the bad news creates feeling of anxiousness.
which probably profits from the bad vibes people feel after
“Simply put, good news can uplift the spirits, while bad news getting their daily doses of negativism from reading many
can, at times, directly impact our emotions and our outlook Tennessee daily and nondaily newspapers.
on the world around us in a negative way,” said David Bersoff,
senior vice president of Monitor, a Yankelovich division.
DR. RANDY HINES, former Tennessee educator, teaches in the
Complaints often originate when a reporter writes a piece, Department of Communications at Susquehanna University. His
for example, about a University of Tennessee student picked address is 514 University Ave., Selinsgrove, Pa. 17870. He can be
up for drunken driving on I-40. Perhaps the other 25,978 UTK reached at (570) 372-4079 or [email protected].
students were not arrested and charged with any offense.
Commercial Appeal takes six
awards in region contest
BY SHERRI DRAKE
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis,
was honored in six categories in this
year’s Green Eyeshade Excellence in
Journalism Awards, open to working
journalists in the South.
“We had six journalists and teams
honored this year for their work. That’s
the most wins we’ve had in the last three
years,” said Chris Peck, editor of The
Commercial Appeal. “I think it speaks
well of the quality and dedication of
our staff, and I’m happy to see their
good work recognized.”
The contest recognizes outstanding
journalists in print, radio and television
across an 11-state region encompassing
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Columnist Geoff Calkins won first
place in sports commentary for various columns.
Former Commercial Appeal Reporter
Aimee Edmondson, Photographer
Karen Pulfer Focht and former Memphis Zone Editor Mickie Anderson won
first place in investigative reporting
for the infant mortality series “Born
to Die.”
“Karen Focht’s photography about
the overwhelming number of infant
deaths in Memphis truly is one of the
finest pieces of documentary photography ever done at this newspaper,’’
Peck said.
“I’m very proud of our infant mortality project and the journalists who
worked on it,’’ he said.
“This was an important story that
showed the tragedy of Memphis having
the highest infant mortality rate of any
of the 60 largest cities in the country.
Much good has come of this work,
including Shelby County Mayor A. C.
Wharton’s ‘1 For All’ initiative designed
to get every baby born in Memphis to a
healthy 1 year of age. For us, this kind
of work and good result is what makes
journalism worth the effort.’’
John Beifuss won second place in
criticism for “Hustle & Flow,” Blake
Fontenay won second place in editorial
writing, former Commercial Appeal
Columnist Wendi C. Thomas placed
third in humorous commentary for
various columns, and Dennis Copeland, director of new media, placed
third in general news reporting for
“68 Seconds.”
Focht’s “Born to Die” work also won in
the photography feature story category
in the Society of Professional Journalists National Journalism Awards.
Watch for the gold!
Republic Newspapers, Knoxville, sells its last Florida property
BY CARLY HARRINGTON
Knoxville-based Republic Newspapers Inc. has sold the last of its Florida
papers, The Sanford Herald, to an Oklahoma company.
Family Media Inc. acquired the twiceweekly paper in Sanford Fla., effective
March 31. Terms of the deal were not
disclosed.
“We’ve been gradually getting out of
Florida for several years. The Sanford
Herald was the last one,” said Nick
Drewry, president of Republic Newspapers, which owns the Farragut Press,
the Courier News in Clinton and three
weeklies near Charlotte, N.C.
At one time, the small nondaily
newspaper company, founded in 1988,
owned about a dozen community
papers in four states that reached as
far south as Florida and as far north
as Kentucky.
Drewry said the company, whose
offices are at 11863 Kingston Pike, has
been turning its attention to opportunities closer to home, including the
possible purchase of other nondailies
in Tennessee and North Carolina.
Republic Newspapers also owns and
operates Tucker Publishing, which
produces outlet mall shopping guides
that include one in Pigeon Forge. Others
are in Florida, north Georgia, Las Vegas
and several New England states.
Republic Newspapers is solely owned
and was founded by real estate deveoper
Doug Horne.
PROFILE
bought The Print Shop in Waverly. And, on Jan. 1, 2006, started
a free newspaper, The Hollow Rock-Bruceton News.
Dennis Richardson
Is president of Associated Publishers, a co-op owned web
printing plant located in Huntingdon. “Lisa and I are the sole
owners of Magic Valley Publishing Co., which is the name of
the corporation. In 2004 I joined W. B. Grimes & Co. as director
of the south and southwest covering Tennessee, Kentucky,
Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana.”
TPA director, District 8
Publisher, Carroll County News-Leader
Huntingdon
Personal: Grew up in the Whites Creek area of Davidson
County. Father was a sharecropper and died at 42. Attended
UT Martin, UT Knoxville and graduated from UTM with a
B.S. degree in communications.”I had to finish my education
at Martin because I couldn’t pass the typing test at Knoxville.
But that ended up being for the best, since I met Lisa at UTM.
We married in July 1975.” Four children, Mark, who has two
children; Matthew; Gerilyn, a sophomore at UT Knoxville;
Daniel, a senior at Camden High.
Job experience: “I started on Linotype machines at a typesetting company in Nashville.” Later became sports editor of The
Paris Post-Intelligencer, then editor of The Weakley County
Press, Martin, then on the copy desk at The Leaf-Chronicle,
Clarksville. Bought the Carroll County News in 1983. In 1992
bought The Tennessee Republican and combined the two with
a new name, Carroll County News-Leader. In 1994 bought The
Camden Chronicle and in 2002, The Fulton (Ky,) Leader. In 2004
Favorite part of job: “I really like making things work and
exchanging ideas with fellow publishers.”
Least favorite part of job: “The little things that I am grateful that I have quality people to take care of for me.”
Your management philosophy: “I like to delegate to good
people the various departmental duties.”
Tell about your mentor, if you’ve had one.
“I worked under Randal Benderman in Martin and still call
him up to bounce ideas off him.”
Most important issue facing newspapers: “The extinction
of the mom and pop stores that are falling off as Wal-Mart
expands its superstores.”
Recreation you enjoy: “Traveling and, really, my job is my
hobby. I just love coming to work each day, whether it is from
First place winners in the 2006
UT-TPA State Press Contests
will be notified by mail in a gold
envelope. Letters to all winners
will be mailed by May 15. The 2006
Awards Luncheon will be held
the newspaper office or my home office, or on the road. But
any time there is something involving our children, we do
that. Daniel plays football at Camden High School. I am a
former president of the Minor League football team for ages
6-12. Daniel and I coached a team last year and plan to do so
again this year.”
Music you like: country
Reading: Editor and Publisher
Movies: American Grafitti, westerns, The Blues Brothers,
James Bond
Television: Same. Collegiate football and basketball, game
shows
If you had a day to do anything you wanted to do: “I
would piddle around our horse farm.”
If you could have quality time with a historical figure,
who would it be and why? Nathan Bedford Forrest. He
found ways to get it done in many times unconventional ways
What you see as the value of TPA. The TPA is valuable to
provide advertising contacts, especially for smaller papers
with limited resources, and to help provide training, and
provide the legal counsel that papers cannot afford like a
retainer for a good attorney.
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
9
OBITUARIES
Judy Cagle
church pastor. Other survivors include
two grandchildren.
Former general manager
Judy Cagle, who began working for
the Germantown News in 1993, died
Jan. 27 in Proctor, Ark.
“Judy was a dedicated and conscientious employee,” said Alex Coulter,
publisher of the West Memphis Evening
Times, where Cagle began working in
1988. “She was always ready to help do
anything necessary to make the product
and the business better,” he said.
Cagle started her career as a typesetter in the composing room and worked
her way to being the supervisor of that
department. She later was promoted
to production manager at the Evening
Times before she transferred to the
Germantown News as general manager.
She left the newspaper in 2000.
Leon Daniel
UPI reporter
BY JIM CHARLET
Brentwood
Leon Daniel, 74, longtime UPI reporter and Washington bureau chief,
died March 19 in Glen Ellyn, Ill., five
days after undergoing an angioplasty
procedure.
He was a native of Etowah, attended
the University of Tennessee in the 1950s,
and began his journalism career as a
reporter for The Knoxville Journal.
Daniel spent 36 years with United
Press International, starting in Nashville in 1956, headed UPI’s Knoxville
bureau in 1959 before moving to its Atlanta bureau in 1960, where he remained
until 1966. From Atlanta, he covered the
1965 Dominican Republic rebellion, and
also reported on the South’s civil rights
movement before departing to cover the
Vietnam War.
Intermittent assignments in Afghanistan and Okinawa followed until 1975
when he returned to Vietnam to write
eyewitness reports of the fall of Saigon.
In the late 1970s, he was in Hong Kong
as UPI’s editor for Asia, and later in
London as its editor for Europe, the
Middle East and Africa.
In 1977 while vacationing in Knoxville, he learned of the attempted
escape of James Earl Ray from Brushy
Mountain Prison in Morgan County. He
rushed to dictate the UPI bulletin to the
Atlanta bureau desk, and remained at
the Tennessee prison site for three days
to help frame UPI’s account of Ray’s
recapture.
By 1980, he was in Washington as
national reporter, and later managing
editor for global news. He was UPI’s
chief correspondent by 1990, and in
Kuwait directing the news service’s
Gulf War coverage. After retirement,
he continued to write op-ed pieces, some
published in The Chicago Tribune.
He lived in Washington until 1997, and
in 2005 he and his companion, Judith
Paterson, moved to Glen Ellyn where
his daughter, Rev. Lillian Daniel, is a
Ashley W. Fisher
Columnist
Ashley William (Bill) Fisher III died
of cancer Feb. 3 at his home in Millington.
Clara Greever
Virginia newspaper manager
Clara Grubbs Greever, a Johnson
City native and once business manager
of The Richlands Press and Tazewell
County News Progress in the Clinch
Valley region of southwest Virginia,
died March 16 after a brief illness.
She was the daughter of Frank Grubbs
and Clara Bird Lusk of Johnson City,
and a graduate of the University of
Tennessee, and Science Hill High School
in Johnson City.
She was a registered dietician and
after World War II, entered the newspaper profession with her husband, the
late Charles R. Greever Jr., in Tazewell
County, Va.
She leaves one son, two daughters and
two grandsons.
Richard A. Kemp
Former editor
Richard Alexander Kemp, a former
editor of The Elk Valley Times, Fayetteville, died Feb. 7. He was 79. He was
a resident of Enterprise, Ala.
Kemp was a veteran of three wars,
having served in Leyte in the Philippines in the final months of World War
II; in Korea in 1951; and near Saigon in
Vietnam in 1960s.
As a combat correspondent for the
Pacific Stars and Stripes in Korea, Kemp
made his first parachute jump behind
enemy lines carrying a portable typewriter and a carbine, getting a world
beat on the story. Kemp also covered
the replacement of Gen. Douglas MacArthur by Gen. Matthew B. Ridgeway
while in Korea.
In between wars and after retiring
from the Army, Kemp worked as a
newspaper reporter and editor at several newspapers.
A history buff and member of the
Alabama Genealogical Society, Kemp
was active after his Army retirement
in the Sons of the American Revolution
and sons of Confederate Veterans. The
Dothan chapter of Sons of Confederate
Veterans honored him with a lifetime
achievement award named in his honor
and to be presented annually to a Sons
of Confederate Veterans members
residing in southeast Alabama.
Kemp also served six years total as
president of both the Tri-State and
Wiregrass chapters of the Alabama
Sons of the American Revolution.
Through his efforts and leadership, a
monument was erected on grounds of
the Ozark-Dale County Library honor-
ing the Revolutionary soldiers buried
in Dale County. He also was a member
of the First Families of Alabama and a
member of the Society of the Sons and
Daughters of the Pilgrims.
Kemp leaves his wife, Barbara Anne
Kemp of Fayetteville; a daughter,
Jeanne Stratton of St. Petersburg, Fla.;
two sons, Michael Kemp of Dunedin,
Fla. and Matt Kemp of Fayetteville;
and five grandchildren.
Peter H. Prince
Former editor
Peter Hayden Prince, an East Tennessee author, journalist and historian,
died April 10 at his home in Knoxville.
He was 70.
Prince, known to most acquaintances
as Pete, had prepared his own obituary
and asked that it be completed and
sent out upon his death, according to
his son, Dan.
Prince worked for a number of newspapers, including The Knoxville NewsSentinel, the Clinton Courier-News
and the Citizen Tribune, Morristown,
between 1950 and 1985.
In 1982 he was selected chairman of
the Pulitzer Prize nominating jury for
news and feature photography.
He also served as president of the East
Tennessee chapter of the Society of
Professional Journalists in 1973, served
on the SPJ national board for six years
and as a regional director.
He wrote in his prepared obituary that
he changed careers in 1985 because of
a bipolar condition. He wrote that he
was determined not “to be defeated by
the incurable disease.”
Indeed, for Ghost Towns in the Smokies, he collected 61,800 documents and
5,700 century-old photographs. The
work chronicled a logging railroad at
Clingmans Dome, a steamboat at Twentymile, a man staging his mock funeral
at Smokemont and a swinging railroad
bridge at Meigs Falls, according to his
obituary. An avid hiker, he spent years
in North Carolina and Tennessee
researching 251 former towns once
located in the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park.
Prince was born on the Cumberland
Plateau in Sewanee and went to live in
an orphanage at age 11. He and his five
siblings were separated for 53 years.
He graduated from Peabody College
of Vanderbilt in 1958. He hitchhiked to
Knoxville to attend the University of
Tennessee to take journalism classes.
Prince was an avid Rotarian, joining
the club in Morristown 1972.
Prince is survived by sons, Michael
Hayden Prince of Bean Station; Daniel
Melhorn Prince of Knoxville; Jonathan Moinette Prince of Morristown;
grandchildren, Alexus, Hunter, Nash
and Nayland Prince.
In memorium
A contribution
to
Foundation
In memory of
John Burgess
by
The Courier
Savannah
TRACKS
Ray be nimble, Ray be quick
By JIM CHARLET
Brentwood
This is the story of
a man who grew up
in Clarksville, Tennessee, and began
work for the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle
in September 1958
when it was a familyowned newspaper
Charlet
and its Page One
was dressed with
the community’s name in an Old
English flag.
And he remained there his entire
48-year professional career, until retiring March 25 as national advertising
manager. Add the four years he spent
as a newspaper route carrier, and he
invested 52 years of his life promoting
an ink-on-paper news product…quite
unusual in today’s world.
From the day he was hired by newspaper co-owner Martha C. Charlet and
started work in the mailroom at age 17,
(Wilbur) Ray Roby was known for his
slow, shy smile, which sometimes was
punctuated by a high velocity facial
blush. His other trademarks were his
cow-licked blond hair and an almost
“religious dedication” to customer
service.
Ray Roby was among my Clarksville
High School French and English
classmates, and we also shared classes
at Austin Peay State University. While
students in the late 1950s and early 1960s,
we worked together in the mailroom as
hand inserters of preprints, caught the
newspaper folder of the 16-page Duplex
Tubular hot metal printing press, and
worked the hot metal “dump” in the
composing room where we inserted
Linotype line corrections in news columns and ads…one line at a time.
We were there on Feb. 13, 1962 when
The Nashville Record tabloid weekly
newspaper rolled off the 24-page Goss
Suburban offset press, and the next day
when Tennessee’s first daily newspaper
was printed by the offset press, named
“The Duchess.” And while finishing
college, we worked together on the 2to-11 p.m. night shift as ad compositors
assembling ads for the 14 weekly newspapers owned by the Leaf-Chronicle Co.
After college graduation, I left in 1963
for U.S. Air Force officer training, and
Ray remained in college and working
at the newspaper.
In his 48-year newspaper career,
Ray Roby twice survived what Editor
John Seigenthaler of The Tennessean
terms being “sold in chains,” once to
Multimedia Inc. in 1973, and later to
Gannett, Inc. in 1995. Not one to relish
the games of corporate politics, Ray
Roby was known for keeping his head
down, keeping his ear attuned to his
advertising customers, and keeping
his eye on the ball in meeting any
newspaper production requirement to
help his advertisers.
No matter where he worked at the
newspaper, Ray Roby was always the
“go-2-guy” because of his overwhelming positive attitude. He never walked
from task to task, he jumped and ran.
From his days of young, to his days of
old, he was nimble and he was quick,
and he was incapable of saying “it
couldn’t be done”.
Always quiet, always shy, always
positive, for decades he had frequent
contact with professionals at Tennessee
Press Service, where he was regarded
highly as a complete professional, and
as a “customer’s birddog”…always
making sure what appeared in print
was exactly what the customer ordered.
He was the epitome of the “Newspaper
Advertising Man.”
I left the Clarksville newspaper again
in 1979 when 75 years of newspaper
history was reversed by a corporate
headquarters dictate to remove the
community’s name from its Page One
flag, and other nonsensical changesfor-change-sake implemented to show
“corporate’s Visiting Firemen’s” fingerprints. But Ray Roby stayed, and over
the years he became the newspaper’s
anchor in the business community.
After two other careers, I since retired
twice and he kept working there. So I’ll
never forget how we started our professional lives together, at the same time,
same place, when work was fun, and
newspapers had a lotta soul.
Under Ray Roby’s photograph in the
1959 edition of the Clarksville High
School Wildcat yearbook is this quote:
“A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the best of men.”
So welcome out, Ray Roby, it’s time for
a little nonsense. A retirement clock for
you is about as sensible as a rocking
chair for an Indy 500 champ.
You ain’t never been busy, until you
been “retired busy.”
JIM CHARLET is former editor of the
Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle, and copy
editor and makeup editor at The Atlanta
Constitution.
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
4
By SAM VENABLE
*As of March 31, 2006, The Tennessee Press Service, Inc., fiscal year runs Dec. 1 through Nov. 30.
