Important Dates
Reserve your room today Call: $119.00 special convention room rate. NMPA Board meeting and workshops July 16 - 17 Las Vegas, NM Workshops on Saturday July 17 Details coming soon! BNC Deadline July 30th Click here for Details
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Columnists
Kevin Slimp Publishing Technology - Adobe hits a home run with InDesign CS5 Link to story John Foust AdLibs - Six ways to impress an advertiser Link to story Doug Fisher From the Grammar Grab Bag - Plurals Link to story |
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Greetings!
Please enjoy the latest edition of ShopTalk. In this edition you will find important information on upcoming events, including the summer workshops in Las Vegas. If you have interesting news items please forward them to director@nmpress.org and we will include them in the next available bulletin. For any membership questions or inquiries please call the NMPA office. Phil Lucey 505-275-1377 phil@nmpress.org
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From the President's Desk
I don't know about you and your operation, but here at the Optic, things are looking up. This year has been much better than last year.
Likewise, I think this year is looking better for the New Mexico Press Association, in a number of ways.
We ended last year facing the departure of Dana Bowley, the dedicated NMPA executive director who announced at the close of last year's convention that he was ready to move on. We mounted a national search, led by past president Dave McCollum, and entered the new year with some great candidates. By the time the second quarter rolled around, we had Phil Lucey in place. He's hit the ground running and, if you haven't had a chance to get to know him yet, look forward to it. He's a great catch for NMPA.
In 2009, we had to cancel the high school journalism workshop for a lack of participants. Not this year. In June, we had two dozen young people show up and make it a successful four-day event, as is demonstrated in the Future Press publication (which you've hopefully seen by now). I think we managed to breathe new life into the workshop with some fresh approaches, including some excellent presentations. A lot of people should be thanked for making it such a success, but I'll offer up special thanks to two in particular: high school teacher (and former reporter) April VanBuren and our own Phil Lucey, for their around-the-clock participation.
Also last year, during the legislative session, we faced yet another effort to water down public notices. This is an issue that's not only important to our industry but is even more important to the public's right to know, and this year, we became proactive. First, with the help of several members, we created a series of house ads promoting newspapers and the public's need to have access to important government information through newspaper notices. (Thanks to all who ran them!) And, soon, we will host a meeting for lawmakers, government officials, broadcasters and others about the importance of public notices in New Mexico. At the very least, the meeting should firm up NMPA's commitment to protect the public's interest. An even better possibility is that we'll win over some legislative allies in this ongoing battle.
In a nutshell, as far as I'm concerned, we're having a good year as an association - with the promise of an action-packed "grand finale"
at our annual convention in November.
Mark your calendars for Nov. 12-13, when we will return to the Tamaya Resort for our convention. Under the leadership of NMPA Vice President Karen Moses, we've secured this fabulous facility at great rates. With it's three heated pools, walking trails along the Rio Grande and a whole lot more, you might want to bring your family, so while you participate in some first-class programs and workshops, your spouse and kids will find plenty to enjoy.
So plan to attend this year's convention and bring along as many as you can. Then we'll raise a toast to a good year indeed.
Tom McDonald
2010 President, New Mexico Press Association
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Tom McDonald, editor and publisher
Las Vegas Optic; Las Vegas, New Mexico
505-425-6796; tmcdonald@lasvegasoptic.com
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NMPA Summer Board Meeting and Workshop
July 16-17.
Plaza Hotel. Las Vegas, NM
Cost: Workshops are free of
charge. Saturday lunch will be provided.
Rooms on the NMPA group rate start
at $89, but there are a limited number so you might want to act quickly.
Reservations may be made by calling 1-800-328-1882; ask for the press
association's group rate
Feel free to bring along your
family! They'll be glad you did.
The NMPA schedule is as
follows:
Friday, July 16
The NMPA board will meet at the
hotel from 9 a.m. to about noon. At 2:30 p.m., we will carpool 10 miles to
Montezuma for a tour of United World
College. I assure you, it
will be worth your while, and spouses and kids are welcome to come along. After
that, you're free to shop the many stores that decorate the Old Town Plaza area, do a little sightseeing, or
kick back at Byron T's Saloon inside the hotel.
Saturday, July
17
Includes four workshops and a
lunch:
9 to 10:15
a.m.
· "Small Town
Content, Big Time Design" by the Taos News design team (Marilyn Olsen, chief
designer, and Paige Gray, special sections editor). Their newspaper regularly
wins national awards (as well as plenty of state ones), and is recognized as one
of the best looking weekly newspapers in the nation. Hear how they take the most
important local stories of the week and bring them to life on
newsprint.
