The next edition of your MPA eBulletin will arrive January 4, 2007. The MPA offices will close at noon Friday, Dec. 22 and reopen Tuesday, Dec. 26 for normal hours. We will also be closed Monday, Jan. 1. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to our friends and colleagues!
The Hot Ideas session at MPA’s Mid-Winter Convention next month in Jackson aims to help newspapers Rev-Up Revenue. The general session will kick off Saturday morning’s activities and will be moderated by Pat Brown of The Magee Courier and Reece Terry of the Daily Corinthian.
Publishers and advertising directors are asked to submit ideas early for the session, which will be presented in book format to conference goers. Ideas are needed that help papers increase revenue, and can can be for the advertising department, circulation or other areas of the business. Prize packages will be awarded to those ideas selected as the cream of the crop.
Entry forms were mailed out Thursday from MPA along with preliminary agendas for this year’s conference, which will be held Jan. 25-27 at the Jackson Hilton on County Line Road. For more information on the session, contact marketing director Layne Bruce (lbruce@mspress.org).
For more information about Mid-Winter, log on to mspress.org/midwinter.
Updated criteria and entry forms for the 2006 Better Newspaper Contest — Editorial Division are scheduled to be released next Friday, Dec. 29. The information can be found by logging on to mspress.org.
There are minor changes in categories this year, including the Best Online Edition which becomes Best Website to accommodate judging of content and customer service provided online by members. Additionally, the Daily A category has been realigned so that it encompasses papers in the circulation range of 15,000 and up.
Contest entries are due to MPA by 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 6. For more information on BNC, contact member services coordinator Beth Boone (bboone@mspress.org).
Publishers who received updated network agreements for MCAN and MDAN are asked to return signed documents to MPS no later than Friday, Dec. 29. The paperwork can be mailed to 371 Edgewood Terrace, Jackson, MS 39206 or faxed to 601-981-3676.
There are no significant changes in the agreements, which expound upon or clarify original wording in the arrangement between MPS and members of the classified and small display networks. If you have questions regarding this request, or did not receive new agreements and your newspaper participates in either MCAN or MDAN, contact networks coordinator Linda Caldwell (lcaldwell@mspress.org) or senior marketing executive Sue Sessums (ssessums@mspress.org).
From Al’s Morning Meeting on poynter.org: Monday morning, parents around the world will break into wrap rage. This is the syndrome that will send children into tears and have parents tearing their hair out because they can’t wrestle toys from their factory wrapping. You have not known frustration until you’ve had to use pliers, two screwdrivers and tin snips to free a Matchbox race track from its packaging.
An editorial from USA Today: The sad thing about this “war” is that it’s so unnecessary, especially with a real war going on in Iraq. America’s Founding Fathers laid out a sensible map for dealing with religion in the public square. The First Amendment says the government should not enforce a national religion. It also protects the rights of people to speak freely and to follow religions of their choice. The U.S. Supreme Court and officials with common sense have done a good job of setting standards to reconcile the two.
From The Topeka Capital-Journal...The photos of drinking students were striking: A boy chugging alcohol through a funnel. A girl flashing a thumbs up near a stack of Bud Light cans. The faces were blurred, but the criticism to pour out since Topeka West High School’s student newspaper, The Campus View, published the photos have been sharp.
From Editor and Publisher: For days, it was an open secret that The New York Times was holding an Op-Ed piece after the Central Intelligence Agency objected to publication of parts of it… The Times finally published it Friday — with sections literally blacked out. A full (redacted) version can be found at the paper’s Web site, www.nytimes.com.
An analysis of circulation figures for all MPA member papers indicates figures dipped a modest 1 percent in 2006 versus last year. The numbers were derived from Statements of Ownership and Circulation filed each September with USPS and copies of which are submitted to MPA each October.
Circulation for the state’s 23 daily newspapers dropped to 365,058 from 370,038. That represents a much slimmer decline than 2005 over 2004, when figures dipped a precipitous 15,000.
