November 2013 - Tennessee Press Association

Transcription

The Tennessee Press
16
No surprises here; INT
is huge success again
(See photos made at the Institute
on pages 8 and 9)
BY KEVIN SLIMP
INT director
C
M
Y
K
There was a time when I could hardly rest in the weeks leading up to the
Institute. Worries about hardware and
software were the cause of nightmares
on a nightly basis. Instructors not
showing up or calling to cancel at the
last minute made the days leading up
to the Institute of Newspaper Technology an angst-filled period.
The past couple of sessions have
gone so smoothly that it makes me
worry a little about what might be on
the horizon in coming years. The October 2013 session was no exception. It
went off without a hitch. Evaluations
have been incredibly positive. Everyone seemed to learn enough to make
their “brains hurt” during the seven
hours of classes each day, then have
great times with new friends at our
planned events each evening.
Brian Hurley, Chicago, attended the
Institute for the 11th straight time.
Lisa Miller, who manages 11 newspa-
pers in North Dakota, South Dakota,
Minnesota and Iowa, attended for the
fifth straight year. Wanda Koch, from
Baton Rouge, attended with her staff
for the sixth year. We had the biggest
group of TPA members ever, with 32
Tennesseans in attendance. The newspaper with the most representatives
came from the News Sentinel, Knoxville. TPAF scholarships continue to
make it affordable for any TPA member to attend.
I talked with one attendee from another state who told me her cost to
attend was well more then $2,000 with
travel. And, she added, “worth every
penny.”
Brian Hurley, who manages technology for more than 60 daily and weekly
newspapers in the Midwest, left with
the familiar words, “I’ll be back next
year.”
We had attendees from every corner
of Tennessee. Fifteen states were represented.
Barring any unforeseen surprises,
we’ll hold the 18th session of the Institute next year. And you can bet that
people will go home with filled brains
once again.
Kennedy’s death changed
nation, news coverage
BY ELENORA E. EDWARDS
Managing editor
Many citizens of the United States
will remember, some all too well, the
assassination of John F. Kennedy, the
35th president. He was shot at 1 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, in Deely Plaza in
Dallas, Texas, and Walter Cronkite,
CBS News anchor, broke the news at
1:40 p.m.
A survey of many accounts of the
assassination, the nation’s shock and
analyses, including the Warren Commission report issued Sept. 29, 1964,
make it clear that we don’t know and
never will know all that happened.
Many newspapers came out with extra editions, something we rarely see
now. Some had them the afternoon of
the assassination because their afternoon editions were already out and
others didn’t want to wait until the
next morning to carry the news.
It was the first news event since
“modern television” to get continuous coverage, taking precedence over
regular programming.
It was the first time that murder was
shown on live TV—that when, two
days later, police were transferring
suspect Lee Harvey Oswald, who had
been arrested the same day as the as-
sassination, from police headquarters
to the county jail, Jack Ruby stepped
out of the crowd and shot him. I saw
that, having come into my dorm at
Maryville College, stopped to watch
with other women what was going on,
and Blam! Oswald died, taking with
him all he knew about who conceived
the plot, how it was developed, and,
perhaps, who else might have been involved.
Many articles have begun to appear
in newspapers and other periodicals
about the tragedy. For years now, journalists, broadcasters, columnists and
others have said it was the moment in
which America lost its innocence, the
moment when Camelot ceased to exist
(a concept I consider tripe). Various
television and radio news shows have
begun to air retrospectives and remembrances of the assassination and term
in office of Kennedy, the youngest man
ever to be elected the country’s number one leader.
On pages 10 through 12, The Tennessee Press shows the front pages of
the four metro papers in Tennessee as
they announced Kennedy’s death. We
thank those staffs for the good deal of
trouble they took to provide the images. Next month, we’ll see how they
mark the anniversary.
NOVEMBER 2013
Reminder: Nov. 8 is date
for second Publishers’ Summit
Tennessee Press Association (TPA)
and the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association will serve as co-hosts
for a Publishers’ Summit Friday, Nov.
8, in Nashville. It is set for 10:45 a.m. to
3 p.m. at The Tennessean building.
Tennessee Press Service Technology
Director Kevin Slimp will lead discussion on the following topics: the state
of newspapers in Tennessee; what
newspapers need to do to prepare for
the future; an update on TPA/TPS legislative issues; and revenue.
Participants are asked to bring examples to be shared of something that
has worked well for their newspapers.
TPA held a similar summit for East
Tennessee area publishers in May.
For more information, contact TPA
Executive Director Greg Sherrill
at (865) 584-5761 x106 or gsherrill@
tnpress.com.
Carmack, Tennessean editor,
assassinated 105 years ago
Managing editor
The story of Edward Ward Carmack, editor of the
Nashville Tennessean, took place
during the late 19th
century and early
20th century when
Carmack
many feuds were
still settled by which man was the best
shot.
Carmack’s shooting death occurred
Nov. 9, 1908, 105 years ago this month.
Born in Sumner County, he became a
lawyer and practiced in Columbia; was
elected to the state House of Representatives; joined the Nashville Democrat;
became editor-in-chief of the Nashville American when the newspapers
merged; and then became editor of the
Memphis Commercial. He served two
terms in the U.S. House and one as a
U.S. senator, then lost in a re-election
bid.
Carmack resumed practicing law,
but, still interested in politics, ran
for governor and lost. He joined the
Nashville Tennessean, apparently bitter about his lack of political fortune.
He began to write editorials about his
gubernatorial opponent, Malcolm Patterson, and about Duncan Cooper, who
had given him his first newspaper job.
Cooper sent word that he was insulted and wasn’t taking it any more, but
soon, Carmack wrote further.
It was by chance that they met on the
street, with Cooper being accompanied
by his son, Robin. Carmack fired two
shots and Robin Cooper three. Cooper
was wounded twice, and Carmack was
killed.
Both Robin Cooper and Duncan Cooper were charged, and a long trial took
place. Both were found guilty.
On appeal, the Supreme Court let the
conviction of Duncan Cooper stand
but dismissed that of Robin Cooper.
Soon thereafter, Gov. Patterson pardoned Duncan Cooper.
Some 10 years, later, Robin Cooper
was murdered, a crime that was never
solved but which many people thought
was committed as a reaction to that of
Carmack.
A statue of Carmack, the only newspaperman assassinated in Tennessee,
stands near the Capitol and Legislative Plaza.
(From various sources)
GOAL: $1,000,000
No. 5
NOVEMBER 2013
Vol. 77
Slimp’s ‘invention’ has served
newspaper industry for 20 years
$900K
Managing editor
Many, if not most, of us in the newspaper industry in Tennessee know
Kevin Slimp. Most of us know what a
PDF is.
But what many, if not most, don’t
know is that Slimp is the father of the
PDF as we know it.
The PDF (that stands for portable
document format) was a breakthrough
in at least two ways. It cleared up the
problem of incompatibility (docu-
$800K
$700K
ments created on a PC could not be
read on a Mac, and vice versa), and it
made possible the electronic transmission of documents from one location
to another for printing.
Slimp’s involvement began in 1993
when he learned that a then-small
company, Adobe, was working on just
such a program, called Acrobat. At
the time, as owner of an ad agency, he
was aware of how expensive it was to
create color proofs and get them to a
client, since they had to be sent by courier. His cost to print and deliver one
ad averaged $80.
He called Adobe, where he was put
in touch with Gary Cosimini, who sent
Slimp a copy of the Acrobat software.
He began to work with it and figured
out how to create proofs that could
be created and read on any computer.
The problem was, they could not be
printed.
Vernon McKinney, a former newspaperman who owned a service bureau
near Slimp’s office, dropped in and
SEE SLIMP, PAGE 3
BELIEVERS
Contributors to the TPAF
‘I Believe’ campaign thus far:
• Cannon Courier, Woodbury
• Jim Charlet, in memory of Martha C.
Charlet
• Chattanooga Times Free Press
• Nathan Crawford, In Memory of James
Walter Crawford Sr. and C.T. (Charlie)
Crawford Jr.
• Crossville Chronicle, In Memory of
Perry Sherrer
• Gannett Foundation
The Jackson Sun
The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville
The Tennessean, Nashville
• Hollow & Hollow LLC
• Joe Hurd, The Courier, Savannah
• Jones Media, In Memory of Edith
O’Keefe Susong and Quincy Marshall
O’Keefe
The Advocate & Democrat,
Sweetwater
The Daily Post Athenian, Athens
The Daily Times, Maryville
The Greeneville Sun
The Herald-News, Dayton
The Newport Plain Talk
News-Herald, Lenoir City
The Rogersville Review
• Kennedy Newspapers, Columbia
• Lakeway Publishers, Morristown
Citizen Tribune, Morristown
The Elk Valley Times, Fayetteville
Grundy County Herald, Tracy City
The Herald-Chronicle, Winchester
Manchester Times
The Moore County News, Lynchburg
The Tullahoma News
• The Milan Mirror-Exchange
• News Sentinel, Knoxville
• The Paris Post-Intelligencer, In Memory
of W. Bryant Williams
• Republic Newspapers
The Courier News, Clinton
• Richard Rowlett, Rowlett Advertising
Service, Goodlettsville
• Union City Daily Messenger
• Bill and Anne Williams, Paris, in honor of
Michael Williams’ presidency of TPA
$600K
Chris Menees, staff reporter with the Union City Daily Messenger, won
the Reporter’s Hymn Contest conducted by The Tennessee Press during
September. She won $50.
$500K
‘I Love to Tell the Story’
perfect for reporters
$400K
Managing editor
$304,850
10-13
$300K
$200K
$100K
Tell the story. That’s what journalists do. And they’ve got to love it or 1)
they wouldn’t work for modest pay and
2) they wouldn’t do a very good job.
So, Chris Menees, a staff reporter
with the Union City Daily Messenger,
is the winner of the Reporter’s Hymn
Contest. She suggested “I Love to Tell
the Story,”
“It’s an old standard from the Baptist
Hymnal,” she wrote. It’s also in many
other hymnals and is the one this reporter had in mind all along.
Menees will receive $50.
She was not the only one to suggest
“I Love to Tell the Story”—she was the
first, though.
Richard Clark, vice president of
inside sales and small business ini-
INSIDE
RICHARDSON
FORESIGHT
tiatives for the Northeast Tennessee
Media Group, Johnson City, wrote,
“Clearly, for reporters the hymn needs
to be ‘I Love to Tell the Story.’”
The words to this hymn were written
by Katherine Hankey (1834-1911).
Amanda Kimbrell, administrative
assistant at the News-Herald, Lenoir
City, also suggested that one.
Karen Geary, creative director at
The Paris Post-Intelligencer, wife of
a Methodist minister, offered these
suggestions: “Behold What News We
Bring,” “Good News” and “No Other
Story.”
Lise Cutshaw, media and marketing
coordinator at the Mary B. Martin
School of Arts at East Tennessee State
University, Johnson City, proposed
“We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations,”
SEE CONTEST, PAGE 3
2
3
ADVERTISING
OBITS
4
5
ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
Kevin Slimp holds in his left hand the first sheet of film printed from a PDF. It was printed at The Typecase in
Knoxville, owned by Vernon McKinney, a former newspaper publisher and past TPA president (1971-72). The
newspaper page Slimp is holding is the first color broadsheet printed from a PDF. It was printed with Scott
Whaley’s help on the press of the Chester County Independent, Henderson. The framed item is the story in the
Nov. 25, 1995 issue of the News Sentinel, Knoxville, telling about Slimp’s invention.
REWRITES
TRACKS
5 GIBSON
13-14 SLIMP
13
15
IN CONTACT
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Online: www.tnpress.com
The Tennessee Press
2
(USPS 616-460)
Published quarterly by the
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE, INC.
for the
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION, INC.
435 Montbrook Lane
Knoxville, Tennessee 37919
Telephone (865) 584-5761/Fax (865) 558-8687/www.tnpress.com
Subscriptions: $6 annually
Periodicals Postage Paid At Knoxville, TN
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Tennessee Press,
435 Montbrook Lane, Knoxville, TN 37919.
The Tennessee Press is printed by The Standard Banner, Jefferson City.
Greg M. Sherrill.....................................................Editor
Elenora E. Edwards.............................Managing Editor
Robyn Gentile..........................Production Coordinator
Angelique Dunn...............................................Assistant
NOVEMBER 2013
Responding to local business needs
After learning that yet another local business
had decided to close, a local merchant picked up
the phone and called our newspaper.
“What are we going to do?” he wanted to
know.
That question is being asked a lot lately. Like
many others we’ve talked to, there is growing
concern about the demise of local businesses
and the increasing number of empty buildings
along Main Streets everywhere.
We’re not alone here in Tennessee. In fact,
overall we’re better off than most. Communities across the country are seeing doors of businesses and industries slam shut, never to open
again.
It has been a tough month around here. In just
the past two weeks, we learned that a locally-
YOUR
PRESIDING
REPORTER
Lynn J. Richardson
responsibility to it when I uncovered a very old
copy of the Herald & Tribune.
Dated Oct. 14, 1959, it has an editorial cartoon
front and center, above the fold.
The cartoon is for National Newspaper Week.
In it, a couple nestled in their easy chairs and of
course, reading their newspapers, hear a voice
on the radio saying “Again we remind you that
your community paper is what YOU make it!
Support your hometown merchants who in turn
support your home town paper!”
A lot of things have changed over the years
in our industry, but our involvement with our
community and the support we offer our merchants is just as important, if not more so, today
than it was back in 1959.
We don’t have all the answers but we should be
The Tennessee Press
is printed on recycled paper
and is recyclable.
www.tnpress.com
The Tennessee Press can be read on
OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
Lynn J. Richardson, Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough...............................President
Jason P. Taylor, Chattanooga Times Free Press...................................Vice President
Joel Washburn, The McKenzie Banner................................................Vice President
John Finney, Buffalo River Review, Linden................................................Treasurer
Greg M. Sherrill, Knoxville............................................................Executive Director
DIRECTORS
Keith Wilson, Kingsport Times-News...........................................................District 1
Jack McElroy, News Sentinel, Knoxville......................................................District 2
Chris Vass, Chattanooga Times Free Press..................................................District 3
Darren Oliver, Overton County News, Livingston.......................................District 4
Hugh Jones, Shelbyville Times-Gazette.......................................................District 5
Jesse Lindsey, The Lebanon Democrat........................................................District 6
Mark Palmer, The Daily Herald, Columbia...................................................District 7
Brad Franklin, The Lexington Progress........................................................District 8
Daniel Richardson, Magic Valley Publishing, Camden...............................District 9
Eric Barnes, The Daily News, Memphis......................................................District 10
Michael B. Williams...........................................................Immediate Past President
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE
Jeffrey D. Fishman, The Tullahoma News...................................................President
Victor Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange.........................................Vice President
Ralph C. Baldwin, Jones Media Inc., Greeneville.........................................Director
David Critchlow Jr., Union City Daily Messenger.........................................Director
Jason P. Taylor, Chattanooga Times Free Press.............................................Director
Jana Thomasson, The Mountain Press, Sevierville.......................................Director
Greg M. Sherrill...................................................................Executive Vice President
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION
Gregg K. Jones, The Greeneville Sun..........................................................President
Richard L. Hollow, Knoxville............................................................General Counsel
Greg M. Sherrill...........................................................................Secretary-Treasurer
CONTACT THE MANAGING EDITOR
TPAers with suggestions, questions or comments about items in The Tennessee
Press are welcome to contact the managing editor. Call Elenora Easterly Edwards,
(865) 457-5459; send a note to P.O. Box 502, Clinton, Tenn. 37717-0502; or email
ElenoraEdwards@Comcast.net. The deadline for the December issue is Nov. 11.
owned barbecue restaurant has vacated its space and in
mid-November, we will say goodbye to a nine-year veteran
shop that assumed the role of an anchor retailer in our
downtown.
The closures have also extended to our restaurant row on
the nearby four-lane bypass, with a promising 1-year-old
locally-owned eatery biting the dust.
It is extremely concerning, as you might imagine, to watch
such things happen and it is an issue with which we can all
identify.
However, one of the most telling things about all this is the
fact a merchant called our newspaper asking for help.