CMYK
October 12-14, 2006
www.newspaperinstitute.com
Jay
Tracy
Andy
Clint
Ron
Gary
John
Jim
Vickey
Stephen
Laura
Elenora
Chris
John
Sheila
Martha
Jennifer
Bonnie
April
Melissa
Joe
Steven
Bob
Valerie
Terri
Greg
Brad
Jack
Albrecht
Ayers
Barnes
Brewer
Bridgeman
Burton
Carpenter
Charlet
Cooke
Crass
Dougherty
Edwards
Fletcher
Gibson
Holden
Horn
Horton
Hufford
Jackson
Jones
Karl
Kaylor
Kyer
Laprad
Likens
Little
Martin
McElroy
Pulaski Citizen
Kingsport Times-News
The Courier-News, Clinton
The Ashland City Times
The Herald-News, Dayton
Brentwood
Cleveland Daily Banner
The Tennessee Press
The Daily Herald, Columbia
The Tennessean, Nashville
Pulaski Citizen
Pulaski Citizen
The Wilson Post, Lebanon
UT School of Journalism, Knoxville
Humboldt Chronicle
Rogersville Review
Smoky Mountain Herald, Seymour
Bristol Herald Courier
The Tullahoma News
Middle Tennessee Times, Smithville
Roane County News, Kingston
Hickman County Times, Centerville
3
CONVENTION
FROM PAGE ONE
Everybody’s favorite Buddy
March 2006: $458,487
Year* to date: $1,852,711
INSTITUTE OF
NEWSPAPER TECHNOLOGY
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
TRACKS
Tennessee Press
Service handled this
much advertising for
TPA member newspapers:
Stay ahead of the
technology learning curve!
MAY 2006
Sad news for News
Sentinel readers
who buy groceries
and drugs: Your local contact is retiring.
At the end of
(February), Buddy
Turpin (bid) adieu
Venable
to our advertising
department after nearly 38 years.
You’ve probably never met Buddy.
Such is your loss because this guy is
the original good times class clown.
But I’ll guarantee you’ve seen the fruits
of his labor—and, hopefully, then been
inspired to purchase fruit, as well as
meat, bread, milk and a kajillion other
products, at your local supermarket.
For 34 years, Buddy has been in
charge of food and drug advertising.
If there’s a store in our midst not trod
by his trademark cowboy boots, I’m
unaware of it.
(Point of order: Whenever a nickname
is mentioned in the newspaper, the
person’s real handle is specified. Horatio Alphonse (Booger) Johnson III, for
example. Not the case here. The name
on this guy’s birth certificate is Buddy
Lynn Turpin. For eons, the license plate
on his pickup truck has simply read
“BLT.” He is Buddy, the whole Buddy
and nothing but the Buddy. True, certain
friends, including columnists, do use
other names, but not ones that would
TPA wishes to
thank these
individuals for
serving as judges
of the
Louisiana Press
Association’s
Better Newspaper
Contest.
The UT-TPA State Press
Contests would not be possible without members willing
to judge the entries of our
reciprocal partners.
pass public muster.)
And speaking of names, “Turpin”
has been a mainstay inside these walls.
Buddy’s late mother, Agnes, invested 42
years in our accounting department.
Buddy started full time in 1968 but had
already spent two years working part
time while studying business at the
University of Tennessee. Suffice to say
we have been thoroughly Turpinized.
Why hang it up?
“There are trout that need to be
caught; deer, elk and turkey that need to
be hunted; campfires that need to be sat
around; and brown whiskey that needs
to be drunk,” he answered.
“Yeah, but you’ve been doing that all
your life,” I pointed out.
“I know,” he replied with a sigh, “but
now it’ll have to be on my time instead
of the company’s.”
If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m
gonna miss this goof. Although we don’t
share as much time outdoors as we
once did—these days, Buddy logs more
woods-and-waters hours in Wyoming
and Montana than in Tennessee—he
and I have fished and hunted together
all over this part of the land. At one
point, our second office was his bass
boat on Douglas Lake.
But you don’t know how delighted I
am to be writing about his retirement
instead of his obituary.
Last June 6, Buddy suffered a massive
heart attack at his desk. It went unnoticed for several minutes. Finally, coworkers heard him breathing loudly.
“They thought I was snoring,” he said
Cheryl
Heather
Tom
Bob
Victor
Sharon
Chris
Mia
Darrell
Kay
Paul
Dick
Clay
Robb
Tracy
Sissy
Nancy
Mark
Richard
Scott
Jessica
Karen
Joi
Jamie
Holly
Jim
Patricia
Thank You!
McGraw
Nicholson
Overton
Parkins
Parkins
Patrick
Peck
Rhodarmer
Richardson
Rose
Roy
Schneider
Scott
Scott
Sharp
Smith
Stephens
Stevens
Stevens
Stewart
Turner
Weathers
Whaley
White
Whitt
Zachary
Zechman
with a laugh.
Emergency medical personnel were
summoned. Quick-thinking staffer
Toby Steele administered a heart defibrillator. Yet by the time they wheeled
Buddy out of here, he was already
turning blue. At the emergency room,
doctors could find no pulse or brain
activity.
Amazingly, Buddy was discharged
from the hospital five days later. He
was back on the job in six weeks, good
as new and with no memory of the
entire affair.
As I’ve told Buddy several times since
then, it (was) a blessed relief to stand in
his presence and say words like “happy
retirement” instead of “don’t he look
natural?”
(Feb. 21, 2006)
(Clockwise from top right) Steve Lake with
Keith Moore, liaison of The Knoxville Journal,
TPA’s newest member. John M. Jones Jr. at The
Greeneville Sun. Lake and Art Powers, publisher
of the Johnson City Press. The newsboy statue
at the Bristol Herald Courier.
TPA Legal Hotline
is available to all
TPA members.
IRE Conference set June 15-18
The best in the business will gather for more than 100
panels, workshops and special presentations about covering
public safety, courts, national security, the military, business, education, local government and much more when
the Investigative Reporters and Editors meet.
The conference will be at the Renaissance Worthington
Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas.
If one has hotel or general conference questions, he or
she may contact Ev Ruch-Graham, conference coordinator,
at [email protected] or (573) 882-8969.
Tornado damages Vol State campus
Call Rick Hollow, TPA general
counsel and provider
of the hotline service, at
Volunteer State Community College (VSCC) suffered
severe damage to two buildings during the April 7 tornado
that struck Gallatin, Tenn. Classes were canceled April
10-14.
VSCC is an associate member of Tennessee Press
Association. T. Clayton (Clay) Scott, assistant professor
and TPA contact, was on campus during the tornado. He
was among those sheltered in the basement of the Student
Center.
(865) 769-1715.
Hollow & Hollow, LLC,
Knoxville
The Bolivar Bulletin Times
The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge
The Independent Herald, Oneida
The Jackson Sun
Volunteer State Community College, Gallatin
The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville
Weakley County Press, Martin
The Fairview Observer
The Erwin Record
The Leaf-Chronicle , Clarksville
Pulaski Citizen
The Mountain Press, Sevierville
Pulaski Citizen
Pulaski Citizen
Rogersville Review
Friday, June 16
6:30 a.m. Golfers depart for course; transportation on your
own
7:00 a.m. Golf outing at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay
9:00 a.m. Session A: NIE Workshop, Robie Scott, The Post
9:00 a.m. Session B: SNPA session to be determined
9:00 a.m. InDesign, The Next Step, a computer lab
class—Kevin Slimp
3:00 p.m. NIE presentation for publishers
6:00 p.m. Reception
7:00 p.m. Installation Banquet
9:00 p.m. Dessert Reception
LAKE: From Memphis to Mountain City, president visits newspapers
opportunity, and I’m going to leave it at
that. Gibson County boasts of four community newspapers in separate towns.
The other three are The Chronicle,
Humboldt, The Herald Gazette, Trenton,
and The Tri-City Reporter in Dyer.
Publisher Bill Shuster, a TPA board
member and very good friend of our
family, graciously took time out of
his busy schedule to show me about
the relatively new facilities of the
Herald–Citizen, Cookeville, a paper
my father published in the early to
mid-1970s. And, yes, there are a few
holdouts on staff from his day.
Had a nice visit with Jim Zachary of
the Rogersville Review. His son James
entertained at the dessert reception
after the Governor’s Banquet at the
Winter Convention. He noted that
Tennessee’s very first newspaper, the
Gazette, was printed in Rogersville in
November 1791 and moved to Knoxville
the following year to become the Knoxville Gazette. Rogersville is also home to
the Tennessee Newspaper and Printing
Museum, a worthy visit for anyone in
our industry.
A most promising prospect getting
involved with TPA is Richard Esposito,
brought on last year as publisher of
The Oak Ridger. I had a very pleasant
visit with him and Editor Darrell
Richardson.
The only appointment I’ve missed
thus far was with Tom Gentry, The
Standard Banner, Jefferson City,
which broke my heart, but I simply
overbooked and ran out of time. I will
certainly make this up to him and his
son, former TPA President and Editor
Dale Gentry.
Most everyone has spoken highly of
our TPA/TPS staff, consistently calling Executive Director Greg Sherrill
and Member Services Manager Robyn
Gentile by name. Others have been affectionately mentioned as well.
So far as changes and recommendations go:
Numerous members—granted, I’m
visiting predominantly with publishers or in some cases editors—have
requested the annual awards banquet
to be tied once more with the summer
convention; and I do believe in years
to come that it is in our best interest.
Last year when Mike Fishman, Citizen
Tribune, Morristown, served as TPA
president and his brother Jeff, The
Tullahoma News, as chairman of the
Contests Committee, they actually opposed each other on this issue. Jeff ’s
argument, and a very good one, is that
publishers primarily attend the summer convention and not usually the
people who are actually winning these
awards for their respective papers; unlike when they are separate.
Deborah Turner, again, The McKenzie Banner, had a legitimate complaint of something I believe we’ve all
experienced: inadequately returned
forms from contest entries. Feedback
is critical to us all. We must take care
when judging other states’ contests
to provide valuable information and
encourage or entice other states to do
the same for us.
Jerry Hilliard, associate editor of
The Erwin Record and former Tennessee Press columnist, mentioned that
with NIE programs, schools should
have journalism textbooks and AP
Stylebooks. Journalism classes aren’t
getting the tools they need.
Gene Washer recommended establishing a relationship with the attorney
general, perhaps taking him out to
dinner.
Someone mentioned placing all
inserts into a paper’s weekly shopper, mailing it total market, free of
charge, and leaving them out of main
editions.
Jack McElroy, editor of the News
Sentinel, Knoxville, suggested an RSS
feed throughout state papers providing
news stories that can be freely used by
members.
Ron Bridgeman, The Courier-News,
Clinton, argued for a TPA statewide
public notice Web site.
Jim Zachary really wants members
to come visit the Tennessee Newspaper
and Printing Museum (mentioned
above) in Rogersville. It would certainly make for an excellent story in
The Tennessee Press, not to mention a
nice excursion some time a convention
is held nearby.
Interestingly, I’ve had small papers say
TPA focuses on larger papers and larger
papers say TPA focuses on smaller.
I’ve also learned that most publications in our state have been active in
one shape or form in TPA at one time
or another. Let me encourage everyone
to continue your involvement and do
what you can for our association, as it
increases its value for us all.
Thank you, everyone, for welcoming
me into your papers. I’ve enjoyed visiting with you, and if I haven’t been by
yet, I hope to be by soon.
Feel free to e-mail other comments or suggestions to steve.
[email protected].
FORESIGHT
2006
MAY
1: Law Day
3: World Press Freedom Day
3-5: NNA on the Road: Texas
Style, Ft. Worth, Texas
JUNE
14-16: TPA 137th Annual
Summer Convention and
SNPA training, Chattanooga
Choo Choo
14-17: AAEC Annual Conference, Embassy Suites Hotel,
Denver, Colo.
15-17: 8th Great Obituary Writers’ Conference, Plaza Hotel,
Las Vegas, N.M.
15-18: Investigative Reporters and Editors, Renaissance
Worthington Hotel, Fort
Worth, Texas
17: ETSPJ Front Page Follies,
Knoxville Convention Center
JULY
21: TAPME awards ceremony,
10 a.m., Sheraton Music City,
Nashville
21: UT-TPA State Press Contests Awards Luncheon,
noon, Sheraton Music City,
Nashville
AUGUST
31-Sept. 2: Society of News
Design Annual Workshop
and Exhibition, Orlando, Fla.
SEPTEMBER
8: International Literacy Day
13-15: National Conference
of Editorial Writers Convention, Sheraton Station
Square Hotel, Pittsburgh, Pa.
15: SNPA First Amendment
Summit, Atlanta
OCTOBER
1-7: National Newspaper Week
12-14: TPS Institute of Newspaper Technology, UT Campus, Knoxville
Want to serve TPA
on a committee?
The 2006-07 committees will soon
be appointed. If you are interested in
serving on a TPA committee. Please
contact TPA or complete the committee
interest for at www.tnpress.com/committees.html.
If you are interested in serving
as a committee chair, please contact Henry Stokes, TPA vice president for dailies, (901) 529-2301 or
[email protected].
PLASTIC PRESS CARDS
AVAILABLE
TPA can provide member newspapers
plastic, professional-looking press cards for
$5 each. In interested, one should contact
TPA at (865) 584-5761 or visit
www.tnpress.com/presscredentials.html.
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
10
MAY 2006
From Memphis to Mountain City
(USPS 616-460)
Published monthly 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
20
Member
06
The Tennessee Press
is printed on recycled paper
and is recyclable.
www.tnpress.com
The Tennessee Press can be read online at:
CMYK
OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
Steve Lake, Pulaski Citizen/The Giles Free Press................................President
Henry Stokes, The Germantown Appeal......................................Vice President
Pauline Sherrer, Crossville Chronicle..........................................Vice President
Bill Willliams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer...........................................Treasurer
Greg M. Sherrill, Knoxville....................................................Executive Director
DIRECTORS
Keith Wilson, Kingsport Times-News...................................................District 1
Kevin Burcham, The News-Herald, Lenoir City....................................District 2
Tom Overton III, Advocate and Democrat, Sweetwater......................District 3
Bill Shuster, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville................................................District 4
Dennis Stanley, Smithville Review.......................................................District 5
Hulon Dunn, Lewis County Herald, Hohenwald..................................District 7
Dennis Richardson, Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon.........District 8
Victor Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange...........................................District 9
Jay Albrecht, The Covington Leader....................................................District 10
Mike Fishman, Citizen Tribune, Morristown...........................................At large
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE
Bob Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange.............................................President
Dale C. Gentry, The Standard Banner, Jefferson City.................Vice President
W. R. (Ron) Fryar, McMinnville..............................................................Director
Mike Pirtle, Murfreesboro.......................................................................Director
Pauline Sherrer, Crossville Chronicle.....................................................Director
Michael Williams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer......................................Director
Greg M. Sherrill............................................................Executive Vice President
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION
W.R. (Ron) Fryar, McMinnville.............................................................President
Larry K. Smith, LaFollette.............................................................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, TN 37717-0502; or e-mail
[email protected]. The June issue deadline is May 8.
Former TPA President Mike Pirtle recently
Believe it or not, my journey begins in Memphis
retired as editor from The Daily News Journal,
with incoming TPA President Henry Stokes and
Murfreesboro.
The Commercial Appeal. At the time they were
My good friend, and up to this point TPA board
busy looking for a publisher. They’ve long since
member, Clint Brewer recently left The Lebanon
hired Joseph Pepe and even decentralized their
Democrat. The Democrat suffered an enormous loss
operation, as Henry now runs The Germantown &
recently with the death of renowned staff reporter
Collierville Appeal.
Brooks Franklin, who succumbed to cancer at 47.
I’ve been asked at a number of stops along the
A number of papers in this state are thinking
way what I hope to accomplish visiting newspapers
outside the box and doing some extraordinary things
throughout the state, something legendary TPA
to make that bottom line. The one that blew me away
President Carl A. Jones Jr. of the Johnson City Press YOUR
did in his term of 1956-57 and Larry Smith of The PRESIDING like no other is the arrangement Publisher Lynn
Richardson of the Herald and Tribune, JonesborLaFollette Press repeated in his of 1977-78.
Truth be known, as I’m sure it was to some extent REPORTER ough, has with her city: 100 percent saturation as
the city pays for all residents to have a subscription
to these two predecessors, my aim is both selfish and
to the paper, all in return for extensive, full coverage
selfless. The way I look at it, it’s a good excuse to get Steve Lake
out from behind my desk, enjoy some sunshine and a little of civic boards, with the understanding that government
extra time with my wife and 9-month-old daughter, who have employees receive no special treatment or favors in the
joined me for a good portion, and see our great state, many paper—sounds like a dream setup for both parties.
During my Sandusky circuit in the eastern corner of
places of which I’ve never seen before.
It’s a great opportunity to put names with papers and their the state, Keith Wilson, TPA board member and publisher
settings, enjoy a little camaraderie, and see how others oper- extraordinaire of the Kingsport Times–News, ran through a
ate, perhaps bringing something home of use to myself and laundry list of innovative ideas his paper is pursuing. Keith
other members, find out what TPA is doing right and where is one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met, with just a
it may go wrong, see where we can make improvements and touch of madness, necessary for any creative genius. He’s
how we can be of better service to our members, educate them hired genuine artists for composing positions and made them
about various TPA offerings, and encourage members to get part of the advertising department; has made a small fortune
in sales on a photo book with pictures brought in by readers
more involved in our organization.
If there is one observation I’ve made thus far in my visits of the paper, his angle being photos that tell a story and the
to approximately two-fifths of our member publications story behind the photos, with local sponsorship basically
across the state (should be much more by the time you read offsetting production costs; and is in the process of creating
this), it’s that newspapers are as diverse as the people and a community Web site of high-interest silos, allowing readers
to contribute news. He mentions as an example here he’ll
areas they cover.
Most operate on a shoestring with a very tight, limited staff, get a call asking him to cover Little League. Keith tells the
with employees of smaller papers forced to wear many hats, caller that his staff simply can’t cover every Little League
as larger operations can afford to be a little more specialized. game, but that if the caller would do so, he’d publish it on
Offices open and close at various hours on various days. the Times-News Web site.
The Times-News is now providing tearsheets electronically
Some are steeped in history while others have more or less
blossomed out of nowhere. I couldn’t help noticing as a whole and saving a bundle. Most advertisers are very appreciahow much bigger cities and papers seem in the eastern grand tive of the new format. Only five continue to request the
newsprint tearsheets.
division of our state, contributing 15 of our 28 dailies.
My favorite stop thus far—hands down—The Erwin Record.
