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State
Press Contests deadline
is Feb. 8, 2010
Changes
will be implemented in the University of Tennessee-Tennessee Press Association
State Press Contests for 2010. The TPA Board of Directors acted on the
proposed changes recommended by the Contests Committee during their Dec.
16 teleconference. Some of the changes are the result of improvements
suggested by contest entrants. continuation
2010 Entry
Packet
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More
people will read a newspaper today than watched the Super Bowl
Following is a link
to a wonderful newspaper promotion ad that I encourage each of you to
download and run following Sunday's Super Bowl. It points out that more
people will read a newspaper on any given day than watch the big game
itself!
There are ads available in both color and black/white, and there are two
versions: one for newspapers that print on Mondays and ones for those
that do not.
These self-promotion ads have been made available free of charge by The
Newspaper Project, a coalition of newspaper groups that advocate the future
of newspapers. The Newspaper Project grants permission to run the ads
and also to add your newspaper's logo if desired. The ads are being hosted
on SNPA's Web site. More information on The Newspaper Project can be found
at newspaperproject.org.
Thanks, and Happy Super Bowl!
Greg M. Sherrill
TPA Executive Director
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Winter
Convention is Feb. 10-12
The 2010 TPA Winter Convention and Press Institute is
scheduled for Wednesday through Friday, Feb. 10-12, at the Doubletree
Hotel in downtown Nashville. Registration
packet Convention programming includes a forum with Tennessee’s
gubernatorial candidates, an opening reception to which legislators are
invited and Drive-In Training.
Drive-In
Training is only $85 per person!
If you find the Drive-In Training program appealing, but could not attend
other parts of the convention, TPA has an option for you. TPA is offering
registration to the Drive-In Training sessions for $85 per person and
includes lunch. Registration forms
Drive-In Training details
Special offer for college
students
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Judges
needed Feb. 25 and 26, advertising and news/editorial contests to be judged
TPA
members are needed to judge Illinois Press Association's contests. The
ad contest will be judged in Nashville. The news/ed judging will again
be split between sites in Nashville and Knoxville. Details follow. Please
contact Robyn Gentile if you can serve as a judge. rgentile@tnpress.com
or (865) 584-5761, ext. 105
Thursday,
Feb. 25 • Nashville
8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. News/Ed Judging
at the Radisson Nashville Airport Hotel
Friday, Feb.
26 • Nashville
9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Advertising Contest Judging
at the Radisson Nashville Airport Hotel
Friday, Feb.
26 • Knoxville
8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. News/Ed Judging
at the TPA headquarters
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Bylaws
Committee to Propose Amendment
The TPA Constitution
& Bylaws Committee will propose an amendment to Article IX of the
TPA Constitution at the upcoming TPA board of directors meeting Feb. 10
in Nashville.
It specifically proposes that the words "full-membership" be
replaced with "participating member", meaning future amendments
be approved by a two-thirds majority of the voting membership, rather
than a two-thirds majority vote of the full membership. details
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Sunshine Week
coming up in March, nominate a local hero deadline is Feb. 28
http://sunshineweek.org/About.aspx
Sunshine Week is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance
of open government and freedom of information. Celebrated in mid-March,
the 2010 dates are March 14-20.
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NIE Week,
March 1-5, guide and tools available
Critical
Thinking Through Core Curriculum:
Using Print and Digital Newspapers
Newspaper In Education Week is celebrated annually during the first full
school week of March. For 2010, the NAA Foundation has created a teacher's
guide, an in-paper ad and a Web site banner ad. Everything can be downloaded
free of charge. link
to naa.org
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Free
kids page on earthquakes
Content That Works, producers of Kid Scoop, is
offering a page on earthquakes free of charge.
The page contains:
· Earthquake news
· How kids can help
· What makes an earthquake
· Where is Haiti?
In addition there are a series of worksheets that teachers can use in
their classrooms or parents can use in the home.
All of the above is at no charge and available for use in print and online.
Contact Dan Dalton at dan@contentthatworks.com or 909-793-9890
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It's
our job to wake the dead
By Victor Parkins, TPA President
As reporters, editors and publishers, it’s our job to inform our
readers that newspapers are far from dead.
Newspapers across the country have been their own worst enemy over the
past two or three years. continuation
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TPS
provides sample letters for reaching political ad dollars
By Greg Sherrill, TPA Executive Director/TPS Executive Vice President
This is an important mid-term political year, as well as being a gubernatorial
showdown in our own state.
Unfortunately, the past several election cycles have seen significant
declines in political advertising in newspapers. Many speculate that it's
because candidates know that newspapers will likely run campaign and platform
information as news (for FREE.) Newspapers have the unique ability to
deliver in-depth information that broadcast and outdoor cannot. And when
it comes to reaching rural and non-metro counties, newspapers have the
edge!