That is an indication, if not an inspiration, that our local
businesses look to us to be part of the solution when there
are problems in the community.
Some of our communities across Tennessee have strong
economic development leadership. In others, not so much.
But whatever the case, it is a tough job and one that requires determination and consistency. All he or she can
do is just keep plugging away, constantly researching companies that might be looking for a new home and inviting
them to come to town.
I doubt there is one of them, though, who wouldn’t appreciate some help.
That’s where we come in.
I was reminded of our place in the community and our
willing to step up and help find solutions, looking for ways to
take good care of the businesses we currently have. In doing
so, we exhibit to prospects that we are ready and willing to
provide resources that can help ensure their future success
once they get here.
That merchant’s call prompted us to do some research on
how other small towns deal with such issues and we found
ourselves looking at a study conducted by the University of
North Carolina called “Small Towns, Big Ideas.”
The project looked at such communities as Ord, Nebraska, population 2,300; Fairfield, Iowa, population 9,500 and
Etowah, here in Tennessee, that has 3,600 residents.
However, the case study that most caught our eye, was the
one done in nearby Brevard, N.C., population 6,300.
Brevard, much like our community, has capitalized on
both its history and its scenic beauty. Tourism has played
a huge part in the community’s success, bringing in nearly
$70 million in revenue for the county as a whole.
There’s another similarity. Brevard is a popular place to
retire and the town has found a way to capitalize on the economic value of those retirees, and not just as consumers.
The leadership in that area “is tapping into the business
expertise within its retiree population as a tool for supporting local entrepreneurship,” the study reports.
SEE RICHARDSON, PAGE 3
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
15
Overview: Took Muse for a spin, had a nice ride
BY KEVIN SLIMP
TPS technology director
Back in the days
of CS5, it became
relatively simple for
an InDesign user to
design a website in
InDesign, then export it as a Flash file
that could be viewed
online.
Slimp
Although it worked
well, it wasn’t very long before Flash
files became problematic, primarily
because of Apple’s refusal to support
them on iPads and iPhones. So even
though I’d created several websites in
InDesign, I quickly changed that practice.
Then came InDesign CS5.5 and CS6,
which made it possible to export HTML5 directly from InDesign. Frankly,
though, the process always seemed to
work with less than perfect results, so
I gave up on that idea.
When I subscribed to Adobe Creative
Cloud a few months ago, I looked around
the site for apps available through the
normal subscription. Along with InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and other
applications I used regularly, there was
a name I hadn’t thought of in a while:
Muse.
I’ve done a lot
of beta testing
for
companies
through the years.
With Adobe, some
of the titles were
InDesign
(we
called it “K2” back Muse is a webthen),
Acrobat site design app
and more. Some- from Adobe.
where around 2010 or 2011, I remember
beta testing an app called “Muse” that
purported to be the easiest website tool
ever developed. I had my doubts, but I
remember being quite impressed with
Muse as I went through the beta.
Fast forward a couple of years and
I’m looking through the Creative Cloud
options and, lo and behold, there is
Muse CC.
Wanting to find new apps for professional designers who are already subscribed to the Cloud, I decided to take
Muse for a spin. It was a nice ride.
To do a full review of the project
would take pages, so let’s take a quick
overview, and you can decide if it’s
worth downloading Muse and trying it
out for yourself.
Creating new documents
The first thing I noticed about Muse
was that the process for creating a new
website was much the same as creating
a new document in InDesign. I simply
entered the size (in pixels instead of
inches), the margin and a few other details. When I hit the OK button, there
appeared before me a white page, much
like I would see in InDesign.
The Muse Desktop
For an InDesign or Illustrator user,
HOW TO CONTACT US
Tennessee Press
Association
Mail: 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Web: www.tnpress.com
Email: (name)@tnpress.
com
Those with boxes, listed
alphabetically:
Laurie Alford (lalford)
Placing elements and creating links is a breeze in
Muse.
Pam Corley (pcorley)
Angelique Dunn (adunn)
Beth Elliott (belliott)
Robyn Gentile (rgentile)
Frank Gibson (fgibson)
Earl Goodman (egoodman)
Kathy Hensley (khensley)
Creating a new site in Muse is much like creating a new
document in InDesign.
Whitney Page (wpage)
Greg Sherrill (gsherrill)
Kevin Slimp (kslimp)
Kayretta Stokes (kstokes)
Alisa Subhakul (asubhakul)
David Wells (dwells)
Tessa Wildsmith
(twildsmith)
Muse is very straightforward. Most of
the same shortcuts work that work in
those apps. Most of the same panels
that we’re used to are in the same place.
You’ll find the Character Panel, various
styles and more.
Working with tools
The toolbar in Muse looks surprisingly similar to the toolbar in InDesign. Placing files on the page works
the same. Elements can be copied and
pasted from InDesign and other applications.
Want to place a photo? Place it like
you do in InDesign or Illustrator. Want
to place a video? Place it like a photo.
All that HTML stuff
HTML code. That’s what separates the
design from the web guru. Not to fear.
I wanted to place a Google Map right
on my page. I simply went to maps.
google.com in my browser and copied
the HTML code by clicking a button on
the site. I then went to Muse, entered
Object>Insert HTML, and there it was.
A Google Map on my page. I could move
through the map on my website just
Think of the Plan Panel in Muse as the Pages Panel in
InDesign and you get the idea.
like I could on maps.google.com. I was
nothing short of amazed.
Text
I’m a Dreamweaver hack from way
back. I always hated working with text
in Dreamweaver. It never seemed to
look the way I wanted when I saw the
final product. Not so with Muse.
Text works like text in InDesign.
Even more amazing, you can choose
from thousands of web safe fonts using
Type Kit, a service included in Creative
Cloud. You don’t even have to leave the
application to visit a website. It’s built
right into Muse.
Exporting HTML
I’m not one for hyperbole, but seriously, this is nothing short of fantastic.
Not only will Muse export the HTML,
which it does just fine, but it will FTP it
to your web host for you. Just enter the
necessary information and password
and, boom!, you’re online.
And if that’s not enough, Adobe will
host the site for you. When you finish
designing a Muse site, it’s already online, so others can view it. You’re given
the necessary URL so others can find it.
If you want, and probably do, you can
purchase your own URL (Kevin-Slimp.
com, for instance) and point it to Adobe’s server. A Creative Cloud subscription includes hosting up to five Muse
sites.
Listen, I don’t work for Adobe. It matters not to me whether you subscribe
to the Creative Cloud or not. But I’m
guessing, for smaller papers, we could
pay for our Cloud subscriptions in web
hosting fees alone.
That should be enough to whet your
appetite. For more information, visit
Adobe.come to download a free trial
version of Muse.
I was so impressed with Muse that I
decided to add it to the curriculum of
the Institute of Newspaper Technology.
I must really like it.
Heather Wright (hwright)
Advertising email:
knoxads@tnpress.com
Tennessee Press Service
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Web: www.tnadvertising.biz
Tennessee Press
Association Foundation
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
The Tennessee Press
14
NOVEMBER 2013
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
SLIMP: ‘Invention’ has served industry 20 years
TRACKS
FROM PAGE ONE
TOMMY MILLSAPS | ADVOCATE & DEMOCRAT, SWEETWATER
Emcee Paul Willson, right, gives the needle to Tommy Wilson Sept. 26 during a roast/retirement party for the outgoing publisher.
Roast of the town:
Jones Media Inc. Chief Operating Officer Ralph Baldwin, left, shares a laugh with Tommy Wilson, Advocate &
Democrat, Sweetwater, and his wife, Jill Jordan.
Farewell party for Wilson,
Walker named Tribune sales, marketing director
retiring from A & D
A familiar face
has returned to the
Citizen Tribune offices.
Mike Walker, who
spent 12 years at the
Tribune, returned
to retake the helm
of the advertising
Walker
department after
seven years away from Lakeway Publishers pursuing opportunities both in
Knoxville and in Morristown.
Tribune Editor/Publisher R. Michael
Fishman announced Walker’s return
as sales and marketing director.
“We’re thrilled to have Mike Walker
return to the Tribune,” Fishman said.
“Not only does Mike possess a vast
knowledge of media sales and marketing, but he is a member of our Tribune
family. His 12 years at the Tribune, first
working with Info-Connect and then
as advertising director, were years of
great success and growth, both for the
company and, I think, for Mike, too.”
Walker moved to Morristown in
1978 armed with a radio broadcasting
degree. After working his way up the
corporate ladder in radio, he joined
the Tribune team in 1994 to run InfoConnect, a telephone call-in information system that provided time, temperature as well as news updates and
community information.
After four years, Walker was promoted to advertising manager where he
says he grew by leaps and bounds with
the help of an excellent staff.
That personal growth continued even
when he left the Tribune in 2006 to pursue career opportunities in direct mail
marketing in Knoxville, a commute he
made from Morristown for about five
years.
“At the Tribune I gained a wealth of
knowledge,” Walker said. “Then, in
my subsequent position, I was able to
add to that, build upon it and develop
and explore various concepts that I intend to put into place here.
“We’re going to spend more time analyzing former, current and potential
customers,” he said. “We want to understand what their needs are, and as
a team we’re going to come up with the
right strategies that will best fit those
individual needs.”
Walker, who left the direct mail marketing position in Knoxville in 2011 as
the economy and mobile internet made
huge shifts in that industry, returned
to his radio roots at WCRK before taking a market development manager
position with Coca-Cola.
“I really enjoyed working there,” he
said. “They were great to work for and
with. However, I missed the 30-plus
years of advertising management and
marketing experience that I had built
up. That was the major reason why I
left Coca-Cola. The opportunity presented itself to come back to the Tribune. Being familiar with this market,
familiar with this great organization
and because of that opportunity, I felt
God called me back here.”
Walker said in many ways it’s been
like returning home, but he says, a
home that has evolved in his absence.
Walker and his wife, Glenda, have
a daughter, Chelsea, married to B.J.
Knight, and a son, Eric.
(Citizen Tribune, Morristown,
Oct. 13, 2013)
Bridgemans on staff of Georgia papers
Ron Bridgeman, who has been editor of The Eatonton (Ga.) Messenger
since November 2011, has been named
senior editor for both the Messenger
and the Lake Oconee News.
He is responsible for planning and
coordinating coverage of both weekly
papers and will continue to handle the
editorial and op-ed pages for the Messenger and report on Putnam County
stories.
Karen Bridgeman, who has been
associate editor of the Messenger, has
been named managing editor.
Ron Bridgeman marked his second
anniversary as editor of the Messenger Oct. 31. He has a 40-year career in
newspapers, in Tennessee working as
a reporter for the former Lenoir City
News and The Oak Ridger, editor of
The Oak Ridger and publisher of The
Courier News, Clinton.
Karen Bridgeman has been associate editor for community and online
news for the Messenger since moving
to Georgia from Tennessee in March
2012; she began working online for the
paper in November 2011.
She was director of communications
for the Anderson County public school
system before moving to Eatonton,
and she owned and operated her own
public relations and marketing firm in
East Tennessee for 17 years. She also
worked at The Oak Ridger and The
Courier News.
(Adapted from www.msgr.com,
Oct. 10, 2013)
BY STAFF
Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater
Lots of laughs and even a few tears
were shared when Tommy Wilson,
publisher of the Advocate & Democrat,
Sweetwater, and wife, Jill Jordan, were
honored at a roast and retirement party. The event was held Sept. 26 at Hiwassee College in Madisonville.
Wilson retired the next day after a
distinguished nearly half-century career in the newspaper business that included 23 years with Jones Media Inc.,
the owner of the Advocate & Democrat.
Wilson has spent more than 13 years of
his Jones Media career as publisher of
the Advocate & Democrat and four of
those years as publisher of The Daily
Post-Athenian, Athens, where he also
served as vice president of Jones Media’s Valley Papers.
It seemed no subject was off limits
during the good-natured roast. A host
of roasters—Paul Willson of Citizens
National Bank, Joe Tolson, president
and chief executive officer of the Monroe County Chamber of Commerce,
Tommy Millsaps, the Advocate & Democrat editor; Shan Harris, economic
development director for Monroe
County, Dr. Robin Tricoli, Hiwassee
College president, and her husband,
Dr. Anthony Tricoli, executive director
of the Boys & Girls Club of the Monroe
Area, Ralph Baldwin, chief operations
officer of Jones Media Inc., State Sen.
Mike Bell, State Rep. Jimmy Matlock
and County Mayor Tim Yates—took
turns poking fun at Wilson.
Baldwin showed a box full of items
and replicas, ranging from door facings, phone books and cell phones,
that Wilson had destroyed or damaged
when his temper occasionally got the
best of him over the years.
But in the end, everyone paid tribute
to Wilson’s career.
“He is a man of his word,” Tolson
said.
“I hope our friendship continues
until we are too old to recognize each
other,” Baldwin said.
Many spoke openly of how Wilson
had helped them or their agency. Bell
and Matlock read a state proclamation
from the governor honoring Wilson,
who grew up in Alabama and led numerous newspapers during his career.
“We love all of you,” Wilson said to
the crowd on behalf of his wife as well
as himself.
Numerous state and local officials
were joined at the party by employees,
former employees, friends and family
of Wilson and his wife, who are moving to Florida to be close to family
there.
(Sept. 22, 2013)
Reporter is now an editor
Morgan moves on
Tom Evanoff, a reporter for The
Commercial Appeal, Memphis, was
named its business editor in September. Already serving as the interim
business editor, he has been with the
paper since 2011.
The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, has announced that Clay Morgan is stepping down as the executive
editor and general manager. His last
day will be Nov. 1. He will remain in
the Nashville area.
asked if Slimp had any new “toys.”
By that time Slimp had built a bulletin
board service (BBS), and his clients
could receive proofs and see them onscreen.
McKinney inquired as to whether a
PDF could be sent to a newspaper for
printing. And it couldn’t.
In the meantime, Don Campbell,
executive director of the Tennessee
Press Association, contacted him because he and Dale Gentry of The Standard Banner, Jefferson City, had seen a
BBS that was being used in Wisconsin,
where they had gone to coordinate a
newspaper contest.
He said that if Slimp could devise a
way to get the PDF to print, they would
work out a way for newspapers to be
able to use them.
TPA soon created a BBS for all its
member newspapers. This was made
possible by a grant from the TPA Foundation that would buy modems for all
newspapers, and employed Slimp to
conduct training across the state.
Word about the process spread, and
magazines such as Publish, as well as
the News Sentinel, Knoxville, covered
it. Other press associations wanted the
same thing.
Up to that point, the BBS could send
only black and white ads. But a turning point, Slimp said, came when he
was contacted by Bob Thayes, creator
of the “Frank & Ernest” comic strip.
Thayes wasn’t satisfied with the method he was using to distribute the strip,
and he asked if color comics could
benefit by using the PDF process.
Seeing the necessity to get the color
matter settled, he flew to Silicon Valley, Mountain View, Calif., to Adobe
headquarters. He worked with the
people there, to no avail. They said it
couldn’t be done. But on the way home
TIME LINE
• 1991 Slimp opens AdTech Design
in Knoxville
• 1991 Bulletin board service created for Tennessee newspapers
• 1992 Adobe begins design of Acrobat
• 1993 Slimp inquires and is sent a
copy of Acrobat
• 1995 Slimp finds way to create a
color PDF that could be printed
• 1996 Tennessee newspapers start
using PDFs for advertisers, other uses
• 1998 Slimp is hired by TPS, becomes technology director and Institute of Newspaper Technology director
then moves on a few years.
• 2003 Slimp is rehired by TPS.
on a plane, it dawned on him how to
do it.
Slimp went to his office directly and
created the first color PDF that would
print.
Thayes began to send his comics by
Syquest cartridge. Slimp would convert the material to PDFs.
Newspapers were beginning to use
more color. Scott Whaley, then with
the Chester County Independent, Henderson, and who had a brand new
printing plant, was the first in Tennessee to take advantage of the new technology. His plant in West Tennessee
began printing a newspaper located in
Cookeville in Middle Tennessee, more
RICHARDSON
FROM PAGE 2
Using that segment of their population, Brevard has created a network of retirees to help new and existing businesses prosper and expand. Their Retiree Resource Network is a collection of more than 65 retired business people who can
offer topnotch consulting free of charge.