In Pigeon Forge, circulation at the Tennessee Star Journal
varies considerably in and out of tourist season, according Knowing the approximate time I was to arrive, the entire
to a most friendly and talkative Editor Jim Callicott. He also staff was more or less on hand to greet me in their front
noted his town is the only one he knows of that doesn’t have lobby. After a tour of their beautiful old building, renovated
with historic preservation in mind, the entire staff gathered
a so-called downtown area.
In Clarksville, home of Fort Campbell and the 101st Air- in the conference room, as a fruit tray was brought in, for
borne Division, a large proportion of the community has a lengthy discussion of issues relevant to TPA and state
been deployed overseas, obviously taking its toll on the local newspapers. Editor Mark Stevens admitted upon hearing
economy. Leaf–Chronicle Publisher and two-time former TPA my goal last year to visit every member newspaper, he didn’t
President Gene Washer said having to incessantly report think there was any way I’d do it. Another first happened
deaths of local soldiers in Iraq has made for a very sad situ- on my way out as a picture was requested, set up and taken
of me with the staff, considering me news in itself. It’s no
ation and taken its toll on advertising itself.
Dyersburg State Gazette Editor and Co-Publisher Chris wonder the Erwin Record consistently wins press awards,
Rimel, settling into his position once more, recently returned including a three-year running of the Sweepstakes; they’ve
from a 14-month stint in Iraq, specifically noting the real story, got a very good thing going.
On my northwest Tennessee excursion, I happened into
as he puts it, “is that we’re doing a very good job there.”
Deadly tornados have followed my travels as they first McKenzie well after hours, thought I’d find the newspaper,
struck the Dyersburg area shortly after my visit; then the then a motel and bed down for the night, but there happened
Gallatin area a couple of weeks following while attending to be a light on at the paper as Webmaster Deborah Turner
the Advertising/Circulation Conference at Paris Landing was burning the midnight oil. Editor Joel Washburn was
State Park. Visiting Tiptonville and the Lake County Ban- gracious enough to leave his home and come visit with
ner with TPA Executive Director Greg Sherrill before the me. They have recently moved to the Olive System and
conference, Publisher Evan Jones showed us hail almost like others are putting their entire paper online, available
the size of a baseball packed up and saved in a freezer from under a subscription basis. There is also a free front page
for non-subscribers. What I found most interesting is that
that first storm.
Speaking of Gallatin, Gannett papers immediately Joel encourages those out of state to buy the online version
surrounding the Nashville area that I’ve visited thus far of the paper (as opposed to and at the same cost as printed
including The News–Examiner (Gallatin), Ashland City version) due to the U.S. Postal Service’s poor delivery, notoriTimes, Robertson County Times (Springfield), The Dickson ous in our industry.
Bill Ridings in Waverly recently underwent back surgery
Herald and The Fairview Observer were in the process and
have recently converted to tabloid dimensions. All say this is but seems to be bouncing back nicely. Enjoyed hearing him
something Tennessean Publisher and boss Ellen Leifeld did reminisce about TPA’s good old days.
Had a pleasant meeting with TPS President Bob Parkins,
with suburban papers at her place of previous employment,
publisher of The Milan Mirror-Exchange, and his son, Vicwhich witnessed great success.
On the flip side, a couple of start-up papers, yet ineligible tor, who serves as editor and is also a TPA board member.
for TPA membership, have emerged within the past year: The Bob Parkins’ office is a sight to behold, if you ever have the
Williamson Herald in Franklin and The Gallatin Newspaper
SEE LAKE, PAGE 3
are fighting Gannett head-on.
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
11
Designing newspaper ads doesn’t have to be dull
HOW TO CONTACT US
BY KEVIN SLIMP
TPS technology director
I’m in a familiar
predicament. There
are at least a dozen
new software applications on my
desk, all waiting to
be reviewed. There’s
backup software,
Slimp
drive rescue software, photo editing
software and word processing software, not to mention a pile of books.
I decided to go with the most unique
looking box.
Comic Life, by Freeverse Software,
fit the bill.
At first, you might think this is an
application a newspaper would never
use.
Not so, my friends. I installed and
opened the application. Within 15
minutes, I had created my first comic.
The comic I provided with this column
was my second effort. It took about 10
minutes to create. Let me tell you how
it works.
After installing the software, I immediately opened Comic Life. The workplace was very user friendly. Basically,
the left half of the screen is the template
for your comic. I counted 16 templates
to choose from or you can create your
own. The right half includes a library
of photos and all the tools. Comic Life
gets its photos from your iPhoto library.
Snapshots look
at newspaper reach
Sometimes good medicine comes in
small doses. The following are links
to brief sales sheets that demonstrate
newspaper’s reach among consumers in
various service and product categories.
They also highlight newspaper’s competitive edge over other media.
These sheets, in PDF format, can be
printed and added to sales kits and
shared with customers. For questions
regarding the data in these sales sheets,
one should contact William Johnson in
NAA’s Business Analysis & Research
Department at [email protected]. Find
the sheets at http://www.naa.org/CirculationPages/Circulation-Statisticsand-Trends/Snapshots.aspx.
The Tennessee Press
has the perfect
spot for your
ad
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
E-mail: (name)@tnpress.com
Those with boxes, listed
alphabetically:
Laurie Alford (lalford)
Pam Corley (pcorley)
Yes, this application is only available on
the Mac platform. I added the photos I
wanted to use to my iPhoto library, then
headed back to Comic Life.
Laying out a page is as simple as
dragging photos from the library into
frames on the template. Once in the
frames, pictures can be manipulated by
dragging a handle, much as you resize
photos in pagination applications. Each
“cell” of your comic contains an image.
Comic balloons, bubbles and boxes are
added to cells by choosing styles from
the bottom area of the workspace. Text
is created within each balloon or box.
You can even move a balloon’s tail by
moving it with your mouse.
My favorite aspect of Comic Life
is the ability to use filters to create a
“look” for your comic. I selected “Color
Pencils” to give my creation the look
of an old-fashioned comic book. When
completed, files can be saved in tif, jpeg
and other formats.
Why would a newspaper be interested
in Comic Life? First, it’s an easy way to
be creative with advertising. Let’s face
it. We only have so much time to spend
on each ad. Why not dazzle your client
with an ad that looks hand drawn but
takes only 10 minutes to create? And
Moody Castleman
(mcastleman)
Angelique Dunn (adunn)
Beth Elliott (belliott)
Robyn Gentile (rgentile)
Kelley Hampton (khampton)
Kathy Hensley (khensley)
Barry Jarrell (bjarrell)
Brenda Mays (bmays)
Amanda Pearce (apearce)
Greg Sherrill (gsherrill)
Kevin Slimp (kslimp)
Advertising e-mail:
Knoxville office:
[email protected]
second (are you sitting down?), The
price. Comic Life retails for $30 US/$35
CAN/$50 AUS. I can’t remember a
product that offered so much potential
at such an affordable price.
Comic Life is available from most
Apple software vendors or you can
order it.
Tennessee Press Service
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
--134 Heady Drive
Nashville, TN 37205
Phone: (615) 356-3914
Fax: (615) 356-3915
Tennessee Press
Association Foundation
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Contact Robyn Gentile for more
information at (865) 584-5761, ext. 105
or [email protected].
Read
The Tennessee Press
—then pass it on!
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
2
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
TPA is parent to TPS, TPAF; supports industry
CMYK
BY GREG SHERRILL
TPA executive director
This is the first in
a series of stories
on our three companies, Tennessee
Press Association,
Tennessee Press
Service and Tennessee Press Association Foundation.
Sherrill
Since I came to
Tennessee Press
in 1996 (that’s right, you’ve endured
me for 10 years now), there has been
enormous change within our industry
as newspapers have hired new staff
and changed hands or ownership. New
papers have started, and many formerly
independent newspapers have gone to
group ownership, often led by personnel
from outside our state or region.
We eagerly welcome Tennessee’s newand-changing newspaper leadership,
and we want to make sure they know
and understand TPA, TPS and TPAF
and make full use of the resources we
bring to support our members.
With each story in this series, I will
highlight one company and attempt to
show just how we are working for you.
I encourage publishers, editors and
other upper newspaper management
to post or circulate these stories to all
departments of your newspaper, and
encourage staff to contact TPA if they
ever have any questions or concerns
—we’re here to help.
Tennessee Press Association Inc. is
the parent company to both TPS and
TPAF. The association was formed
136 years ago in 1870-71 to support and
advance the newspaper industry in our
state. Today TPA is composed of 128
member newspapers, which include
28 daily and 100 non-daily papers. All
of our newspaper members maintain
certain criteria as outlined in the
TPA Constitution and Bylaws, which
include maintaining a minimum of 70
percent paid circulation, having been
in continuous publication for one year,
and publishing at least as frequently as
once a week. TPA also has an associate
class of members, which are vendors
and suppliers to the newspaper industry
who wish to maintain contact with our
member papers.
The association is governed by a 15member board of your peers, which
meets at least three times a year to
deliberate TPA business. TPA is supported through membership dues from
newspapers and associate members,
and from assistance from its related
companies, Tennessee Press Service
and the TPA Foundation. More on these
entities in coming months.
TPA and related companies provide an
impressive list of member services to
newspapers of all sizes. When a newspaper holds a TPA membership, it covers
all employees of that paper in terms
of attending TPA functions or making use of association benefits. Robyn
Gentile, our member services manager,
maintains a Member Services Guide
which explains these in more detail.
The guide can be viewed on our Web
site at www.tnpress.com, or we can mail
one at any time.
Some TPA functions are very visible
to newspapers; some occur behind
the scenes. Perhaps one of the most
important benefits we provide is not
immediately visible to most newspaper
staffers—lobbying for issues that could
affect so many aspects of our operations
or endanger the freedoms that we, as an
industry, are charged with upholding.
Tennessee started more than 30 years
ago with one of the strongest open records and meeting laws in the country.
Through the passage of time, these
vital laws have been under constant
attack, and TPA members, staff and
TPA’s contract lobbyist have been hard
at work trying to protect these laws so
that news departments statewide and
the public have the access to information they need to be informed. TPA is
a primary supporter of the Tennessee
Coalition for Open Government (TCOG)
and is currently working with that organization to strengthen open records
and meetings laws.
In addition to protecting the public’s
right to know, TPA has convinced legislators that taxes on newspaper advertising and circulation are a bad idea.
We issue press credentials for newspaper employees and have just this
year offered color photo ID badges with
digital signature for staffers. We offer
blanket legal hotline coverage to all
member newspapers, which can be a
tremendous asset for staff members at
all levels, from reporters who can’t get
into that county commission meeting to
ad reps who don’t want to say the wrong
thing in a housing ad to publishers who
are worried that they may be sued. Help
is often just a phone call away.
TPA holds several meetings each year
that are open to all newspaper staff.
These include our annual winter and
summer conventions, as well as various
board meetings and training sessions.
The Winter Convention and Press
Institute, our largest meeting, takes
place each February in Nashville and
includes a reception with state legislators, an address by the governor, and
countless educational and training sessions covering all facets of newspaper
operation from reporting to editing to
technology and legal issues.
Each spring, TPA holds an advertising
and circulation conference especially
for these vital revenue-producing newspaper departments.
In addition to quality training by
recognized industry leaders, it’s a great
time for newspaper staff from all across
the state to share ideas. The highlight of
the conference is often the presentation
of the annual Ideas Contest awards.
Each year, newspapers from across the
state submit entries in 27 advertising
and circulation categories to compete
against other papers for the best revenue-producing ideas. The contest is
judged by newspaper professionals
from a different state each year.
The annual Summer Convention, held
in mid-June, rotates yearly to each of
the state’s three grand divisions. This
year’s convention in Chattanooga will
have more training opportunities
than ever before as we partner with
Southern Newspaper Publishers Association (SNPA) for a joint convention
and SNPA Traveling Campus program.
The summer convention also includes
installation of TPA officers, a golf tournament and opportunities for family
and staff outings to experience some
of Tennessee’s many attractions.
The State Press Contests are held each
year to spotlight the “best of the best”
publishing efforts in editorial, sports,
service, promotion, photography, advertising and appearance. TPA members
submit more than 1,000 entries, which
are assembled by TPA staff and transported to another state for judging by
newspaper professionals.
From this, we award first through
sixth place in 20 categories at an annual awards luncheon held in July in
Nashville.
This year’s contests recognize
material that was published during
the 2005 calendar year. I have traveled
to newspaper offices across the state
and seen many of the unique in-laid
tile plaques for first place prominently
displayed in halls, reception areas and
offices. TPA partners with the University of Tennessee, which provides tremendous financial and administrative
support for this immense project.
Over the past two decades, nothing has
changed the newspaper industry more
than the incredible advances of technology. TPA is proud to be recognized as a
national leader in technology and has
helped so many member newspapers
make the jump from total paste-up to
complete electronic pagination. Most of
our technology assistance is handled by
TPS and will be covered next month, but
one important overlap is our Web site,
www.tnpress.com. This site becomes
more heavily used each month as we
add features and member services.
Newspaper staff can now register for
upcoming TPA events, print contests
entry information, browse resumes
for possible hires, list openings at their
papers, download serial stories for
publication, read The Tennessee Press,
and more, all at one place.
I encourage all newspaper staff to
take a look at what TPA offers.
We appreciate each of our member
newspapers and want to make sure
you receive the full benefits of your
membership. Should you have any
questions about TPA, please contact a
staff member at any time.
You can send us an e-mail 24 hours a
day from the “Contact Us” section of
www.tnpress.com.
Next month: Tennessee Press Service
Inc., the business arm of TPA, brings
advertising revenue and many more
services to your newspaper.
Watch for the gold!
State Press, AP
awards events
set July 21
C
M
Y
K
Awards in the
State Press Contests
covering 2005 will
be presented at a
luncheon at noon
on Friday, July 21.
At 11:00, Tennessee
Associated Press
Managing Editors
Stokes
awards for writing
and photography
will be presented.
Both events will
be at the Sheraton
Music City in east
Nashville.
Louisiana Press
Association has
judged the State
Yeomans
Press Contests,
which cover many aspects of newspaper
work.
Charles Primm, representing the
University of Tennessee, is handling
preparation of plaques and certificates,
as well as a PowerPoint presentation of
winners. An official of UT will present
the awards.
W h i l e aw a rd s b e l o n g t o t h e
newspapers, starting this year,
duplicate certificates can be provided to
individual staff members contributing
to the winning entries.
TPA Vice President Henry Stokes,
The Germantown Appeal, is chairman
of the Contests Committee. The awards
program began in the 1940s with just a
few categories, but now, there are 20.
Adam Yeomans, AP bureau chief for
Tennessee, is coordinating the TAPME
ceremony.
Proceeds of the State Press Contests
go to the Edward J. Meeman Fund
at UT. Meeman Awards, named for
a former Memphis Press-Scimitar
editor, are awarded in editorials and
public service.
See other sections
This issue of The Tennessee Press
includes two special pull-out sections.
One reports on the April 6 to 8 TPA
and Ideas Contest. The other previews
the 137th Annual TPA Summer
Convention.
First place winners in the 2006 UT-TPA State
Press Contests will be notified by mail in a
gold envelope. Letters to all winners will be
mailed by May 15.
The 2006 Awards Luncheon will be held
Kudos
(Left photo) Evan Jones, publisher of The Lake County Banner, Tiptonville, sits in his office, which is full of memorabilia. Lori Long,
an employee at the Banner, shows almost baseball-size hail that fell April 2. TPA President Steve Lake and Executive Director Greg
Sherrill visited the newspaper on April 6.
No. 11
MAY 2006
Vol. 69
Tom Griscom and the Chattanooga
Times Free Press staff were the first to
register for the summer convention.
Hotel
ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
TENNESSEE STATE PARKS
RIVERBEND FESTIVAL
Convention headquarters is the Chattanooga Choo Choo The traditional Summer Convention
Holiday Inn in the heart of Tennessee’s fourth largest Golf Tournament will be held at the
BearTrace golf course designed by Jack
city.
Nicklaus. It is at Harrison Bay State
Park north of Chattanooga.
A Riverbend poster and the festival during
fireworks. The festival began in 1978.
Chatta’new’ga: Here we come!
Managing editor
Train, plane or car—grab one and
head for Chattanooga in June for the
Tennessee Press Association 137 th
Anniversary Summer Convention.
The Convention Committee, headed
by Kevin Burcham, publisher of The
News-Herald, Lenoir City, has put
together a schedule somewhat different from those of the past—one that’s
sure to please.
For one thing, the convention will
start a day earlier than usual—on
Wednesday. And it will run three whole
days. It’ll be June 14 through 16, with
headquarters at the Chattanooga Choo
Choo Holiday Inn.
Another difference is that the entire
first day will be one of training, and
training opportunities will continue
the next two days. TPA is being joined
by the Southern Newspaper Publishers
Association Traveling Campus, which
will provide most of the training.
The deadline for making reservations
is the end of the day Wednesday, May 24.
One should call the inn at 1-800-872-2529
or (423) 266-5000 to reserve a room. A
standard room is $92 plus tax per night,
while a rail car room will cost $142 plus
tax per night.
The Riverbend
Festival will be in
full swing at that
time, so TPA recommends members not
delay in seeing to
reservations.
The fact that the
festival is under way
Burcham
is a good thing for
TPA, since conventioneers will take it in on Thursday
night. They will be treated to VIP
seating and refreshments, thanks to
the host newspaper, the Chattanooga
Times Free Press.
Another important event will be the
passing of the presidential gavel from
Steve Lake, publisher of the Pulaski
Citizen, to Henry Stokes, publisher of
The Germantown Appeal and former
managing editor of The Commercial
Appeal, Memphis. That will take place
at the Summer Banquet on Friday
night.
Burcham said the committee is pleased
that TPA can take advantage of the
excellent training opportunities SNPA
is offering. There will be learning as
well as a lot of fun activities connected
with the Riverbend Festival, he noted.
“There’s something for everybody.
Take advantage of everything the
DETAILS
Who: Newspaper staff
members
What: TPA Summer
Convention
When: Wednesday-Friday,
June 14-16
Where: Chattanooga Choo
Choo Holiday Inn
Deadline: End of day
Wednesday, May 24
TPA has arranged as well as the SNPA
program,” he said.
A s t h e S u m m e r C o nve n t i o n
Committee finalizes details, further
information will be posted on the TPA
Web site, www.tnpress.com. TPAers will
receive a packet containing registration
information and various sites of
interest in the Chattanooga area. See
the special section in the center of this
newspaper for information on various
aspects of the convention.