For weekly papers, the decline was ever-so-slight. Numbers dropped from 295,035 to 294,698. The figures were impacted by the closure of the weekly West Point News, whose 2005 USPS statement indicated a circulation of 1,515.
Dailies posting increases year over year included Brookhaven, Columbus, Corinth, Laurel, Oxford, Picayune and Tupelo. Circulation figures for all state newspapers will be included in the 2007 Newspaper Directory available from MPA early next year.
For comparison purposes, the DeSoto Times Today was moved from the daily column to weekly, after it adopted a thrice-weekly cycle earlier this year. Its historical numbers were moved accordingly so it didn’t skew the two categories.
The Mississippi Statewide Readership Survey, commissioned by MPA and conducted by Newton Research, has been completed and the findings will be released to the membership during the Mid-Winter Conference Jan. 25-27 in Jackson.
The surveys were conducted with 1,200 participants over the last two months. This is the first major study commissioned by MPA in several years. The findings will be released in tandem with a new marketing plan for member papers developed by MPS.
Some key findings of the study, which is still being finalized by Newton Research:
Newspapers remain the top choice in media for Mississippi consumers. Over 43% of those responding said newspapers were their primary choice for shopping information, followed by “no source” at 28 percent. Direct mail/flyers finished third at 12 percent. Radio and TV/cable finished much lower on the list.
Newspapers command an educated and engaged audience. Survey findings reveal nearly 74 percent of those polled voted in the last election. Those are important figures going into a major election year for state and local offices.
Detailed information on shopping patterns, most widely-read content (it may be a surprise to some), subscriptions vs. single copy, legal notices and more will be made available through the report. The Mid-Winter session on the survey findings is scheduled for the morning of Jan. 26. For more information on the agenda and program, visit mspress.org/midwinter.
Updated Network Agreements for papers participating in MCAN (Mississippi Classified Advertising Network) and MDAN (Mississippi Display Advertising Network) were mailed to publishers Dec. 15. There are no significant changes to the agreements, but some wording has been clarified or expounded upon to better explain the relationship between MPS, member papers and customers and clients.
We are requesting the letters be mailed or faxed to MPS signed by the publisher or ad director by no later than Dec. 29. For more information on the networks, or if you have questions regarding the agreements or this request, contact marketing director Layne Bruce (lbruce@mspress.org) or networks coordinator Linda Caldwell (lcaldwell@mspress.org).
Mid-Winter Conference Hot Ideas committee chairmen Pat Brown of the Magee Courier and Reece Terry of the Daily Corinthian have sent out a call for submissions for this year’s program, calling on publishers, ad directors and other personnel to send in their ideas for money makers and savers.
This year’s session, which will play off the conference theme of “Roadmap for Success,” will be held the morning of Jan. 27th following a buffet breakfast. The memo from Brown and Terry encourages member participation and early submissions so that ideas can be presented to those in attendance in book form. For more information on the session and the conference as a whole, or to read the letter from Brown and Terry, go to mspress.org/midwinter.
The Press Association office and MPS will be closed Monday, Dec. 25 and Monday, Jan. 1 for the holidays. We’ll be open for normal business hours on the 26th and the 2nd.
From Media Buyer Planner: As ad dollars move online, newspapers are seeing their online ad revenue surge. But even a predicted growth rate online of 30 percent may not be enough to make up for losses in print revenue, and the newspaper industry could face a revenue shortfall of $20 billion by 2010, according to a report released by media research firm Outsell, in August.
From The Associated Press: Americans spend an average of 4 1/2 hours a day watching TV, far more time than they spend on any other medium. Next come the radio and the Internet. Reading newspapers is fourth, passed this year by Internet use.
From Media Life Magazine: If the old model for newspapers was one size fits all, just one edition per day, whether for 2,000 or 200,000 readers, the new model is the fully customized newspaper, an edition for every possible need in whatever format the reader may want. The latest format is, of all things, the PDF. Though they’ve yet to catch on in the U.S., PDF editions are rolling out in Canada, the UK and elsewhere. The idea was initially developed at the Financial Times of London.