In 2007, the network won the Outstanding County Program Award from the
North Carolina Association of County Commissioners and has served as a model
for other rural areas with retirement communities.
The project has also been effective in helping attract prospective clients. The
group works to foster new business start-ups as well as making contacts with
companies from outside the area who may be interested in relocating to the
area.
We presented this idea to our community in a recent editorial. It may not be the
solution, but it is a start. We plan to continue the dialogue and hopefully, together
we can come up with some effective ideas to make some exciting things happen
in our town.
Being willing to respond to our local businesses is such an important part of
what we do and it’s sort of like a boomerang. The support we give our communities during the hard times almost always returns to us when things start to turn
around.
LYNN J. RICHARDSON is publisher of the Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough.
than 200 miles away.
Campbell, who worked with TPA
for 16 years (August 1980 through December 1996), the last six as executive
director, noted, “TPA was a real trendsetter in that way.” He recalled that he
went to a meeting of the Newspaper
Association Managers, where he explained what Tennessee was doing,
and other managers said, “It’ll never
work.” Back in Knoxville, he told
Slimp, who was using the process with
his customers, “It’ll never work.”
Cosimini recalled that Kevin was
able to consider the Acrobat program
and then look three steps ahead, and
that type of approach made the technology successful, he said.
Lisa Griffin, a veteran instructor for
the Institute of Newspaper Technology and employed by Boone Newspapers in Selma, Ala., sought out Slimp
after reading about what Slimp had
discovered.
“I visited him at his office in Knoxville, and he quickly went to work
teaching me the ins and outs of producing news pages that would end up
as separated CMYK plates at remote
printing sites.”
Griffin said her first clue that Slimp
was thorough and prepared in what
he does was when he presented her a
large binder with documentation, examples, procedures and much other
information.
Griffin returned to Alabama and
spread the word.
“This was the start of a great business relationship with Kevin as well as
a great friendship,” Griffin said.
“The equipment has improved, the
technology has advanced,” said Griffin, “but the principles learned in that
office in Knoxville many years ago
have remained the same. It is amazing
to think back on how this simple idea
of creating plates through PDF technology has changed the production
of newspapers, magazines and other
printed materials.”
Slimp has long been an employee of
TPS. Bob DeBusk hired him in 1998.
After a few years, he went to work for
the United Methodist Church, but in
2003, he was rehired by the current executive vice president, Greg Sherrill.
Slimp combines his TPS work with
consulting with newspapers and
speaking across North America on the
issues related to the newspaper industry. His pet project is to get children to
read newspapers.
He is confident that the industry
is strong and will become stronger.
Slimp believes deeply that newspapers
are important in our society. Since he
began delivering newspapers at age 7
or 8, they have been his bliss.
3
Lindsey named
TPA director
TPA
President
Lynn J. Richardson
has appointed Jesse
Lindsey, publisher
of The Lebanon
Democrat, as the
new TPA director
for District 6. Joe
Adams, former pubLindsey
lisher of the Democrat, previously held the position.
Adams’ recent move to a new post in
Kingsport led to his resignation from
the Board of Directors. Lindsey is filling the term, which expires in June
2014.
Lindsey joined The Lebanon Democrat on Sept. 23. Earlier he was publisher of The Rogersville Review.
District 6, in Middle Tennessee, covers TPA member newspapers in these
counties: Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys, Montgomery, Robertson, Stewart, Sumner and
Wilson.
Which district are you in? Who is
your director? A district list, map and
director information are posted at
www.tnpress.com/TPA_districts.pdf.
CONTEST
FROM PAGE ONE
and said, “I sang it growing up in the
Baptist Church.” Certainly appropriate, particularly for metro papers.
Larry Smith, retired publisher of the
The LaFollette Press, suggested that
one as well as another he ran across,
“I Would Be True,” had meaning that
was applicable for all reporters.
The first stanza has these words:
“I would be true, for there are those
who trust me;
I would be pure, for there are those
who care;
I would be strong, for there is much
to suffer;
I would be brave, for there is much
to dare,
to dare.”
Those words, written in 1906, are by
Howard A. Walter (1883-1918).
FORESIGHT
2013
NOVEMBER
3-5: Event Revenue Summit
sponsored by the Chattanooga
Times Free Press, The Chattanoogan Hotel
8: Society for News Design Annual Workshop and Exhibition,
Louisville, Ky.
8: TPA Government Affairs
Committee, 9-10:30 a.m.,
The Tennessean building,
Nashville
8: SNPA-TPA Publishers’ Summit, 10:45 a.m.-3 p.m., The Tennessean building, Nashville
28-29: TPA offices closed for
Thanksgiving holiday
2014
FEBRUARY
5-7: TPA Winter Convention &
Press Institute, Nashville
27-March 2: National Institute for
Computer-Assisted Reporting,
Baltimore
MARCH
13: NNA Leadership Summit,
Washington, D.C.
16-19: NAA Media Xchange,
Hyatt Regency Denver, Denver,
Colo.
MAY
1-2: Advertising/Circulation Conference (tentative)
JUNE
5-7: TPA 145th Anniversary
Summer Convention, Gatlinburg
SEPTEMBER
4-6: National SPJ Excellence in
Journalism Conference, Nashville
TBA: Second Annual Border War
Golf Tournament, Kentucky
Kudos
Daniel Richardson and Dennis
Richardson, Magic Valley Newspapers, Camden, were the first to register
for the Nov. 8 Publishers’ Summit in
Nashville.
MARKETPLACE
EXECUTIVE EDITOR POSITION
AVAILABLE - Jonesborough (TN)
Publishing is seeking an executive editor who is creative, bold and multi-talented to join an award-winning team
at its weekly newspaper in the state’s
oldest town, Jonesborough.
The successful candidate will have
excellent organizational and leadership skills, a take-charge attitude,
commitment to the public’s right to
know and a heart for the newspaper’s
role in the community.
This position will also require a
strong background in layout and design and will include editing, writing
and assignment duties. Proficiency
with Adobe Suite programs, including Photoshop and InDesign, will be
essential.
This is an immediate opening. Please
send cover letter, resume with references, clips and salary expectations to
lrichardson@heraldandtribune.com.
The Tennessee Press
4
NOVEMBER 2013
The NAM Classified & Display
Network Advertising Conference was
held this year in Atlanta. David Wells,
TPS
advertising
director, and I were
asked to speak.
Elliott
David
delivered
a compelling presentation about the
“Strength and Value of Newspapers.”
Of course, it was a hit, with timely
and persuasive information that we all
need to hear.
My topic was “Getting your newspapers to sell.” In all honesty, it is you,
the reps who sell the Network ads, who
should receive all the credit. Thank
you for making TPS an example of
what can be done across the nation.
It is you, the reps, actively selling the
ads; you, the publishers, encouraging
your reps to sell the ads; you who make
this work. You are the reason Tennessee’s Advertising Network sales are up
4 percent this year over last!
It is my goal for each and every TPA
member that participates in Tennessee’s Advertising Networks to get the
most out of the Networks, and that is
by actively selling the ads.
Speaking of selling the Network
ads, TPS rolled out a new package last
month combining TnSCAN, Tennessee’s Statewide Classified Ad Network,
and TnNET, Tennessee’s Online Ad
Network. For an extra fee, TnSCAN
advertisers can have their ad appear
on the TnNET newspaper websites
across the state, getting their message
to both print and online readers and
thus maximizing their reach.
How does this help you? If your
newspaper participates in both Networks, it helps a great deal. Not only
can you populate your classified section with TnSCAN ads, but you have
paid ads on your newspaper’s website.
Plus, you and your sales team have a
new product to offer your local clients
who are looking for regional or statewide reach. Don’t forget, your newspaper keeps a hefty commission on each
Network ad you sell.
TPS has put together refresher training sessions of which we encourage
you to take advantage. If a three-minute crash course is all you need, we
can do it. If a more in-depth session is
what you need, we can do that. Please
contact TPS today to set up your session, 865-584-5761 x117 for Beth or x108
for David. We are looking forward to
hearing from you.
Learn tools for digging deeper into stories
Looking to learn skills that will help
you and your newsroom thrive? Join
Investigative Reporters and Editors
and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR) for
their annual conference devoted to
computer-assisted reporting.
It is set for Feb. 27 to March 2, 2014 at
the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor
at Camden Yards.
Learn about tools you need to dig
deeper into stories and give readers,
viewers and your online audience the
information they’re demanding.
For details, see www.ire.org.
13
Ignorance claimed in noncompliance on records requests
Network sales up 4%; thanks!
BY BETH ELLIOTT
Network advertising manager
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
Earl Goodman, TPS senior media buyer, shows Terri Likens, Roane County News, Kingston, and Brent Schanding, the LaFollette Press, what he likes about changes that have been made to the Press. Likens and Schanding
visited TPA/TPS headquarters on Oct. 4.
Newspaper coupons first choice for savings
According to the Valassis annual
Purse String Survey, millennials rely
more heavily on print for their shopping behaviors than you might expect.
With newspaper as their number one
source for coupons and deals, these
promotion-sensitive millennials are
getting their savings the same way as
all other consumers across age groups
and income levels, with 51 percent indicating this print source is their first
choice for savings.
Millennials’ sources of coupons
and deals (% of respondents 18-34)
• Newspaper 51%
• Emails/coupon alerts 50%
• Internet searches 38%
• Mailbox 33%
• In-store offers 25%
• Links from savings cites/blogs 23%
• Retail circulars 21%
• Coupon books 20%
Respondents most often get their
coupons and deals from newspapers
and emails/coupon alerts. For millennials, in-store exceeds their use of
retail circulars by 4 percentage points
to rank fifth. From print sources, millennials get their deals as follows:
• 33% from the mail
• 21% from retail circulars
• 20% from coupon books
Over the last 12 months, 27 percent
of millennials indicated they are using more mobile coupons compared
to 17 percent of the overall findings.
Millennials actually are using their
smartphone to a greater degree than
the general population:
• 45% access a coupon in an email on
their smartphone compared to 24% of
all respondents
• 41% access a coupon code on their
smartphone versus 24%
• 36% compare deals versus 20%
• 32% download a coupon to a loyalty
card compared to 20%.
Lisa Reynolds, Valassis vice president of Consumer Engagement, notes
that “… the survey results are somewhat counter intuitive from what you
might expect… (though) heavy digital
users… this group also embraces tried
and true methods for savings… as any
other age group… testament to… savings from both print and digital…”
Millennials share at the highest rate
(90%) among all age groups:
Advertising Placement Snapshot
ROP:
Network:
September 2013:
$248,439
$63,764
Year* as of Aug. 31:
$3,242,311
$610,473
*The Tennessee Press Service Inc. fiscal year runs Dec. 1 through Nov. 30.
• Word of mouth – 71% versus 56% of
the general populace
• Social – 43% versus 29% with Facebook as their channel of choice accounting for 33% of their social sharing, 10% higher than overall findings
• Text – 30% versus 19%.
Looking for savings, 85 percent of
millennials seek out grocery coupons
compared to 78 percent of the overall
findings, followed by clothing and dining out.
(Center for Media Research,
Sept. 24, 2013)
Dorris takes post
with Athlon Media
Stephen Dorris
has joined Athlon
Media Group as director of publisher
relations. He will
be responsible for
expanding circulation for AMG’s
four newspaperDorris
distributed magazines, American Profile, Athlon Sports,
Relish and Spry.
Most recently, Dorris served as regional director for the Publishing
Group of America and was key to the
successful launch of three magazines.
As a former Tennessee newspaper
owner, he is uniquely qualified in understanding the opportunities facing
the business today and looks forward
to being an advocate for the future of
the newspaper industry a new release
stated.
It has always troubled me that ignorance of the or under current law could change the
local legislative bodies to sign off on
law can be used as a legal defense for not comply- policy to charge for labor on his own.
such policies that, one would hope,
ing with the Tennessee Public Records Act.
They refused to pay and complained to
allow the public to participate in the
That absurdity came back a few weeks ago the Office of Open Records Counsel.
conversation.
when the Hendersonville Star News reported on
The citizens said they had been getNext, the BMA on July 23 adopted
a brouhaha that had been raging for months be- ting the “run-around” and argued that
the mayor’s policy by resolution on a
tween Hendersonville city officials and a group the documents they had requested
single vote. That was done so hastily
of local residents. The issue was whether (and could point to misuse of public funds.
it wasn’t even on the BMA’s published
how much) the city could charge to produce cop- The city attorney has said that the city
agenda.
ies of public records.
has not denied access to records, but
Star News reporter Tena Lee rePUBLIC
Elisha Hodge, the state open records counsel, that the issue has been whether the
ported that the group requested more
had opined that the city could not charge the pub- public should pay for the records.
records, and members were told they
POLICY
lic for the labor of city employees until the Board
Some city leaders said a handful of
owed hundreds of dollars. Citizens
OUTLOOK continued to argue they shouldn’t pay
of Mayor and Aldermen (BMA) adopted a written citizens are pursuing a political venpolicy by “ordinance.”
detta against the mayor and that all the
the fees because the city policy was not
Until July 23, the city had tried to charge for la- time city employees have spent prepar- Frank Gibson
legal.
bor under an “administrative” order imposed by ing records is an unreasonable expense to
It is absurd enough that the city of Henthe mayor four months earlier.
local taxpayers.
dersonville officials were not aware of the 2008
The back and forth started
Hodge notified city officials change in state law, but the story gets better (or
when the Star News reported in
that a 2008 state law required her worse, depending on your perspective).
February that the mayor had takoffice to establish a schedule of
After members of the BMA adopted the mayor’s
en his wife on an expense-paid Citizens claim policy
reasonable charges. That sched- records policy by resolution, citizens again called
business trip to Washington, D.C. on charges for copies
ule has been posted on the state the Office of Open Records Counsel to complain.
Some citizens began requesting of records was not
website for five years. It states:
They had discovered that the public records
information on the mayor’s trav- legal. And they are
“If a records custodian deter- policy violated the Hendersonville City Charter,
el and entertainment expenses correct.
mines to charge for copies or du- which states:
as far back as 2004.
plication of public records, such
“Fees for copying and certification shall be
The Star News reported the
determination and schedule of charged as established by ordinance.”
mayor signed a new administracharges must be pursuant to a
That is what prompted Hodge, the OORC, to adtive policy in March, imposing the labor charges properly adopted rule and evidenced by a written vise city officials: “It is the opinion of this office
but without any public notice and without any policy authorized by the governmental entity’s that in order for the city to charge for copies of
prior review by the BMA.
governing authority.”
public records an ordinance related to such chargThe new policy became public when citizens
The mayor was obviously not a “governing es must be properly adopted by the BOMA.”
began requesting hundreds of pages of records. authority” and the intent of the law was for the
It is anyone’s guess as to why it took a whole
The group started challenging whether the may-
eight months for that little fact to surface.
The upshot of Hodge’s opinion was that access
to public records is a major policy issue that deserves more than the “ministerial” treatment
afforded by resolution. Ordinances require two
separate votes of the BMA, resolutions only one.
Now back to ignorance as a defense. Since 1957,
when the records law went on the books, the
only consequence for not complying has been
the threat of a lawsuit. The only thing a citizen
stood to gain if he won the lawsuit was the remote possibility of getting lawyer and court fees
reimbursed.
The citizen would have to prove that the governmental entity “knew” it was not complying
with the law and that the alleged act was “willful” before the court could assess “reasonable
costs” against the government.
Another provision of the schedule of reasonable charges states: “Application of an adopted
schedule of charges shall not be arbitrary. Additionally, excessive fees and other rules shall not
be used to hinder access to non-exempt, public
records.”
All of this makes one wonder, to paraphrase
Tennessee’s former U.S. senator and senior
statesman Howard H. Baker Jr.’s question about
Richard Nixon in the Watergate hearings: “What
did the president know and when did he know
it?”
FRANK GIBSON is TPA’s public policy director.
One can reach him at fgibson@tnpress.com or (615)
202-2685.
TRACKS
Press veteran returns ‘home’
BY DWANE WILDER
I’ve come full circle during the past
14 months. After
leaving the LaFollette Press last July
for what I thought
would be forever,
here I am again.