The schedule is as follows.
Wednesday, June 14
SNPA will provide the Traveling Campus training program.
9:30 a.m. Session A: SNPA
9:30 a.m. Session B: SNPA
1:30 p.m. Session C: SNPA
1:30 p.m. Session D: SNPA
Thursday, June 15
8:30 a.m. TPA registration opens
9:00 a.m. Session A—Introduction to
Adobe InDesign for Newspapers—Kevin Slimp
Session B: SNPA
12:00 p.m. Lunch on your own
1:30 p.m. Ice Cream Reception sponsored by Mayfield Dairy
2:00 p.m. TPA Board of Directors;
TPA Business Session; TPS
Stockholders; TPAF Board
of Trustees
2:00 p.m. Session C—Using InDesign/
InCopy LiveEdit Workflow—
Kevin Slimp
Session D—SNPA
5:00 p.m. Take free shuttles to Riverbend Festival
6:00 p.m. Riverbend Festival VIP
event sponsored by the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Return on one’s own.
SEE CONVENTION, PAGE 3
INSIDE
HINES
PROFILE
4
4
GIBSON-TCOG
GENTRY ANNIVERSARY
5
6
HENNINGER
NIE-LITERACY
7 OBITS
8 SLIMP
9
11
IN CONTACT
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Online: www.tnpress.com
CMYK
12
The Tennessee Press
Area Attractions
History of Chattanooga
Chattanooga Ducks—Unique ex-military
amphibious vehicles made for the US
Army to land troops on beaches during
wartime. The Ducks are equally at home
on land as well as water.
www.chattanoogaducks.com
The name “Chattanooga” comes from the Creek
Indian word for “rock coming to a point.” This refers to
Lookout Mountain, which begins in Chattanooga and
stretches 88 miles through Alabama and Georgia.
The city itself started out with two different names:
Ross’s Landing and Lookout City. Ross’s Landing was
established in 1816 by John Ross, chief of the Cherokee
Indians.
This area consisted of a ferry, warehouse and landing.
With the organization of Hamilton County in 1819,
Ross’s Landing served not only the Cherokee trade, but
also as a convenient business center for the county. In
1838, the city officially took the name of “Chattanooga.”
That same year, Cherokee parties left from Ross’s Landing for the West on what became known as the Trail of
Tears.
The bloodiest 2-day battle of the Civil War…
In addition to its important location with the mountains
and the river, the city was a vital railroad center, with
tracks leading from Atlanta to Nashville, Memphis to
Charleston and Knoxville to Virginia. Strategically placed
at the “Gateway to the Deep South,” Chattanooga’s
nickname during the war, troops were able to not only
transport supplies, but also reinforcements. In addition,
if the Union won here, they would have easy access to
the Confederates’ “home turf.”
What started off as a skirmish along the banks of the
Tennessee River in the spring of 1863 resulted in the
Confederates retreat to Chickamauga, Georgia. Here,
the bloodiest two-day battle of the entire Civil War was
fought, with a staggering 37,000 casualties. The Confederates were the first to regroup after the devastating
Battle of Chickamauga, and they proceeded to lay siege
to the Union forces holed up in Chattanooga.
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was sent in after the Union’s
defeat at Chickamauga to regain control of the campaign. Under Grant’s leadership, and with the help of
Gens. Thomas, Hooker and Sherman, the Union was
able to win the next five battles in the Campaign for
Chattanooga.
Upon the Union’s victory at the final battle in the
campaign for Chattanooga, the Battle of Missionary
Ridge, the gateway was opened, allowing for Sherman’s
famous march to Atlanta the following year. Shortly
thereafter, the war ended.
In 1890, veterans from both the Union and the Confederacy came back to the Scenic City. They placed tablets
and erected monuments in what became the nation’s
first national military park. The Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park is still the largest of its kind in
the nation with districts at the Chickamauga Battlefield,
Point Park and Lookout Mountain Battlefield, Missionary
Ridge, Orchard Knob and Signal Point.
The Chattanooga National Cemetery was created in
1863, after the battles in the Campaign for Chattanooga,
due to the enormous number of casualties at the Battle
of Chickamauga. By 1865, more than 12,000 Union
soldiers had been buried. The cemetery was officially
designated as the first national cemetery in 1867 when
Congress passed “An Act to Establish and Protect
National Cemeteries.”
Oldest truss bridge of its size in the South…
Built in 1891, the Walnut Street Bridge became the
first multiuse structure to span the Tennessee River, and
for almost three decades, it served as the only way to
cross the river.
The Walnut Street Bridge served as a busy thoroughfare to the citizens of Chattanooga for many decades.
Almost 100 years after its construction, the bridge
was closed on the advice of engineers who feared
its collapse. Committed citizens spoke out against its
destruction, and the funds were then committed to
preserve this historical landmark by turning it into a
“walking bridge.” Today, the Walnut Street Bridge con-
Coolidge Park—On the north shore of
the Tennessee River, this park features a A fountain at Coolidge Park
restored antique carousel and delightfully sculpted water fountains that are as much
fun to play upon as they are refreshing on a hot summer day.
Creative Discovery Museum—What child does not want to dig for dinosaur bones, take
apart stuff that works, beat on drums and hide in a tree? All of this and more awaits
visitors at this interactive museum. Designed for ages 2-12. www.cdmfun.com ES
Hunter Museum of Art—Explore a beautiful mansion housing one of the finest
collections of American art in the southeast. Located in the Bluff Arts district.
Imax 3D Theater—Imax is the largest and most exciting film format in the world. Go
to www.tnaqua.org for information on
movies and schedules. ES
Incline Railway—The world’s steepest
passenger railway, a grade of 72.7% near
the top, the Incline Railway will take you
on a one mile trip to the top of historic
Lookout Mountain.
International Towing and Recovery
Museum—a unique museum where you
One of many views at Rock City
can learn the history of the worldwide
industry with exhibits of equipment that date back to 1916.
www.internationaltowingmuseum.org
Lake Winnepesaukah—Located just minutes from downtown Chattanooga, this
amusement park has 30 rides. www.lakewinnie.com
CMYK
The Passage—An underground passageway leading to the river, marking the Trail of
Tears and celebrating Chattanooga’s Native American culture.
Point Park—Thirty-eight miles of hiking trails leading to overlooks, waterfalls, and historic
ruins. A panoramic mural of the Battle of Lookout Mountain, painted by a witness of
the historic event, is on display at Point Park.
Rock City—A true marvel of nature featuring massive rock formations, gardens and
“See 7 States” panoramic views. www.seerockcity.com
Ruby Falls—Discovered in 1928 by Leo Lambert and named after his wife Ruby, take this
cave adventure to view the spectacular waterfall
and rock formations. www.rubyfalls.com
Southern Belle Riverboat—cruise on the
Tennessee River past urban parks, bluffs and
maclellan Island, an 18-acre bird sanctuary. Sightseeing and dinner cruises offered.
www.chattanoogariverboat.com
Tennessee Aquarium—The Aquarium’s new $30
million Ocean Journey building is an expansion
of the Aquarium’s popular Gulf of Mexico exhibit.
It added 700,000 gallons of saltwater exhibits to
what is currently the world’s largest freshwater
aquarium. www.tnaqua.org ES
Walnut Street Bridge—the world’s longest L ake Winnepasaukah’s
pedestrian bridge connects the north and south Cannon Ball rollercoaster
shores from Ross’s Landing to Coolidge Park.
Warehouse Row—unique downtown shopping with over 25 stores in a beautiful,
historic urban setting. Set in renovated turn-of-the century railroad warehouse. ES
Do You Seek More Adventure?
Ocoee River Rafting—Take a wild ride down the roaring whitewater rapids of the Ocoee
River, site of the 1996 Olympic Canoe and
Kayak Slalom Competition.
Lookout Mountain Flight Park—Where
visitors can hang glide off the top of
the mountain. The place to go for hang
gliding adventure, or to simply be a
spectator. www.hanglide.com
Rafting on the Ocoee River
ES = a stop on CARTA, the free electric
shuttle serving downtown Chattanooga.
MAY 2006
Special section
TPA Summer Convention Preview
May 2006
CHATTA’NEW’GA,
HERE WE COME!
CHATTANOOGA CVB
Experience the world’s steepest passenger railway
at the Incline Railway
nects downtown Chattanooga to the north shore’s Coolidge
Park and Frazier Avenue.
The first Gold Record…
The famous Chattanooga Choo Choo Terminal Station was
built in 1908. The station still stands today as a testament
of the golden age of railroad with its 85-foot freestanding
dome, the world’s largest free-standing dome. In addition,
the song “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” which was made
famous by Glen Miller in the 1940s, became the first gold
record.
See Rock City...
Historical evidence shows that Native Americans once
inhabited Lookout Mountain. It was in 1823 that two
missionaries, Daniel S. Butrick and William Chamberlain,
arrived in the area to minister to these Indians. On Aug. 28,
1823, Rev. Butrick made an entry in his diary describing “a
citadel of rocks” atop the mountain, noting the immense
size of the boulders and stating that they were arranged in
such a way “as to afford streets and lanes.” By the time the
Civil War reached the slopes of Lookout Mountain, more
and more people had discovered what was already being
called “the Rock City.” During the famous Battle of Lookout
Mountain, both a Union and a Confederate nurse speculated in separate diary entries that one could see seven states
from atop the summit. Rock City remained known to hikers
and geologists throughout the latter portion of the 1800s,
but it would take the dawning of a new century before the
fabulous Rock City would reach its full potential.
Frieda Carter set out to develop this property into a rock
garden to end all rock gardens. She had taken string and
marked a trail that wound its way around giant rock formations, ending at the giant outcropping known as Lover’s
Leap. She had also collected wildflowers and other plants
and had them transplanted along her trail. Garnet Carter
realized his wife had something there and that lots of
people might be willing to pay to see it. The rest, as they
say, is history.
Ruby Falls…
In 1928, Leo Lambert began digging an elevator shaft
down to the original cave within the Lookout Mountain
Caverns. After 92 days of drilling through 420 feet of solid
stone, the crew reached its target. But, some 260 feet
down, Lambert was overtaken by an unfamiliar gust of air.
Searching for the source, Lambert traveled for 17 hours
before he stumbled upon a spectacular waterfall and
breathtaking scenes of rock formations and mineral deposits within a large cavern. His description of his discovery
seemed so preposterous that the group refused to believe
him until he returned to the falls a second time with his
wife, Ruby. When she repeated Lambert’s story to the engineers, work began to enable visitors to view this natural
wonder, and Ruby Falls opened to the public in 1929.
June 14-16 agenda:
SNPA-TPA training,
business and play
Managing editor
The TPA Summer Convention coming
up in June sounds like it will be one of
the most training-packed ever. Drawing on our own expert, Kevin Slimp,
and an array of standouts in various
newspaper fields, conventioneers will
be engaged for three days of training
by Southern Newspaper Publishers
Association and TPA.
SNPA schedules several training
occasions, called Traveling Campuses,
in the states that comprise the regional
organization. SNPA and TPA are cooperating to present this event during
convention time.
Convention attendees can take advantage of Traveling Campus training at no
additional cost.
The 137th Annual Summer Convention will run Wednesday through Friday,
June 14-16, with all training and business sessions taking place at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn.
In addition to all that brainwork, the
normal TPA, Tennessee Press Service
and TPA Foundation meetings will
take place.
And on Thursday night, conventioneers will attend the annual Riverbend
Festival, where there will be all kinds of
activities to please. Thanks to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, TPAers will
have VIP seats and refreshments.
Friday morning will bring an event
that a good contingent of press association members wouldn’t miss except for
high water: the golf tournament. It will
be held at Bear Trace golf course at Harrison Bay State Park, Harrison.
The afternoon agenda includes a session on Newspaper in Education.
On Friday night, a reception, the
Installation Banquet and a dessert
reception are set.
New officers of TPA, TPS and TPAF,
as well as other principals, will be
recognized. Steve Lake, 2005-06 TPA
president, will say his farewell and turn
over the gavel to Henry Stokes. Stokes
has served two years as vice president
for dailies.
VIP treatment for TPAers
at Riverbend Festival
It’s not what you
k n ow. . . i t ’s wh o
you know. Tom
Griscom and the
Chattanooga Times
Free Press invite
TPA convention
attendees to a
VIP experience
at the Riverbend
Festival. On June
RIVERBEND FESTIVAL
15, the Chattanooga
Chattanooga
at
night
during
Riverbend
2005
Times Free Press
is hosting TPAers at the city’s popular evening’s headline entertainment
music festival. The evening will begin will be reserved for you. (See page 3
with a tour and refreshments in the for the current Riverbend line up for
hospitality tent. VIP seating for the June 15.)
Dear TPAer:
Looking for a great trip at a time of higher gasoline prices? An opportunity to
combine business with pleasure, bring family and be with friends, and have
memories to share for years to come?
The answers await you in Chattanooga at the 2006 Tennessee Press Association
Summer Convention.
From June 14 to 16, your host, the Chattanooga Times Free Press, invites you
downtown to experience our town.
CMYK
4 - Summer Convention Preview
The TPA will recognize the best in our state and offer timely in-class training courses.
There will be time to share best practices and realize that size does not matter
when it comes to providing a quality newspaper either in print or online.
Then you will be able to experience the summer music festival on the river bank
—Riverbend. The Times Free Press and the TPA invite you to be our guest where
you will enjoy good music on the banks of the Tennessee River. All this and more
await our visitors to the TPA Summer Convention in Chattanooga.
Welcome aboard.
Sincerely,
Tom Griscom
Editor and Publisher
Chatta’new’ga—what’s new about it?
Chatta’new’ga is one of the city’s current promotional themes. What’s new?
Ocean Journey, a $30 million expansion
to the Tennessee Aquarium, opened
in 2005. It features 700,000 gallons of
saltwater exhibits. Dive beneath the
waves through a coral reef teeming with
fascinating 10-foot-long sharks, fierce
barracuda and graceful stingrays. You
will have hands-on encounters with tiny
bamboo sharks and stingrays. Other
enchanting exhibits will showcase
amazing creatures like octopus, jellyfish and giant crabs.
The Hunter Museum of Art and the
Creative Discovery Museum completed
renovations in 2005. The Passage provides a pedestrian connection from
downtown to the Tennessee River. It
marks the beginning of the Trail of
Tears and celebrates Native American
history and culture.
One can learn about Chattanooga’s
improvements and attractions at www.
chattanoogafun.com.
INSIDE
SCHEDULE
TRAINING LEADERS
ACTIVITIES
HEADQUARTERS
CHATTANOOGA HISTORY
2
2
3
3
4
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
Convention Schedule/Training
TPA 137th Annual Summer Convention
June 14-16, 2006
Wednesday, June 14
9:30 a.m.
Session A: SNPA
Session B: SNPA
1:30 p.m.
Session C: SNPA
(SNPA will provide Traveling
Campus training program at
its discretion on Wednesday.)
Session D: SNPA
CMYK
Thursday, June 15
8:30 a.m.
TPA registration opens
9:00 a.m.
Session A—Intro to Adobe InDesign for
Newspapers—Kevin Slimp
Session B: SNPA
12:00 p.m.
Lunch on one’s own
1:30 p.m.
Ice Cream Reception
sponsored by Mayfield Dairy
2:00 p.m.
TPA Board of Directors; TPA Business Session;
TPS Stockholders; TPAF Board of Trustees
2:00 p.m.
Session C—Using InDesign/InCopy LiveEdit
Workflow—Kevin Slimp
Session D—SNPA
5:00 p.m.
Take shuttles to Riverbend Festival
6:00 p.m.
Riverbend Festival VIP event
sponsored by the Chattanooga Times Free Press
Friday, June 16
7:00 a.m.
9:00 a.m.
Golf outing at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay
sponsored by Bowater America
Session A: NIE Workshop, Robie Scott, The Post
Session B: SNPA
Computer Lab: InDesign, The Next Step
3:00 p.m.
NIE presentation for publishers
6:00 p.m.
Reception
sponsored by BellSouth
7:00 p.m.
Installation Banquet
9:00 p.m.
Dessert Reception
Convention Committee
Kevin Burcham, chair, The News-Herald, Lenoir City
Ralph Baldwin, The Daily Post-Athenian, Athens
Stephen L. Crass, Cleveland Daily Banner
Bob Lutgen, Chattanooga Times Free Press
Tom Overton, Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater
ROBIE SCOTT, educational services manager
The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.
This session will focus on the elements that are necessary to create and sustain a viable and productive
NIE program. We will define the basics with a focus on long range goals that do not have to be
recreated each year. Details will be provided for teacher training, NIE leadership selection, securing
sponsors, obtaining NIE orders in mass, curriculum options, choosing vendor products that work and
program evaluation and assessments.
Where to Stay and Play
Golf Tournament at Bear Trace, Harrison Bay
Crass
Why NIE?
This session will begin with an overview of NIE research and analysis and continue with a discussion on how to sustain
readers ages 7 -17 while developing them as loyal future readers. Some background NIE basics will be overviewed,
including teacher training and NIE promotion, sponsorship opportunities and assessments.
Scott is a nationally known newspaper veteran with 18 years’ experience in NIE. Before entering the newspaper industry,
Scott worked as a television producer. She also has served as a professor at The Citadel Military College since 1993.
Most recently she wrote an NIE column for the Buenos Aires Herald in Argentina.
The annual TPA Golf Tournament chairman is Stephen Crass, publisher of The
Cleveland Daily Banner. Tom Wolfe will
represent Bowater America, the tournament sponsor.
The golf course, about 20 minutes north
of Chattanooga at Harrison Bay State Park,
was designed by Jack Nicklaus and was
the second Bear Trace course to open. It
is surrounded by both water and heavilywooded land, making an ideal setting for
the course.
The BearTrace features Bermuda fairways
lined with soaring pine and hardwood trees.
Although water touches 12 fairways, there is
more than sufficient room to hit safely.
The Holiday Inn’s lobby is the former terminal
station for Southern Railway
The hotel is one of the South’s renowned and unique landmarks. This 24-acre vacation and convention
complex lies in the heart of Chattanooga and has something for everyone. The Choo Choo combines
history and fun in a delightful blend that appeals to visitors of all ages.
