December 21, 2012


  • Media Day Set to Watch Eagles Soar
  • KHSJA Convention nears 400 high school students
  • Secretary of State wants to exempt absentee lists from Open Records Law
  • Letter from the Newtown (CT) Bee
  • Lots going on today — shortest, coldest, windiest day that’s the first day of winter and hopefully not the Apocalypse
  • Next scheduled webinar is on a Wednesday. And that’s OK!

LAST DAY TIL WEDNESDAY…

that the KPA Central Office will be open. We’re closed Monday and Tuesday, then most will return to work on Wednesday. Of course, if the Mayans were accurate, we won’t have to worry about coming to work Wednesday.

We follow the same schedule the following week, closed New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day then back at it on Wednesday, January 2.

LET’S SEE WHAT TODAY BRINGS!

Okay, so it’s December 21.

That means it’s:

(a) the shortest day of the year

(b) the first day of winter (wish it was the last day of winter)

(c) the day the Mayans predicted would be the apocalypse

(d) for some people, the last working day before Christmas

(e) the coldest and windiest day so far

(f) All of the Above

CONGRATS TO THE LEITCHFIELD RECORD…

for being the first newspaper to register for the 2013 KPA Convention!! And second registration honors go to soon-to-be KPA President-Elect Scott Schurz Jr.

Now if we hear from 144 other newspapers we’ll be set for the largest convention in KPA’s 144 years. Let’s make that a goal — 144 newspapers helping celebrate 144 years!!

If you’ve been meaning to get registered, get the information at www.kypress.com/convention then fill out the registration form and send it in. Of more immediate need is to make your room reservations (that’s plural) with The Brown. Get the online reservation form in the convention packet or go to www.kypress.com/kpa2013 and it’ll access it for you.

PROXY FOR BUSINESS MEETING IS IN THE MAIL

Publishers — Please be watching your mail (USPS version) for a KPA envelope. In it will be a letter about the KPA Business meeting and a proxy for the one item on the Business Meeting agenda. That would be the election of Vice President of KPA for 2013. By proxy, you can direct your vote so that it’s included in the vote tally. The Business Meeting is required by KPA Bylaws and will be at 11:30 a.m./Eastern, on Thursday, January 24, 2013, at The Brown Hotel in Louisville.

The question on the proxy is the recommendation of the KPA Board of Directors that Rick Welch, publisher of The Madisonville Messenger, serve as Vice President of KPA for 2013.

The deadline to send your proxy back to KPA is January 21, 2013.

FROM THE NEWTOWN (CT) BEE

Dear Newspaper Colleagues,

I wanted to reach out the first moment I could to many of you, and journalists around the globe, who reached out to us at The Bee to send thoughts, prayers and asking how you can be of help to our community – especially those immediately impacted by the December 14 massacre at Sandy Hook School.

The outpouring of support has been, and continues to be overwhelming. But it has created opportunities for scams and legitimate organizations that are taking pass-through and/or processing expenses before delivering donations being made.

Newtown Savings Bank has assured me through its president and CEO that its survivors fund will be distributing 100 percent of every donation to assure the immediate victims are being cared for – including any expenses related to specialized counselors and responders who need to be brought in and put up in close proximity to Newtown. I will be discussing with them in the near future ideas about how any future surplus from donations can continue to serve victims and especially children affected by this and other similar tragedies.

If any media outlets are inclined, they can drive readers, viewers and listeners to http://www.nsbonline.com for information on donating to this fund. Having friends of my own who lost children, and many more who were immediate to the incident, I can’t begin to articulate the horror this unwanted event has showered on us, but your thoughts and prayers will make a significant and positive difference.

With deepest appreciation,

John Voket

Associate Editor

The Newtown Bee…since 1877

(203) 509-2246

WATCH EAGLES SOAR!!

Media Day for Kentucky State Park Eagle Watch

The Kentucky Department of Parks will be holding a media day for its Eagle Watch Weekends on Monday, Jan. 7, 2013, at Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park in Gilbertsville.

