The MPA/MPS office will be closed Thursday and Friday, Nov. 22 and 23, for Thanksgiving. We will resume normal business hours Nov. 26. From all of us at your newspaper association, we wish all our members and clients a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Preliminary analysis of MPA member USPS statements of ownership indicates circulation dipped only slightly in 2007 compared to prior year. Total circulation fell 3,446, or less than 1 percent, to 656,856.
Cummulative circulation of the state’s 23 daily newspapers fell 2 percent to 356,873. Losers outnumber gainers: A total of 13 papers posted losses for the year, although the majority were slight. Papers posting increases for the year include the Biloxi Sun Herald, Columbus Commercial Dispatch, Laurel Leader-Call, Natchez Democrat, Oxford Eagle, Starkville Daily News, Tupelo Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, University Daily Mississippian, and West Point Daily Times Leader.
Non-dailies/weeklies again blunted the loss of the dailies by gaining 4,731, or 2 percent, over prior year.
Numbers are preliminary; a few newspapers have not yet submitted their 2007 USPS Statements of Ownership and Circulation to MPA. If your newspaper has been contacted and you have not yet supplied the form, please do so by faxing to the attention of Beth Boone: 601-981-3676. Circulation figures for all state newspapers will be included in the 2008 Newspaper Directory available from MPA early next year.
The MPA/MPS Board of Directors will hold its final meeting of 2007 November 29 at the Edison-Walthall Hotel in Downtown Jackson. A holiday luncheon with the MPA/MPS staff will precede the meeting.
Agenda includes a recommendation from a board subcommittee on hiring new legislative representation for the upcoming 2008 Session that gets underway in January. Subcommittee members interviewed three prospective firms recently during meetings at the MPA offices. The change comes as the Governmental Affairs Committee has underscored a commitment to passage of a law that will strengthen incident report and sunshine laws in Mississippi. MPA’s legislative agenda also includes mounting a defense against potential threats to public notices in member papers and the possibility of a service tax bill that could impact members.
The first meeting of the board in 2008 will be during the annual Mid-Winter Conference at the Hilton Hotel in January.
Members are encouraged to send in their 2008 rate cards now so that increases will be in effect with MPS clients when the calendar rolls over to the new year.
Ad services reps Andrea Ross and Monica Gilmer are collecting the information to get updated rate, personnel and other important information on members in to the MPS database. Please forward a PDF copy of your rate card to aross@mspress.org or mgilmer@mspress.org, or via fax to 601-981-3676. Old-fashioned mail still works, too: MPS, Attn: Rate Cards, 371 Edgewood Terrace Drive, Jackson, MS 39206.
From ABC: To meet the evolving needs of advertisers and publishers, the board of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) has endorsed a set of sweeping strategic recommendations for U.S. newspapers that aim to provide marketers with more useful information, streamline ABC rules and audits, and modify key circulation standards.
From American Press Institute Director of Marketing Elaine Clishman: I have a particular affinity for weekly newspapers. Weeklies are where most of my experience lies, and I believe firmly that the strength of connection between a weekly newspaper and the community it serves can be a significant strategic advantage. So it was a pleasure for me to spend four days a couple of weeks ago moderating API’s annual seminar for weekly executives, Management of the Weekly Newspaper.
From Editor and Publisher: Willamette Week is about to wrap up its best year ever in display advertising, and is even beginning to rebound a bit in classified advertising that’s been decimated by Craigslist, publisher and co-owner Richard H. Meeker says in the latest issue of the Portland, Oregon, alternative weekly.