Tuesday was my
Wilder
first official day
back at the paper where I built my
career in community journalism the
previous two decades as sports editor. Appropriately, it was also my 48th
birthday.
The past year seems more like 10
years. I enjoyed my brief stints at
the Roane County News and WLAF Radio/TV 12, but my heart never left the
Press.
It’s where I made a name for myself,
raised my family and watched the children of countless other families grow
up.
Sometimes you can stay in a place so
long that it grows on you. It becomes a
part of who you are. That’s the way it’s
been for me with the Press. I still vividly remember the first day I stepped
through the door in August 1992 only
two weeks before the birth of my
youngest daughter.
Publisher Larry Smith, who was in
the middle of a family trip to Australia, had left advertising manager Larry Dilbeck in charge. More than six
feet tall with dark hair and piercing
blue eyes, Dilbeck was an imposing figure that made me a little nervous until
I got to know him. Over the next few
years, both of them guided me along
the path to becoming a better newspaperman.
As sports editor of the Press, I had
the pleasure of covering an entire generation of Campbell County schoolchildren. I was introduced to them as
youngsters and watched them grow
into young adults right before my very
eyes. In many cases, I ended up covering two generations of the same family. It was really a neat thing to watch
an athlete and compare them to their
mom or dad at the same age.
So, when I took another newspaper
job last summer at Roane County it felt
as though I was leaving a member of
my own family behind.
But now I’m back home again, and it
feels good to be reunited with the pa-
per where I spent so much of my life.
Though I won’t be in charge of the
sports section again, you may occasionally see me covering a game or two
for Sports Editor Chris Cannon. My
primary news beats will be the Campbell County Board of Education and
the municipal boards of Caryville and
Jacksboro.
I’ll also pitch in with columns, enterprise stories and features.
So, what I’m saying in a roundabout
way is that you’re apt to see me anywhere between Lake City and Jellico,
Pioneer and Speedwell.
Like the old John Denver song, “Hey,
it’s good to be back home again.”
(Sept. 18, 2013)
|
David Davis, managing editor of
the Cleveland Daily Banner, retired
Oct. 30.
|
Tommy Dowdy is the new regional
circulation director for the Bristol Herald Courier. Earlier he served as circulation director of the Stillwater (Okla.)
News Press.
|
Sam Smith has joined the LaFollette
Press as an editorial assistant.
FIVE MONTHS UNTIL DEADLINE
Public notice upload law to take effect April 1
By April 1, all newspapers printing public notices
must also upload those notices to the newspaper’s
website and www.tnpublicnotice.com.
Notices must be posted online for each date that
they run in your print edition.
To find out more or to begin uploading to
tnpublicnotice.com, contact TPA at (865) 584-5761.
Are you uploading your notices yet?
The Tennessee Press
12
NOVEMBER 2013
As misinformation abounds, journalists
need to offer health law facts, references
BY AL CROSS
Director, Institute for Rural Journalism
and Community Issues, Lexington, Ky.
The need for journalists at all levels to report
the facts on health reform was freshly illustrated
in a column by Washington Post writer Dana Milbank, in which he said bad information “is perhaps the biggest problem facing Obamacare.”
“Because of all the noise and disinformation,
President (Barack H.) Obama and the Democrats
don’t just own Obamacare as a political issue.
They own health care,” Milbank writes. “Anytime something bad happens—premiums rise
or employers change plans or pare coverage—
Obamacare will be blamed, even if the new law
had nothing to do with the change.”
For example, opponents of the law blame it for
rising insurance premiums. That’s true in cases
where people had bought cheap policies that didn’t
cover much, because the law requires policies to
cover 10 specific areas of service. But “Premiums
were up about 4 percent last year, a much slower
growth rate than the average annual increase of
13.2 percent between 1999 and 2008, according to
the Kaiser Family Foundation,” Milbank writes.
“But it’s easy to blame Obamacare for something
that would have happened anyway.”
We also hear of businesses dropping health
coverage for their employees, but Obamacare
isn’t the only reason. “Long before Obamacare,
as many as a quarter of all businesses each year
made reductions in health-care coverage,” Milbank writes. “The only difference is now businesses can blame Obamacare.”
Sean Hannity of Fox News added to the misinformation by interviewing a North Carolina contractor who claimed that “he would have to provide health insurance to anybody working more
than 30 hours a week,” Milbank reports. “Salon’s
Eric Stern called Cox, and he found that the business has only four employees—and therefore is
not affected by the new requirement, which applies to businesses with 50 or more workers.”
Obamacare’s opponents call it “a job killer” because of the 30-hour rule and point to “statistics
showing the bulk of recent hiring has been for
part-time jobs,” Milbank writes. “In reality, according to an analysis by Moody’s, factors other
than Obamacare were at work (most of the new
jobs were in industries that always use more parttime workers). But the new law gets the blame.”
Such misinformation was the target of an editorial in The Sentinel-News, a twice-weekly newspaper in Shelbyville, Ky. It said “Misinformation
and carefully constructed lies” abound, and
many people have “fallen victim” to exaggerated
individual experiences posted on social media
and “even worse, the acceptance and delivery of
similar items by otherwise responsible broadcast
news outlets.”
The editorial called on readers to find out the
facts for themselves and directed them to local
sources of information. That’s a message that
would be worth repeating by every newspaper in
the country and worth the investment of some
reporting time. That’s especially true in rural areas, where people are more likely to be uninsured
and benefit from the law.
(Oct. 24, 2013)
Cartoonists leave impression on city
More than 30 members of the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society met Oct.
26 and 27 in Knoxville, with News Sentinel Cartoonist Charlie Daniel as their host. The newspaper carried cartoonists’ drawings of their
impression of the city and carried others online
(www.knoxnews.com).
November 1963: My hero died
Daddy, 62, died at 10 a.m. Wednesday,
Nov. 27, 1963, two hours before dead-
line. That week, the lead story in The
LaFollette Press was about him.
MARKETPLACE
REPORTER POSITION AVAILABLE - Bristol Herald Courier. News
reporter for a 30,000 daily newspaper.
The job requires an energetic, hardworking individual with a passion
for journalism and community news.
Covering police/crime issues/general
assignment.
Strong writing and interviewing
skills and the ability to develop sources. Accuracy is a must with attention
to detail and the ability to operate
under deadlines. He or she must also
be able to tell stories on multiple platforms. Must be a self-starter and gogetter who recognizes a good story and
can juggle several at once. Must have
sound news judgment and the ability
to respond to breaking news.
Send resume and clips to: scameron@bristolnews.com.
ADVERTISING SALES POSITION
AVAILABLE - The Standard Banner,
Jefferson City, a local, family-owned
newspaper, is looking for an assertive
sales person to do telemarketing sales
for our classified department. This
new position is designed to grow revenue by creating new and exciting promotions to offer to our advertisers and
readers. The successful sales person in
this career will have the opportunity
to make top commissions based on
their ability to prospect new sources
of advertisers, generate new revenue
and put their creativity to work.
Those with at least three years’
telemarketing sales experience and a
proven record of meeting goals and
growing customer base should apply
by emailing their cover letter and detailed resume. The successful candidate will be highly organized and selfdriven.
OBITUARIES
Opal J. Barnett
Formerly with P-I
Opal Jackson Bennett, former employee of The Paris Post-Intelligencer,
died Aug. 14. She was 92.
Born in Whitlock, she was the
daughter of the late Walter Alexander
Jackson and Nellie Mae Jobe Jackson.
In 1945 she married John W. Barnett,
who died April 4, 2005.
She was a longtime member of First
United Methodist Church, Paris. She
loved pets, fishing and gardening.
Barnett leaves two daughters, Paula
Lane Barnett of Paris and Pam McKenzie of Clarksville; three sons, Mike
and Brad, both of Paris, and Barry of
Camden; 10 grandchildren; and nine
great-grandchildren.
Ramona Gilliam
Former editor
Ramona Gilliam,
for 43 years a reporter, editor and
photographer for
community newspapers, died Sept.
24 at her home in
Portland. She was
80. She was born
Gilliam
Aug. 29, 1933 to the
late John and Mable Phillips.
Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Carl
Gilliam.
Gilliam leaves a son, Randy Gilliam
of Bethpage; two grandchildren, Kellie Bangert and DeSha Shaw, both of
Portland; and great-grandchildren,
Brittney Meador, Brandon Meador,
Zack Meador, Victoria Nelson and
Audra Nelson.
Hazel W. Hatcher
MARKETPLACE
The Nashville Tennessean
Forerunner of The Tennessean, Nashville
FROM PAGE 11
Finney, a Southern gentleman in the
finest sense of the word, an exemplary
newspaperman and a man my father
loved.
I remember when Daddy sang “On
Top of Old Smoky” at a country-style
dinner TPA held at an attraction
owned by the Bill Postlewaites, whose
main enterprise was the Gatlinburg
Press. His reciting “The Cremation of
Sam McGhee” as we sat with friends
on the rim of the Grand Canyon.
For a long time I thought Daddy was
the finest man I’d ever known, and
that’s still generally true. Isn’t that
what girls are supposed to think?
The Sunsphere, Mayor Madeline Rogero and
the area’s hills were typical subjects.
The group offers social and networking opportunities for cartoonists throughout the Southeast
and hopes to establish a Knoxville sub-group
soon.
(News Sentinel, Knoxville, Oct. 27, 2013)
This is an ideal position for someone wanting a challenging career and
daily interaction with people in the
community but a part-time schedule
that works for family and personal life
as well. The flexible hours of this position let you have both. This part-time
position will pay an hourly wage as
well as commission.
Email resume to: apply@endeavorsky.com
POSITION AVAILABLE - Reporter/
associate editor with excellent potential for advancement. Writing, photography, pagination and sales skills
required.
Send resume with references to:
Danny Jones
The Gazette
P.O. Box 7
Trenton, Tenn. 38382
Email: danny@trentongazette.com.
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
Formerly with News Sentinel
Hazel
Wilson
Hatcher of Knoxville died Oct. 11.
She was 96.
She was a longtime member of
Magnolia Avenue
United Methodist
Church.
Hatcher
Hatcher studied
journalism at the University of Tennessee, and worked for News Sentinel, Knoxville, and the Spokesman
Review, Spokane, Wash. She was active in church where she oversaw the
creation and expansion of the church
library. Hazel was an artist and a poet,
and authored two books, one a collection of original poetry and the other a
genealogy entitled Speedwell Seasons.
She was chaplain of the Knox County
5
REWRITES FROM THE TENNESSEE PRESS
Council of garden clubs.
Hatcher and husband were charter
members and co-chairs of Contact of
Knoxville, established a scholarship
fund at Hiwassee College, and taught
hundreds to water ski at their cottage
on Douglas Lake.
Hazel was preceded in death by her
husband, Sherrill T. Hatcher, and parents, George and Mary Love Wilson.
Elizabeth Hopper
Former P-I employee
Elizabeth Paula Ann Hopper, a Headstart employee in Dresden and former
worker at The Paris Post-Intelligencer,
died Aug. 14 at her home in Mansfield.
She was 35.
Born Aug. 8, 1978, in Clifton Springs,
N.Y., she was the daughter of Paul
Hyer of Hopkinsville and Cathy Weed
of Menifee, Calif.
She also was a substitute teacher and
tax preparer for H&R Block in Paris.
She was a member of Tennessee Valley Community Church.
She leaves her fiance, Donald Ruddell
of Mansfield; and three sons, Case and
Buck Wimberley and Brady Wilson, all
of Paris.
(Aug. 16, 2013)
Tracy Parsons
Former publisher’s wife
BY MAX HRENDA
Elizabethton Star
Tracy Parsons, wife of Bill Parsons,
advertising director for the Elizabethton Star, died the morning of Oct. 27
as a result of a fire in the kitchen of
the Parsons house in Elizabethton.
She was 52.
Authorities believe that smoke inhalation led to her death.
Parsons’ daughter, Esther Locke, 26,
and her 4-year-old son, Aiden, escaped
with the help of passersby who were
on the way to church, noticed smoke
coming from the house and called the
local fire department.
Bill Parsons, was away undergoing
medical treatment at the time of the
incident. He is the former publisher of
The Rogersville Review.
(Adapted, Aug. 16, 2013)
Fred L. Sedahl
Former newsman
Fred L. Sedahl, a former Capitol Hill
reporter for United Press International and former news editor of The
Daily Herald, Columbia, died Oct. 25 in
Mississippi, where he moved about six
months ago. He was 68.
He was born and reared in Minnesota but spent most of his life in Tennessee.
He once managed a coffee plantation
in Jamaica and was a former international communications director for a
religious organization.
He leaves a wife, Shawn.
(Adapted from a column by Tom
Humphrey, News Sentinel, Knoxville, Oct. 27, 2013)
Break out your 2014 calendar,
save Winter Convention dates
Save
these
dates—Wednesday
through Friday, Feb. 5-7—for the 2014
Tennessee Press Association Winter
Convention and Press Institute in
Nashville.
TPA Vice President Jason Taylor,
Chattanooga Times Free Press, is
chairing the planning committee. Taylor and the committee plan to energize
the event with a Nashville theme and
mixing in some new program topics.
The convention will begin with important board, business and committee
meetings Wednesday afternoon. These
will be followed by the Opening Reception, to which all members of the Tennessee General Assembly are invited.
Adam Yeomans of the Associated
Press again will coordinate Thursday
morning programming. The AP-TPA
Legislative Preview will include state
newsmakers and discussion of timely
topics. Common Core is among topics
being considered.
TPA has invited Gov. Bill Haslam to
speak at the Thursday luncheon.
During the next few weeks, the committee will finalize topics and speakers
for the Thursday afternoon and Friday
Drive-In Training sessions.
The TPA Foundation has provided
a grant that will allow 50 college students to attend Drive-In Training.
A convention schedule and registration packet will be available Dec. 9.
Read Committee’s take on the president and FOI
The Committee to Protect Journalists has issued a report on President
Barack H. Obama’s administration
with regard to the people’s right to
know, saying the Committee is disturbed by actions of the Obama administration. Read about these at www.cpj.
org/reports/.
NOVEMBER 1963
NOVEMBER 1988
Journalism school graduates trained
to report and edit news for newspapers
and wire services began work in 1963
for salaries ranging from $163 to $45 a
week.
A Nashville staffer of the Associated
Press found a way to get free transportation to and from work, courtesy of
the police department. Billy Bowles
parked his car near his office, only to
have a skidding police car strike it. Police offered him transportation until
the legal department could work out a
settlement.
Mike Miller, who for a year was in
charge of The Knoxville News-Sentinel’s Nashville bureau as capital correspondent, was reassigned to Washington as correspondent for Tennessee’s
Scripps-Howard newspaper.
Charlie Gunn Critchlow, wife of Edmund S. Critchlow, editor and publisher of the Union City Daily Messenger,
died Oct. 11 at age 61.
Publisher Franklin Yates announced
that the Shelbyville Times-Gazette
would convert to offset printing. It was
the 43rd Tennessee newspaper to do so,
those 43 making up 27 percent of the
state’s papers.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld the right of reporters to report
on governmental meetings without
fear of being sued. The ruling also
said members of the public have the
right to speak at public governmental
meetings as long as their remarks are
within the topics of the meeting. The
opinion grew out of a lawsuit over stories in the Nashville Banner.
TPA President John Paul Jones, The
Daily News, Memphis, was among TPA
members who participated in the first
Tennessee Trot, an early morning jog
around the UT track.
A 6,000 square foot building project
at the Bristol Herald-Courier was going to provide space for new business
and executive offices and allow other
departments to expand, Publisher Art
Powers said.
Elizabeth Kennedy Blackstone was
working as a legislative assistant in
the office of Sen. Jim Sasser in Washington. She had worked for the Nashville Banner, The Daily Herald, Columbia, The Record, Mt. Pleasant, and a
daily newspaper in Carson, Nev. She
also worked on the Al Gore senatorial
and presidential campaigns.
The Tennessee Press
6
NOVEMBER 2013
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
11
TPA committee chairmen, members 2013-14
TPA President Lynn J. Richardson
this month announces the chairmen and members of 13 committees
that will oversee various aspects of
the Association’s programs.