Eagle Watch Weekends have been offered for more than 40 years by the Kentucky State Park system. Three parks – Kentucky Dam Village, Lake Barkley and Kenlake – will be offering the weekends for viewing eagles in January and February. Media day provides an excellent opportunity to photograph and learn more about eagles.

Media are invited to take a complimentary tour on the CQ Princess, a 96-foot yacht that will be providing some of the tours for Eagle Watch Weekends. The yacht has heated indoor cabins as well as outdoor decks. State park naturalists will also be on board to discuss eagles, their habitat and their behavior.

The tour will last from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. CST and will include lunch. Because seating is limited, interested media should make reservations by Jan. 3, 2013. For information, reservations, or questions about lodging, contact Gil Lawson at 502-564-4270, ext. 168, or email gil.lawson@ky.gov; or LaDonna Miller at 502-564-8110, ext. 306, or email ladonna.miller@ky.gov. For more information about Eagle Watch Weekends, visit www.parks.ky.gov

OKAY, SO YOU CAN’T DO A WEDNESDAY WEBINAR

When I got the January webinar schedule, I guess I had the knee-jerk reaction — “No, don’t schedule webinars on Wednesdays. We have 47 weekly newspapers that put their edition to bed then.”

We’ve listened and weeklies have always asked us to avoid Wednesdays. So whenever I see something newspaper-related on a Wednesday, I mildly protest.

I got that message to the Iowa Newspaper Foundation and Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. And while it didn’t fall on deaf ears, my email got a response. And it’s truthful. The thing about webinars is, they aren’t just live and gone forever. They’re archived. So sign up for them even if they’re on a Wednesday and watch them when you can.

Here’s a note from Edward Van Horn at SNPA:

David,

I appreciate what you say about Wednesdays.

Since it is being held on a day when many newspapers go to press, this could be a great opportunity to remind them that a webinar can be viewed ANY TIME – not just on the time and day that it is actually taped. It’s the same as TiVo and DVRs. Nobody watches TV shows in “real time” any more. The same thinking applies to webinars.

We have a hard time conveying this idea – and most newspapers don’t consider this possibility. However, it would make things much for convenient for newspapers if they understood that they could watch the archived programs on any day, in the morning or at night, at work or at home. No two people have to be on the same schedule. We send them the link to the program. Individuals can choose the time and day and place that is best for them to watch it.

The experience is exactly the same.

Your convention sounds amazing!!

CONVENTION: YOU COMING AND BRINGING STAFFERS?

You see Ed’s final thought: Your convention sounds amazing!!

Well, we like to hear those things but honestly, if our members don’t come it doesn’t matter how good or bad a convention program is.

So go through the materials again, www.kypress.com/convention and then select all the staff members you need to be in Louisville to make sure the sessions get covered.

Unlike webinars, these are live. Once!!

(I invited him to come to the Bluegrass in January just to see how great the convention’s going to be.)

KHSJA CONVENTION AT 400

David Greer’s been keeping a close eye on registrations for the Kentucky High School Journalism Association convention day because there’s meeting space on the first floor for only about 400 students. And we’re right on the mark with yet another month to go.

We’ll keep tabs on it to see if some of the sessions he has planned need to move elsewhere in The Brown. This is the first KHSJA convention in a few years. With attendance falling — it had reached, I think 998 — and in the spring, we joined with universities for their high school workshops. This year, David and I decided to try it in January, in conjunction with our convention to see if that will work. It just might!

ARKANSAS PRESS JUDGES

The Arkansas Press Association judged the Excellence in Kentucky Newspapers – 2012 competition. That’s the contest for which the awards will be presented Friday, January 25, 2013, at the banquet.

Arkansas Press has made the list available of its judges for this contest with a “Thank you” note in its online bulletin:

The Arkansas Press Association recently completed its judging of the Kentucky Press Association’s (KPA) Excellence in Kentucky Newspapers Competition as part of a reciprocal arrangement between the two organizations.