I know many of you will be visiting or hosting candidates at your papers
in the upcoming weeks. At the request of the TPS Board of Directors, our
sales agents have drafted some letters that you may use for contacting
candidates and/or their campaigns in your local races. Link
to four letters These letters explain the benefits of using print
advertising in their campaign's media mix, and could be a good way to
get your foot in the door or at least start a dialogue about the effectiveness
of newspaper advertising.
TPS is reaching out to Tennessee's gubernatorial candidates in hopes of
securing more print advertising for you, our stockholder newspapers. Please
keep TPS in mind as a resource for any candidate and/or campaign that
may wish to advertise in many newspapers across our state.
Thanks for your help in representing the newspaper industry of Tennessee.
Happy selling!
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Oppmann
appointed TPA Director of District Six
Andrew
Oppmann, publisher of The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville, and The Daily News
Journal, Murfreesboro, has been appointed Director of TPA District Six.
The position was vacated by Ellen Leifeld, former publisher of The Tennessean,
who retired in November. continuation
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Heartland
Publications to complete financial restructuring
under Chapter 11
Heartland Publications LLC, which operates 50 newspapers in nine states
including the Macon County Times in Lafayette, Tenn. and The Claiborne
Progress in Tazewell, Tenn. announced Dec. 22, the Court approval of all
of its "first day" motions. Heartland earlier announced that
it had reached agreement with the majority of its first-lien lenders on
a financial restructuring and filed voluntary petitions with the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to enter Chapter 11 protection.
story at heartlandpublications.com
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Federal
shield bill
passes Senate Judiciary Committee
The Senate Judiciary Committee today voted to present the federal media
shield bill to the full Senate, a new milestone this year for legislation
that has been tabled, debated and amended for months in the committee.
continuation at rcfp.org
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable
A federal shield law, The Free Flow of Information Act, has finally passed
the Senate Judiciary Committee on its 17th attempt to get a vote. But
that passage did not come without sometimes heated debate on a string
of amendments by Republicans and one Democrat, most of which were voted
down.link
to story
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Order your
2010 Press Credentials
TPA
will send membership materials have been mailed. Among the items will
be the traditional paper press cards. Since 2006, the plastic identification
style has been available and has grown more popular. You can now pre-order
your 2010 press cards. Order form
Additional items in
the membership materials are 2010 calendar strips, press decals for windshields,
the 2010 logo and a member services guide. Directories will be mailed
separately in mid-January.
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2010
Dues payment option allows you to use ad revenue instead of cutting a
check
Tennessee Press Association is partnering with Tennessee
Press Service to offer members an alternative to cutting a check to TPA
dues. Since most newspapers receive much more than their annual TPA dues
amount through TPS advertising placement, publishers will be able to opt
to have the 2010 dues amount deducted from TPS payments. If this option
is selected, TPS will automatically resume payments to the newspaper once
the dues amount has been satisfied.
An authorization form for this option will be sent with TPA dues. To take
advantage of this option, a publisher will need to complete the authorization
form and return it to TPA no later than Jan. 25.
Are
you earning to your full potential?
Please take a moment to make sure that your newspaper is participating
in both the TPS Statewide Classifieds and the 2x2/2x4 Network products.
The quarterly rebate checks to participating newspapers over the course
of a year are more than enough to cover TPA dues for most newspapers!
For more information on Network programs, please contact Beth Elliott
at (865) 584-5761.
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Newseum
CEO issues a
call to action to newspapers
Charles
Overby, CEO of the Newseum and Freedom Forum urges the newspaper industry
to Act, Believe, Compete, Differentiate and Evolve for the Future. complete
article
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How
Much Stimulus Funding is Going to Your County?
by Jennifer LaFleur, Dan Nguyen, Michael Grabell, and Jeff Larson
http://projects.propublica.org/recovery
We’ve taken all the data used on the government’s stimulus
Web site, Recovery.gov, cleaned out the cobwebs and added thousands of
records the feds didn't include — the law doesn't require all recipients
to report to Recovery.gov — to create the most comprehensive publicly
available analysis of stimulus spending that we know of.
Type in your county or click on your state to find local projects, and
check out how per capita spending compares with poverty, income and unemployment
in your area. http://projects.propublica.org/recovery
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Largest
newspapers in Tennessee form collaboration
From
Jack McElroy's blog, "The Upfront Page"
The "Big Four" newspapers in Tennessee -- Memphis' Commercial
Appeal, Nashville's Tennessean, Chattanooga's Times Free Press and Knoxville's
News Sentinel -- have launched an initiative to cooperate in coverage
of the 2010 governor's race and, perhaps, take on other journalistic projects
in the future.
