From USA Today: Newspaper and TV executives might not expect encouraging financial news from a major gathering of industry critics. But a collection of studies being released in Memphis last week at the National Conference for Media Reform contends that economic prospects are strong for newspapers and TV stations — despite more competition from new media.
The cut-off for reservations at the Jackson Hilton as part of the MPA Mid-Winter Conference is Monday! You can make your reservation online or by calling 601-957-2800 or 888-263-0524. Make sure when calling you reference MPA when making your reservation to qualify for the $104 per night rate.
If you have difficulty with reservations prior to the cutoff, contact Hilton sales manager Margot Kadoun at 601-957-2800.
For a registration form for Mid-Winter, click here. For more information on the event, go to mspress.org/midwinter.
Uploads to mspublicnotices.com, MPA’s online, searchable database for legal notices submitted by member papers, rose 26 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006 over the same period a year earlier.
For the entire year, uploads increased 8 percent over 2005. For the month of December 2006, members posted 30 percent more than the same month in 2005.
In November, MPA research indicated only 25 percent of member papers were utilizing the site, which publishes legal notices online in an effort to protect newspaper revenue.
Members who have recently started uploading to the site include the Copiah County Courier, Jasper County News and The Columbian-Progress.
If your newspaper is not participating, the process is extremely simple and not time-consuming. Contact Victoria Bracknell (vbracknell@mspress.org) for more information or to get started.
A bill will soon be introduced in the Mississippi House of Representatives that would establish minimum requirements for information made available to the press and public from law enforcement incident reports.
Member papers are urged to contact members of the Legislature representing their areas to voice support for the measure as it makes its way through the House.
Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Lloyd Gray, MPA director Carolyn Wilson, President Marcus Bowers and Legislative Consultant John Sullivan, along with input from attorney Leonard Van Slyke and MCFOI’s Barbara Powell, teleconferenced this week about strategy and making sure the bill is entered for consideration by the deadline. Contacts have also been made with members of the Legislature who share MPA’s desire to make incident reporting more accessible to the public.
GAC members met with Attorney General Jim Hood and Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck in October to generate support for the effort, which is aimed directly at making specific information on police and sheriff department reports available for inspection by the public. Similar efforts have died in recent sessions, but clarifications on behalf of MPA as to what specific information is sought have helped generate more interest and apparent support in the 2007 session.
Monday is the deadline for introduction of bills and amendments.
Set your VCRs, DVRs or make sure you’re tuned to Mississippi Public Broadcasting Thursday night at 8:00 for the broadcast premiere of “Pressing On,” a documentary profile the five Gulf Coast newspapers’ effort to publish in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Produced by Ralph Braseth, director of the Student Media Center at Ole Miss, and journalism student Brandon Ross, the program was first presented to MPA members during our annual convention last June in Biloxi.
The documentary is also available in DVD format for members to present as a program to staff or civic clubs and other service organizations. To obtain a copy or to set up a presentation with MPA staff and A/V equipment, contact Layne Bruce (lbruce@mspress.org).
From Media Life Magazine: In remote St. George, Utah (pop. 50,000), the leading paper, the only paper, is The Spectrum, circulation 24,000. But there’s also the glossy, high-end St.George Magazine, published by The Spectrum. Then there’s a home building and remodeling guide and an outdoor recreation guide, which The Spectrum also puts out. Add to that a how-to guide on everything from selecting a diamond to a Lasik surgeon to buying a truck.
From The Washington Post: Even though TV stations still are profitable, they no longer enjoy the dominance they did in days before cable and the Internet. And in many places, the newspaper and television cultures never meshed. Meanwhile, publishers such as New York Times and Tribune Co. are exiting the newspaper business or are entirely for sale.
From The Associated Press: The owner of Philadelphia’s two largest newspapers will lay off 34 people in advertising, or nearly 10 percent of the sales force.
From Editor and Publisher: The print advertising slump affecting the newspaper industry is going to hang around for some time and it does not “show signs of a correction,” according to a new report released by Prudential Equity Research.
Mississippi Public Broadcasting will air the documentary “Pressing On,” which profiles the five Mississippi coastal community newspapers and the struggle of their respective staffs to cover Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath while dealing with their own personal tragedies and grief.
The program will air Thursday, Jan. 18 at 8 p.m.
The documentary was produced by Ralph Braseth, director of the S. Gale Denley Student Media Center at Ole Miss, and journalism student Brandon Ross.
It was first shown to MPA members in June 2006 during the 140th MPA Convention in Biloxi.
For more information on the documentary, contact Braseth, jnrbb@olemiss.edu.
Expected roasters for Ole Miss Chancellor Robert Khayat’s upcoming tribute include Suzan Thames, a longtime diagnostic audiologist and volunteer at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson; Ole Miss professor emeritus of law Guff Abbott; Howard L. McMillan Jr., of Jackson, Dean of the Else School of Management at Millsaps College; and Marshall Ramsey, editorial cartoonist for The Clarion-Ledger.
Roastmaster and emcee Sid Salter, Perspective Editor of The Clarion-Ledger, tells us he has extended a personal invitation to a surprise “special guest” for the ceremony.
The event will be held Saturday, January 27 at 6 p.m. For ticket information, contact Kimberly Haydu, khaydu@mspress.org.
The Southern Circulation Manager’s Association will host a special training session for newspaper circulation district managers Feb. 22-23 at the Ameristar Casino in Vicksburg.
Agenda and registration information for the event can be found here.
Vicksburg Post circulation manager Becky Chandler and general manager Jimmy Clark, two frequent MPA volunteers and longtime coordinators of our annual ArkLaMiss Circulation Conference, will be helping with arrangements.
From The Associated Press: McClatchy Co. says it is selling the Star Tribune newspaper to the private equity firm Avista Capital Partners for $530 million, a sharp drop from the $1.2 billion it paid to acquire the flagship property just eight years ago.
From poynter.org: The redesign of the nation’s top business newspaper won’t likely cause any revolutions in journalistic circles. Instead it appears — not surprisingly — that the decision to change The Wall Street Journal was driven by economic concerns.
From Editor and Publisher: A new Gallup poll released Friday reveals a halt in the steady decline of Americans who rely on newspapers for most of their news gathering, with local TV news still holding at #1.
