October 18, 2013


• West Kentucky Media Association divides its account between the Journalism Foundation and NNA

• Board restructures funding mechanism for Legal Defense Fund

• Loyd Ford nominated as 2014 KPA Vice President; Cheryle Walton elected treasurer for 2014

• KPS within a few dollars of all-time November record; and it’s just the first day of the month!!

• But first things first — remember the time changes Sunday

The time it is a’changin’

alarm-clock-150x150Hopefully, you’ve reminded your readers and then you’ll remember for home, office and car to set your clocks BACK an hour at 2 a.m. Sunday. Or rather, when you go to bed Saturday night.

We’ll stay on “slow time” til Sunday, March 9, 2014, when we set the clocks forward. And lose an hour of sleep.

Board restructures Legal Defense funding mechanism

It’s been a little over 17 years since KPA began its quite successful Legal Defense Fund. The program was created in 1996, a brainchild of the late KPA President Steve Lowery, who wanted to make sure newspapers could have some funding assistance for all kinds of legal cases.

On August 1, 1996, KPA launched its program and since that time it’s granted more than $550,000 to newspapers participating in the program who faced legal situations where the outcome could affect the industry as a whole. To fund it, KPA set up an advertising deduction basis for KPS placements. For those agreeing to participate, newspapers could have their commitment level deducted from the monthly KPS ad checks. And all of the funds stay in the Legal Defense Fund.

At the beginning, KPA asked newspapers to commit a minimum of one-quarter page of advertising dollars placed by KPS. Some committed larger amounts — a half-page, a full page and one even gave the equivalent of two full pages. But as the years went on, the amounts requested for reimbursements grew as more and more legal cases happened. It got to the point a couple of years ago that the LDF Committee was receiving more in requests than available from the contributions. So it had to deny some requests or decrease the level of reimbursement. The original goal was to reimburse “up to 50 percent” of a newspaper’s legal fees and in most all cases, the 50 percent reimbursement was approved.

In July, the committee — Past Presidents Tom Caudill, John Nelson, Dave Eldridge, David Hawpe and Taylor Hayes — asked the KPA Board to increase the funding levels. That discussion led to some options and four proposals were developed.

At its 2013 Fall Board Retreat October 24-25, the Board approved a funding mechanism based on circulation size:

• one-quarter page for newspapers up to 3,000 paid circulation;

• one-half page for newspapers from 3,001 to 10,o00 circulation;

• one full page for newspapers with more than 10,000 circulation.

Letters to the publisher at all participating newspapers were mailed Thursday. Normally, KPS deducts the contribution beginning with September checks. But with the delay in approving the funding increase, KPS will deduct the 2013 amounts beginning with the December check. Once a newspaper’s commitment is realized, KPS will return to mailing monthly KPS ad checks to that newspaper.

The Legal Defense Fund is one of KPA’s largest participatory networks with 89 newspapers.

A record November is just a few bucks away

It’s just November 1 but I think it’s safe to place your bets on this being the largest November in KPS advertising history. A day before the month began, KPS already had $368,880.32 in-house . That’s just $260 short of the highest November — 2011.

And for the year, that $368,880 puts us at $2.901 million. This is already the second highest month in 2013 with 30 or so days left to build on the total.

Loyd Ford nominated as 2014 Vice President; Cheryle Walton elected treasurer

Loyd Ford

Loyd Ford

Loyd Ford, publisher of The Lake News in Calvert City, has been nominated by the KPA/KPS Board to serve as Vice President of the organization for 2014. His nomination will be submitted to the full membership for approval at the KPA Winter Convention in January. All newspapers will be able to vote via mailed proxies prior to the convention.

Cheryle Walton

Cheryle Walton

Cheryle Walton, ad director for the Beattyville Enterprise, was elected Treasurer of KPA/KPS for 2014. Her election does not have to be submitted to the membership.

Other 2014 officers will be Scott Schurz Jr., president; Rick Welch, president-elect; and Willie Sawyers, past president.

If you haven’t been to Dale Hollow State Resort Park, you owe it to yourself

I’d long heard of Dale Hollow Lake State Park but hadn’t been there. Even knowing it had a great golf course hadn’t gotten me down to Cumberland County. And for the most part, the same can be said for KPA Board members — they’d never been there.

So we had our annual two-day Board Retreat there October 24-25 and the Board members came away impressed. It’s the newest state resort park, now 17 years ago. Chances are really good you’ve heard of part of that park without realizing where it is.

Trooper Island, site of a summer-long program sponsored by Kentucky State Police for disadvantaged youth, is located not far from the Mary Rae Oaken Lodge. You can see Trooper Island in the photo below. And right at the backside of the island, you’re looking at Tennessee. If you’re looking for a place for golf, or fishing (the world record smallmouth bass came from Dale Hollow Lake), or camping, or a boat ride, I think you’ll find the Board would recommend you consider Dale Hollow Resort State Park.

