MPA/MPS e-Bulletin

Annual USPS statement of ownership filings are due at your local post office by Oct. 1. The information provided on Form 3526 allows the Postal Service to determine whether publications meet the standards of Periodicals mailing privileges.

The required information also must appear in your newspaper:

• No later than Oct. 10 for dailies and semi-weeklies;
• No later than Oct. 31 for all weeklies.

MPA also requires its members to submit a copy of the postal Statement of Ownership to our office by faxing to 601.981.3676 or via mail to 371 Edgewood Terrace, Jackson, MS 39206. For your convenience, we encourage you to submit the Statement with your 2007 BNC-Advertising entries, due Oct. 2.

The deadline to enter MPA’s Better Newspaper Contest-Advertising Division is 5pm Tuesday, October 2. Find entry forms and criteria here.

Awards will be presented during the annual Mid-Winter Conference, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2008 at the Hilton Hotel in Jackson.

Materials for National Newspaper Week have been posted and a link is available via the MPA Website. Member papers are encouraged to download the house ads and other materials to use in promotion of NNW.

This year’s event focuses on the importance of public notices in newspapers.

MPA members received via mail this week the annual update to the Synopsis of Publication Fees for Public Notices prepared by association general counsel team John Henegan, Donna Jacobs and Malissa Winfield of Butler Snow in Jackson.

The useful reference guide details fees newspapers may charge under the Mississippi Code for publishing the various public notices required by law.

Fee handbooks were mailed to the attention of the member publisher. If you did not receive a copy, or would like to request additional copies, contact MPA Member Services Coordinator Beth Boone (bboone@mspress.org) by calling 601-981-3060.

Agendas for the 2008 ArkLaMiss Circulation Conference will soon be mailed to member newspapers. The annual event is sponsored jointly with MPA by the Louisiana and Arkansas press associations. Program presenters include Max Heath, National Newspaper Association postal chairman and vice president of Landmark Community Newspapers.

Session topics will include discussions on postal regulations, home delivery sales and a general circulation issues panel, as well as a Hot Ideas program.

Louisiana Press is coordinating this year’s conference, set for Nov. 8-9 at the AmeriStar Casino in Vicksburg. More details will be posted on the MPA Website and emailed to member as they are confirmed.

MediaLife Magazine: In all the stories about the many troubles of the American newspaper, from falling circulation to fleeing ad dollars, we read almost nothing about the rise of a new kind of local newspaper, the online-only local daily. But in fact they exist, and we can expect to be hearing more about them as more launch.

NAA: Young people who used newspapers in school and read newspaper content aimed at teens are more likely to volunteer, vote and engage in civic expression as adults, according to a study of more than 1,500 25- to 34-year-olds released today by the Newspaper Association of America Foundation.

Los Angeles Times: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch said that he was leaning toward dropping the online subscription fee for the Wall Street Journal in a gamble to increase visitor traffic and website advertising revenue.