Wolfe
STATE OF TENNESSEE
A view from the course of Bear
Trace at Harrison Bay
6:30 a.m. Transportation on your own
7:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast
8:00 a.m. Shotgun Start
KEVIN SLIMP, TPS technology director
InDesign, the Next Step
Kevin will teach this class using the TPAF traveling lab. Attendees will get hands-on training in the following topics:
•Creating Styles in InDesign
•Working with Nested Styles
•Input options for text and graphics •Creating postscript files from InDesign
•Find/Change text in InDesign
•Creating Tables in InDesign
•Using the Transform tools in InDesign
SNPA - TPA Partnership
TPA is partnering with the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association (SNPA) to provide even more quality training in
conjunction with the Summer Convention. SNPA will begin sessions on Wednesday, June 14, for those who are local or
can drive in for the day. These sessions will be the more traditional Traveling Campus offerings for various departments.
On Thursday and Friday, the sessions will be more management-type sessions. As soon as the sessions’ descriptions
are available, TPA will distribute the details and post at www.tnpress.com.
The complex includes train cars that one can sleep in, an array of restaurants and shops, the
swimming pools, meeting and banquet rooms, an authentic New Orleans trolley and beautiful
landscaped gardens. Details at www.choochoo.com.
$50 registration fee
Breakfast, lunch, beverages and prizes
Riverbend Festival
Intro to Adobe InDesign for Newspapers
This is the perfect section for newspapers getting ready to make the move to InDesign and for those
who have recently done so. Kevin will cover topics including:
•Working with text in InDesign
•Working with shapes and graphs
•Working with paths in InDesign •Working with photos
•Exporting files from InDesign
•Using Text Wrap
•Preflighting files in InDesign
•Using InDesign’s special effects
Using the InDesign/InCopy LiveEdit workflow
The InDesign/InCopy workflow has become very popular among newspapers over the past two years. This workflow
allows reporters, editors and designers to work in a managed workflow without the needing to buy an external workflow
system. This class will be of much interest to anyone using InDesign or thinking about using it.
RESERVATIONS:
(800) 872-2529
or (423) 266-5000
TPA RATE:
$92, plus tax,
per night/ $142,
plus tax, per night
for rail car room
DEADLINE:
Wednesday, May 24
Friday, June 16
Scott was elected to the South Carolina State Board of Education in 1997 and also serves as a commissioner on the
Mayor’s Council for Children, Youth and Families. An active Rotarian, she spent two months in Scotland as a U.S. Rotary
Foundation Ambassador. She serves on the board of four other nonprofit organizations.
Summer Convention Preview - 3
CMYK
Over the past 25 years, the Riverbend Festival has become
Chattanooga’s signature event. And this year our convention host, the Chattanooga Times Free Press, invites you to
be part of it.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
(as of 4/19/06)
All performances are in the evening.
Coca-Cola Stage
9:30 - 11:00 Sugarland
TPA convention attendees will be given VIP access to the
festival on Thursday, June 15 as the opening event of the
convention. You will have VIP seating at the festival and a
time of fellowship at the VIP hospitality tent. Your festival
admission pin will also give you admission for each night of
the festival.
A limited number of space is available in the VIP area. Register with TPA early. Tickets will be assigned on a first-come,
first-served basis. Limit 6 per newspaper.
Covista Stage
6:15 - 7:30
Korean Dance
It has grown from a first year attendance of 1,000 watching
7:45 - 9:00
Blue Merle
11:00 - 12:00 Dexter Thomas Band performers on a small sand barge to 650,000 enjoying world
UnumProvident Stage
6:30 - 7:45
U I Blue
8:00 - 9:15
Ember Swift
9:30 - 12:00 The Duhks
Bud Light Stage
6:30 - 7:45
Sky Dog
8:30 - 9:15
Overland Express
9:30 - 12:00 Shady Deal
AmSouth Bank Stage
7:00 - 8:15
Escape Artists
8:30 - 9:45
Two Tons Of Steel
10:00 - 11:15 Madfish Willy
www.riverbendfestival.com
class entertainment for nine days on six stages, and over 100
performances. It is held at the new 21st Century Waterfront
along the banks of the Tennessee River at Ross’s Landing.
Riverbend 2006 is set for June 9-17 and featured artists
include: The Allman Brothers, Hank Williams, Jr., Trisha
Yearwood, Kenny Rogers, Los Lonely Boys, Sugarland, Suzy
Bogguss and more. Visit www.riverbendfestival.com for
more information.
sponsored by
Formal gardens and the Chattanooga Choo Choo The Holiday Inn has three swimming
are features of the Holiday Inn complex
pools including this indoor pool.
Things to See and Do in Chattanooga
There is so much to see and do in the Chattanooga area that it cannot be listed in this space.
We are working with various attractions on discounts and offers for you. Watch your mail, email and www.tnpress.com for details. One of the attractions that has agreed to work with us
is the Tennessee Aquarium.
An excellent resource for planning your
trip to Chattanooga is the Chattanooga
Convention and Visitors Bureau Web
site, www.chattanoogafun.com.
We encourage you to bring your family and take advantage of all Chattanooga offers for family
fun. A partial listing of area attractions is located on page 4 of this section.
www.chattanoogafun.com
TPA, as usual, will mail packets containing various kinds of information
about the convention. One also can consult www.tnpress.com for
registration information.
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
Convention Schedule/Training
TPA 137th Annual Summer Convention
June 14-16, 2006
Wednesday, June 14
9:30 a.m.
Session A: SNPA
Session B: SNPA
1:30 p.m.
Session C: SNPA
(SNPA will provide Traveling
Campus training program at
its discretion on Wednesday.)
Session D: SNPA
CMYK
Thursday, June 15
8:30 a.m.
TPA registration opens
9:00 a.m.
Session A—Intro to Adobe InDesign for
Newspapers—Kevin Slimp
Session B: SNPA
12:00 p.m.
Lunch on one’s own
1:30 p.m.
Ice Cream Reception
sponsored by Mayfield Dairy
2:00 p.m.
TPA Board of Directors; TPA Business Session;
TPS Stockholders; TPAF Board of Trustees
2:00 p.m.
Session C—Using InDesign/InCopy LiveEdit
Workflow—Kevin Slimp
Session D—SNPA
5:00 p.m.
Take shuttles to Riverbend Festival
6:00 p.m.
Riverbend Festival VIP event
sponsored by the Chattanooga Times Free Press
Friday, June 16
7:00 a.m.
9:00 a.m.
Golf outing at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay
Session A: NIE Workshop, Robie Scott, The Post
Session B: SNPA
Computer Lab: InDesign, The Next Step
3:00 p.m.
NIE presentation for publishers
6:00 p.m.
Reception
sponsored by BellSouth
7:00 p.m.
Installation Banquet
9:00 p.m.
Dessert Reception
Convention Committee
Kevin Burcham, chair, The News-Herald, Lenoir City
Ralph Baldwin, The Daily Post-Athenian, Athens
Stephen L. Crass, Cleveland Daily Banner
Bob Lutgen, Chattanooga Times Free Press
Tom Overton, Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater
ROBIE SCOTT, educational services manager
The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.
This session will focus on the elements that are necessary to create and sustain a viable and productive
NIE program. We will define the basics with a focus on long range goals that do not have to be
recreated each year. Details will be provided for teacher training, NIE leadership selection, securing
sponsors, obtaining NIE orders in mass, curriculum options, choosing vendor products that work and
program evaluation and assessments.
Where to Stay and Play
Golf Tournament at Bear Trace, Harrison Bay
Crass
Why NIE?
This session will begin with an overview of NIE research and analysis and continue with a discussion on how to sustain
readers ages 7 -17 while developing them as loyal future readers. Some background NIE basics will be overviewed,
including teacher training and NIE promotion, sponsorship opportunities and assessments.
Scott is a nationally known newspaper veteran with 18 years’ experience in NIE. Before entering the newspaper industry,
Scott worked as a television producer. She also has served as a professor at The Citadel Military College since 1993.
Most recently she wrote an NIE column for the Buenos Aires Herald in Argentina.
The annual TPA Golf Tournament chairman is Stephen Crass, publisher of The
Cleveland Daily Banner. Tom Wolfe will
represent Bowater America, the tournament sponsor.
The golf course, about 20 minutes north
of Chattanooga at Harrison Bay State Park,
was designed by Jack Nicklaus and was
the second Bear Trace course to open. It
is surrounded by both water and heavilywooded land, making an ideal setting for
the course.
The BearTrace features Bermuda fairways
lined with soaring pine and hardwood trees.
Although water touches 12 fairways, there is
more than sufficient room to hit safely.
The Holiday Inn’s lobby is the former terminal
station for Southern Railway
The hotel is one of the South’s renowned and unique landmarks. This 24-acre vacation and convention
complex lies in the heart of Chattanooga and has something for everyone. The Choo Choo combines
history and fun in a delightful blend that appeals to visitors of all ages.
Wolfe
STATE OF TENNESSEE
A view from the course of Bear
Trace at Harrison Bay
6:30 a.m. Transportation on your own
7:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast
8:00 a.m. Shotgun Start
KEVIN SLIMP, TPS technology director
InDesign, the Next Step
Kevin will teach this class using the TPAF traveling lab. Attendees will get hands-on training in the following topics:
•Creating Styles in InDesign
•Working with Nested Styles
•Input options for text and graphics •Creating postscript files from InDesign
•Find/Change text in InDesign
•Creating Tables in InDesign
•Using the Transform tools in InDesign
SNPA - TPA Partnership
TPA is partnering with the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association (SNPA) to provide even more quality training in
conjunction with the Summer Convention. SNPA will begin sessions on Wednesday, June 14, for those who are local or
can drive in for the day. These sessions will be the more traditional Traveling Campus offerings for various departments.
On Thursday and Friday, the sessions will be more management-type sessions. As soon as the sessions’ descriptions
are available, TPA will distribute the details and post at www.tnpress.com.
The complex includes train cars that one can sleep in, an array of restaurants and shops, the
swimming pools, meeting and banquet rooms, an authentic New Orleans trolley and beautiful
landscaped gardens. Details at www.choochoo.com.
$50 registration fee
Breakfast, lunch, beverages and prizes
Riverbend Festival
Intro to Adobe InDesign for Newspapers
This is the perfect section for newspapers getting ready to make the move to InDesign and for those
who have recently done so. Kevin will cover topics including:
•Working with text in InDesign
•Working with shapes and graphs
•Working with paths in InDesign •Working with photos
•Exporting files from InDesign
•Using Text Wrap
•Preflighting files in InDesign
•Using InDesign’s special effects
Using the InDesign/InCopy LiveEdit workflow
The InDesign/InCopy workflow has become very popular among newspapers over the past two years. This workflow
allows reporters, editors and designers to work in a managed workflow without the needing to buy an external workflow
system. This class will be of much interest to anyone using InDesign or thinking about using it.
RESERVATIONS:
(800) 872-2529
or (423) 266-5000
TPA RATE:
$92, plus tax,
per night/ $142,
plus tax, per night
for rail car room
DEADLINE:
Wednesday, May 24
Friday, June 16
Scott was elected to the South Carolina State Board of Education in 1997 and also serves as a commissioner on the
Mayor’s Council for Children, Youth and Families. An active Rotarian, she spent two months in Scotland as a U.S. Rotary
Foundation Ambassador. She serves on the board of four other nonprofit organizations.
Summer Convention Preview - 3
CMYK
Over the past 25 years, the Riverbend Festival has become
Chattanooga’s signature event. And this year our convention host, the Chattanooga Times Free Press, invites you to
be part of it.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
(as of 4/19/06)
All performances are in the evening.
Coca-Cola Stage
9:30 - 11:00 Sugarland
TPA convention attendees will be given VIP access to the
festival on Thursday, June 15 as the opening event of the
convention. You will have VIP seating at the festival and a
time of fellowship at the VIP hospitality tent. Your festival
admission pin will also give you admission for each night of
the festival.
A limited number of space is available in the VIP area. Register with TPA early. Tickets will be assigned on a first-come,
first-served basis. Limit 6 per newspaper.
Covista Stage
6:15 - 7:30
Korean Dance
It has grown from a first year attendance of 1,000 watching
7:45 - 9:00
Blue Merle
11:00 - 12:00 Dexter Thomas Band performers on a small sand barge to 650,000 enjoying world
UnumProvident Stage
6:30 - 7:45
U I Blue
8:00 - 9:15
Ember Swift
9:30 - 12:00 The Duhks
Bud Light Stage
6:30 - 7:45
Sky Dog
8:30 - 9:15
Overland Express
9:30 - 12:00 Shady Deal
AmSouth Bank Stage
7:00 - 8:15
Escape Artists
8:30 - 9:45
Two Tons Of Steel
10:00 - 11:15 Madfish Willy
www.riverbendfestival.com
class entertainment for nine days on six stages, and over 100
performances. It is held at the new 21st Century Waterfront
along the banks of the Tennessee River at Ross’s Landing.
Riverbend 2006 is set for June 9-17 and featured artists
include: The Allman Brothers, Hank Williams, Jr., Trisha
Yearwood, Kenny Rogers, Los Lonely Boys, Sugarland, Suzy
Bogguss and more. Visit www.riverbendfestival.com for
more information.
sponsored by
Formal gardens and the Chattanooga Choo Choo The Holiday Inn has three swimming
are features of the Holiday Inn complex
pools including this indoor pool.
Things to See and Do in Chattanooga
There is so much to see and do in the Chattanooga area that it cannot be listed in this space.
We are working with various attractions on discounts and offers for you. Watch your mail, email and www.tnpress.com for details. One of the attractions that has agreed to work with us
is the Tennessee Aquarium.
An excellent resource for planning your
trip to Chattanooga is the Chattanooga
Convention and Visitors Bureau Web
site, www.chattanoogafun.com.
We encourage you to bring your family and take advantage of all Chattanooga offers for family
fun. A partial listing of area attractions is located on page 4 of this section.
www.chattanoogafun.com
TPA, as usual, will mail packets containing various kinds of information
about the convention. One also can consult www.tnpress.com for
registration information.
The Tennessee Press
Area Attractions
History of Chattanooga
Chattanooga Ducks—Unique ex-military
amphibious vehicles made for the US
Army to land troops on beaches during
wartime. The Ducks are equally at home
on land as well as water.
www.chattanoogaducks.com
The name “Chattanooga” comes from the Creek
Indian word for “rock coming to a point.” This refers to
Lookout Mountain, which begins in Chattanooga and
stretches 88 miles through Alabama and Georgia.
The city itself started out with two different names:
Ross’s Landing and Lookout City. Ross’s Landing was
established in 1816 by John Ross, chief of the Cherokee
Indians.
This area consisted of a ferry, warehouse and landing.
With the organization of Hamilton County in 1819,
Ross’s Landing served not only the Cherokee trade, but
also as a convenient business center for the county. In
1838, the city officially took the name of “Chattanooga.”
That same year, Cherokee parties left from Ross’s Landing for the West on what became known as the Trail of
Tears.
The bloodiest 2-day battle of the Civil War…
In addition to its important location with the mountains
and the river, the city was a vital railroad center, with
tracks leading from Atlanta to Nashville, Memphis to
Charleston and Knoxville to Virginia. Strategically placed
at the “Gateway to the Deep South,” Chattanooga’s
nickname during the war, troops were able to not only
transport supplies, but also reinforcements. In addition,
if the Union won here, they would have easy access to
the Confederates’ “home turf.”
What started off as a skirmish along the banks of the
Tennessee River in the spring of 1863 resulted in the
Confederates retreat to Chickamauga, Georgia. Here,
the bloodiest two-day battle of the entire Civil War was
fought, with a staggering 37,000 casualties. The Confederates were the first to regroup after the devastating
Battle of Chickamauga, and they proceeded to lay siege
to the Union forces holed up in Chattanooga.
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was sent in after the Union’s
defeat at Chickamauga to regain control of the campaign. Under Grant’s leadership, and with the help of
Gens. Thomas, Hooker and Sherman, the Union was
able to win the next five battles in the Campaign for
Chattanooga.
Upon the Union’s victory at the final battle in the
campaign for Chattanooga, the Battle of Missionary
Ridge, the gateway was opened, allowing for Sherman’s
famous march to Atlanta the following year. Shortly
thereafter, the war ended.
In 1890, veterans from both the Union and the Confederacy came back to the Scenic City. They placed tablets
and erected monuments in what became the nation’s
first national military park. The Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park is still the largest of its kind in
the nation with districts at the Chickamauga Battlefield,
Point Park and Lookout Mountain Battlefield, Missionary
Ridge, Orchard Knob and Signal Point.
The Chattanooga National Cemetery was created in
1863, after the battles in the Campaign for Chattanooga,
due to the enormous number of casualties at the Battle
of Chickamauga. By 1865, more than 12,000 Union
soldiers had been buried. The cemetery was officially
designated as the first national cemetery in 1867 when
Congress passed “An Act to Establish and Protect
National Cemeteries.”
Oldest truss bridge of its size in the South…
Built in 1891, the Walnut Street Bridge became the
first multiuse structure to span the Tennessee River, and
for almost three decades, it served as the only way to
cross the river.
The Walnut Street Bridge served as a busy thoroughfare to the citizens of Chattanooga for many decades.
Almost 100 years after its construction, the bridge
was closed on the advice of engineers who feared
its collapse. Committed citizens spoke out against its
destruction, and the funds were then committed to
preserve this historical landmark by turning it into a
“walking bridge.” Today, the Walnut Street Bridge con-
Coolidge Park—On the north shore of
the Tennessee River, this park features a A fountain at Coolidge Park
restored antique carousel and delightfully sculpted water fountains that are as much
fun to play upon as they are refreshing on a hot summer day.
Creative Discovery Museum—What child does not want to dig for dinosaur bones, take
apart stuff that works, beat on drums and hide in a tree? All of this and more awaits
visitors at this interactive museum. Designed for ages 2-12. www.cdmfun.com ES
Hunter Museum of Art—Explore a beautiful mansion housing one of the finest
collections of American art in the southeast. Located in the Bluff Arts district.
Imax 3D Theater—Imax is the largest and most exciting film format in the world. Go
to www.tnaqua.org for information on
movies and schedules. ES
Incline Railway—The world’s steepest
passenger railway, a grade of 72.7% near
the top, the Incline Railway will take you
on a one mile trip to the top of historic
Lookout Mountain.
