This year, submit all entries in the contests as a pdf or as a URL

  Previous years have been tedious on KPA member newspapers wanting to enter the News or Advertising Contest. Sort through all the issues, pull tearsheets of the pages with quality entries and then weed through them again for the ones that really seem to stand out. Until a few years ago, you had to package those tearsheets and send them […]

Here we go again! Something KPA received from USPS: A bin reserved for MAIL-IN BALLOTS

  Two months ago, I wrote about the nine different newspapers we received at KPA, all dated in 2015. Something like 58 months it took for those papers to make it to the central office, and coming from all parts of the state — Middlesboro Daily News, Henderson Gleaner, Harlan Daily Enterprise, Mayfield Messenger, Benton Tribune Courier, Corbin Times Tribune, […]

KPA petitions court to file amicus brief in support of Louisville’s Government Oversight Committee

The Kentucky Press Association has filed a motion in Jefferson Circuit Court’s Seventh District, seeking permission to file an amicus brief in support of the Louisville Metro Council’s Government Oversight Committee. Metro Council chair Brent Ackerson issued a press release Thursday, praising the involvement of a transparency expert rebuffing Administration efforts to evade public testimony. He was referring to KPA […]

Deaths in Kentucky will be up in 2020 but by how much?

A friend stopped me over the weekend and asked if any newspapers had reported on the total number of deaths in Kentucky for 2020 (not just from COVID-19, but all deaths) and compared that to the last two or three years. Not that I know of was my response but I’ll see if I can find out any numbers. He […]

Can obituaries help save local news?

By Kristen Hare, RJI Fellows Class of 2020-2021 Years ago when asked what will save local news, Steven Waldman had two answers: national service and obituaries. You might know Waldman as the co-founder of Report for America, a Peace Corps-like model that pairs emerging journalists with local newsrooms to cover critical issues to those communities. After years of talking with […]

Louisville forced to hand over Amazon HQ2 proposal after state Supreme Court refuses case

By Andrew Wolfson, The Courier-Journal LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In what advocates called a victory for openness in government, the Kentucky Supreme Court has decided The Courier Journal should be allowed to inspect the city of Louisville’s failed bid to land Amazon’s second headquarters. The court without comment Aug. 13 rejected the city’s request to hear its appeal of a Court of Appeals opinion last year that the newspaper was entitled […]

Persistence to make the contact pays off for Adair County Community Voice in getting its intern

Falling in Love with Journalism Abigail Smoot, Adair County Community Voice, Oklahoma State University During the midst of COVID-19 and having to re-acclimate to being back in Kentucky, I received a call from an unknown number.  Due to getting so many sales calls, I didn’t answer. A few days later, I received a text from Sharon Burton, owner and publisher […]

Reaching out to political candidates with message of strength in newspapers

The Kentucky Press Service’s successful political advertising this year continues pushing forward as the November general election approaches. We’ll be sharing this message below with candidates at all levels and invite our newspapers to promote themselves to local and regional candidates with the message that newspapers are the media to help candidates through to a successful campaign. Feel free to […]

CJ’s Veda Morgan named Engagement, Diversity and Opinion senior director

From the Louisville Courier-Journal Veda Morgan, a 26-year veteran of The Courier Journal who oversees its opinion and community engagement efforts, has been promoted to senior director for Engagement, Diversity and Opinion. This is a new role that emphasizes, more than ever, The Courier Journal’s commitment to cover with depth and sophistication the important topics of race, diversity and inclusion, […]

Knight’s words of wisdom still relevant to today’s publishers

Tom Silvestri, Executive Director The Relevance Project,  A Project of the Newspaper Association Managers   Will your blood, toil, tears and sweat in newspapering today be relevant 10 years from now? How about in 40 or 60 years? I wondered about that as I finished reading “Knight: A Publisher in the Tumultuous Century.” It’s the biography of John S. Knight, […]