The collaboration is operating under the name Tennessee Newspaper Network.
Its first effort, an examination of the tax returns of the candidates,
begins publication Sunday. link
to Jack McElroy's blog
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Newspapers
DEAD? Print still big medium for advertisers
By Brian Steffens, National Newspaper Association
The report of my death was an exaggeration — Mark Twain
If I’m to believe the national media, newspapers are dead or dying.
What do they base that on?
Paid circulation is
down? How’s that different from broadcast TV viewership? Or magazine
subscriptions? Or radio listeners? But I can’t recall many or any
headlines or cable or Internet shout-outs heralding the passing of TV,
radio or magazines. Ignored in the cacophony are the self-imposed cutbacks
of inefficient distribution to outlying areas with few readers and fewer
advertisers, or the growing number of free distribution newspapers. link
to story on NNA.org
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HIPAA
Resource for Reporters
HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996,
a law intended to make it easier for people to keep their health insurance
when they change jobs. The law set standards for the electronic exchange
of patient information, including protecting the privacy of such records.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued the Privacy Rule
to implement that aspect of the law, and its Office of Civil Rights is
in charge of enforcing it.
Since the Privacy Rule went into effect in April 2003, it has become more
difficult for reporters to get information about individuals' health care.
The Association of Health Care Journalists has a resource
to aid reporters.
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Ads
focus on the power of newspaper media
NAA presents a series of free, downloadable print and digital ads focusing
on the power of newspaper media and the value newspapers offer to advertisers.
Link
to NAA's free ads
November's ad:
Surprise your advertisers
with the truth. Give them the facts. When it comes to what is “in”
online, it is newspaper Web sites. The latest ad in NAA’s series
of ads about the value of newspaper media to advertisers focuses on the
facts about newspaper Web sites including:
* 74 million unique visitors went to newspaper Web sites in September
of 2009
* Newspaper Web sites garner a 38% share of online visitors
* Newspaper Web sites are the number 1 local site in 22 of the top 25
markets
* Newspaper share of local online advertising exceeds all other local
Web sites
Newspaper Web sites are trusted, informative and popular. We need to make
certain that advertisers know.
Additional ads promoting
newspapers can be found at www.newspaperproject.org.
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Tennessee
Newspaper Hall of Fame inducts five
Five
individuals were posthumously inducted into the Tennessee Newspaper Hall
of Fame at a banquet ceremony on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, at the Crowne Plaza
Hotel in Knoxville. Inducted were: Sallie Rebecca (Pattie) Boyd (1867-1947)
bio ; James E. Charlet (1908-1999)
bio ; Roy Coleson (1901-1965)
bio ; J. Neal Ensminger (1908-2001)
bio and William C. Simonton
(1899-1950) bio. The event was
the fifteenth induction ceremony bringing the total number of inductees
to 53.
For
information on the Tennessee Newspaper Hall of Fame, please visit the
Web site: http://www.tnpress.com/halloffame.html.

Photo credit: Elenora
E. Edwards, The Tennessee Press
Ensminger
family members pose with the portrait of J. Neal Ensminger.

Photo credit: Elenora E. Edwards, The Tennessee Press
Charlet family
members pose with the portrait of James E. Charlet.

Photo credit: Elenora E. Edwards, The Tennessee Press
Simonton
family members pose with the portrait of William C. Simonton. Bill Simonton,
second from left, is the son of William C. Simonton and a former president
of TPA.
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Some
people coming to their senses on sunshine
By Frank Gibson, TPA FOI Coordinator
This old-fashioned notion of sunshine being the best disinfectant continues
to carry a lot of currency despite the penchant of many in government
to want to keep secrets or restrict access to public records and meetings.
Information is power, and many in government at all levels continue to
see having the ability to control information as the way to hang on to
power. continuation
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TPA
board approves free legal hotline access for 2010
One of the Tennessee Press Association’s (TPA) most valuable member
benefits is access to the Legal Hotline. Thanks to TPA and the TPA
Foundation, member newspapers will continue to receive access to the Legal
Hotline as part of their membership for 2010. story
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Free
circulation associate membership proposal put off
By Elenora Edwards, The Tennessee Press
The question as to whether Tennessee Press Association will elect to allow
free-circulation news publications to become associate members has been
set aside indefinitely. story
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Americans
still turn to traditional news media first
By Gene Policinski, First Amendment Center
When it comes to a free press, Americans still like the idea — but
after that, well, there are questions.