APA takes this opportunity to express its thanks to all those who served as judges for the contest. Terri Cobb, business manager for the association and coordinator for the contest judging, recently listed all of the judges. Their names are (alphabetically): Barry Arthur, Annette Beard, Becca Bona, Dennis Byrd, Jay Edwards, Eileen Feldman, Frank Fellone, Eric Francis, Lori Freeze, Kara Lee Ford, Ann Gardner, Terry Hawkins, David Keith, Tom Larimer, Wendy Ledbetter, David McCollum, Roy Ockert, Bruce Plopper, Molly Rector, David Scolli, Edie Sutterfield, Michael Taylor, Bonnie Thrasher, Spencer Tirey, Rusty Turner, Ginny Tyson, Van Tyson, Polly Walter and Tres Williams.

SECRETARY STATE AND OPEN RECORDS

Leigh Ann Thacker and I attended the Kentucky County Clerks Association convention Wednesday in Lexington. Our purpose was to ask the clerks to open a dialogue with KPA to correct the problems some newspapers are experiencing in covering elections at polling places. (More on that in a minute.)

Before Leigh Ann and I went to the head table, Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes addresses the clerks. She talked about some of the voting percentages in the last election and compared it to some previous ones. She talked about a couple of issues the clerks have expressed to her and then brought up her legislative agenda.

Leigh Ann and I are glad now we went. Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t have known until the legislature begins that Secretary Grimes is drafting legislation that would “exempt from the Open Records Law pre-election lists of individuals who have requested a mail-in absentee ballot.” And she said this would include candidates, the public and the papers.

The clerks applauded that announcement, apparently because a lot of individuals harass them for the names of those voting early.

As Secretary Grimes was leaving, I introduced myself, gave her my business card and asked her BEFORE she starts anything on the legislation to please talk with KPA. I told her I take my marching orders from “the one who wrote the Open Meetings and Records laws in the mid 1970s and who did so again in 1990-92.” And then I said, “Jon Fleischaker.”

Well her face lit up. “I’ll do that. I know Jon from when we worked on some (gaming or gambling) issues before when I was with Stoll Keenon and Park.”

She promised to get in touch with Jon. Yeah, right.

NOW ABOUT ACCESS TO POLLING PLACES

I didn’t go there with a policy proposal that would end all the problems on getting into polling places and whether newspapers can or cannot take photographs of anything more than “the knees down.”

My plan was just to draw attention to the need to develop a policy the precinct officers, county clerk and the media can live with and understand. Before saying anything, I re-introduced myself to Oldham County Clerk Julie…. She told me that Jackie Hess at the Oldham Era had already talked with her about problems covering elections. And Julie said since she is president of the clerks association this year, she’ll work with us to develop a policy.

We have time since there are no scheduled elections until 2014. However, many of you will have local option elections in 2013. Secretary Grimes told the audience there are already 11 local option elections to be scheduled for 2013.

NEWSPAPERS SELECTED FOR DIGITAL INITIATIVE

Throughout 2012, the KPA Board and some members have been going through a plan to begin a digital initiative for KPA newspapers. The discussion has centered on getting newspapers ready for the (immediate) future with mobile, e-editions, digital archiving, video and the training to help that along.

To get this started, the KPA Digital Committee set up a Pilot Project involving a limited number of newspapers. We wanted to focus not on newspapers that were already doing this but newspapers that could use some guidance as they prepare for the new generation of newspaper production.

The committee invited a small number of newspapers to apply to be a pilot newspaper and four responded they want to be a part of this. Yesterday, the Digital Committee accepted the four as pilot project newspapers for 2013. The four are the Lewis County Herald, Citizen Voice and Times in Irvine, The Lake News in Calvert City and the Mountain Advocate in Barbourville.

Those newspapers will meet with the committee during the convention and then be ready for assistance from KPA and committee members in the aforementioned areas. They also will be part of a panel at the 2014 convention to discuss the project and how it helped their newspapers and what they’re doing digital.

THIS IS CONFERENCE CALL DAY

Have two conference calls today — 10:30 Eastern with the KPA Ad Division and 2:30 with the KPA Associates board.