Trooper Island, in the middle of Dale Hollow Lake. The backside of the island is the Tennessee state line.

Trooper Island, in the middle of Dale Hollow Lake. The backside of the island is the Tennessee state line.

Journalism Foundation/Internship Program to benefit from West Kentucky Media Association

Members of the West Kentucky Media Association met yesterday and voted to disband that organization. The group had not met in several years so it made the decision to dissolve. In so doing, WKMA members voted that the funds WKMA had be divided between the Kentucky Journalism Foundation for its internship program and the NNA Postal Defense Fund.

Coupled with the proceeds from the Kentucky-Tennessee Border War golf outing in September, that’s more than $10,600 in new monies available for the internship program.

On behalf of the Past Presidents and the Board, we appreciate the generosity of the West Kentucky Media Association.

About those Rate and Data sheets

So have you completed yours for 2014? Twenty-six of you can respond, “yes” but for the others, just remember that the deadline is approaching.

Fall’s is here, a new year isn’t too far away and we’re starting to collect all the information we can from newspapers so we can produce the 2014 KPA Directory.

But it’s not only for the directory, it’s equally important for us to have the information for our advertising sales efforts. And we’re already getting requests from agencies and advertisers for 2014 rates and information.

We need you to go to  http://www.kypress.com/directoryinfo  and fill out the appropriate form for your newspaper. Publishers and ad directors can flip a coin to see who gets to complete the form.

•  For those with a Periodicals Class Mailing Permit, click on “Weekly and Daily Newspapers Click Here.” Please mail us a copy of your Form 3526 Statement of Ownership as well as Form 3526X if you are showing Electronic Subscriptions.

• For our Associate Member Newspapers, those without a Periodicals Class Mailing Permit, click on  “Associate Papers Click Here.”

Then fill out the form and at the end you’ll find SUBMIT INFORMATION TO KPA and that will send the completed form back to us.

Please note — We are ADDING a new line for 2014. Those of you who sell “subscriptions” to your website/e-edition may have also filed a Form 3526X for Electronic Subscriptions. Since that’s countable by the U.S. Postal Service, we’re going to add a line on the directory information showing the Electronic Subscription number.

For the phone number(s) for your newspaper, please show the Main Phone number where indicated. We have had several newspapers put an employee’s direct line number there or a line to the Ad Department only. We’d like you to show the Main Phone, Editorial Phone and Advertising Phone numbers where indicated if there are different numbers available. Otherwise, just the Main Phone number for the newspaper.

We know some of you are in budgeting, or getting ready for that and have no idea what your 2014 rates will be. That’s fine, we can get that from you as soon as it’s available but we’d like for you to complete the rest of the form so we can start compiling everything agencies and advertisers need to know about Kentucky newspapers and have this one source to go to.

Questions? Give me a call at 800-264-5721. And again, please mail us a copy of your Form 3526 Statement of Ownership as well as Form 3526X if you are showing Electronic Subscriptions.

The 26 who have completed their forms are (so if your newspaper isn’t on the list we need your assistance):

Bardwell, Carlisle Weekly

Brooksville, The Bracken County News

Calvert City, The Lake News

Central City, Leader News

Central City, The Times-Argus

Clay City, The Clay City Times

Dry Ridge, The Grant County News

Grayson, Grayson Journal-Enquirer

Hartford, Ohio County Times News

Hodgenville, The LaRue County Herald News

Hopkinsville, Kentucky New Era

Inez, Mountain Citizen

Irvine, Citizen Voice & Times

Manchester, The Manchester Enterprise

Monticello, The Wayne County Outlook

Morehead, The Morehead News

Morehead, The News Review

Murray, The Murray State News

Oak Grove, Fort Campbell Courier

Oak Grove, The Eagle Post

Olive Hill, Olive Hill Times

Princeton, Times Leader

Sebree, The Sebree Banner

Shelbyville, Sentinel-News

Sturgis, The Sturgis News

Versailles, The Woodford Sun

The Artist Formerly Known As Prince

I’m not a Prince fan whatsoever but I was reminded of that “title” while driving back from Mayfield on Tuesday. Heading east to Frankfort, I-24 took me to the Western Kentucky Parkway.

Well, that’s the name it used to be. When other governors were honored with their names in front of parkway names (i.e., Martha Layne Collins Bluegrass Parkway) the Transportation powers renamed WK Parkway the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway.

Only now that name has been changed again. The first 35 miles, from its beginning near Eddyville to the overpass for the Purchase Parkway (oops, Julian M. Carroll Purchase Parkway), is now known as I-69. And the signs let you know you’re traveling on “I-69, Formerly Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway.”

I’m sure new travelers get confused because the old milemarker 1 on the WKP is now milemarker 71 for I-69. And you travel on toward the Madisonville/Hopkinsville exit and it gets up to milemarker 106. But go a few feet, staying on the parkway and you’re at milemarker 39.