She has opted to sunset the Postal
Committee.
TPA member newspaper staff
members are welcome to serve on
the various committees except for
Nominating, which is composed of
past presidents, and Hall of Fame
Administrative, which designates
specific people. Just get in touch
with the chairman of the committee – we have provided contact information for all.
This listing does not include the
Audit Committee and Journalism
Education and Literacy Committee
rosters.
ADVERTISING
This committee is charged with
the planning and execution of the
advertising programming for the
annual Advertising/Circulation
Conference in the spring. It also
works with the
Circulation Committee to review
the Ideas Contest.
In addition, the
committee
reviews and makes
recommendations
Kahana
to the TPA Board
of Directors on any projects, problems or ideas relating to the field
of newspaper advertising. Ad/Circ.
Conference: Spring
Leslie Kahana, Chattanooga
Times Free Press, chairman, lkahana@timesfreepress.com, (423)
756-6900
George Coleman, Kingsport
Times-News
Scarlet Elliott, The Milan MirrorExchange
Jesse Lindsey, The Lebanon Democrat
Amy Lutheran, The Daily Times,
Maryville
Danny Peppers, The Paris PostIntelligencer
Tony Ramirez, News Sentinel,
Knoxville
Sissy Smith, Shelbyville TimesGazette
Mark Stevens, Elizabethton Star
Artie Wehenkel, The Greeneville
Sun
David Wells, Tennessee Press Service, Knoxville
Roger Wells, Herald-Citizen,
Cookeville
CIRCULATION
This committee
will monitor and
develop information for distribution to TPA memLong
bers relating to
changes and trends
in the circulation field. This committee is charged with the planning
and execution of the circulation
programming for the annual Advertising/Circulation Conference
in the spring. It also works with the
Advertising Committee to review
the Ideas Contest. A primary objective is to promote growth in attendance for the annual conference.
Ad/Circ. Conference: Spring
Dale Long, The Greeneville Sun,
chairman, dale.long@greenevillesun.com, (423) 359-3151
Lu Shep Baldwin, Jones Media
Inc., Greeneville
Kathy Boswell, The Tullahoma
News
Phil Hensley, Johnson City Press
Don Lovelace, Citizen Tribune,
Morristown
Bryan Sandmeier, The Daily
Times, Maryville
Olene Standfield, Shelbyville
Times-Gazette
CONTESTS
overseeing the annual UT-TPA
State Press Contests. Included in
its activities is the
development of
rules and categories for presentation to the membership each year.
Further, members
of this committee serve as the
Likens
primary resource
pool for reciprocal judging assignments with other state press associations.
Terri Likens, Roane County News,
Kingston, chairman, tlikens@roanecounty.com, (865) 376-3481
Ann Cason, Grainger Today, Bean
Station
Meg Downey, The Tennessean,
Nashville
Amelia Hipps, Lebanon
David Popiel, The Newport Plain
Talk
Charles Primm, UT Media Relations, Knoxville
Janet Rail, Independent Appeal,
Selmer
FUTURES
Formed in July 2010 to look ahead
to organizational
needs of the association to determine the kind
of association we
need to be in the
next five to seven
years.
Jones
Gregg K. Jones,
Jones Media Inc.,
Greeneville, chairman, gregg.
jones@jonesmedia.biz, (423) 3593122
Patrick Birmingham, News Sentinel, Knoxville
Jim Charlet, Brentwood, honorary member
Jeff Fishman, The Tullahoma
News
Brad Franklin, The Lexington
Progress
Frank Gibson, Tennessee Press
Association
Hugh Jones, Shelbyville TimesGazette
Steve Lake, Pulaski Citizen
Victor Parkins, The Milan MirrorExchange
Selmer
Lynn J. Richardson, Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough
John Seigenthaler, Freedom Forum First Amendment Center,
Nashville
Jason Taylor, Chattanooga Times
Free Press
Joel Washburn, The McKenzie
Banner
Michael B. Williams, The Paris
Post-Intelligencer
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
Protecting the public’s right to
know by resisting any attempts to
restrict free access to public records
and/or public meetings is of paramount importance. This committee
is charged with the responsibility
for monitoring and properly reacting to any and all efforts to curtail
the free flow of information in Tennessee or on the national level. The
committee also should monitor and
react to judicial actions, local regulatory actions or any other attempt
to restrict information brought to
TPA’s attention. Committee also
will be deeply involved with the legislative activities that might relate
directly to the newspaper industry
as a business in
Tennessee. The
committee will
be called on at
times to review
and work on problems relating to
the implementation of existing Blackstone
legislation, i.e.,
working out solutions to problems
with state regulatory departments
or other enforcement divisions.
TPA’s junior vice
president will coWashburn
chair this committee per policy set in Feb. 2012.
Elizabeth Blackstone, Kennedy
Newspapers, Columbia, co-chairman, erfkb@bellsouth.net, (931)
714-0442 (cell)
Banner, co-chairman, washburn@
mckenziebanner.com, (731) 352-3323
Eric Barnes, The Daily News,
Memphis
Brian Bloom, The Bartlett Express
David Critchlow Jr., Union City
Daily Messenger
Elenora E. Edwards, The Tennessee Press, Clinton
R. Jack Fishman, Citizen Tribune,
Morristown
News
W.R. (Ron) Fryar, Cannon Courier,
Woodbury
Dale Gentry, The Standard Banner, Jefferson City
Association
Dave Gould, The Wilson Post, Lebanon
Tom Griscom, Chattanooga
Henrietta Hayward, The Tennessean, Nashville
Richard Hollow, Hollow & Hollow,
Knoxville
Bo Johnson, Johnson Poss Government Relations, Nashville
Gregg K. Jones, Jones Media Inc.,
Greeneville
John M. Jones Jr., The Greeneville Sun
Sam Kennedy, Kennedy Newspapers, Columbia
Jack McElroy, News Sentinel,
Knoxville
Mike Pirtle, Murfreesboro
Melony Shemberger, Austin Peay
State University, Clarksville
Pauline D. Sherrer, Crossville
Chronicle
Free Press
Buzz Trexler, The Daily Times,
Maryville
F. Gene Washer, Clarksville
Post-Intelligencer
Adam Yeomans, The Associated
Press, Nashville
HALL OF FAME
ADMINISTRATIVE
This committee executes the installation procedure for an individual selected for the Tennessee
Newspaper Hall of Fame, a joint
project of the University of Tennessee and the Tennessee Press
Association Foundation. The chair
of this committee will be the head
of the UT School of Journalism or
a designee. The TPA president will
appoint two members to this committee, with UT
designating two
additional members.
Peter Gross, UT
School of Journalism and Electronic
Media,
Knoxville, chairGross
man, pgross@utk.
edu, (865) 359-3122
Gregg K. Jones,
Jones Media Inc.,
Greeneville, vice
chairman, gregg.
Jones
Ed Caudill, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Elizabeth Hendrickson, UT School
of Journalism and Electronic Media, Knoxville
Walter T. Pulliam, Knoxville
The Knoxville News-Sentinel
Forerunner of the News Sentinel, Knoxville
MEMBERSHIP
Formed in July 2010, this committee is tasked with enhancing participation at all of our meetings, seeking new associate members and
reviewing TPA’s dues structure.
Mark Stevens, Elizabethton Star,
chairman, mstevens@starhq.com,
(423) 542-4151
SEE COMMITTEES, PAGE 7
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis
(Images continue on page continue on page 12)
FROM PAGE 10
Daddy put up equal parts of money to
buy and restart the paper. They did,
and within a few years he bought their
shares.
After I learned to read, I read in
the funnies about Dagwood, who resembled Daddy, and his problems with
Mr. Dithers. That worried me, so I
asked Daddy who his boss was. I was
so relieved when he told me he was the
boss!
I wish he had been here many more
years for Mother, my sister and me.
I learned so much from him. Sometimes I went into the room where he
studied and wrote, where I asked him
questions about things like politics,
religion and war. He always said, when
those sessions were over, that he felt
his brain had been picked. But I could
tell he liked it.
Memories nurture and comfort me,
of course. My standing on his shoes as
we danced. The adoration with which
he looked at Mother. The impeccable
manners he practiced at the same time
he had the toughness needed to get the
newspaper job done right. His explanation on a Christmas morning when
I asked why I didn’t get the bicycle I
had asked for: “Our best hardware
advertiser (where one bought bicycles
then) sells blue Murrays, not pink
Schwinns.” I understood.
I can picture Daddy sitting at his
typewriter at the Press, working on his
column or a story. His using a makeup
rule to scrape bits of lead from type
before placing it in a chase. I can picture his getting together some papers
he was going to need, sticking them in
his back pocket and walking gingerly
down the street to make his calls.
I don’t remember Daddy’s getting
many calls at home. But one period I
do remember was when he wrote editorials in favor of reappraisal, which
hadn’t taken place for years and was
unpopular with a lot of people.
His pitching softball for Helen Anne
and me. His lifting my Mother off her
feet as he came into the house after
a day’s work, as well as her shy but
pleased smile.
I remember the trips we made to
newspaper conventions. Betty Finney
Kennedy and I have talked about the
evening in 1960 at an NEA meeting in
Hershey, Pa. Daddy had been elected
NEA president. Sam, Betty and their
son, Delk, were there (Elizabeth then
was but a gleam in her father’s eye), as
well as a number of other Tennesseans. Betty remembered because, as she
put it, she “danced with all three of the
men in my life”: Sam; Delk, about four,
I’m guessing; and her father, John W.
SEE HERO, PAGE 12
The Tennessee Press
10
NOVEMBER 2013
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
7
FROM PAGE 6
Selmer
Keith Whitson,
The Erwin Record
Patricia Zechman,
Southern
Standard, McMinnville
Stevens
NOMINATING
The Nominating Committee is
composed of past presidents of the
Tennessee Press Association who
are still actively involved in the
newspaper industry in the state.
They face the important responsibility of developing and presenting
a recommended slate of officers
and directors to the membership
each year. Much of the success of
TPA over the years can be directly
attributed to the careful process by
which this committee goes about
its job.
Michael
Williams, The Paris
Post-Intelligencer,
chairman, mwilliams@parispi.
net, (731) 642-1162
Williams
Jeff Fishman,
The Tullahoma News
R. Michael Fishman, Citizen Tribune, Morristown
Woodbury
Greeneville
Hershel Lake, Pulaski Citizen
Selmer
Chronicle
Bill Williams, Paris
SUMMER CONVENTION
the planning, promotion and execution of the annual summer
convention, including securing
sponsorships to offset the cost to
the general membership. Members
are traditionally from newspapers
located in the area where the summer convention will be held. The
2014 Summer Convention will be
held June 5-7 in Memphis.
Jana Thomasson, The Mountain
Press, Sevierville, chairman, jmt@
themountainpress.com, (865) 4280748
Carl Esposito, The Daily Times,
Maryville
Allen Handley,
The Courier News,
Clinton
Brent Schanding,
LaFollette Press
Joi Whaley, The
Mountain Press,
Sevierville
Kevin Slimp, Tennessee Press
Service, Knoxville
Joe Stagner, Your Community
Shopper, Ardmore
Brittany Washburn, The McKenzie Banner
Thomasson
TECHNOLOGY
Formed in 2000, the committee addresses technology issues central to
our industry. This committee will
address issues from Internet presence to pagination to alternative
uses of technology throughout all
newspaper operations.
John
Finney,
Kennedy Newspapers, Linden,
Finney
chairman, advocateonline@bellsouth.net, (931) 5892169
Alan Broyles, Johnson City Press
Scott Critchlow, Union City Daily
Messenger
Hulon Dunn, Lewis County Herald, Hohenwald
Chris Ford, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis
Seth Horn, Citizen Tribune, Morristown
WINTER CONVENTION
AND PRESS INSTITUTE
This committee is appointed each
spring and is responsible for the
planning, development, and execution of the annual Winter Convention and TPA-UT Press Institute
held in connection with the winter
convention. It is responsible for the
educational and informational sessions held during the two and onehalf day convention. In addition to
the regular sessions the president
may request the Press Institute
Committee to assist in the planning
of other activities or special assignments, which he may direct to the
chairman. The senior vice president will chair this committee per
policy set in February 2012. The
next Winter Convention is Feb. 5-7,
2014 in Nashville.
Jason Taylor,
Chattanooga
Times Free Press,
chairman, jtayTaylor
lor@timesfreepress.com, (423) 756-6900
Peter Gross, UT School of Journalism and Electronic Media,
Knoxville
Andrew Oppmann, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro
Banner
Press, Nashville
Ex officio: Lynn J. Richardson,
Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough,
TPA president
Bragg to end service as mayor
Tommy Bragg announced Oct. 16
that he will not seek a fourth term
as Murfreesboro mayor. “Enough is
enough,” he confirmed in an interview Oct. 16. “I set out, when first running for mayor, to help with economic
development, foster our community’s
relationship and growth with Middle Tennessee State University, help
strengthen Murfreesboro City Schools,
generate new good-paying jobs and
we’ve done that.”
Bragg, 66, comes from a family with
multi-centuries of public service. His
grandfather was Minor Bragg, who
published Woodbury’s Cannon Courier
and The Rutherford Courier (Smyrna)
back in the 1940-50 era. His father, John
Bragg, served as a state representative
for 30 years.
50 years without Daddy
Chattanooga News-Free Press
Forerunner of the Chattanooga Times Free Press and incorporating The Chattanooga Times
November 1963, to me, means the time my hero died
Chattanooga Daily Times
Later called The Chattanooga Times
Managing editor
FROM PAGE 7
her. In a day or two, the editor asked if
I’d write for the paper the next year.
About two months into my sophomore year, it dawned on me that
newspapers were my thing. I’ve never
looked back.
When I told Daddy I wanted to go into
newspapers, he didn’t try to dissuade
me; he wouldn’t have. He simply said,
“It’s hard work for a woman.” I set
about applying to journalism schools
and chose the University of Missouri.
So when I went to see Daddy at the
airport on his way home, I knew and
he knew what I was going to do.
The fall after graduation from M.C.,
I went to Missouri. I worked two years
for the Missouri Press Association and
a few months in the Freedom of Information Center. After graduate school
and some months working at The LaFollette Press, which we had sold to
longtime friend Walter Pulliam, I was
offered a job at the Clinton CourierNews, working for one of Daddy’s best
friends, Horace V. Wells Jr.
A picture of Daddy and other former
TPA presidents was hanging over my
desk the day I began there. When I left
the paper, Mr. Wells took it off the wall
and gave it to me.
I grew up being called “Little Guy.”
After Daddy died, many people said I
looked just like him, but I thought for
a long time it was because they wanted
to see him in me. People loved Daddy
in a way I think few people are loved.
I didn’t know he thought I looked like
him, though, until recently. I found a
clipping of one of Daddy’s columns in
early 1943 in which he wrote about my
arrival and said, “This one looks like
me.” (My sister, Helen Anne, looked
like Mother’s side of the family, the
Walkers.)
Daddy worked long hours at the papers (he later bought the Jellico Advance-Sentinel). If he wasn’t at the paper, he was covering a meeting the first
four nights of the week. He worked Sat-
urday mornings too, most of the time.
And Sunday afternoons were reserved
for handling correspondence.
In the early 1940s Daddy’s workload
was so great I don’t know how he did
it. In 1941 or 1942, the county needed
a principal for East LaFollette Grammar School. Daddy, beyond the age to
be drafted for World War II, was one of
the few men left in Campbell County
qualified to serve as a principal. So he
took the job, opening the school early
in the morning, teaching eighth grade
and handling the many duties of a
principal, and then went to the Press
to put out the paper. He did that two or
three years and then went back to the
Press full time.
It was really his love for Mother that
led him to LaFollette. He was part
owner of the Pineville (Ky.) Courier
but regularly made the trip through
the mountains to LaFollette to court
Mother. The Press, owned by Kyle and
Don Whitehead, had gone bankrupt
during the Depression. (Don covered
World War II and later won two Pulitzer Prizes as a World War II correspondent for the Associated Press).
