NYSAPA announces finalists of 2015 competition
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Finalists have been announced in the New York State Associated Press Association's 2015 awards competition.
The awards in actual order of finish - first, second and third places - will be announced during the NYSAPA awards banquet Saturday, June 4, in Saratoga Springs.
Twenty-six newspapers submitted 615 entries in the contest, which featured news and sports stories, features, editorials, columns, graphics and photos from 2015.
Among the finalists are 20 NYNPA newspapers.
NYNPA members recognized as finalists in Division I include:
- The Citizen, Auburn
- The Daily News, Batavia
- Observer, Dunkirk
- Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls
- The Times Herald, Olean
- Press-Republican, Plattsburgh
- Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Saranac Lake
- The Record, Troy
Members listed among finalists in Division II include:
- Press & Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton
- The Post-Star, Glens Falls
- The Post-Journal, Jamestown
- Poughkeepsie Journal
- The Daily Gazette, Schenectady
- Staten Island Advance
- Observer-Dispatch, Utica
Members recognized as finalists in Division III include:
- Times Union, Albany
- Times Herald-Record, Middletown
- The Post-Standard, Syracuse
- The Journal News, White Plains
Division IV's list of finalists includes one NYNPA member:
- Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester
The complete list of NYSAPA contest finalists and categories is available here.
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Gannett's acquisition of Journal Media Group approved
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Gannett, the media company that owns USA TODAY and other news properties in local markets, said Thursday federal regulators have approved its proposed acquisition of Journal Media Group.
The acquisition, which was announced in October, is expected to be completed Friday. In the deal, Gannett is paying about $280 million for the Milwaukee-based company, which owns the 178-year-old Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, 13 other daily newspapers, 18 weeklies and their affiliated websites in 14 U.S. markets.
"The U.S. Department of Justice has closed its investigation of Gannett's proposed acquisition of JMG, and that early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, has been granted," Gannett said. Read the original announcement from usatoday.com here.
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Department of Labor's overtime rules will unintentionally harm employees
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In June, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed increasing the salaries test used to determine if an employee is eligible for overtime from the current threshold of $23,660 to $50,440 annually. This means that employees - such as managers, supervisors and other professionals who are exempt under the Federal Labor Standards Act - would need their annual salaries elevated to $50,440 or be treated as hourly employees that are eligible for overtime. This proposal, which more than doubles the current standard, would set the salary threshold at a level that is nearly $10,000 and $15,000 higher than what is mandated by the state laws in California and New York - states where the cost-of-living is relatively high compared to the rest of the country. What works in New York City or San Francisco doesn't necessarily work in Rapid City, South Dakota or Ames, Iowa.
Let me be clear, the current salaries test - which hasn't changed since 2004 - should be increased. But, addressing a decade of inaction with an immediate 113 percent increase in the salary threshold will result in unintended consequences that will ultimately hurt current employees.
A recent survey of NAA member newspapers found that the newspaper industry would have to spend more than $130 million annually to raise the salaries of exempt employees.
Such a drastic and sudden increase in the salary threshold also would significantly and unfavorably impact our local retail advertising customers. According to the National Retail Federation, retailers would experience a $745 million impact with more than two million employees affected.
Given the well-documented financial challenges of our industry, many newspapers will not be able to meet the new standard. According to the NAA survey, most newspapers said that they would either have to replace full-time employees with those working part-time or convert current exempt employees to an hourly wage. The unintended consequence of the proposed rule is that employees would see a reduction in benefits and workplace flexibility and would be required to fill out timesheets. This is particularly challenging for journalists who need flexibility to cover news stories in their communities that are not constrained by timetables. No journalist wants to be pulled back from a story. The potential impact on local journalism is real. According to the aforementioned survey, 46 percent of the newspapers surveyed said that the proposed salary requirements would force cuts to newsroom staff. If this becomes a reality, it would reduce the journalistic resources needed to keep local communities informed.
A change to current salary threshold is welcomed and supported if it can, in fact, sustainably meet the needs of both the employees and businesses. A rule that is reasonable will encourage businesses to raise salary levels. But a rule that goes too far, too fast, will simply force businesses to restructure operations to avoid unsustainable costs. This will hurt existing employees.
Congress should encourage the Obama Administration to recalibrate this rule into one that is practicable, particularly in light of continued headwinds in our nation's economy.
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How Newspapers are Creating Long-Form Journalism in the Digital Age
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Despite the trend towards clickbait and appealing to readers' shorter attention spans, there's proof that quality investigative journalism isn't dead. Several newspapers have recently turned out long, compelling series that have captured readers' attention in a dramatic way: The New York Times' " Unvarnished" exposé of nail salons reached nearly 5 million readers; in Manitoba, Canada, the Brandon Sun's " Breaking Faith" championed the case of a man who died of asbestosis and whose widow was denied death benefits; and the Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C. won a Pulitzer Prize last year for its series about domestic abuse, " Till Death Do Us Part." E&P talked to these newspapers about the art of crafting a long-form article in a digital world and how they leveraged different newsroom departments to help these articles find-and keep-their audience, as well as attract new readers. Long-form, multiplatform journalism requires an investment of months, a challenge for smaller papers like the Brandon Sun. "For a small newsroom with limited resources, making these kinds of long-form journalistic pieces can be a little tricky," said managing editor Matt Goerzen, who juggled his managerial duties with writing and researching his "Breaking Faith" series, the paper's first of its kind. More
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2016: The Year Election Ads Finally Come to the Internet
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Here's another first for the 2016 election season: It's the first time political campaigns are going to spend real money on digital ads.
That might seem odd to you, because you're reading this on the Internet, where you do lots of other things. So you might assume that politicians and their campaigns have been spending money to reach you here for years.
Not so: Up until now, political advertisers have treated the Internet as a novelty. In 2008, digital accounted for a paltry $22 million of the $6.2 billion campaigns spent on advertising. More
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