The preliminary agenda is coming together for next month’s Mid-Winter Conference at the Jackson Hilton. Confirmed speakers thus far include Ken Long, advertising director for the Texas Press Association, Barry Newton of Newton Research, technology guru Lisa Tackett Griffin, and Pat Taylor, ad director for The Pilot in Southern Pines, N.C.
Long will present a program on newspaper special sections, while Taylor will address management and motivation in advertising departments.
Newton will present the results of the recentlty-completed newspaper readership survey. Over 1,000 Mississippi newspaper readers were recently polled by Newton Research to determine trends and the state of the industry’s importance as a source of news and advertising for state residents.
Griffin will present sessions on a variety of technology issues, including hints and tips on popular programs such as Quark and InDesign.
The event gets underway Jan. 25 and wraps Jan. 27 with the Better Newspaper Contest Awards Luncheon.
It will be followed again this year by the MPA Education Foundation Celebrity Roast the night of the 27th. This year’s honoree is Ole Miss Chancellor Dr. Robert Khayat.
For more information on the conference and roast, including a preliminary agenda and reservations link, visit the Mid-Winter Update Page.
MPS senior marketing consultant Sue Sessums was recently presented a plaque in recognition of her five years with the organization. Sessums was presented the acknowledgement by MPA/MPS president Marcus Bowers during a recent holiday luncheon between the board and staff at the Regency Hotel in Jackson.
Sessums joined MPA/MPS as networks advertising coordinator and has been serving in the senior marketing role for the past year. She is a former advertising acount exec for The Carthaginian.
A reminder if you have not sent in your Newspaper’s flag (logo), please do it today so that it may be included in the 2007 Newspaper Directory Published by MPA.
As of Friday morning, we have received flags from the following members: Calhoun County Journal, Choctaw Plaindealer, The Clarion-Ledger, Clarke County Tribune, Columbian Progress, The Commercial Dispatch, Daily Leader, Delta Democrat Times, DeSoto County Tribune, DeSoto Times, Enterprise Journal, Enterprise Tocsin, George County Times, Greenwood Commonwealth, The Meteor, Mississippi Link, Picayune Item, Pontotoc Progress, Prentiss Headlight, Smith County Reformer, Sun Sentinel, The Democrat (Senatobia), The Union Appeal, Webster Progress-Times, Winston County Journal, and Woodville Republican.
Please forward electronic copies of your flag to your diligent editor (lbruce@mspress.org), who grudgingly points out only two of the newspapers for which he formerly toiled have thus far submitted their flags.
The 2007 directory will be available early next year in a newly-redesigned format.
Kubas Consultants has released its Preview 2007 report on the paper biz . This a look ahead based on a survey of over 200 daily newspaper executives and managers on their outlook for ad revenue growth and what strategic initiatives they plan to undertake in the new year. The three most important areas are online, online, and online … but there’s more.
From Media Life Magazine: Despite tanking circulation numbers, newspapers across the country plan to raise advertising rates anywhere between 3 and 6 percent in early 2007. But this year, more than in years past, those increases will be met with strong resistance.
A new study from Scarborough suggests that newspaper Web sites attract users who are more likely to spend significantly on online purchases than the average Internet user. The Scarborough study focused on the Web sites of five regional papers–the Sacramento Bee, Houston Chronicle, Providence Journal in Rhode Island, Orlando Sentinel, and the Kansas City Star.
In each one of these markets, visitors to the newspapers’ Web sites were more likely to spend at least $1,000 a year online than the average Internet user. They were also more likely to purchase specific items identified by Scarborough as market leaders in online sales–including airline tickets and travel reservations, books and clothing. They are also more likely to use Internet banking and other online financial services.