For the Ad Division, the agenda includes tweaking the ad contest rules to incorporate the electronic entry process and some changes in newspaper production. Previously, ads entered had to be sold, conceived, designed, laid out totally by the newspaper staff. With more newspapers contracting out their design process, we have to incorporate language to allow those kinds of ads to be entered.

The Ad Division will also be electing its chairman for 2013-14.

As for the Associates program, we’re focusing on the KPA Associates public relations internship program for the summer and to elect a chair for 2013-14.

That serves as a reminder for KPA Associates members to apply for the summer intern program as a Host Company. Associate members can go to www.kypress.com/interns, fill out the Associate Host Company application and hit SUBMIT.

LET THERE BE FIVE!

It doesn’t seem long ago that Kentucky had but two area codes — 606 and 502. As cell phones came on the scene and the population grew, it became necessary to add two more — 859 and 270. This week, the Public Service Commission announced its decision on another area code — 364.

That will play a part in the area currently in the 270 area code. But instead of separating areas into two, the PSC accepted an overlay plan. So it seems possible now that numbers within even a small town might have 270 and 364 incorporated. This will require residents to use a 10-digit dialing process, dialing either 270 or 364 and then the number.

That seems the easier process, perhaps, than separating the two. That would have created an expense of correcting all printed material to show the new area code. Coincidentally, I still see some businesses around Lexington that haven’t changed the area code on their service vehicles — still showing 606 as the area code for Lexington.

The new overlay takes effect in January, 2014. Thankfully, we won’t have to do wholesale changes in the directory and the online directory to show the new area code for any particular newspaper in the area.

AUTO-CORRECT NOT ALWAYS GOOD

Two weeks ago, Al Cross had me check the last name of an individual I had mentioned in this. I typed it correctly, because I checked before sending. But by the time it got to you, the AutoCorrect on Microsoft had changed the name.

Last week, Brad Hughes suggested I check the spelling of Jill Seyfred’s last name. I did, twice, while I was typing it to make sure it came out correctly. But when it was sent, Word had changed it to Sired. AutoCorrect might be a nice part of the software program but it doesn’t always work as you want it.

Lesson learned. I turned of AutoCorrect.

 

Okay, this is somewhat shorter than usual, partly by design. Getting ready for the Ad Division conference call and then the Associates Board call this afternoon. Plus there’s just not a whole lot going on to report on.

Remember to download the convention material at www.kypress.com/convention and make your room reservation with The Brown and get registered with KPA. Then sit back and get ready for a couple of days of non-stop training, learning, discussing, understanding.

Foremost, have a safe and Happy Holiday.

Thanx!!

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

December 24-25, 2013 – KPA Central Office Closed for Christmas

December 31, 2012 – January 1, 2013 – KPA Central Office Closed for New Year’s

January 8 – 11, 2013 – Kentucky General Assembly Organizational Session

January 24 – 25, 2013 – 2013 KPA Winter Convention, The Brown Hotel, Louisville

January 26, 2013 – Both the Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Association and Kentucky News Photographers Association finish up their 2013 Conventions at The Brown

February 5 – March 26 2013 – 2013 Kentucky General Assembly Session

March 13 – 15, 2013 – National Newspaper Association’s We Believe in Newspapers Leadership Conference – Crystal City Marriott, Washington, D.C.

September 12 – 15, 2013 – 127th Annual National Newspaper Association Convention and Trade Show, Phoenix, AZ

August 6 – 9, 2013 – Newspaper Association Managers Annual Convention, Marriott Harbourfront Hotel, Halifax, Nova Scotia

January 23 – 24, 2014 – 2014 KPA Winter Convention, Hyatt Regency, Lexington

January 22 – 23, 2015 – 2015 KPA Winter Convention, Marriott East, Louisville

Sometime in 2017 – We’ve been asked to judge the Mississippi Press Association Better Newspaper Contest in 2017. Please hold the year open for further information on when, where and what media format Mississippi papers will be in that year.

Sometime in 2018 – Colorado judging KPA Excellence in Kentucky Newspapers Competition

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