Most of us still depend on traditional news media — television,
newspapers and radio — when it comes to learning of breaking news
or finding out more about the big story, according to the just-released
2009 State of the First Amendment survey conducted by the First Amendment
Center. continuation
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Updating
public notices keeps information in newspapers
Since
the inception of tnpublicnotice.com,
a majority of our members have joined the effort to create a database
of public notices found in Tennessee newspapers. One of our chief tools
in fighting efforts to remove public notices from newspapers has been
this site, giving Tennesseans the ability to search online for notices
found in our newspapers.
When members fail to upload their notices, our argument to keep notices
in newspapers is weakened. It’s important that every TPA member
upload their public notices to this site. Most of our daily newspapers
do an excellent job of uploading their notices each day. It’s easier
to forget when publishing dates are further apart.
If you’d like to know if your paper is doing its part to keep public
notices in newspapers, email Greg Sherrill at
or Kevin
Slimp at
for a
report on how frequently and how many notices your paper has uploaded.
Forces to remove public notices away from newspapers haven’t slowed
down. It’s more important than ever to upload your notices with
every issue of your newspaper.
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APME,
AP, Sunlight offer help digging into Stimulus
APME is partnering with The Associated Press and the Sunlight Foundation
on a national investigative project looking at the effectiveness of the
billions of dollars of federal stimulus spending. A database you can use
to look up projects in your area is available at apme.com. The site also
contains questions you might pursue as you look into these projects. www.apme.com For
more information about the Sunlight Foundation visit www.sunlightfoundation.com.
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Current
legislation & the First Amendment
By Gordon T. Belt, First Amendment Center Library manager
In the 111th Congress, a number of bills being considered could affect
First Amendment freedoms. The following summary provides brief explanations
of these measures and their current status. link
to Belt's summary on fac.org
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Reporters'
Guide to Multimedia Proficiency available
online
Mindy McAdams is
a journalist, journalism educator and Web developer. She has compiled
a Reporters' Guide to Multimedia Proficiency. Guide
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Debt
retired on TPA building
Four years and two months after its completion, the building owned by
Tennessee Press Association Foundation (TPAF) and leased to Tennessee
Press Association (TPA) and Tennessee Press Service (TPS) has been paid
off.
“I can’t think of any item addressed by the TPAF trustees
during the planning retreat three years ago more important, besides the
actual construction of TPA’s headquarters, nor more ambitious, than
paying off the mortgage on the building,” said W. R. (Ron) Fryar,
TPAF president. continuation
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Do
you want campaign ads
in your paper?
By
Art Powers, TPA vice president for dailies
Publisher, Johnson City Press
Like most newspapers across the state, candidates for next year’s
gubernatorial race have been dropping by the Johnson City Press to discuss
issues in an attempt to set themselves apart from their opponents. In
doing so they know we will write a story about their visit and report
their responses to the questions fielded by our editorial board. We always
do that as it is news for our readers. Candid photos always accompany
the story. Of course, in subsequent months they will return one-by-one
for more coverage as well as asking for our editorial endorsement since
we are the only medium that does that anymore. continuation
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Americans
rely on newspaper advertising as essential shopping
tool
Newspaper Association of America
When Consumers Read Newspaper Ads, They Take Action
Arlington , Va. – Newspaper advertising remains the leading advertising
medium cited by consumers in planning, shopping and making purchasing
decisions, according to early data from a MORI Research survey of more
than 3,000 adults. The findings, announced today by the Newspaper Association
of America, provide conclusive evidence of the ongoing value newspaper
ads deliver for marketers trying to reach consumers who are ready to shop
and spend. full release
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Have
a job opening?
Post
your open positions and search for resumes in TPA's employment area
at http://www.tnpress.com/employment.html.
Only authorized personnel from member newspapers can post
jobs or review résumés.
First time users will need to register with a user name and password.
Once you complete your online registration, please contact Robyn Gentile,
member services manager, for access—(865) 584-5761, ext. 105 or
via e-mail to
.
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Training
videos online for members
TPS offers free training videos online for TPA members. New videos include
five segments on Adobe Flash and a segment on new features in Adobe Creative
Suite (CS4). Other topics include: InDesign, Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat,
QuarkXpress and OS X. The videos can be accessed through the training
page at www.tnpress.com/training.html.
A username and password are required. Contact TPA at (865) 584-5761 if
you need the access information.
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First
Amendment ads available
Former TPA President Tom Griscom has made house ads promoting the First
Amendment available to TPA member newspapers. Click
here to access the files.
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Find older
TPA News
TPA
news items moved from this home page may be found at TPA
News
Save these
dates
Feb. 10-12, 2010, TPA Winter Convention, Nashville
details
on these events and other calendar items
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2010
Press credentials
TPA
now offers members a more
professional press card.
View details
and order form
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