MPA/MPS e-Bulletin

A limited number of summer internships are still available to member newspapers through the MPA Education Foundation. Members interested in applying for a summer internship, through which MPAEF will underwrite $1100 in expenses over 11 weeks, can download the form here.

Last year, 12 weekly and 10 daily newspapers participated in the program, which allows journalism, communications or media students to work at member locations for a period up to 11 weeks. As long as members employee the interns at a rate of no less than minimum wage, MPAEF contributes an additional $100 per week to help offset living and other expenses.

Deadline to apply is April 10. For more information, contact Layne Bruce at lbruce@mspress.org or by calling 1-601-981-3060.

The MPA room block is now open for reservations at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino, venue for the 142nd annual convention June 26-28. MPA members can reserve their rooms for a special press association room rate for the evenings of Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Log on to beaurivage.com to make reservations online using the MPA group code MSPA608. Or call the Beau direct at 1-228-386-7444 and identify your group as the Mississippi Press Association. Members are urged to make their reservations now. Group cutoff is June 3, 2008.

More information about the convention, including a preliminary agenda and updates on speakers and other details, will be posted here as it becomes available.

MPA members now have access to live, online training led by two of our industry’s leading experts on software and technology. The webinars, through braincast.biz, will be held throughout April on a variety of topics, including Photoshop CS, Adobe Flash and PDF file creation and management.

Participating newspapers view the training session using their Web browers (Safar, Explorer, Firefox) over a broadband (high-speed) Internet connection. Participants receive live audio by dialing a toll-free number provided after registration.

The fee to participate is $69 per connection per session. Most newspapers will choose to gather staff together in one location, around a large monitor or projector, while listening to audio over a speakerphone.

Register today or find out more course information at braincast.biz. Sessions are led by noted training experts Kevin Slimp and Russell Viers.

These webinars can be viewed on Mac or PC computers and no special software is necessary. Participants will receive an instruction sheet after registration. Included in the information is the username, password and a toll-free number for audio. In addition, you will be supplied a log-on name.

Upcoming sessions include:

• April 3, 11am – An Overview of Adobe Flash for the New User. Led by Kevin Slimp | Flash is an incredibly powerful tool for creating animated ads and video for Websites. Join Kevin in an overview of Flash for new users and folks who want to know what this application is all about.
• April 8, 4pm – Photo Editing & Color Correction in Photoshop CS. Led by Kevin Slimp | Even the most veteran Photoshop users don’t have the time to learn to use all of the color correction and editing tools in Photoshop. Join Kevin in this whirlwind tour of photo editing and color correction tools in Photoshop CS-CS3.
• April 17, 11am – Creating PDFs that work EVERYTIME!  Led by Kevin Slimp | Two groups need this class: Everyone who creates PDF files and everyone who receives PDF files! Almost all problems related to PDF files are built into the files when they are created. Join the guru of PDFs himself, Kevin Slimp, in this fast-paced look at creating PDFs the right (and wrong) way.
• April 29, 4pm – Creating Preflights to Find Problems in PDFs in Acrobat 6-8. Led by Kevin Slimp | Acrobat Professional 6-8 allow users to creat preflights that will find any problem in a PDF file before it becomes a problem for you. Join Kevin as he teaches users how to create preflights in the various versions of Acrobat Professionals. As a bonus, Kevin will demonstrate how users can create “fixes” to correct PDF problems in Acrobat 8.
• April 30, 4pm – Fixing Problems with PDF Files. Led by Kevin Slimp | Finding problems in PDF files is half the battle. Fixing them is the other half. In this session, Kevin will lead you through methods to correct most of those pesky problems that derail your PDF files.

From Editor and Publisher: The Audit Bureau of Circulations has moved closer to an overhaul of how it counts paid newspaper circulation. During a meeting of its board of directors last week in Kiawah Island, S.C., the bureau approved modifications that will affect how publishers report starting April 1, 2009. Among those changes: Newspapers will be considered “paid” by ABC regardless of the price.

From NNA: - Reliance upon America’s community newspapers to inform and empower citizens remains strong along Main Street America from coast to coast. In a follow-up to the National Newspaper Association’s landmark 2005 research on readership patterns for community newspapers, NNA found that readership of community newspapers increased slightly (from 81 percent in 2005 to 83 percent in 2007). This is in stark contrast to news reports purporting to chronicle the decline, if not demise, of newspapers.

From NAA: Nielsen Online ranks the top 30 news Websites for February 2008. With over 3.5 million unique viewers, The Drudge Report took the top spot. Gannett’s Online Division ranked 11th, while the New York Times site ranked 12th.

Lisa Griffin will lead a two-day session on Adobe InDesign March 27-28 at the Eagle Ridge Conference Center on the campus of Hinds Community College just south of Jackson.

The sessions will kick off Thursday afternoon, March 27 at 2pm with an introductory session on the popular desktop publishing program. An advanced track will follow the morning of March 28 at 9am. A limited number of rooms are available for overnight lodging at Eagle Ridge.

Thirty slots are open for these valuable InDesign courses. Reserve yours today. Call MPA at 601-981-3060 for more information on the courses and accommodations.

Download the registration form here.

A five-week teleseminar series on advertising sales will be led by nationally-recognized trainer and speaker Bob Berting. The series will kick off April 3 at 1:30 p.m. and be held over five consecutive Thursdays.

MPA member newspapers can take part in the series for a course fee of $145. Topics to be covered include solicitation techniques, selling against media competition, ad design and layout and working with hard-to-please customers.

Berting is the author of the 13 chapter sales manual “Dynamic Advertising Sales and Image Power”. He also is a columnist in several national and regional publications. He has conducted over 1,500 seminars for print media teams and has been the owner of a full-service ad agency since 1981.

Download the registration form here.

Nominations for the MPA Hall of Fame are now being accepted. The honor is awarded annually to a single journalist who made his or her reputation in Mississippi, or who is a native Mississippian with distinguished career nationally or abroad.

Deadline for nominations is April 1, 2008.

The honoree, who may be living or deceased, is recognized during MPA’s annual convention, this year set for June 26-28 at the Beau Rivage Resort in Biloxi. Recent honorees have included Ruby Del Harden (2007), longtime publisher of the Itawamba County Times; the late Dan Phillips, former co-publisher of The Oxford Eagle; and Stanley Dearman (2005), former publisher of The Neshoba Democrat and Mildred Dearman (2005), longtime executive editor of The Carthaginian.

Download the nomination form here.