The equipment was sitting idle and
the town had no newspaper. Three
businessmen proposed that they and
SEE HERO, PAGE 11
I never saw my father, Guy Easterly,
cry in the 20 years I knew him. But I
saw him almost cry three times: one
was in mid-November 1963. He had
flown home from Memphis, where he
and Mother had been attending a National Editorial Association convention and where, after being hit with
excruciating pain in a meeting with
the NEA board, he learned that he had
extensive cancer that would take his
life.
The Alcoa airport was a few miles
from Maryville College, where I was
a junior. A professor and his wife took
me to the airport to visit briefly with
Daddy and Mother before TPA Secretary-Manager Glenn E. McNeil and
Edwards
Easterly
his wife, Ercie, drove them on home
to LaFollette. I handed Daddy the first
issue of The Highland Echo, the college newspaper of which I had become
news editor. He took it, looked at it for
a moment and, with pride and tears in
his eyes, thanked me.
He died two weeks later, five days
after President John F. Kennedy was
assassinated.
Like almost everyone else, I remem-
ber where I was when the word came.
Dr. Edwin Hunter’s Chaucer class. But
Daddy’s death devastated me, and I still
play over in my mind various scenes
connected with that. I never dreamed
that my hero and my security wouldn’t
live for many more years.
From early childhood I always found
the goings-on at The LaFollette Press,
which we owned, fascinating. When at
the Press, I roamed through the front
office, shop and press room, watching
and sometimes helping as our bookkeeper sold classified ads or sent out
subscription notices or the Linotype
operators set type or changed molds or
the floormen made up pages.
During those years printer’s ink
soaked into my veins from the blobs
of it I got on my hands or legs when
I got too close to a job press or the big
Goss. “Elen, stay away from the ink,”
Mother would say as she let me out of
the car to stay at the Press while she
ran an errand. But it wasn’t unusual
for me to climb back into the car with
a ruined playsuit.
I remember the first job I had at the
Press, one I took on myself one summer when I was about eight. It was
around 1950. We sold papers to carriers
at two for a nickel, and they sold them
for a nickel each. A 100 percent profit—
not bad. I thought it would help Daddy
if I sold papers, so I took five or so and
started down the street. As I had seen
others do, I called out, “Press!” The
loud sound of my own voice scared me
(we didn’t yell at our house), but I continued, “LaFollette Press!” In a couple
of minutes, I sold them and went back
to the office to get more. I did that off
and on for a few years. I look back on
it now with some embarrassment—I
didn’t see that those kids needed the
two and a half cents more than Daddy.
As I got older, I painted the pink
gooey stuff on stacks of paper we were
going to sell as scratch pads, collated
receipt books (white, yellow, pink),
took personals for Mother, the society
editor, when someone called and she
wasn’t handy and now and then wrote
a story.
Near the end of my freshman year
at Maryville, a friend confided in me
that she was in a bind, with two finals
and a paper as well as a story for The
Highland Echo due the next day. “I can
do that,” I said. So since I was finished
with tests and finals, I handled it for
SEE HERO, PAGE 10
8
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
Greg Sherrill, TPA executive director, left, chats with
Dr. Mike Wirth, dean of the UT College of Communication and Information
Kevin Slimp, INT director, welcomes attendees Oct. 17
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
Foreground, Eric Smith, UT Daily Beacon, and Sandy Dodson, The BledsonianBanner, Pikeville, at lunch
9
Lisa Griffin, INT instructor from Boone Newspapers, Selma,
Ala. She has taught at 16 of the 17 Institutes.
Wanda Koch, The Catholic Commentator, Baton Rouge, La., with other attendees reflected in computer monitors
(Left) Jen Madden,
South Carolina Press
Association
Oct. 17-19, 2013
University of Tennessee Knoxville campus
PHOTOS BY ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
Sloan Lake, Pulaski Publishing, foreground, and Karen Jacob, Biskinik, Durant, Okla.
Ed Henninger, Ed Henninger Consulting, Rock Hill, S.C.,
answers a question from Shell Armstrong, Tri-Parish Times,
Houma, La., left, while Terri Likens, Roane County News,
Kingston, listens.
Fred Anders, INT instructor, provides
pointers in Adobe Illustrator. He is with
Texas Press Association.
Jarad Greene, South
Carolina Press Association, takes notes. Listening is Karen Jacob,
Biskinik, Durant, Okla.
Clay Scott, Volunteer State Community College, Gallatin, left,
walks with Ed Henninger, INT instructor with Henninger Consulting, Rock Hill, S.C.
Tracey Trumbull, INT instructor from Chattanooga, talks with David
Spencer, Kentucky Press Association, during a break.
SUBMITTED
J.R. Mangrum, The Tullahoma News, was lucky and
met Vols Football Coach Butch Jones.
Ryan Sandmeyer, The Tullahoma News, and Kevin Slimp, INT director,
chat during a break.
Foreground, Wanda Koch, The Catholic Commentator, Baton Rouge, La., asks a question. Next to her is Jeremy
Slayton, Virginia Press Association. Background, Jarad
Greene, South Carolina Press Association, and Karen Jacob, Biskinik, Durant, Okla.
From left, Sam Smith, The LaFollette Press; Karl Kuntz,
INT instructor from the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch; and
Chris Cannon, The LaFollette Press
From left, Dale Gentry, The Standard Banner, Jefferson City; Teresa Templin and Teresa Ayers, Hamblen County Schools, Morristown; and Kevin Slimp, INT director
Lisa Miller, New Century Press, Rock
Rapids, Iowa, plays corn hole during
the INT tailgate party.
From left, Deidre Elrod, Biskinik, Durant, Okla., Garnett Colburn, George County Times,
Lucedale, Miss. and Ed Henninger, INT instructor, with the UT vs. South Carolina game
day activities in the background. They had just watched the Pride of the Southland
Marching Band make its way to Neyland Stadium.
The Tennessee Press
10
NOVEMBER 2013
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
7
FROM PAGE 6
Selmer
Keith Whitson,
The Erwin Record
Patricia Zechman,
Southern
Standard, McMinnville
Stevens
NOMINATING
The Nominating Committee is
composed of past presidents of the
Tennessee Press Association who
are still actively involved in the
newspaper industry in the state.
They face the important responsibility of developing and presenting
a recommended slate of officers
and directors to the membership
each year. Much of the success of
TPA over the years can be directly
attributed to the careful process by
which this committee goes about
its job.
Michael
Williams, The Paris
Post-Intelligencer,
chairman, mwilliams@parispi.
net, (731) 642-1162
Williams
Jeff Fishman,
The Tullahoma News
Woodbury
Greeneville
Hershel Lake, Pulaski Citizen
Selmer
Chronicle
Bill Williams, Paris
SUMMER CONVENTION
the planning, promotion and execution of the annual summer
convention, including securing
sponsorships to offset the cost to
the general membership. Members
are traditionally from newspapers
located in the area where the summer convention will be held. The
2014 Summer Convention will be
held June 5-7 in Memphis.
Jana Thomasson, The Mountain
Press, Sevierville, chairman, jmt@
themountainpress.com, (865) 4280748
Carl Esposito, The Daily Times,
Maryville
Allen Handley,
The Courier News,
Clinton
Brent Schanding,
LaFollette Press
Joi Whaley, The
Mountain Press,
Sevierville
Kevin Slimp, Tennessee Press
Service, Knoxville
Joe Stagner, Your Community
Shopper, Ardmore
Brittany Washburn, The McKenzie Banner
Thomasson
TECHNOLOGY
Formed in 2000, the committee addresses technology issues central to
our industry. This committee will
address issues from Internet presence to pagination to alternative
uses of technology throughout all
newspaper operations.
John
Finney,
Kennedy Newspapers, Linden,
Finney
chairman, advocateonline@bellsouth.net, (931) 5892169
Alan Broyles, Johnson City Press
Scott Critchlow, Union City Daily
Messenger
Hulon Dunn, Lewis County Herald, Hohenwald
Chris Ford, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis
Seth Horn, Citizen Tribune, Morristown
WINTER CONVENTION
AND PRESS INSTITUTE
This committee is appointed each
spring and is responsible for the
planning, development, and execution of the annual Winter Convention and TPA-UT Press Institute
held in connection with the winter
convention. It is responsible for the
educational and informational sessions held during the two and onehalf day convention. In addition to
the regular sessions the president
may request the Press Institute
Committee to assist in the planning
of other activities or special assignments, which he may direct to the
chairman. The senior vice president will chair this committee per
policy set in February 2012. The
next Winter Convention is Feb. 5-7,
2014 in Nashville.
Jason Taylor,
Chattanooga
Times Free Press,
chairman, jtayTaylor
lor@timesfreepress.com, (423) 756-6900
Peter Gross, UT School of Journalism and Electronic Media,
Knoxville
Andrew Oppmann, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro
Banner
Press, Nashville
Ex officio: Lynn J. Richardson,
Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough,
TPA president
Bragg to end service as mayor
Tommy Bragg announced Oct. 16
that he will not seek a fourth term
as Murfreesboro mayor. “Enough is
enough,” he confirmed in an interview Oct. 16. “I set out, when first running for mayor, to help with economic
development, foster our community’s
relationship and growth with Middle Tennessee State University, help
strengthen Murfreesboro City Schools,
generate new good-paying jobs and
we’ve done that.”
Bragg, 66, comes from a family with
multi-centuries of public service. His
grandfather was Minor Bragg, who
published Woodbury’s Cannon Courier
and The Rutherford Courier (Smyrna)
back in the 1940-50 era. His father, John
Bragg, served as a state representative
for 30 years.
50 years without Daddy
Chattanooga News-Free Press
Forerunner of the Chattanooga Times Free Press and incorporating The Chattanooga Times
November 1963, to me, means the time my hero died
Chattanooga Daily Times
Later called The Chattanooga Times
Managing editor
FROM PAGE 7
her. In a day or two, the editor asked if
I’d write for the paper the next year.
About two months into my sophomore year, it dawned on me that
newspapers were my thing. I’ve never
looked back.
When I told Daddy I wanted to go into
newspapers, he didn’t try to dissuade
me; he wouldn’t have. He simply said,
“It’s hard work for a woman.” I set
about applying to journalism schools
and chose the University of Missouri.
So when I went to see Daddy at the
airport on his way home, I knew and
he knew what I was going to do.
The fall after graduation from M.C.,
I went to Missouri. I worked two years
for the Missouri Press Association and
a few months in the Freedom of Information Center. After graduate school
and some months working at The LaFollette Press, which we had sold to
longtime friend Walter Pulliam, I was
offered a job at the Clinton CourierNews, working for one of Daddy’s best
friends, Horace V. Wells Jr.
A picture of Daddy and other former
TPA presidents was hanging over my
desk the day I began there. When I left
the paper, Mr. Wells took it off the wall
and gave it to me.
I grew up being called “Little Guy.”
After Daddy died, many people said I
looked just like him, but I thought for
a long time it was because they wanted
to see him in me. People loved Daddy
in a way I think few people are loved.
I didn’t know he thought I looked like
him, though, until recently. I found a
clipping of one of Daddy’s columns in
early 1943 in which he wrote about my
arrival and said, “This one looks like
me.” (My sister, Helen Anne, looked
like Mother’s side of the family, the
Walkers.)
Daddy worked long hours at the papers (he later bought the Jellico Advance-Sentinel). If he wasn’t at the paper, he was covering a meeting the first
four nights of the week. He worked Sat-
urday mornings too, most of the time.
And Sunday afternoons were reserved
for handling correspondence.
In the early 1940s Daddy’s workload
was so great I don’t know how he did
it. In 1941 or 1942, the county needed
a principal for East LaFollette Grammar School. Daddy, beyond the age to
be drafted for World War II, was one of
the few men left in Campbell County
qualified to serve as a principal. So he
took the job, opening the school early
in the morning, teaching eighth grade
and handling the many duties of a
principal, and then went to the Press
to put out the paper. He did that two or
three years and then went back to the
Press full time.
It was really his love for Mother that
led him to LaFollette. He was part
owner of the Pineville (Ky.) Courier
but regularly made the trip through
the mountains to LaFollette to court
Mother. The Press, owned by Kyle and
Don Whitehead, had gone bankrupt
during the Depression. (Don covered
World War II and later won two Pulitzer Prizes as a World War II correspondent for the Associated Press).
The equipment was sitting idle and
the town had no newspaper. Three
businessmen proposed that they and
SEE HERO, PAGE 11
I never saw my father, Guy Easterly,
cry in the 20 years I knew him. But I
saw him almost cry three times: one
was in mid-November 1963. He had
flown home from Memphis, where he
and Mother had been attending a National Editorial Association convention and where, after being hit with
excruciating pain in a meeting with
the NEA board, he learned that he had
extensive cancer that would take his
life.
The Alcoa airport was a few miles
from Maryville College, where I was
a junior. A professor and his wife took
me to the airport to visit briefly with
Daddy and Mother before TPA Secretary-Manager Glenn E. McNeil and
Edwards
Easterly
his wife, Ercie, drove them on home
to LaFollette. I handed Daddy the first
issue of The Highland Echo, the college newspaper of which I had become
news editor. He took it, looked at it for
a moment and, with pride and tears in
his eyes, thanked me.
He died two weeks later, five days
after President John F. Kennedy was
assassinated.
Like almost everyone else, I remem-
ber where I was when the word came.
Dr. Edwin Hunter’s Chaucer class. But
Daddy’s death devastated me, and I still
play over in my mind various scenes
connected with that. I never dreamed
that my hero and my security wouldn’t
live for many more years.
From early childhood I always found
the goings-on at The LaFollette Press,
which we owned, fascinating. When at
the Press, I roamed through the front
office, shop and press room, watching
and sometimes helping as our bookkeeper sold classified ads or sent out
subscription notices or the Linotype
operators set type or changed molds or
the floormen made up pages.
During those years printer’s ink
soaked into my veins from the blobs
of it I got on my hands or legs when
I got too close to a job press or the big
Goss. “Elen, stay away from the ink,”
Mother would say as she let me out of
the car to stay at the Press while she
ran an errand. But it wasn’t unusual
for me to climb back into the car with
a ruined playsuit.
I remember the first job I had at the
Press, one I took on myself one summer when I was about eight. It was
around 1950. We sold papers to carriers
at two for a nickel, and they sold them
for a nickel each. A 100 percent profit—
not bad. I thought it would help Daddy
if I sold papers, so I took five or so and
started down the street. As I had seen
others do, I called out, “Press!” The
loud sound of my own voice scared me
(we didn’t yell at our house), but I continued, “LaFollette Press!” In a couple
of minutes, I sold them and went back
to the office to get more. I did that off
and on for a few years. I look back on
it now with some embarrassment—I
didn’t see that those kids needed the
two and a half cents more than Daddy.
As I got older, I painted the pink
gooey stuff on stacks of paper we were
going to sell as scratch pads, collated
receipt books (white, yellow, pink),
took personals for Mother, the society
editor, when someone called and she
wasn’t handy and now and then wrote
a story.
Near the end of my freshman year
at Maryville, a friend confided in me
that she was in a bind, with two finals
and a paper as well as a story for The
Highland Echo due the next day. “I can
do that,” I said. So since I was finished
with tests and finals, I handled it for
SEE HERO, PAGE 10
The Tennessee Press
6
NOVEMBER 2013
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
11
TPA President Lynn J. Richardson
this month announces the chairmen and members of 13 committees
that will oversee various aspects of
the Association’s programs.
She has opted to sunset the Postal
Committee.
TPA member newspaper staff
members are welcome to serve on
the various committees except for
Nominating, which is composed of
past presidents, and Hall of Fame
Administrative, which designates
specific people. Just get in touch
with the chairman of the committee – we have provided contact information for all.
This listing does not include the
Audit Committee and Journalism
Education and Literacy Committee
rosters.
ADVERTISING
the planning and execution of the
advertising programming for the
annual Advertising/Circulation
Conference in the spring. It also
works with the
Circulation Committee to review
the Ideas Contest.
In addition, the
committee
reviews and makes
recommendations
Kahana
to the TPA Board
of Directors on any projects, problems or ideas relating to the field
of newspaper advertising. Ad/Circ.