International Towing and Recovery
Museum—a unique museum where you
One of many views at Rock City
can learn the history of the worldwide
industry with exhibits of equipment that date back to 1916.
www.internationaltowingmuseum.org
Lake Winnepesaukah—Located just minutes from downtown Chattanooga, this
amusement park has 30 rides. www.lakewinnie.com
CMYK
The Passage—An underground passageway leading to the river, marking the Trail of
Tears and celebrating Chattanooga’s Native American culture.
Point Park—Thirty-eight miles of hiking trails leading to overlooks, waterfalls, and historic
ruins. A panoramic mural of the Battle of Lookout Mountain, painted by a witness of
the historic event, is on display at Point Park.
Rock City—A true marvel of nature featuring massive rock formations, gardens and
“See 7 States” panoramic views. www.seerockcity.com
Ruby Falls—Discovered in 1928 by Leo Lambert and named after his wife Ruby, take this
cave adventure to view the spectacular waterfall
and rock formations. www.rubyfalls.com
Southern Belle Riverboat—cruise on the
Tennessee River past urban parks, bluffs and
maclellan Island, an 18-acre bird sanctuary. Sightseeing and dinner cruises offered.
www.chattanoogariverboat.com
Tennessee Aquarium—The Aquarium’s new $30
million Ocean Journey building is an expansion
of the Aquarium’s popular Gulf of Mexico exhibit.
It added 700,000 gallons of saltwater exhibits to
what is currently the world’s largest freshwater
aquarium. www.tnaqua.org ES
Walnut Street Bridge—the world’s longest L ake Winnepasaukah’s
pedestrian bridge connects the north and south Cannon Ball rollercoaster
shores from Ross’s Landing to Coolidge Park.
Warehouse Row—unique downtown shopping with over 25 stores in a beautiful,
historic urban setting. Set in renovated turn-of-the century railroad warehouse. ES
Do You Seek More Adventure?
Ocoee River Rafting—Take a wild ride down the roaring whitewater rapids of the Ocoee
River, site of the 1996 Olympic Canoe and
Kayak Slalom Competition.
Lookout Mountain Flight Park—Where
visitors can hang glide off the top of
the mountain. The place to go for hang
gliding adventure, or to simply be a
spectator. www.hanglide.com
Rafting on the Ocoee River
ES = a stop on CARTA, the free electric
shuttle serving downtown Chattanooga.
MAY 2006
Special section
TPA Summer Convention Preview
May 2006
CHATTA’NEW’GA,
HERE WE COME!
CHATTANOOGA CVB
Experience the world’s steepest passenger railway
at the Incline Railway
nects downtown Chattanooga to the north shore’s Coolidge
Park and Frazier Avenue.
The first Gold Record…
The famous Chattanooga Choo Choo Terminal Station was
built in 1908. The station still stands today as a testament
of the golden age of railroad with its 85-foot freestanding
dome, the world’s largest free-standing dome. In addition,
the song “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” which was made
famous by Glen Miller in the 1940s, became the first gold
record.
See Rock City...
Historical evidence shows that Native Americans once
inhabited Lookout Mountain. It was in 1823 that two
missionaries, Daniel S. Butrick and William Chamberlain,
arrived in the area to minister to these Indians. On Aug. 28,
1823, Rev. Butrick made an entry in his diary describing “a
citadel of rocks” atop the mountain, noting the immense
size of the boulders and stating that they were arranged in
such a way “as to afford streets and lanes.” By the time the
Civil War reached the slopes of Lookout Mountain, more
and more people had discovered what was already being
called “the Rock City.” During the famous Battle of Lookout
Mountain, both a Union and a Confederate nurse speculated in separate diary entries that one could see seven states
from atop the summit. Rock City remained known to hikers
and geologists throughout the latter portion of the 1800s,
but it would take the dawning of a new century before the
fabulous Rock City would reach its full potential.
Frieda Carter set out to develop this property into a rock
garden to end all rock gardens. She had taken string and
marked a trail that wound its way around giant rock formations, ending at the giant outcropping known as Lover’s
Leap. She had also collected wildflowers and other plants
and had them transplanted along her trail. Garnet Carter
realized his wife had something there and that lots of
people might be willing to pay to see it. The rest, as they
say, is history.
Ruby Falls…
In 1928, Leo Lambert began digging an elevator shaft
down to the original cave within the Lookout Mountain
Caverns. After 92 days of drilling through 420 feet of solid
stone, the crew reached its target. But, some 260 feet
down, Lambert was overtaken by an unfamiliar gust of air.
Searching for the source, Lambert traveled for 17 hours
before he stumbled upon a spectacular waterfall and
breathtaking scenes of rock formations and mineral deposits within a large cavern. His description of his discovery
seemed so preposterous that the group refused to believe
him until he returned to the falls a second time with his
wife, Ruby. When she repeated Lambert’s story to the engineers, work began to enable visitors to view this natural
wonder, and Ruby Falls opened to the public in 1929.
June 14-16 agenda:
SNPA-TPA training,
business and play
Managing editor
The TPA Summer Convention coming
up in June sounds like it will be one of
the most training-packed ever. Drawing on our own expert, Kevin Slimp,
and an array of standouts in various
newspaper fields, conventioneers will
be engaged for three days of training
by Southern Newspaper Publishers
Association and TPA.
SNPA schedules several training
occasions, called Traveling Campuses,
in the states that comprise the regional
organization. SNPA and TPA are cooperating to present this event during
convention time.
Convention attendees can take advantage of Traveling Campus training at no
additional cost.
The 137th Annual Summer Convention will run Wednesday through Friday,
June 14-16, with all training and business sessions taking place at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn.
In addition to all that brainwork, the
normal TPA, Tennessee Press Service
and TPA Foundation meetings will
take place.
And on Thursday night, conventioneers will attend the annual Riverbend
Festival, where there will be all kinds of
activities to please. Thanks to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, TPAers will
have VIP seats and refreshments.
Friday morning will bring an event
that a good contingent of press association members wouldn’t miss except for
high water: the golf tournament. It will
be held at Bear Trace golf course at Harrison Bay State Park, Harrison.
The afternoon agenda includes a session on Newspaper in Education.
On Friday night, a reception, the
Installation Banquet and a dessert
reception are set.
New officers of TPA, TPS and TPAF,
as well as other principals, will be
recognized. Steve Lake, 2005-06 TPA
president, will say his farewell and turn
over the gavel to Henry Stokes. Stokes
has served two years as vice president
for dailies.
VIP treatment for TPAers
at Riverbend Festival
It’s not what you
k n ow. . . i t ’s wh o
you know. Tom
Griscom and the
Chattanooga Times
Free Press invite
TPA convention
attendees to a
VIP experience
at the Riverbend
Festival. On June
RIVERBEND FESTIVAL
15, the Chattanooga
Chattanooga
at
night
during
Riverbend
2005
Times Free Press
is hosting TPAers at the city’s popular evening’s headline entertainment
music festival. The evening will begin will be reserved for you. (See page 3
with a tour and refreshments in the for the current Riverbend line up for
hospitality tent. VIP seating for the June 15.)
Dear TPAer:
Looking for a great trip at a time of higher gasoline prices? An opportunity to
combine business with pleasure, bring family and be with friends, and have
memories to share for years to come?
The answers await you in Chattanooga at the 2006 Tennessee Press Association
Summer Convention.
From June 14 to 16, your host, the Chattanooga Times Free Press, invites you
downtown to experience our town.
CMYK
The TPA will recognize the best in our state and offer timely in-class training courses.
There will be time to share best practices and realize that size does not matter
when it comes to providing a quality newspaper either in print or online.
Then you will be able to experience the summer music festival on the river bank
—Riverbend. The Times Free Press and the TPA invite you to be our guest where
you will enjoy good music on the banks of the Tennessee River. All this and more
await our visitors to the TPA Summer Convention in Chattanooga.
Welcome aboard.
Sincerely,
Tom Griscom
Editor and Publisher
Chatta’new’ga—what’s new about it?
Chatta’new’ga is one of the city’s current promotional themes. What’s new?
Ocean Journey, a $30 million expansion
to the Tennessee Aquarium, opened
in 2005. It features 700,000 gallons of
saltwater exhibits. Dive beneath the
waves through a coral reef teeming with
fascinating 10-foot-long sharks, fierce
barracuda and graceful stingrays. You
will have hands-on encounters with tiny
bamboo sharks and stingrays. Other
enchanting exhibits will showcase
amazing creatures like octopus, jellyfish and giant crabs.
The Hunter Museum of Art and the
Creative Discovery Museum completed
renovations in 2005. The Passage provides a pedestrian connection from
downtown to the Tennessee River. It
marks the beginning of the Trail of
Tears and celebrates Native American
history and culture.
One can learn about Chattanooga’s
improvements and attractions at www.
chattanoogafun.com.
INSIDE
SCHEDULE
TRAINING LEADERS
ACTIVITIES
HEADQUARTERS
CHATTANOOGA HISTORY
2
2
3
3
4
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
Special section
Advertising/Circulation
Conference & Ideas Contest
CMYK
‘Free classifieds’ puzzle publishers
The issue of free classifieds won’t go away any
you see is what you get”) capabilities on your site,
time soon.
so customers who are tempted to spend $5, $10 or
It’s a tremendous challenge for publishers,
$15 for increased visibility online or a print upsell
because they’re used to getting paid for the ads
have great reason to do so. Readily, easily and by
they run.
credit card.
But Google, Microsoft and many other compa•Should you allow aggregator/indexer sites like
nies–including Craigslist, the site that’s not really
Google Base and Oodle to include your listings in
a business–don’t plan to get paid for the classified
their databases? This is another tricky question,
ads they carry. At least not directly. And that makes
and I could easily make the argument either way.
every traditional classified advertising publisher INTERACTIVE But in general, our answer is yes. With more caveats
crazy. Publishers have to adapt to the new business
and “ifs/maybes” than just a straight yes.
rules while still keeping the old business going INSIDER
The bottom line, in my opinion: No one calls
and growing.
your newspaper because they want to “place an
Peter Zollman ad.” They want results. They want to sell that
It’s not easy. Not at all.
Here are a few questions:
car/rent that apartment/sell that house/find that
•Should you offer free classifieds?
new employee—quickly, easily, effectively and as
•If so, what/how/why?
inexpensively as possible.
•Should you allow your ads to be aggregated into Google
If you’re the place they call to place the ad, good for you.
Base/Indeed.com/Oodle.com/Vast.com/etc.?
If you’re the place consumers turn to, you’re doing your job.
Unfortunately, there’s no single answer to any of those You’re serving as the marketplace.
questions. For each newspaper/market/category, the answer
As long as the advertiser pays you for the results, you’re
is different. We work with our clients to answer those ques- the winner. As for all the free sites, sure, advertisers could
tions specifically for them.
post ads on their own—but they’d have to deal with the
But since I’ve raised the questions, I should at least give you complicated and time-consuming task of knowing which
my “generic” answers with a very short synopsis of why my sites to visit, actually placing, managing and expiring the
colleagues and I at Classified Intelligence believe as we do. listings, and so forth.
•Should you offer free classifieds? Yes. Sometimes. Are there
But if your brand is the “one-stop advertising source” for
marketplaces you’ve lost? Like “merchandise under $500” or finding a job/home/car/etc. in your market, you’ll do well.
personals or “used cars under $3,000”? If so, that’s a good
Again: This is not a blanket endorsement. For more pros
place to start. But make sure you build in revenue streams, and cons, invite one of us from Classified Intelligence to
such as section sponsorships or options for advertisers speak at your association meeting; have us work with your
who want to sell to the audience you’re reaching (low-end company on the specifics of your market, and your objectives;
used-car dealers, for example, adjacent to “used cars under or just call me with specific questions. I’ll be happy to try to
$3,000”). And upsells into print. And upsells online. Best: answer them. No charge. Because these are important issues
All of the above.
and publishers should consider them carefully. Before they
“Why” offer free classifieds? To recapture categories you’ve lose the marketplace.
lost, and/or to hold on to your “endangered species.” Make
sure you use those free classifieds to promote your newspa- PETER M. ZOLLMAN is founding principal of Classified
per, to build “community” on your Web site (and in print, Intelligence LLC and the AIM Group, consulting groups
if possible), and to increase traffic on your Web site. All of that work with media companies to help develop profitthose generate revenue through local ad sales.
able interactive media services. Zollman can be reached at
When you offer free classifieds, make sure you’re not sub- [email protected] or (407) 788-2780.
stantially increasing costs. Use them to drive ad placement
online. And make sure you include upsell WYSIWYG (“what
Ideas Contest first runner-up, Best of Show, an ad fromThe News-Examiner,
Gallatin, “Your First Newspaper”
May 2006
News Sentinel wins Best of Show
BY ROBYN GENTILE
Member services manager
Artie Wehenkel, advertising director of The Greeneville Sun, and Laura
Dougherty, advertising director of The Paris Post-Intelligencer and conference co-chairman, draw the name of the winner of the $50 cash prize
from among conference evaluations turned in by attendees. The winner
was Betty Davis, The Erwin Record.
Wal-Mart says, No more ads
Wal-Mart announced in early April
that it will not buy further advertisements in local newspapers, saying a
test in two states showed the expense
is not justified.
Wal-Mart’s test run in Midwestern
papers was watched by publishers who
at the 2005 convention of the National
Newspaper Association complained
Ideas Contest second runner-up, Best of Show, a special section from The
Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, “Last Minute Gift Guide”
that Wal-Mart sought free publicity from
their newspapers but would not buy ads,
at the same time driving out businesses
that were solid advertisers.
During the holiday shopping season,
Wal-Mart placed full-page color ads for
its electronics department in 336 smaller
papers in Missouri and Oklahoma.
“Our test showed that it did increase
product sales but our margins are so
thin that we didn’t even come close to
offsetting the cost of the ads,” Wal-Mart
spokeswoman Mona Williams said.
Mike Buffington, a Georgia publisher
who has been the point man in talks
with Wal-Mart by the NNA, said WalMart told him the return wasn’t high
enough. At the Newspaper Association
of America meeting April 4 in Chicago,
Wal-Mart Chief Executive Lee Scott said
newspaper advertising “didn’t give us
a return.”
Buffington, past president of the
NNA and co-publisher of MainStreet
Newspapers, Jefferson, Ga., said not all
publishers would agree that a company
could reach a decision on costs versus
benefits after a single ad.
“Our view is that a one-time test is
probably not a true way to evaluate
community newspapers. In fact we
understand they had quite a bump in
sales. But the advertising itself, the
full-page color ads, were expensive and
they were advertising loss-leader type
items,” he said.
Buffington wrote an open letter in
2005 accusing Wal-Mart of ignoring
community newspapers. Wal-Mart
has said it has strong customer traffic
without advertising.
(Partially based on an AP story
by Marcus Kabel)
Awards in the annual Tennessee
Press Association Ideas Contest were
presented April 7 at Paris Landing State
Park Inn in conjunction with the Advertising/Circulation Conference.
The News Sentinel, Knoxville, won the
Jack Freeland Memorial Best of Show
Award. The ad, designed by Tim Bowers
and Laddy Fields, was a self-promotion
to encourage the purchase of color
with classified ads. It was entered in
the best rack card category. “Awesome
use of color; perfect amount of white
space; dynamic graphic photo,” wrote
the judges.
First runner-up for Best of Show was
The News-Examiner, Gallatin, for its
ad, “Your First Newspaper.” Second
runner-up was The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro, entry, “Last Minute Gift
Guide,” a special section.
The Kingsport Times-News and the
Rogersville Review tied for the most
first place awards with eight each. The
Kingsport Times-News and The Erwin
Record tied for the most awards with a
total of 23 each.
Members of the Louisiana Press Association judged contest entries March
9 in Baton Rouge, La.
A total of 990 entries was received
from 41 newspapers. The contest has
27 categories, with each divided into
five circulation divisions, two for nondailies and three for dailies.
Jack Freeland, for whom the Best of
Show award was named, was advertising manager of The Daily Herald,
Columbia, and was active with the TPA
Advertising Committee.
The Ideas Contest was established
in 1978.
Artie Wehenkel, advertising director
of The Greeneville Sun, coordinated a
PowerPoint presentation of the contest
winners, and he served as the emcee during the presentations. All conference
attendees and Ideas Contest entrants
will receive a CD of the PowerPoint
presentation.
The following is the complete list of
winners.
Ideas Contest Winners
2006
BEST OF SHOW
News Sentinel,
Knoxville
•First runner-up–The
News-Examiner, Gallatin
•Second runner-up–The
Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro
Tim Bowers
Laddy Fields
Tim Bowers and Laddy Fields,
News Sentinel, Knoxville, created
the Best of Show ad, purpose of
which was to explain that color
was available for classified ads. It
was entered in the best rack card
category.
Bowers came up with the copy,
and Fields designed it.
Bowers is product promotions
manager and has been with the
News Sentinel for 26 years. Fields
is a graphic designer. He has been
with the paper for three years.
Best special section
Daily
Less than 15,000 circulation
1st – Herald-Citizen, Cookeville
2nd – The Lebanon Democrat
3rd – Shelbyville Times-Gazette
Tom McCarter, News Sentinel, Knoxville, left, and Keith McCormick,
Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, conference co-chairman, with the Best of
Show plaque and certificate. McCarter represented the News Sentinel
at the conference.
SEE CONTEST, PAGE 2
NEWS SENTINEL, KNOXVILLE
Laddy Fields, left, and Tim Bowers
$50 goes to ad idea winners
Lillian Abernathy and Vicki Carl
were winners of the advertising
idea exchange for a special section,
“Hometown Christmas.” They are with
The News-Examiner, Gallatin.
Best of Show was a rack card ad, for use “ColorYour Classified Ads,” designed for the News Sentinel, Knoxville,
designed by Tim Bowers and Laddy Fields.
Voting on the best ad idea is a traditional part of the Ad/Circ Conference.
The prize was $50.
PHOTOS IN THIS ADVERTISING/CIRCULATION SECTION WERE MADE BY
ROBYN GENTILE | TPA, EXCEPT AS NOTED.