· "Going Local: What
I Learned By Moving From A National Beat to The Small Town Scene" by M.E.
Sprengelmeyer, owner and reporter for the Guadalupe County Communicator in
Santa Rosa. In
2008 he was following the Obama campaign around the country for the Rocky
Mountain News.
Then the paper went belly up and he
came back to his home state, bought a weekly newspaper and has been doing it all
ever since. Hear what he has to say about small-town journalism, from the
vantage point of an unconventional thinker.
10:30 to 11:45
a.m.
· "Investigative
Reporting With A Small Staff" by David Giuliani, managing editor of the Las
Vegas Optic. He's won investigative journalism awards for three of the last four
years while also pumping out spots news stories and laying out the front page
every issue.
He's well known in New Mexico for his
hard-hitting news reporting and to-the-point editorial writing, having won
dozens of NMPA and APME awards through the years. He'll discuss how to make time
for good, in- depth journalism - even if you only
have a handful for reporters to help fill your
pages.
· "How To Sell Ads
Into a Firebreathing Newspaper" by Maria Lopez Garcia, advertising manager for
the Rio Grande
Sun. A graduate of NMSU with a bachelor's degree in journalism, she's been
selling ads since 1995, for the Las Cruces Bulletin, the Colorado Springs
Gazette and, beginning in 2000, the Sun. She's an NMPA board member and a
second-year participant in an Inland Press Association fellowship program.
She'll offer tips on how to shoot down the best excuses not to advertise in
newspapers, especially papers that make people mad from time to time (which, of
course, we all do).
Noon to 1
p.m.
Lunch (free to all workshop
participants) with a guest speaker - Phil Lucey,
executive director of the New Mexico Press Association. The product of a New
England newspaper family, Phil moved to Albuquerque in March to head up NMPA. Hear what
he has to say about our state, and the state of our newspapers, and plans for
future association endeavors after just a few months at the helm of our
association.
We need head counts for the NMPA
board meeting, the UWC tour on Friday afternoon and Saturday's lunch. So please
let us know your intentions. Reply to phil@nmpress.org if you plan on attending and
any accompanying guests.
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NMPA Convention returns to Tamaya Resort
On November 12-13 the NMPA membership will convene at the scenic Hyatt Tamaya Resort for their annual convention. An outstanding agenda is currently under development and will feature industry leading speakers, thought provoking panels and time to network with fellow colleagues from across the state. It is a can't-miss event. Save the date and plan on joining us in November.
Tamaya has secured a special convention rate for us of $119.00 a night. You can even reserve your room right away. Call 505-867-1234 today!
More details to follow soon, watch your inboxes for convention news.
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State Headlines
Request for News Articles
We
pull ShopTalk news from articles received from the clipping service,
stories sent out by national trade groups and items we happen to hear on
the street. We need your help in making this a comprehensive
bulletin. If you have articles or learn of stories on any
industry-related item, please forward them to director@nmpress.org and we'll
get the message out to the masses.
BNC - Better Newspaper Contest
Information and rules for the BNC have been mailed out to all members. There haven't been any changes made to the categories or divisions from a year ago. Deadline for entries is July 30th.
For a copy of the rules packet, please click HERE.
FOG Weighs In On
Socorro Co-Op Dispute
Members
of the Socorro Electric Cooperative want transparency. They voted overwhelmingly this spring for new by-laws that
would require the Board of Trustees to comply with the Open Meetings Act and
Inspection of Public Records Act. The Board has other ideas, and the dispute may
be heading to court.
The
Electric Co-op is a private entity, but FOG believes that sunshine brings good
governance to any kind of organization. That's not just our opinion - it's the
law. Member-shareholders of private corporations have basic rights regarding
access to company financials - after all, it's their money. We support the
reformers who want that basic level of transparency within their
co-op.
Click here to read the letter FOG sent the SEC Board of Trustees. The El
Defensor Chieftain has covered the entire dispute
extensively.
Appeals Court Upholds
Privacy, Executive Privilege Claims
In a June
25 decision, the state Court of Appeals quashed the Republican Party of New
Mexico's attempt to get state records relating to driver's licenses obtained by
undocumented immigrants. The opinion is available here.
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Industry News
Around the Industry
Hulu Goes Paid: Cable Providers Should Worry
It's only a matter of time before people that barely watch actual TVhave enough alternative options for content and decide to pull the plug
on their costly cable subscriptions. Once that happens, many industry analysts
suggest that the cable and satellite providers will need to start offering a la
carte pricing. (digi:Daily) Continue reading
National Newspaper Association refocuses
marketing mission, explores headquarters options
National Newspaper Association President Cheryl Kaechele,
publisher of the Allegan County (MI) News, announced today the intention
of the NNA Board of Directors to seek a new headquarters location at
the conclusion of its current management agreement with the University
of Missouri. (NNA) Continue reading
Is your publication eligible for the new health
insurance tax credit?