Conference: Spring
Leslie Kahana, Chattanooga
Times Free Press, chairman, lkahana@timesfreepress.com, (423)
756-6900
George Coleman, Kingsport
Times-News
Scarlet Elliott, The Milan MirrorExchange
Jesse Lindsey, The Lebanon Democrat
Amy Lutheran, The Daily Times,
Maryville
Danny Peppers, The Paris PostIntelligencer
Tony Ramirez, News Sentinel,
Knoxville
Sissy Smith, Shelbyville TimesGazette
Artie Wehenkel, The Greeneville
Sun
David Wells, Tennessee Press Service, Knoxville
Roger Wells, Herald-Citizen,
Cookeville
CIRCULATION
This committee
will monitor and
develop information for distribution to TPA memLong
bers relating to
changes and trends
in the circulation field. This committee is charged with the planning
and execution of the circulation
programming for the annual Advertising/Circulation Conference
in the spring. It also works with the
Advertising Committee to review
the Ideas Contest. A primary objective is to promote growth in attendance for the annual conference.
Ad/Circ. Conference: Spring
Dale Long, The Greeneville Sun,
chairman, dale.long@greenevillesun.com, (423) 359-3151
Lu Shep Baldwin, Jones Media
Inc., Greeneville
Kathy Boswell, The Tullahoma
News
Phil Hensley, Johnson City Press
Don Lovelace, Citizen Tribune,
Morristown
Bryan Sandmeier, The Daily
Times, Maryville
Olene Standfield, Shelbyville
Times-Gazette
CONTESTS
overseeing the annual UT-TPA
State Press Contests. Included in
its activities is the
development of
rules and categories for presentation to the membership each year.
Further, members
of this committee serve as the
Likens
primary resource
pool for reciprocal judging assignments with other state press associations.
Terri Likens, Roane County News,
Kingston, chairman, tlikens@roanecounty.com, (865) 376-3481
Ann Cason, Grainger Today, Bean
Station
Meg Downey, The Tennessean,
Nashville
Amelia Hipps, Lebanon
David Popiel, The Newport Plain
Talk
Charles Primm, UT Media Relations, Knoxville
Selmer
FUTURES
Formed in July 2010 to look ahead
to organizational
needs of the association to determine the kind
of association we
need to be in the
next five to seven
years.
Jones
Gregg K. Jones,
Jones Media Inc.,
Greeneville, chairman, gregg.
Patrick Birmingham, News Sentinel, Knoxville
News
Brad Franklin, The Lexington
Progress
Association
Selmer
Lynn J. Richardson, Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough
John Seigenthaler, Freedom Forum First Amendment Center,
Nashville
Free Press
Banner
Post-Intelligencer
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
Protecting the public’s right to
know by resisting any attempts to
restrict free access to public records
and/or public meetings is of paramount importance. This committee
is charged with the responsibility
for monitoring and properly reacting to any and all efforts to curtail
the free flow of information in Tennessee or on the national level. The
committee also should monitor and
react to judicial actions, local regulatory actions or any other attempt
to restrict information brought to
TPA’s attention. Committee also
will be deeply involved with the legislative activities that might relate
directly to the newspaper industry
as a business in
Tennessee. The
committee will
be called on at
times to review
and work on problems relating to
the implementation of existing Blackstone
legislation, i.e.,
working out solutions to problems
with state regulatory departments
or other enforcement divisions.
TPA’s junior vice
president will coWashburn
chair this committee per policy set in Feb. 2012.
Elizabeth Blackstone, Kennedy
Newspapers, Columbia, co-chairman, erfkb@bellsouth.net, (931)
714-0442 (cell)
Banner, co-chairman, washburn@
mckenziebanner.com, (731) 352-3323
Eric Barnes, The Daily News,
Memphis
Brian Bloom, The Bartlett Express
David Critchlow Jr., Union City
Daily Messenger
Elenora E. Edwards, The Tennessee Press, Clinton
R. Jack Fishman, Citizen Tribune,
Morristown
News
Woodbury
Association
Dave Gould, The Wilson Post, Lebanon
Tom Griscom, Chattanooga
Henrietta Hayward, The Tennessean, Nashville
Richard Hollow, Hollow & Hollow,
Knoxville
Bo Johnson, Johnson Poss Government Relations, Nashville
Greeneville
Jack McElroy, News Sentinel,
Knoxville
Mike Pirtle, Murfreesboro
Melony Shemberger, Austin Peay
State University, Clarksville
Chronicle
Free Press
Buzz Trexler, The Daily Times,
Maryville
F. Gene Washer, Clarksville
Post-Intelligencer
Press, Nashville
HALL OF FAME
ADMINISTRATIVE
This committee executes the installation procedure for an individual selected for the Tennessee
Newspaper Hall of Fame, a joint
project of the University of Tennessee and the Tennessee Press
Association Foundation. The chair
of this committee will be the head
of the UT School of Journalism or
a designee. The TPA president will
appoint two members to this committee, with UT
designating two
additional members.
Peter Gross, UT
School of Journalism and Electronic
Media,
Knoxville, chairGross
man, pgross@utk.
edu, (865) 359-3122
Gregg K. Jones,
Jones Media Inc.,
Greeneville, vice
chairman, gregg.
Jones
Ed Caudill, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Elizabeth Hendrickson, UT School
of Journalism and Electronic Media, Knoxville
Walter T. Pulliam, Knoxville
The Knoxville News-Sentinel
Forerunner of the News Sentinel, Knoxville
MEMBERSHIP
Formed in July 2010, this committee is tasked with enhancing participation at all of our meetings, seeking new associate members and
reviewing TPA’s dues structure.
Mark Stevens, Elizabethton Star,
chairman, mstevens@starhq.com,
(423) 542-4151
SEE COMMITTEES, PAGE 7
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis
FROM PAGE 10
Daddy put up equal parts of money to
buy and restart the paper. They did,
and within a few years he bought their
shares.
After I learned to read, I read in
the funnies about Dagwood, who resembled Daddy, and his problems with
Mr. Dithers. That worried me, so I
asked Daddy who his boss was. I was
so relieved when he told me he was the
boss!
I wish he had been here many more
years for Mother, my sister and me.
I learned so much from him. Sometimes I went into the room where he
studied and wrote, where I asked him
questions about things like politics,
religion and war. He always said, when
those sessions were over, that he felt
his brain had been picked. But I could
tell he liked it.
Memories nurture and comfort me,
of course. My standing on his shoes as
we danced. The adoration with which
he looked at Mother. The impeccable
manners he practiced at the same time
he had the toughness needed to get the
newspaper job done right. His explanation on a Christmas morning when
I asked why I didn’t get the bicycle I
had asked for: “Our best hardware
advertiser (where one bought bicycles
then) sells blue Murrays, not pink
Schwinns.” I understood.
I can picture Daddy sitting at his
typewriter at the Press, working on his
column or a story. His using a makeup
rule to scrape bits of lead from type
before placing it in a chase. I can picture his getting together some papers
he was going to need, sticking them in
his back pocket and walking gingerly
down the street to make his calls.
I don’t remember Daddy’s getting
many calls at home. But one period I
do remember was when he wrote editorials in favor of reappraisal, which
hadn’t taken place for years and was
unpopular with a lot of people.
His pitching softball for Helen Anne
and me. His lifting my Mother off her
feet as he came into the house after
a day’s work, as well as her shy but
pleased smile.
I remember the trips we made to
newspaper conventions. Betty Finney
Kennedy and I have talked about the
evening in 1960 at an NEA meeting in
Hershey, Pa. Daddy had been elected
NEA president. Sam, Betty and their
son, Delk, were there (Elizabeth then
was but a gleam in her father’s eye), as
well as a number of other Tennesseans. Betty remembered because, as she
put it, she “danced with all three of the
men in my life”: Sam; Delk, about four,
I’m guessing; and her father, John W.
SEE HERO, PAGE 12
The Tennessee Press
12
NOVEMBER 2013
As misinformation abounds, journalists
need to offer health law facts, references
BY AL CROSS
Director, Institute for Rural Journalism
and Community Issues, Lexington, Ky.
The need for journalists at all levels to report
the facts on health reform was freshly illustrated
in a column by Washington Post writer Dana Milbank, in which he said bad information “is perhaps the biggest problem facing Obamacare.”
“Because of all the noise and disinformation,
President (Barack H.) Obama and the Democrats
don’t just own Obamacare as a political issue.
They own health care,” Milbank writes. “Anytime something bad happens—premiums rise
or employers change plans or pare coverage—
Obamacare will be blamed, even if the new law
had nothing to do with the change.”
For example, opponents of the law blame it for
rising insurance premiums. That’s true in cases
where people had bought cheap policies that didn’t
cover much, because the law requires policies to
cover 10 specific areas of service. But “Premiums
were up about 4 percent last year, a much slower
growth rate than the average annual increase of
13.2 percent between 1999 and 2008, according to
the Kaiser Family Foundation,” Milbank writes.
“But it’s easy to blame Obamacare for something
that would have happened anyway.”
We also hear of businesses dropping health
coverage for their employees, but Obamacare
isn’t the only reason. “Long before Obamacare,
as many as a quarter of all businesses each year
made reductions in health-care coverage,” Milbank writes. “The only difference is now businesses can blame Obamacare.”
Sean Hannity of Fox News added to the misinformation by interviewing a North Carolina contractor who claimed that “he would have to provide health insurance to anybody working more
than 30 hours a week,” Milbank reports. “Salon’s
Eric Stern called Cox, and he found that the business has only four employees—and therefore is
not affected by the new requirement, which applies to businesses with 50 or more workers.”
Obamacare’s opponents call it “a job killer” because of the 30-hour rule and point to “statistics
showing the bulk of recent hiring has been for
part-time jobs,” Milbank writes. “In reality, according to an analysis by Moody’s, factors other
than Obamacare were at work (most of the new
jobs were in industries that always use more parttime workers). But the new law gets the blame.”
Such misinformation was the target of an editorial in The Sentinel-News, a twice-weekly newspaper in Shelbyville, Ky. It said “Misinformation
and carefully constructed lies” abound, and
many people have “fallen victim” to exaggerated
individual experiences posted on social media
and “even worse, the acceptance and delivery of
similar items by otherwise responsible broadcast
news outlets.”
The editorial called on readers to find out the
facts for themselves and directed them to local
sources of information. That’s a message that
would be worth repeating by every newspaper in
the country and worth the investment of some
reporting time. That’s especially true in rural areas, where people are more likely to be uninsured
and benefit from the law.
(Oct. 24, 2013)
Cartoonists leave impression on city
More than 30 members of the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society met Oct.
26 and 27 in Knoxville, with News Sentinel Cartoonist Charlie Daniel as their host. The newspaper carried cartoonists’ drawings of their
impression of the city and carried others online
(www.knoxnews.com).
Daddy, 62, died at 10 a.m. Wednesday,
Nov. 27, 1963, two hours before dead-
line. That week, the lead story in The
LaFollette Press was about him.
MARKETPLACE
REPORTER POSITION AVAILABLE - Bristol Herald Courier. News
reporter for a 30,000 daily newspaper.
The job requires an energetic, hardworking individual with a passion
for journalism and community news.
Covering police/crime issues/general
assignment.
Strong writing and interviewing
skills and the ability to develop sources. Accuracy is a must with attention
to detail and the ability to operate
under deadlines. He or she must also
be able to tell stories on multiple platforms. Must be a self-starter and gogetter who recognizes a good story and
can juggle several at once. Must have
sound news judgment and the ability
to respond to breaking news.
Send resume and clips to: scameron@bristolnews.com.
ADVERTISING SALES POSITION
AVAILABLE - The Standard Banner,
Jefferson City, a local, family-owned
newspaper, is looking for an assertive
sales person to do telemarketing sales
for our classified department. This
new position is designed to grow revenue by creating new and exciting promotions to offer to our advertisers and
readers. The successful sales person in
this career will have the opportunity
to make top commissions based on
their ability to prospect new sources
of advertisers, generate new revenue
and put their creativity to work.
Those with at least three years’
telemarketing sales experience and a
proven record of meeting goals and
growing customer base should apply
by emailing their cover letter and detailed resume. The successful candidate will be highly organized and selfdriven.
OBITUARIES
Opal J. Barnett
Formerly with P-I
Opal Jackson Bennett, former employee of The Paris Post-Intelligencer,
died Aug. 14. She was 92.
Born in Whitlock, she was the
daughter of the late Walter Alexander
Jackson and Nellie Mae Jobe Jackson.
In 1945 she married John W. Barnett,
who died April 4, 2005.
She was a longtime member of First
United Methodist Church, Paris. She
loved pets, fishing and gardening.
Barnett leaves two daughters, Paula
Lane Barnett of Paris and Pam McKenzie of Clarksville; three sons, Mike
and Brad, both of Paris, and Barry of
Camden; 10 grandchildren; and nine
great-grandchildren.
Ramona Gilliam
Former editor
Ramona Gilliam,
for 43 years a reporter, editor and
photographer for
community newspapers, died Sept.
24 at her home in
Portland. She was
80. She was born
Gilliam
Aug. 29, 1933 to the
late John and Mable Phillips.
Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Carl
Gilliam.
Gilliam leaves a son, Randy Gilliam
of Bethpage; two grandchildren, Kellie Bangert and DeSha Shaw, both of
Portland; and great-grandchildren,
Brittney Meador, Brandon Meador,
Zack Meador, Victoria Nelson and
Audra Nelson.
Hazel W. Hatcher
MARKETPLACE
The Nashville Tennessean
Forerunner of The Tennessean, Nashville
FROM PAGE 11
Finney, a Southern gentleman in the
finest sense of the word, an exemplary
newspaperman and a man my father
loved.
I remember when Daddy sang “On
Top of Old Smoky” at a country-style
dinner TPA held at an attraction
owned by the Bill Postlewaites, whose
main enterprise was the Gatlinburg
Press. His reciting “The Cremation of
Sam McGhee” as we sat with friends
on the rim of the Grand Canyon.
For a long time I thought Daddy was
the finest man I’d ever known, and
that’s still generally true. Isn’t that
what girls are supposed to think?
The Sunsphere, Mayor Madeline Rogero and
the area’s hills were typical subjects.
The group offers social and networking opportunities for cartoonists throughout the Southeast
and hopes to establish a Knoxville sub-group
soon.
(News Sentinel, Knoxville, Oct. 27, 2013)
This is an ideal position for someone wanting a challenging career and
daily interaction with people in the
community but a part-time schedule
that works for family and personal life
as well. The flexible hours of this position let you have both. This part-time
position will pay an hourly wage as
well as commission.
Email resume to: apply@endeavorsky.com
POSITION AVAILABLE - Reporter/
associate editor with excellent potential for advancement. Writing, photography, pagination and sales skills
required.
Send resume with references to:
Danny Jones
The Gazette
P.O. Box 7
Trenton, Tenn. 38382
Email: danny@trentongazette.com.
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
Formerly with News Sentinel
Hazel
Wilson
Hatcher of Knoxville died Oct. 11.
She was 96.
She was a longtime member of
Magnolia Avenue
United Methodist
Church.
Hatcher
Hatcher studied
journalism at the University of Tennessee, and worked for News Sentinel, Knoxville, and the Spokesman
Review, Spokane, Wash. She was active in church where she oversaw the
creation and expansion of the church
library. Hazel was an artist and a poet,
and authored two books, one a collection of original poetry and the other a
genealogy entitled Speedwell Seasons.
She was chaplain of the Knox County
5
REWRITES FROM THE TENNESSEE PRESS
Council of garden clubs.
Hatcher and husband were charter
members and co-chairs of Contact of
Knoxville, established a scholarship
fund at Hiwassee College, and taught
hundreds to water ski at their cottage
on Douglas Lake.
Hazel was preceded in death by her
husband, Sherrill T. Hatcher, and parents, George and Mary Love Wilson.
Elizabeth Hopper
Former P-I employee
Elizabeth Paula Ann Hopper, a Headstart employee in Dresden and former
worker at The Paris Post-Intelligencer,
died Aug. 14 at her home in Mansfield.
She was 35.
Born Aug. 8, 1978, in Clifton Springs,
N.Y., she was the daughter of Paul
Hyer of Hopkinsville and Cathy Weed
of Menifee, Calif.