CMYK
8 - Ad/Circ Conference
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
MAY 2006
The Tennessee Press
Lu Shep Baldwin, Jones Media, and Carl McCarter, The Daily Times,
Maryville, talk about NIE materials.
Deborah Yant, Martha Horn and Kathie Yant, all with Pulaski Publishing. Horn threatens to squirt Keith McCormick, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, with her water gun.
Ad/Circ Conference- 7
Customer service, selling are Ad/Circ topics
Advertising and circulation personnel from
TPA member newspapers gathered April 6-8
at Paris Landing State Park Inn for the annual
Advertising/Circulation Conference.
Steve Wagenlander, circulation director of
The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C., was
the featured presenter for the conference. His
sessions on the relationship between advertising and circulation and on customer service
received high scores on the conference evaluations and were specifically listed as the most
beneficial part of the conference on 43 percent of
the forms. The second most popular conference
benefit listed was the Idea Exchange, followed
by networking.
During “Customer Service: Real Calls to
Real Newspapers,” live phone calls were
made to newspapers that had volunteered to
receive calls. Before the calls were placed, the
volunteers explained how the call should be
answered and what should be offered. Some
went very well and others did not, but the point
is to know what kind of service your customers
receive. The amusing conclusion to the session
occurred when a call was placed to The Paris
Post-Intelligencer. The call went very well and
CONTEST
CMYK
FROM PAGE ONE
Daily
15,000-25,000 circulation
1st – The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro
2nd – Citizen Tribune, Morristown
3rd – The Leaf-Chronicle,
Clarksville
was concluded with, “Have a good conference.”
Mark Dicus, circulation assistant, had been at
the conference and returned to the newspaper
to work. He recognized the setup and the session
attendees had a good laugh at his response.
Other conference sessions included selling
against direct mail and cable; legal issues;
Newspaper in Education; and Audit Bureau
of Circulations updates.
Another highlight of the conference was
the presentation of the annual Ideas Contest
awards. Artie Wehenkel, advertising director
of The Greeneville Sun, served as the emcee for
the awards presentation. The Best of Show was
awarded to the News Sentinel, Knoxville. Tom
McCarter was present to accept the award.
Attendees arriving on Thursday were invited
to participate in a tropical-themed dinner. Tropical shirts were the suggested attire, with a prize
offered for the best. The winner of the contest
was Paula Sisco of The Paris Post-Intelligencer.
Great River Road, a local band, provided the
evening’s entertainment. Moody Castleman,
new business development manager for Tennessee Press Service, played the keyboard during
one of the sets. The band was sponsored by The
Paris Post-Intelligencer. The P-I also sponsored
Bill McCutcheon, reporter and local DJ, as
Friday evening’s entertainment.
Daily
More than 25,000 circulation
1st – Chattanooga Times Free
Press
2nd – Bristol Herald Courier
3rd – News Sentinel, Knoxville
Non-daily
1st – Rogersville Review
Print, online ads up in 2005
Advertising expenditures at newspapers and their Web sites totaled $14.3
billion for the fourth quarter of 2005,
a 1.4 percent increase over the same
period a year earlier, according to preliminary estimates from the Newspaper
Association of America.
Spending for print ads in newspapers
totaled $13.7 billion, up 0.4 percent ver-
2
0
0
7
sus the same period in 2004, while ad
spending online continued its doubledigit growth in the fourth quarter, increasing by 32.5 percent from the same
period a year ago to $552 million.
For the full year, ad spending on
newspaper Web sites jumped 31.5
percent, reaching a new record of $2.0
billion.
Please give us your input to help the committees
plan an even better Advertising/Circulation
Conference for 2007. A brief survey is online at
www.tnpress.com.
Please tell us what topics you would like to have
covered at the 2007 Conference.
And, please let us know if you would like to serve
on the Advertising or Circulation Committees.
Bill Williams told a Lewis Grizzard story to
entertain during lunch on Friday, and preschool
children involve d in the Henry County reading
program presented a certificate of appreciation
to TPA for its help in bringing the Imagination
Library to Henry County.
The conference was hosted by The Paris PostIntelligencer. Laura Dougherty, ad manager of
The P-I, chairs the advertising committee and
co-chaired the conference. Through Dougherty’s efforts, local businesses contributed to
the conference with goody bags, prize donations,
sponsorship and themed décor.
Keith McCormick, circulation manager of the
Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, chairs the Circulation Committee and co-chaired the conference.
Martha Horn, advertising manager of the
Pulaski Citizen, served as prize coordinator.
The conference is planned each fall at a retreat
of Advertising and Circulation committee
members. If one is interested in serving on
one of these committees, please contact me
at (865) 584-5761 or [email protected]. All
TPA members are invited to attend the planning retreat.
In 2004, the committees decided to rotate the
conference, traditionally held in Nashville,
among the east, middle and west divisions
of Tennessee. For 2007 the conference will be
scheduled in Middle Tennessee.
2nd – Rogersville Review
3rd – The Erwin Record
Non-daily
1st – The News-Examiner,
Gallatin
2nd – The Expositor, Sparta
3rd – The Expositor, Sparta
Best self-promotion
of a newspaper
Daily
3rd – The Lebanon Democrat
Daily
Murfreesboro
2nd – Cleveland Daily Banner
3rd – Cleveland Daily Banner
The P-I’s new mascot awaits an introduction. The
mascot is so new that he or she doesn’t have a
name. Laura Dougherty said The P-I will have an NIE
contest to name him or her.
Non-daily
Gallatin
2nd – The Covington Leader
3rd – Southern Standard,
McMinnville
Best sales promotion
for an advertiser
Daily
1st – The Paris Post-Intelligencer
2nd – Shelbyville Times-Gazette
CMYK
BY ROBYN GENTILE
3rd – The Paris Post-Intelligencer
Non-daily
1st – The Erwin Record
2nd – The Hartsville Vidette
Non-daily
1st – Crossville Chronicle
2nd – Crossville Chronicle
3rd – Crossville Chronicle
The Great River Road band entertained, courtesy of The Paris Post-Intelligencer.
Kathie Yant, left, and Martha Horn admire Madeline, 9-month-old daughter of Steve and Kathy
Lake. She is in the arms of Donna Yant.
SEE CONTEST, PAGE 3
Daily
1st – Kingsport Times-News
2nd – News Sentinel, Knoxville
3rd – Kingsport Times-News
Honorable mention – Bristol
Herald Courier
Non-daily
3rd – Rogersville Review
Hugh Jones, Shelbyville Times-Gazette, looks at a publication Bill Williams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer, tells a
Lewis Grizzard story.
while chatting with Artie Wehenkel, The Greeneville Sun.
Carol and Victor Parkins dance to the music of the band, Great River Road.
The band was sponsored by The Paris P-I.
Vicki Carl, left, and Lillian Abernathy, The News-Examiner, Gallatin, won
$50 for the best advertising idea.
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
(Left photo) Attendees await the results of the tropical shirt
contest. (Middle photo) Tropical shirt contest down to the final
two. (Right photo) Tropical shirt winner: Paula Sisco, The glad she had not won when she saw the prize—a ceramic
Paris Post-Intelligencer, left. Martha Horn, runner-up, was parrot cookie jar. Sisco looks unsure about it.
CONTEST
FROM PAGE 2
Lawyer Jimmy Patterson speaks to attendees on legal
issues.
CONTEST
FROM PAGE 5
CMYK
Non-daily
1st – Southern Standard,
McMinnville
McMinnville
Honorable mention – Southern Standard, McMinnville
Best single copy
promotion
Daily
1st – Shelbyville Times-Gazette
Non-daily
1st – The Expositor, Sparta
2nd – The News-Examiner,
Gallatin
Best NIE promotion
Daily
1st – The Daily Post-Athenian,
Athens
2nd – The Daily PostAthenian, Athens
3rd – The Daily Post-Athenian,
Athens
Daily
1st – Cleveland Daily Banner
Daily
1st – News Sentinel, Knoxville
2nd – Kingsport Times-News
Non-daily
Non-daily
Gallatin
Best carrier recruitment
Daily
1st – The Greeneville Sun
Best overall Web site
Daily
Athens
Daily
1st – Bristol Herald Courier
Non-daily
1st – The Mountain View,
Spencer
2nd – The Erwin Record
3rd – Livingston Enterprise
Non-daily
McMinnville
Best Internet banner
or tile ad
for an advertiser
Daily
Non-daily
NIE sponsorship
recruitment
Daily
Athens
Athens
Daily
Daily
Best reader contest
Daily
2nd – The Newport Plain Talk
Daily
Non-daily
3rd – Macon County Chronicle, Lafayette
Non-daily
1st – The Tullahoma News
2nd – Southern Standard,
McMinnville
Left, Laura Dougherty,The Paris Post-Intelligencer, conference co-chairman,
and Sissy Smith, Shelbyville Times-Gazette, take a moment to catch up.
Best classified section
Daily
1st – The Paris Post-Intelli
gencer
Daily
1st – The Leaf-Chronicle,
Clarksville
Daily
Non-daily
1st – The Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater
2nd – Livingston Enterprise
Non-daily
Gallatin
3rd – The Giles Free Press,
Pulaski
Subscriber retention
program
Daily
2nd – The Greeneville Sun
3rd – The Greeneville Sun
program
Non-daily
1st – Pulaski Citizen
Internet subscription
promotion
Non-daily
Spencer
Read
The Tennessee Press
—then pass it on!
Best use
of multi-color ad
Daily
2nd – Herald-Citizen, Cookeville
3rd – The Newport Plain Talk
Honorable mention – The
Greeneville Sun
Daily
1st – Citizen Tribune, Morristown
3rd – Citizen Tribune, Morristown
Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville
Steve Wagenlander shares an example during the
marketing session.
Daily
3rd – Bristol Herald Courier
Daily
Non-daily
3rd – The Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater
Non-daily
McMinnville
2nd – Robertson County
Times, Springfield
Pulaski
Best use
of single color ad
Daily
2nd – The Mountain Press,
Sevierville
Daily
Clarksville
Artie Wehenkel asks a question during Steve Wagenlander’s session on marketing.
Honorable mention – Kingsport Times-News
Special thanks to
for hosting the 2006
SEE CONTEST, PAGE 4
Laura Dougherty
SPONSORED BY
for her tireless efforts from chairing the Advertising
Committee to goody bags to decorations and generally doing everything within her power to make the
conference a great event for attendees
Artie Wehenkel
for preparing the Ideas Contest presentation and for
once again serving as emcee of the awards event
Keith McCormick
for stepping in to chair the Circulation Committee and
his work on the conference
Paris-Henry County
Chamber of Commerce
2508 East Wood Street • Paris, TN 38242
Phone - (731) 642-3431
www.paristn.org
Conference Speakers and Entertainers
Steve Wagenlander, Louisa Koken, Jimmy Patterson,
Lu Shep Baldwin, Phil Hensley, Bill Williams, Bill McCutcheon and Great River Road
TPA’s Advertising and Circulation
Committees
for planning the conference
TPA thanks the
Paris-Henry County Chamber of Commerce
for sponsoring the Advertising/Circulation
Conference’s continental breakfast
Conference Attendees
and their Publishers
for including the conference in their
budgets and schedules
CMYK
In Patterson’s session, Lori Waddle, The Greeneville Sun; Henry Stokes, The Germantown Appeal; Shannon Money, The Tullahoma
News; Carl McCarter, The Daily Times, Maryville; and Keith McCormick, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. The P-I mascot costume is
on the table in the background.
MAY 2006
CONTEST
CONTEST
FROM PAGE 3
FROM PAGE 4
Non-daily
Erwin Record
Non-daily
1st – The Giles Free Press,
Pulaski
2nd – The Expositor
3rd – The Expositor
Non-daily
Pulaski
Gallatin
3rd – The Courier, Savannah
Best black & white ad
Daily
CMYK
Daily
2nd – The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro
Daily
Non-daily
Non-daily
Pulaski
Best feature page
or pages
Daily
2nd – The Paris Post-Intelligencer
Daily
Clarksville
Daily
2nd – Chattanooga Times
Free Press
Best automotive ad
Daily
Lebanon Democrat
Phil Hensley, circulation director of the Johnson City Press, volunteered
his newspaper to receive a call during the session. He explains how the call
should be answered and what subscription rates should be offered.
Wagenlander comments after the call to the Johnson City Press. Hensley
makes notes on a few items to discuss with his department.
3rd – Chattanooga Times
Free Press
Non-daily
McMinnville
2nd – The Tullahoma News
3rd – The News-Examiner,
Gallatin
Best 1/4 page
or smaller ad
Daily
Daily
Clarksville
3rd – The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro
Daily
Press
Daily
Murfreesboro
2nd – The Leaf-Chronicle,
Clarksville
Daily
3rd – Chattanooga Times Free
Press
Non-daily
1st – Macon County Chronicle, Lafayette
Non-daily
Non-daily
1st – Robertson County
Times, Springfield
Times, Springfield
Attendees during Steve Wagenlander’s customer service session
Non-daily
3rd – Smithville Review
Best real estate ad
Daily
Non-daily
Times, Springfield
Gallatin
McMinnville
Best food store ad
Daily
Daily
Clarksville
DonnaYant, Pulaski Publishing, Moody Castleman,TPS, Nashville, Martha
Horn and Deborah Yant, both of Pulaski Publishing. Horn is the door prize
coordinator and the cash drawing coordinator.
Daily
Non-daily
SEE CONTEST, PAGE 5
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
Daily
Clarksville
Murfreesboro
Clarksville
Daily
Ad/Circ Conference - 5
3rd – Kingsport
Times-News
Non-daily
Less than 5,000
circulation
1st – The Advo
cate & Democrat, Sweetwater
2nd – Smithville
Review
3rd – The Erwin
Record
Non-daily
More than 5,000
circulation
1st – The Covington Leader
2nd – Crossville Louisa Koken, Koken Consulting, Greenville,
S.C., during her session on selling against
Chronicle
3rd – The News- cable and direct mail
Examiner,
Gallatin
In Koken’s session, Lu Shep Baldwin, NIE coordinator, Jones Media, and Hulon
Dunn, Lewis County Herald, Hohenwald
Best furniture/
appliance ad
Daily
3rd – Herald-Citizen, Cookeville
Daily
15,000 - 25,000 circulation
Clarksville
Clarksville
Clarksville
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
Daily
Press
Non-daily
During the luncheon, area preschoolers presented a certificate of appreciation to TPA for its role in bringing
the Imagination Library to Henry County. Lu Shep Baldwin, Athens, NIE coordinator for Jones Media, accepted
the certificate on behalf of TPA.
Non-daily
Gallatin
Pulaski
Daily
Subscription
promotion idea
Daily
Non-daily
1st – Smithville Review
Daily
Non-daily
1st – The Courier, Savannah
McMinnville
Daily
Best rack card
Daily
Non-daily
SEE CONTEST, PAGE 6
MAY 2006
CONTEST
CONTEST
FROM PAGE 3
FROM PAGE 4
Non-daily
Erwin Record
Non-daily
Pulaski
2nd – The Expositor
3rd – The Expositor
Non-daily
Pulaski
Gallatin
Best black & white ad
Daily
CMYK
Daily
Murfreesboro
Daily
Non-daily
Non-daily
Pulaski
Best feature page
or pages
Daily
2nd – The Paris Post-Intelligencer
Daily
Clarksville
Daily
2nd – Chattanooga Times
Free Press
Best automotive ad
Daily
Lebanon Democrat
Phil Hensley, circulation director of the Johnson City Press, volunteered
his newspaper to receive a call during the session. He explains how the call
should be answered and what subscription rates should be offered.
Wagenlander comments after the call to the Johnson City Press. Hensley
makes notes on a few items to discuss with his department.
3rd – Chattanooga Times
Free Press
Non-daily
McMinnville
2nd – The Tullahoma News
3rd – The News-Examiner,
Gallatin
Best 1/4 page
or smaller ad
Daily
Daily
Clarksville
3rd – The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro
Daily
Press
Daily
Murfreesboro
Clarksville
Daily
3rd – Chattanooga Times Free
Press
Non-daily
1st – Macon County Chronicle, Lafayette
Non-daily
Non-daily
Times, Springfield
Times, Springfield
Attendees during Steve Wagenlander’s customer service session
Non-daily
3rd – Smithville Review
Best real estate ad
Daily
Non-daily
Times, Springfield
Gallatin
McMinnville
Best food store ad
Daily
Daily
Clarksville
DonnaYant, Pulaski Publishing, Moody Castleman,TPS, Nashville, Martha
Horn and Deborah Yant, both of Pulaski Publishing. Horn is the door prize
coordinator and the cash drawing coordinator.
Daily
Non-daily
SEE CONTEST, PAGE 5
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
Daily
Clarksville
Murfreesboro
Clarksville
Daily
Ad/Circ Conference - 5
3rd – Kingsport
Times-News
Non-daily
Less than 5,000
circulation
1st – The Advo
cate & Democrat, Sweetwater
2nd – Smithville
Review
3rd – The Erwin
Record
Non-daily
More than 5,000
circulation
1st – The Covington Leader
2nd – Crossville Louisa Koken, Koken Consulting, Greenville,
S.C., during her session on selling against
Chronicle
3rd – The News- cable and direct mail
Examiner,
Gallatin
In Koken’s session, Lu Shep Baldwin, NIE coordinator, Jones Media, and Hulon
Dunn, Lewis County Herald, Hohenwald
Best furniture/
appliance ad
Daily
3rd – Herald-Citizen, Cookeville
Daily
15,000 - 25,000 circulation
Clarksville
Clarksville
Clarksville
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
Daily
Press
Non-daily
During the luncheon, area preschoolers presented a certificate of appreciation to TPA for its role in bringing
the Imagination Library to Henry County. Lu Shep Baldwin, Athens, NIE coordinator for Jones Media, accepted
the certificate on behalf of TPA.
Non-daily
Gallatin
Pulaski
Daily
Subscription
promotion idea
Daily
Non-daily
1st – Smithville Review
Daily
Non-daily
1st – The Courier, Savannah
McMinnville
Daily
Best rack card
Daily
Non-daily
SEE CONTEST, PAGE 6
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
(Left photo) Attendees await the results of the tropical shirt
contest. (Middle photo) Tropical shirt contest down to the final
two. (Right photo) Tropical shirt winner: Paula Sisco, The glad she had not won when she saw the prize—a ceramic
Paris Post-Intelligencer, left. Martha Horn, runner-up, was parrot cookie jar. Sisco looks unsure about it.