Looking at a variety of behavioral data in conjunction with online purchasing habits, it seems clear that visitors to these Web sites are relatively affluent compared to the average Internet user in that area. For example, visitors to the Houston Chronicle Web site are not only 34% more likely to make travel reservations online, but 24% more likely to have traveled to the Caribbean in the last three years, and 16% more likely to have traveled to Europe. Meanwhile, visitors to the Orlando Sentinel’s Web site are 34% more likely than the average user in that area to have a 401k and 13% more likely to have a home mortgage.
The Mississippi Classified Advertising Network (MCAN) will go global in early 2007 when the service officially launches its online companion site, msclassifiedsonline.com. The site is being prepped as a value-added feature of advertising in the state classified network, which currently appears in the print edition of 104 newspapers statewide.
By taking the service onto the Internet, MCAN will be fully searchable to an audience beyond the current readership of Mississippi print newspapers. For 2007, no rate increase is being considered for the MCAN product, which offers a 25-word line ad for $200 in participating newspapers. The site is live and viewable at current, but MPS will launch a state campaign to promote the service to members and readers in January, including a brief overview during the Mid-Winter Conference January 25-27 at the Jackson Hilton.
For more information on mssclassifiedsonline.com, email technology coordinator Victoria Bracknell (vbracknell@mspress.org) or marketing director Layne Bruce (lbruce@mspress.org).
The Mississippi Press Association Board of Directors okayed one editorial category revision and a change to one circulation division for the Better Newspaper Contest during its final meeting of the year Thursday in Jackson. Members approved a revision to Category 30, formerly Best Online Edition, to become Best Website. With the change in category name, the criteria for judging will now also focus on the functionality of Websites, including ease of navigation and customer service interactivity. The category criteria also now lists “quality of local content” as one of the key judging factors. The changes were based on a recommendation made by the Membership Committee, which oversees BNC-Editorial.
Additionally, the board approved a revision of circulation division for Daily A. The threshold was lowered from 20,000 and above to 15,000 and above to account for a slight dip in circulation at two newspapers. The revision was the choice of the board since it minimally impacts the contest or the divisions in which papers compete.
Entry forms for the 2006 contest, including a full explanation of rules, will be released Dec. 29. For additional information, contact member services coordinator Beth Boone (bboone@mspress.org).
Mississippi Public Broadcasting will premiere the documentary program “Pressing On” Thursday, Jan. 18 at 8 p.m. The 30-minute program focuses on the five Gulf Coast newspapers and their efforts to publish in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina while coordinating humanitarian efforts on behalf of their employees and communities.
The documentary was produced by Ralph Braseth, director of the S. Gale Denley Student Media Center, and his students at Ole Miss. It first premiered during a special screening for members of the New York Press Association in New Orleans last June just prior to its official debut before the MPA membership at Summer Convention in Biloxi.
Especially during the holidays, member newspapers are mindful to be cautious as the number of scam advertisements from bogus customers rises. A number of newspaper associations across the country are reporting attempts by individuals to place classified advertisements that list no phone number for readers to call for more information. They only list email or Web page addresses that end up attempting to hook unsuspecting readers or “phish” them for purposes of the scam.
If you have questions or concerns about advertisements from unrecognized sources, contact our office for any information we may have on known scams and fraud techniques.
From Editor and Publisher: The U.S. military and Iraqi officials continue to question a source for a widely publicized Associated Press story about six Iraqis being set on fire last Friday — and AP continues to stand by it, with new developments today.
From The Associated Press via Yahoo!: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. unsettled the retail industry Thursday, reporting a sales decline for the first time in 10 years and warning that its holiday sales would be disappointing. The discounter’s news, coupled with a jump in unemployment benefit claims, raised concerns about the strength of the retailing sector at a critical time of the year.
Writes Jack Shafer on Slate.com: A good three decades before the newspaper industry began blaming its declining fortunes on the Web, the iPod, and game machines, it knew it was in huge trouble. In the mid-1970s, two of its trade associations (which have since merged)—the American Newspaper Publishers Association and the Newspaper Advertising Bureau—sought to diagnose the causes of tumbling newspaper readership since the mid-1960s and recommend remedies.