Reynolds Institute teaming with NPR, PBS, other public media to create new products, services

Teams of journalism, computer science and business students at the University of Missouri will build working prototypes of new, consumer-focused mobile experiences using U.S. public media content

The Reynolds Journalism Institute launched its seventh-annual student competition last night in partnership with the Public Media Platform (PMP), a joint initiative of American Public Media, NPR, PBS, Public Radio International and PRX funded by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The PMP is building a common repository and programming interface to simplify the collection and sharing of multimedia stories.

PMP Executive Director Kristin Calhoun explained, “The vision for the PMP rests on a simple premise, that with the capacity to easily share and exchange digital content, the opportunities to develop compelling new public media services and reach new audiences increases exponentially. The PMP is excited to see the concepts that will come from this student competition.”

– See more at: http://www.rjionline.org/news/reynolds-journalism-institute-partners-npr-pbs-and-other-public-media-create-new-products-servi#sthash.9BsZQNyT.dpuf

KPA/KPS Board of Directors Retreat

The KPA/KPS Board of Directors held its annual Fall Retreat Thursday and Friday, October 24-25 at Dale Hollow State Resort Park near Burkesville. The Board met in full session Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, hearing reports from KPA/KPS staff with updates on the various services offered to members, as well as committee and division updates.

The KPA Board is the second largest press association board in the country, with 27 members. Only California’s 60 surpasses KPA.

From left, Ryan Craig, Todd County Standard; Rob McCullough, Commonwealth Journal, Somerset; Sharon Burton, Adair County Community Voice; and Jay Nolan, Mountain Advocate, Barbourville

From left, Ryan Craig, Todd County Standard; Rob McCullough, Commonwealth Journal, Somerset; Sharon Burton, Adair County Community Voice; and Jay Nolan, Mountain Advocate, Barbourville

Morehead News publisher Keith Kappes gestures a point during the KPA/KPS Board Retreat discussions. At left is Cathie Shaffer, with the Greenup County Times News

Morehead News publisher Keith Kappes gestures a point during the KPA/KPS Board Retreat discussions. At left is Cathie Shaffer, with the Greenup County Times News

Check out more photos from the Fall Retreat on the KPA Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/kypress/photos_stream

Contests update

It appears the KPA Fall News Contest will be one of the larger in recent years with more than 3,600 entries. Ninety-eight newspapers registered to enter the contest though a report earlier this week showed not all submitted entries.

We expected the KPA Ad Contest entries to be smaller than usual because we’ve already had one contest in 2013. But with the move to the Ad Contest Awards Banquet at the Winter Convention, we proceeded with a second ad contest.

In the future, both the News and the Ad contest banquets will be at the Winter Convention. For 2014, the Ad Contest banquet will be Thursday, January 23, and the News Contest banquet will be Friday, January 24. All the activities and festivities take place at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Lexington. It marks the first time since 1982 KPA has had a convention at that Hyatt.

Convention room reservations available online!

If you know you’re coming to the 2014 Convention, go ahead and make your room reservations directly with the Hyatt. The room reservation form is active and available online at:

http://lexington.hyatt.com/content/propertywebsites/hotels/regency/lexrl/en/group-booking/lexrlkpra2014.html

We’re finalizing the schedule and that information will be made available in a few weeks.

Purchase Area lets the ‘sunshine’ in

Had the pleasure on Tuesday of doing an Open Meetings seminar for public officials throughout the Purchase Area Development District.

Van Newberry, McCracken County Judge Executive, introduced the session and told the attendees to look out the windows. “What’s the one thing you don’t see?” he asked, looking at the very cloudy sky. The answer was “sunshine” and he began by telling the 50 or so officials that what local governments do is the public’s business and everything they do should be done with “sunshine” factored it.

Open Meetings, Open Records are, of course, often referred to as “Sunshine Laws” because they require government officials to let the sunshine on the agency’s business.

The attitude of those attending was very encouraging. There was not the first comment about interest in doing things behind closed doors or in keeping the agency holed up in secrecy.

In fact, Fulton County Judge Executive David Gallagher and a couple of others said the laws didn’t go far enough, that more openness should be required. Judge-Executive Gallagher went as far to say that anything dealing with “proposed or pending litigation” should be wholly open to the public for discussion and “none of it should be in closed session.”

I don’t believe they were just giving lip service to openness. They were adamant that more business discussions should be done in open session. If only that kind of attitude prevailed across the state (and especially to a certain Cabinet for Self-Protection in Frankfort) we wouldn’t have some many Attorney General opinions and court cases dealing with closed government.

 

That’ll do it for at least another week. I’m heading to Gatlinburg for the Southeast Region Newspaper Association Managers fall conference and won’t be back in the office until Wednesday, November 6. I’ll be out most of next Friday, the 8th, attending the UK College of Communications and Information Service National Advisory Board meeting. But I hope to send you On Second Thought/Friday Email Update before the meeting begins.

As always, call, email, fax or stop by if you have questions, comments, concerns, issues, problems, additions, deletions, clarifications or corrections.

Otherwise, thanx!

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