If your publication employs 25 or fewer people, you'll want to find out
if you qualify for the new tax credit that is now available to encourage
small businesses to provide (or continue to provide) health insurance
coverage for their employees. (NNA) Continue reading
Publishers, Editors Took
Pay Cut in '09 While Newspaper Marketers Gained, Inland Finds
The newspaper industry's wages have fallen 1.42% on average since last
year, according to the Inland Press Association's recently released
Newspaper Industry Compensation Survey. While base compensation for
alternate-distribution managers was down 19.7% and online creative '
salaries fell 7.4%, audience-development managers took home an average
of 10% more than a year earlier and national advertising managers saw
salaries rise in the range of 12%. (E&P) Continue reading
For Newspapers, Postal Rate
Proposals Are 'Mixed Bag'
For
newspapers, the proposed changes in postal rates are either a very bad
thing or not so bad at all, depending almost entirely on what kind of
newspaper is looking at the rates.
"It's a mixed bag for
newspapers generally," says the Newspaper Association of America's
senior vice president of public policy, Paul Boyle. "Periodicals really
get slammed with an 8% increase, so any newspaper that's mailing its
product is not going to be pleased." (E&P) Continue reading
Editorial
Study: Citizen Journalism
Isn't Filling News Gap Left by Shrunken Newsrooms
While many
of the blogs and citizen journalism sites have done very interesting and
positive things, they are not even close to providing the level of
coverage that even financially stressed news organizations do today. (E&P) Continue reading
Technology
Fireworks at Journal
Register Co: 'Ben Franklin Project' Successful at All 18 Dailies
All 18
Journal Register Co. dailies published a print newspaper and Website
content on Sunday July 4 using only free tools available on the
Internet.
The Independence Day editions were the next step in
Journal Register's "Ben Franklin Project" (E&P) Continue reading
Paid Content
A series of articles and reports created since early 2009 to help frame
the discussion about paid content. (NAA) Continue reading
Advertising News
FSI Coupon Activity Sees
Record Growth
Free Standing
Insert (FSI) coupon activity rose 10.1% based on Coupons Dropped during
the first six months of 2010 versus the same time period a year ago,
according to Marx, part of the Kantar Media Group.
That increase
is the largest seen during the first six months of a calendar year,
surpassing the second-highest growth reported in Coupons Dropped - 8.0%
in the first half of 2004. (E&P) Continue reading
1 For All
The following is
information on a First Amendment promotion initiative that the Newseum launched on July
1st. The initiative is outlined on a new website the Newseum has
created at www.1forall.us. You'll find on the site a list
of organizations that have already enlisted as supporters of the
cause. The
Newseum is not seeking funding; they are hoping that state press
associations
will help distribute the promotion ads to ensure that the campaign gets
much
needed newspaper exposure, nationwide.
This is an important
and
groundbreaking campaign that needs support from everyone who cares about
a free
press. Please go to the website, check it out and then you can access
the
resources page to locate ads that newspapers can run beginning July 1
and
thereafter. The Newseum hopes that all state press association and
newspapers
nationwide will sign onto this, and they will list their supporters on
materials
and on their website.
Newspapers Get Into Auction Business
with Boocoo.com
No medium has ever been better at getting cash registers to ring by bringing
buyers and sellers together with newspapers' advertising power. But getting a
cut of the transactions they engineer so effectively has proven elusive.
A national network of newspapers that launches in May plans to change
that with an auction system that will give newspapers a split of the transaction
fee when it brings bidders and sellers together. Ranger Data Technologies, the
Augusta, Ga.-based company best known for its classified advertising systems,
will debut Boocoo Auctions with at least 200 newspaper mastheads covering more
than 6,000 of the 29,735 ZIP codes it has identified as residential ZIPs. (E&P) Continue reading
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People in the News
Send updates of new hires, promotions, retirements, memorials, etc to director@nmpress.org. We will print the news in this section each month.
Managing Editor
The Rio Rancho Observer has
an incredible opportunity for an
innovative, high-energy newsroom leader. Job Bank
Managing editor
Managing
editor for a 3,000 circulation weekly newspaper in the mountain resort
community of Angel Fire New Mexico. Job Bank
Special Sections Editor
Special
sections editor for a 11,000-circulation, family-owned weekly newspaper
located
in beautiful Taos, New Mexico. Job Bank
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Classifieds
Have something to sell? Looking to buy? Need to hire or need a job? Send details to director@nmpress.org. We will print the news in this section each month.
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