CONTEST
FROM PAGE 2
Lawyer Jimmy Patterson speaks to attendees on legal
issues.
CONTEST
FROM PAGE 5
CMYK
Non-daily
McMinnville
McMinnville
Honorable mention – Southern Standard, McMinnville
Best single copy
promotion
Daily
Non-daily
Gallatin
Best NIE promotion
Daily
Athens
Athens
Daily
Daily
Non-daily
Non-daily
Gallatin
Best carrier recruitment
Daily
Best overall Web site
Daily
Athens
Daily
Non-daily
Spencer
Non-daily
McMinnville
Best Internet banner
or tile ad
for an advertiser
Daily
Non-daily
NIE sponsorship
recruitment
Daily
Athens
Athens
Daily
Daily
Best reader contest
Daily
2nd – The Newport Plain Talk
Daily
Non-daily
Non-daily
1st – The Tullahoma News
2nd – Southern Standard,
McMinnville
Left, Laura Dougherty,The Paris Post-Intelligencer, conference co-chairman,
and Sissy Smith, Shelbyville Times-Gazette, take a moment to catch up.
Best classified section
Daily
1st – The Paris Post-Intelli
gencer
Daily
Clarksville
Daily
Non-daily
2nd – Livingston Enterprise
Non-daily
Gallatin
Pulaski
program
Daily
program
Non-daily
1st – Pulaski Citizen
Internet subscription
promotion
Non-daily
Spencer
Read
The Tennessee Press
—then pass it on!
Best use
of multi-color ad
Daily
Greeneville Sun
Daily
Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville
Steve Wagenlander shares an example during the
marketing session.
Daily
Daily
Non-daily
3rd – The Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater
Non-daily
McMinnville
Times, Springfield
Pulaski
Best use
of single color ad
Daily
2nd – The Mountain Press,
Sevierville
Daily
Clarksville
Artie Wehenkel asks a question during Steve Wagenlander’s session on marketing.
Honorable mention – Kingsport Times-News
Special thanks to
for hosting the 2006
SEE CONTEST, PAGE 4
Laura Dougherty
SPONSORED BY
for her tireless efforts from chairing the Advertising
Committee to goody bags to decorations and generally doing everything within her power to make the
conference a great event for attendees
Artie Wehenkel
for preparing the Ideas Contest presentation and for
once again serving as emcee of the awards event
Keith McCormick
for stepping in to chair the Circulation Committee and
his work on the conference
Paris-Henry County
Chamber of Commerce
2508 East Wood Street • Paris, TN 38242
Phone - (731) 642-3431
www.paristn.org
Conference Speakers and Entertainers
Steve Wagenlander, Louisa Koken, Jimmy Patterson,
Lu Shep Baldwin, Phil Hensley, Bill Williams, Bill McCutcheon and Great River Road
TPA’s Advertising and Circulation
Committees
for planning the conference
TPA thanks the
Paris-Henry County Chamber of Commerce
for sponsoring the Advertising/Circulation
Conference’s continental breakfast
Conference Attendees
and their Publishers
for including the conference in their
budgets and schedules
CMYK
In Patterson’s session, Lori Waddle, The Greeneville Sun; Henry Stokes, The Germantown Appeal; Shannon Money, The Tullahoma
News; Carl McCarter, The Daily Times, Maryville; and Keith McCormick, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville. The P-I mascot costume is
on the table in the background.
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
MAY 2006
The Tennessee Press
Lu Shep Baldwin, Jones Media, and Carl McCarter, The Daily Times,
Maryville, talk about NIE materials.
Deborah Yant, Martha Horn and Kathie Yant, all with Pulaski Publishing. Horn threatens to squirt Keith McCormick, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, with her water gun.
Customer service, selling are Ad/Circ topics
Advertising and circulation personnel from
TPA member newspapers gathered April 6-8
at Paris Landing State Park Inn for the annual
Advertising/Circulation Conference.
Steve Wagenlander, circulation director of
The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C., was
the featured presenter for the conference. His
sessions on the relationship between advertising and circulation and on customer service
received high scores on the conference evaluations and were specifically listed as the most
beneficial part of the conference on 43 percent of
the forms. The second most popular conference
benefit listed was the Idea Exchange, followed
by networking.
During “Customer Service: Real Calls to
Real Newspapers,” live phone calls were
made to newspapers that had volunteered to
receive calls. Before the calls were placed, the
volunteers explained how the call should be
answered and what should be offered. Some
went very well and others did not, but the point
is to know what kind of service your customers
receive. The amusing conclusion to the session
occurred when a call was placed to The Paris
Post-Intelligencer. The call went very well and
CONTEST
CMYK
FROM PAGE ONE
Daily
Murfreesboro
Clarksville
was concluded with, “Have a good conference.”
Mark Dicus, circulation assistant, had been at
the conference and returned to the newspaper
to work. He recognized the setup and the session
attendees had a good laugh at his response.
Other conference sessions included selling
against direct mail and cable; legal issues;
Newspaper in Education; and Audit Bureau
of Circulations updates.
Another highlight of the conference was
the presentation of the annual Ideas Contest
awards. Artie Wehenkel, advertising director
of The Greeneville Sun, served as the emcee for
the awards presentation. The Best of Show was
awarded to the News Sentinel, Knoxville. Tom
McCarter was present to accept the award.
Attendees arriving on Thursday were invited
to participate in a tropical-themed dinner. Tropical shirts were the suggested attire, with a prize
offered for the best. The winner of the contest
was Paula Sisco of The Paris Post-Intelligencer.
Great River Road, a local band, provided the
evening’s entertainment. Moody Castleman,
new business development manager for Tennessee Press Service, played the keyboard during
one of the sets. The band was sponsored by The
Paris Post-Intelligencer. The P-I also sponsored
Bill McCutcheon, reporter and local DJ, as
Friday evening’s entertainment.
Daily
Press
Non-daily
Print, online ads up in 2005
Advertising expenditures at newspapers and their Web sites totaled $14.3
billion for the fourth quarter of 2005,
a 1.4 percent increase over the same
period a year earlier, according to preliminary estimates from the Newspaper
Association of America.
Spending for print ads in newspapers
totaled $13.7 billion, up 0.4 percent ver-
2
0
0
7
sus the same period in 2004, while ad
spending online continued its doubledigit growth in the fourth quarter, increasing by 32.5 percent from the same
period a year ago to $552 million.
For the full year, ad spending on
newspaper Web sites jumped 31.5
percent, reaching a new record of $2.0
billion.
Please give us your input to help the committees
plan an even better Advertising/Circulation
Conference for 2007. A brief survey is online at
www.tnpress.com.
Please tell us what topics you would like to have
covered at the 2007 Conference.
And, please let us know if you would like to serve
on the Advertising or Circulation Committees.
Bill Williams told a Lewis Grizzard story to
entertain during lunch on Friday, and preschool
children involve d in the Henry County reading
program presented a certificate of appreciation
to TPA for its help in bringing the Imagination
Library to Henry County.
The conference was hosted by The Paris PostIntelligencer. Laura Dougherty, ad manager of
The P-I, chairs the advertising committee and
co-chaired the conference. Through Dougherty’s efforts, local businesses contributed to
the conference with goody bags, prize donations,
sponsorship and themed décor.
Keith McCormick, circulation manager of the
Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, chairs the Circulation Committee and co-chaired the conference.
Martha Horn, advertising manager of the
Pulaski Citizen, served as prize coordinator.
The conference is planned each fall at a retreat
of Advertising and Circulation committee
members. If one is interested in serving on
one of these committees, please contact me
at (865) 584-5761 or [email protected]. All
TPA members are invited to attend the planning retreat.
In 2004, the committees decided to rotate the
conference, traditionally held in Nashville,
among the east, middle and west divisions
of Tennessee. For 2007 the conference will be
scheduled in Middle Tennessee.
Non-daily
Gallatin
Best self-promotion
of a newspaper
Daily
Daily
Murfreesboro
The P-I’s new mascot awaits an introduction. The
mascot is so new that he or she doesn’t have a
name. Laura Dougherty said The P-I will have an NIE
contest to name him or her.
Non-daily
Gallatin
McMinnville
Best sales promotion
for an advertiser
Daily
CMYK
BY ROBYN GENTILE
Non-daily
2nd – The Hartsville Vidette
Non-daily
The Great River Road band entertained, courtesy of The Paris Post-Intelligencer.
Kathie Yant, left, and Martha Horn admire Madeline, 9-month-old daughter of Steve and Kathy
Lake. She is in the arms of Donna Yant.
SEE CONTEST, PAGE 3
Daily
Honorable mention – Bristol
Herald Courier
Non-daily
Hugh Jones, Shelbyville Times-Gazette, looks at a publication Bill Williams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer, tells a
Lewis Grizzard story.
while chatting with Artie Wehenkel, The Greeneville Sun.
Carol and Victor Parkins dance to the music of the band, Great River Road.
The band was sponsored by The Paris P-I.
Vicki Carl, left, and Lillian Abernathy, The News-Examiner, Gallatin, won
$50 for the best advertising idea.
The Tennessee Press
MAY 2006
Special section
Advertising/Circulation
Conference & Ideas Contest
CMYK
‘Free classifieds’ puzzle publishers
The issue of free classifieds won’t go away any
you see is what you get”) capabilities on your site,
time soon.
so customers who are tempted to spend $5, $10 or
It’s a tremendous challenge for publishers,
$15 for increased visibility online or a print upsell
because they’re used to getting paid for the ads
have great reason to do so. Readily, easily and by
they run.
credit card.
But Google, Microsoft and many other compa•Should you allow aggregator/indexer sites like
nies–including Craigslist, the site that’s not really
Google Base and Oodle to include your listings in
a business–don’t plan to get paid for the classified
their databases? This is another tricky question,
ads they carry. At least not directly. And that makes
and I could easily make the argument either way.
every traditional classified advertising publisher INTERACTIVE But in general, our answer is yes. With more caveats
crazy. Publishers have to adapt to the new business
and “ifs/maybes” than just a straight yes.
rules while still keeping the old business going INSIDER
The bottom line, in my opinion: No one calls
and growing.
your newspaper because they want to “place an
Peter Zollman ad.” They want results. They want to sell that
It’s not easy. Not at all.
Here are a few questions:
car/rent that apartment/sell that house/find that
•Should you offer free classifieds?
new employee—quickly, easily, effectively and as
•If so, what/how/why?
inexpensively as possible.
•Should you allow your ads to be aggregated into Google
If you’re the place they call to place the ad, good for you.
Base/Indeed.com/Oodle.com/Vast.com/etc.?
If you’re the place consumers turn to, you’re doing your job.
Unfortunately, there’s no single answer to any of those You’re serving as the marketplace.
questions. For each newspaper/market/category, the answer
As long as the advertiser pays you for the results, you’re
is different. We work with our clients to answer those ques- the winner. As for all the free sites, sure, advertisers could
tions specifically for them.
post ads on their own—but they’d have to deal with the
But since I’ve raised the questions, I should at least give you complicated and time-consuming task of knowing which
my “generic” answers with a very short synopsis of why my sites to visit, actually placing, managing and expiring the
colleagues and I at Classified Intelligence believe as we do. listings, and so forth.
•Should you offer free classifieds? Yes. Sometimes. Are there
But if your brand is the “one-stop advertising source” for
marketplaces you’ve lost? Like “merchandise under $500” or finding a job/home/car/etc. in your market, you’ll do well.
personals or “used cars under $3,000”? If so, that’s a good
Again: This is not a blanket endorsement. For more pros
place to start. But make sure you build in revenue streams, and cons, invite one of us from Classified Intelligence to
such as section sponsorships or options for advertisers speak at your association meeting; have us work with your
who want to sell to the audience you’re reaching (low-end company on the specifics of your market, and your objectives;
used-car dealers, for example, adjacent to “used cars under or just call me with specific questions. I’ll be happy to try to
$3,000”). And upsells into print. And upsells online. Best: answer them. No charge. Because these are important issues
All of the above.
and publishers should consider them carefully. Before they
“Why” offer free classifieds? To recapture categories you’ve lose the marketplace.
lost, and/or to hold on to your “endangered species.” Make
sure you use those free classifieds to promote your newspa- PETER M. ZOLLMAN is founding principal of Classified
per, to build “community” on your Web site (and in print, Intelligence LLC and the AIM Group, consulting groups
if possible), and to increase traffic on your Web site. All of that work with media companies to help develop profitthose generate revenue through local ad sales.
able interactive media services. Zollman can be reached at
When you offer free classifieds, make sure you’re not sub- [email protected] or (407) 788-2780.
stantially increasing costs. Use them to drive ad placement
online. And make sure you include upsell WYSIWYG (“what
Ideas Contest first runner-up, Best of Show, an ad fromThe News-Examiner,
Gallatin, “Your First Newspaper”
May 2006
News Sentinel wins Best of Show
BY ROBYN GENTILE
Artie Wehenkel, advertising director of The Greeneville Sun, and Laura
Dougherty, advertising director of The Paris Post-Intelligencer and conference co-chairman, draw the name of the winner of the $50 cash prize
from among conference evaluations turned in by attendees. The winner
was Betty Davis, The Erwin Record.
Wal-Mart says, No more ads
Wal-Mart announced in early April
that it will not buy further advertisements in local newspapers, saying a
test in two states showed the expense
is not justified.
Wal-Mart’s test run in Midwestern
papers was watched by publishers who
at the 2005 convention of the National
Newspaper Association complained
Ideas Contest second runner-up, Best of Show, a special section from The
Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, “Last Minute Gift Guide”
that Wal-Mart sought free publicity from
their newspapers but would not buy ads,
at the same time driving out businesses
that were solid advertisers.
During the holiday shopping season,
Wal-Mart placed full-page color ads for
its electronics department in 336 smaller
papers in Missouri and Oklahoma.
“Our test showed that it did increase
product sales but our margins are so
thin that we didn’t even come close to
offsetting the cost of the ads,” Wal-Mart
spokeswoman Mona Williams said.
Mike Buffington, a Georgia publisher
who has been the point man in talks
with Wal-Mart by the NNA, said WalMart told him the return wasn’t high
enough. At the Newspaper Association
of America meeting April 4 in Chicago,
Wal-Mart Chief Executive Lee Scott said
newspaper advertising “didn’t give us
a return.”
Buffington, past president of the
NNA and co-publisher of MainStreet
Newspapers, Jefferson, Ga., said not all
publishers would agree that a company
could reach a decision on costs versus
benefits after a single ad.
“Our view is that a one-time test is
probably not a true way to evaluate
community newspapers. In fact we
understand they had quite a bump in
sales. But the advertising itself, the
full-page color ads, were expensive and
they were advertising loss-leader type
items,” he said.
Buffington wrote an open letter in
2005 accusing Wal-Mart of ignoring
community newspapers. Wal-Mart
has said it has strong customer traffic
without advertising.
(Partially based on an AP story
by Marcus Kabel)
Awards in the annual Tennessee
Press Association Ideas Contest were
presented April 7 at Paris Landing State
Park Inn in conjunction with the Advertising/Circulation Conference.
The News Sentinel, Knoxville, won the
Jack Freeland Memorial Best of Show
Award. The ad, designed by Tim Bowers
and Laddy Fields, was a self-promotion
to encourage the purchase of color
with classified ads. It was entered in
the best rack card category. “Awesome
use of color; perfect amount of white
space; dynamic graphic photo,” wrote
the judges.
First runner-up for Best of Show was
The News-Examiner, Gallatin, for its
ad, “Your First Newspaper.” Second
runner-up was The Daily News Journal,
Murfreesboro, entry, “Last Minute Gift
Guide,” a special section.
The Kingsport Times-News and the
Rogersville Review tied for the most
first place awards with eight each. The
Kingsport Times-News and The Erwin
Record tied for the most awards with a
total of 23 each.
Members of the Louisiana Press Association judged contest entries March
9 in Baton Rouge, La.
A total of 990 entries was received
from 41 newspapers. The contest has
27 categories, with each divided into
five circulation divisions, two for nondailies and three for dailies.
Jack Freeland, for whom the Best of
Show award was named, was advertising manager of The Daily Herald,
Columbia, and was active with the TPA
Advertising Committee.
The Ideas Contest was established
in 1978.
Artie Wehenkel, advertising director
of The Greeneville Sun, coordinated a
PowerPoint presentation of the contest
winners, and he served as the emcee during the presentations. All conference
attendees and Ideas Contest entrants
will receive a CD of the PowerPoint
presentation.
The following is the complete list of
winners.
Ideas Contest Winners
2006
BEST OF SHOW
News Sentinel,
Knoxville
•First runner-up–The
News-Examiner, Gallatin
•Second runner-up–The
Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro
Tim Bowers
Laddy Fields
Tim Bowers and Laddy Fields,
News Sentinel, Knoxville, created
the Best of Show ad, purpose of
which was to explain that color
was available for classified ads. It
was entered in the best rack card
category.
Bowers came up with the copy,
and Fields designed it.
Bowers is product promotions
manager and has been with the
News Sentinel for 26 years. Fields
is a graphic designer. He has been
with the paper for three years.
Best special section
Daily
Tom McCarter, News Sentinel, Knoxville, left, and Keith McCormick,
Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, conference co-chairman, with the Best of
Show plaque and certificate. McCarter represented the News Sentinel
at the conference.
SEE CONTEST, PAGE 2
NEWS SENTINEL, KNOXVILLE
Laddy Fields, left, and Tim Bowers
$50 goes to ad idea winners
Lillian Abernathy and Vicki Carl
were winners of the advertising
idea exchange for a special section,
“Hometown Christmas.” They are with
The News-Examiner, Gallatin.
Best of Show was a rack card ad, for use “ColorYour Classified Ads,” designed for the News Sentinel, Knoxville,
designed by Tim Bowers and Laddy Fields.
Voting on the best ad idea is a traditional part of the Ad/Circ Conference.
The prize was $50.
PHOTOS IN THIS ADVERTISING/CIRCULATION SECTION WERE MADE BY
ROBYN GENTILE | TPA, EXCEPT AS NOTED.
CMYK

May 2006 - Tennessee Press Association

Transcription

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