She also was a substitute teacher and
tax preparer for H&R Block in Paris.
She was a member of Tennessee Valley Community Church.
She leaves her fiance, Donald Ruddell
of Mansfield; and three sons, Case and
Buck Wimberley and Brady Wilson, all
of Paris.
(Aug. 16, 2013)
Tracy Parsons
Former publisher’s wife
BY MAX HRENDA
Elizabethton Star
Tracy Parsons, wife of Bill Parsons,
advertising director for the Elizabethton Star, died the morning of Oct. 27
as a result of a fire in the kitchen of
the Parsons house in Elizabethton.
She was 52.
Authorities believe that smoke inhalation led to her death.
Parsons’ daughter, Esther Locke, 26,
and her 4-year-old son, Aiden, escaped
with the help of passersby who were
on the way to church, noticed smoke
coming from the house and called the
local fire department.
Bill Parsons, was away undergoing
medical treatment at the time of the
incident. He is the former publisher of
The Rogersville Review.
(Adapted, Aug. 16, 2013)
Fred L. Sedahl
Former newsman
Fred L. Sedahl, a former Capitol Hill
reporter for United Press International and former news editor of The
Daily Herald, Columbia, died Oct. 25 in
Mississippi, where he moved about six
months ago. He was 68.
He was born and reared in Minnesota but spent most of his life in Tennessee.
He once managed a coffee plantation
in Jamaica and was a former international communications director for a
religious organization.
He leaves a wife, Shawn.
(Adapted from a column by Tom
Humphrey, News Sentinel, Knoxville, Oct. 27, 2013)
Break out your 2014 calendar,
save Winter Convention dates
Save
these
dates—Wednesday
through Friday, Feb. 5-7—for the 2014
Tennessee Press Association Winter
Convention and Press Institute in
Nashville.
TPA Vice President Jason Taylor,
Chattanooga Times Free Press, is
chairing the planning committee. Taylor and the committee plan to energize
the event with a Nashville theme and
mixing in some new program topics.
The convention will begin with important board, business and committee
meetings Wednesday afternoon. These
will be followed by the Opening Reception, to which all members of the Tennessee General Assembly are invited.
Adam Yeomans of the Associated
Press again will coordinate Thursday
morning programming. The AP-TPA
Legislative Preview will include state
newsmakers and discussion of timely
topics. Common Core is among topics
being considered.
TPA has invited Gov. Bill Haslam to
speak at the Thursday luncheon.
During the next few weeks, the committee will finalize topics and speakers
for the Thursday afternoon and Friday
Drive-In Training sessions.
The TPA Foundation has provided
a grant that will allow 50 college students to attend Drive-In Training.
A convention schedule and registration packet will be available Dec. 9.
Read Committee’s take on the president and FOI
The Committee to Protect Journalists has issued a report on President
Barack H. Obama’s administration
with regard to the people’s right to
know, saying the Committee is disturbed by actions of the Obama administration. Read about these at www.cpj.
org/reports/.
NOVEMBER 1963
NOVEMBER 1988
Journalism school graduates trained
to report and edit news for newspapers
and wire services began work in 1963
for salaries ranging from $163 to $45 a
week.
A Nashville staffer of the Associated
Press found a way to get free transportation to and from work, courtesy of
the police department. Billy Bowles
parked his car near his office, only to
have a skidding police car strike it. Police offered him transportation until
the legal department could work out a
settlement.
Mike Miller, who for a year was in
charge of The Knoxville News-Sentinel’s Nashville bureau as capital correspondent, was reassigned to Washington as correspondent for Tennessee’s
Scripps-Howard newspaper.
Charlie Gunn Critchlow, wife of Edmund S. Critchlow, editor and publisher of the Union City Daily Messenger,
died Oct. 11 at age 61.
Publisher Franklin Yates announced
that the Shelbyville Times-Gazette
would convert to offset printing. It was
the 43rd Tennessee newspaper to do so,
those 43 making up 27 percent of the
state’s papers.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld the right of reporters to report
on governmental meetings without
fear of being sued. The ruling also
said members of the public have the
right to speak at public governmental
meetings as long as their remarks are
within the topics of the meeting. The
opinion grew out of a lawsuit over stories in the Nashville Banner.
TPA President John Paul Jones, The
Daily News, Memphis, was among TPA
members who participated in the first
Tennessee Trot, an early morning jog
around the UT track.
A 6,000 square foot building project
at the Bristol Herald-Courier was going to provide space for new business
and executive offices and allow other
departments to expand, Publisher Art
Powers said.
Elizabeth Kennedy Blackstone was
working as a legislative assistant in
the office of Sen. Jim Sasser in Washington. She had worked for the Nashville Banner, The Daily Herald, Columbia, The Record, Mt. Pleasant, and a
daily newspaper in Carson, Nev. She
also worked on the Al Gore senatorial
and presidential campaigns.
The Tennessee Press
4
NOVEMBER 2013
The NAM Classified & Display
Network Advertising Conference was
held this year in Atlanta. David Wells,
TPS
advertising
director, and I were
asked to speak.
Elliott
David
delivered
a compelling presentation about the
“Strength and Value of Newspapers.”
Of course, it was a hit, with timely
and persuasive information that we all
need to hear.
My topic was “Getting your newspapers to sell.” In all honesty, it is you,
the reps who sell the Network ads, who
should receive all the credit. Thank
you for making TPS an example of
what can be done across the nation.
It is you, the reps, actively selling the
ads; you, the publishers, encouraging
your reps to sell the ads; you who make
this work. You are the reason Tennessee’s Advertising Network sales are up
4 percent this year over last!
It is my goal for each and every TPA
member that participates in Tennessee’s Advertising Networks to get the
most out of the Networks, and that is
by actively selling the ads.
Speaking of selling the Network
ads, TPS rolled out a new package last
month combining TnSCAN, Tennessee’s Statewide Classified Ad Network,
and TnNET, Tennessee’s Online Ad
Network. For an extra fee, TnSCAN
advertisers can have their ad appear
on the TnNET newspaper websites
across the state, getting their message
to both print and online readers and
thus maximizing their reach.
How does this help you? If your
newspaper participates in both Networks, it helps a great deal. Not only
can you populate your classified section with TnSCAN ads, but you have
paid ads on your newspaper’s website.
Plus, you and your sales team have a
new product to offer your local clients
who are looking for regional or statewide reach. Don’t forget, your newspaper keeps a hefty commission on each
Network ad you sell.
TPS has put together refresher training sessions of which we encourage
you to take advantage. If a three-minute crash course is all you need, we
can do it. If a more in-depth session is
what you need, we can do that. Please
contact TPS today to set up your session, 865-584-5761 x117 for Beth or x108
for David. We are looking forward to
hearing from you.
Learn tools for digging deeper into stories
Looking to learn skills that will help
you and your newsroom thrive? Join
Investigative Reporters and Editors
and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR) for
their annual conference devoted to
computer-assisted reporting.
It is set for Feb. 27 to March 2, 2014 at
the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor
at Camden Yards.
Learn about tools you need to dig
deeper into stories and give readers,
viewers and your online audience the
information they’re demanding.
For details, see www.ire.org.
13
Ignorance claimed in noncompliance on records requests
Network sales up 4%; thanks!
BY BETH ELLIOTT
Network advertising manager
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
Earl Goodman, TPS senior media buyer, shows Terri Likens, Roane County News, Kingston, and Brent Schanding, the LaFollette Press, what he likes about changes that have been made to the Press. Likens and Schanding
visited TPA/TPS headquarters on Oct. 4.
Newspaper coupons first choice for savings
According to the Valassis annual
Purse String Survey, millennials rely
more heavily on print for their shopping behaviors than you might expect.
With newspaper as their number one
source for coupons and deals, these
promotion-sensitive millennials are
getting their savings the same way as
all other consumers across age groups
and income levels, with 51 percent indicating this print source is their first
choice for savings.
Millennials’ sources of coupons
and deals (% of respondents 18-34)
• Newspaper 51%
• Emails/coupon alerts 50%
• Internet searches 38%
• Mailbox 33%
• In-store offers 25%
• Links from savings cites/blogs 23%
• Retail circulars 21%
• Coupon books 20%
Respondents most often get their
coupons and deals from newspapers
and emails/coupon alerts. For millennials, in-store exceeds their use of
retail circulars by 4 percentage points
to rank fifth. From print sources, millennials get their deals as follows:
• 33% from the mail
• 21% from retail circulars
• 20% from coupon books
Over the last 12 months, 27 percent
of millennials indicated they are using more mobile coupons compared
to 17 percent of the overall findings.
Millennials actually are using their
smartphone to a greater degree than
the general population:
• 45% access a coupon in an email on
their smartphone compared to 24% of
all respondents
• 41% access a coupon code on their
smartphone versus 24%
• 36% compare deals versus 20%
• 32% download a coupon to a loyalty
card compared to 20%.
Lisa Reynolds, Valassis vice president of Consumer Engagement, notes
that “… the survey results are somewhat counter intuitive from what you
might expect… (though) heavy digital
users… this group also embraces tried
and true methods for savings… as any
other age group… testament to… savings from both print and digital…”
Millennials share at the highest rate
(90%) among all age groups:
Advertising Placement Snapshot
ROP:
Network:
September 2013:
$248,439
$63,764
Year* as of Aug. 31:
$3,242,311
$610,473
*The Tennessee Press Service Inc. fiscal year runs Dec. 1 through Nov. 30.
• Word of mouth – 71% versus 56% of
the general populace
• Social – 43% versus 29% with Facebook as their channel of choice accounting for 33% of their social sharing, 10% higher than overall findings
• Text – 30% versus 19%.
Looking for savings, 85 percent of
millennials seek out grocery coupons
compared to 78 percent of the overall
findings, followed by clothing and dining out.
(Center for Media Research,
Sept. 24, 2013)
Dorris takes post
with Athlon Media
Stephen Dorris
has joined Athlon
Media Group as director of publisher
relations. He will
be responsible for
expanding circulation for AMG’s
four newspaperDorris
distributed magazines, American Profile, Athlon Sports,
Relish and Spry.
Most recently, Dorris served as regional director for the Publishing
Group of America and was key to the
successful launch of three magazines.
As a former Tennessee newspaper
owner, he is uniquely qualified in understanding the opportunities facing
the business today and looks forward
to being an advocate for the future of
the newspaper industry a new release
stated.
It has always troubled me that ignorance of the or under current law could change the
local legislative bodies to sign off on
law can be used as a legal defense for not comply- policy to charge for labor on his own.
such policies that, one would hope,
ing with the Tennessee Public Records Act.
They refused to pay and complained to
allow the public to participate in the
That absurdity came back a few weeks ago the Office of Open Records Counsel.
conversation.
when the Hendersonville Star News reported on
The citizens said they had been getNext, the BMA on July 23 adopted
a brouhaha that had been raging for months be- ting the “run-around” and argued that
the mayor’s policy by resolution on a
tween Hendersonville city officials and a group the documents they had requested
single vote. That was done so hastily
of local residents. The issue was whether (and could point to misuse of public funds.
it wasn’t even on the BMA’s published
how much) the city could charge to produce cop- The city attorney has said that the city
agenda.
ies of public records.
has not denied access to records, but
Star News reporter Tena Lee rePUBLIC
Elisha Hodge, the state open records counsel, that the issue has been whether the
ported that the group requested more
had opined that the city could not charge the pub- public should pay for the records.
records, and members were told they
POLICY
lic for the labor of city employees until the Board
Some city leaders said a handful of
owed hundreds of dollars. Citizens
OUTLOOK continued to argue they shouldn’t pay
of Mayor and Aldermen (BMA) adopted a written citizens are pursuing a political venpolicy by “ordinance.”
detta against the mayor and that all the
the fees because the city policy was not
Until July 23, the city had tried to charge for la- time city employees have spent prepar- Frank Gibson
legal.
bor under an “administrative” order imposed by ing records is an unreasonable expense to
It is absurd enough that the city of Henthe mayor four months earlier.
local taxpayers.
dersonville officials were not aware of the 2008
The back and forth started
Hodge notified city officials change in state law, but the story gets better (or
when the Star News reported in
that a 2008 state law required her worse, depending on your perspective).
February that the mayor had takoffice to establish a schedule of
After members of the BMA adopted the mayor’s
en his wife on an expense-paid Citizens claim policy
reasonable charges. That sched- records policy by resolution, citizens again called
business trip to Washington, D.C. on charges for copies
ule has been posted on the state the Office of Open Records Counsel to complain.
Some citizens began requesting of records was not
website for five years. It states:
They had discovered that the public records
information on the mayor’s trav- legal. And they are
“If a records custodian deter- policy violated the Hendersonville City Charter,
el and entertainment expenses correct.
mines to charge for copies or du- which states:
as far back as 2004.
plication of public records, such
“Fees for copying and certification shall be
The Star News reported the
determination and schedule of charged as established by ordinance.”
mayor signed a new administracharges must be pursuant to a
That is what prompted Hodge, the OORC, to adtive policy in March, imposing the labor charges properly adopted rule and evidenced by a written vise city officials: “It is the opinion of this office
but without any public notice and without any policy authorized by the governmental entity’s that in order for the city to charge for copies of
prior review by the BMA.
governing authority.”
public records an ordinance related to such chargThe new policy became public when citizens
The mayor was obviously not a “governing es must be properly adopted by the BOMA.”
began requesting hundreds of pages of records. authority” and the intent of the law was for the
It is anyone’s guess as to why it took a whole
The group started challenging whether the may-
eight months for that little fact to surface.
The upshot of Hodge’s opinion was that access
to public records is a major policy issue that deserves more than the “ministerial” treatment
afforded by resolution. Ordinances require two
separate votes of the BMA, resolutions only one.
Now back to ignorance as a defense. Since 1957,
when the records law went on the books, the
only consequence for not complying has been
the threat of a lawsuit. The only thing a citizen
stood to gain if he won the lawsuit was the remote possibility of getting lawyer and court fees
reimbursed.
The citizen would have to prove that the governmental entity “knew” it was not complying
with the law and that the alleged act was “willful” before the court could assess “reasonable
costs” against the government.
Another provision of the schedule of reasonable charges states: “Application of an adopted
schedule of charges shall not be arbitrary. Additionally, excessive fees and other rules shall not
be used to hinder access to non-exempt, public
records.”
All of this makes one wonder, to paraphrase
Tennessee’s former U.S. senator and senior
statesman Howard H. Baker Jr.’s question about
Richard Nixon in the Watergate hearings: “What
did the president know and when did he know
it?”
FRANK GIBSON is TPA’s public policy director.
One can reach him at fgibson@tnpress.com or (615)
202-2685.
TRACKS
Press veteran returns ‘home’
BY DWANE WILDER
I’ve come full circle during the past
14 months. After
leaving the LaFollette Press last July
for what I thought
would be forever,
here I am again.
Tuesday was my
Wilder
first official day
back at the paper where I built my
career in community journalism the
previous two decades as sports editor. Appropriately, it was also my 48th
birthday.
The past year seems more like 10
years. I enjoyed my brief stints at
the Roane County News and WLAF Radio/TV 12, but my heart never left the
Press.
It’s where I made a name for myself,
raised my family and watched the children of countless other families grow
up.
Sometimes you can stay in a place so
long that it grows on you. It becomes a
part of who you are. That’s the way it’s
been for me with the Press. I still vividly remember the first day I stepped
through the door in August 1992 only
two weeks before the birth of my
youngest daughter.
Publisher Larry Smith, who was in
the middle of a family trip to Australia, had left advertising manager Larry Dilbeck in charge. More than six
feet tall with dark hair and piercing
blue eyes, Dilbeck was an imposing figure that made me a little nervous until
I got to know him. Over the next few
years, both of them guided me along
the path to becoming a better newspaperman.
As sports editor of the Press, I had
the pleasure of covering an entire generation of Campbell County schoolchildren. I was introduced to them as
youngsters and watched them grow
into young adults right before my very
eyes. In many cases, I ended up covering two generations of the same family. It was really a neat thing to watch
an athlete and compare them to their
mom or dad at the same age.
So, when I took another newspaper
job last summer at Roane County it felt
as though I was leaving a member of
my own family behind.
But now I’m back home again, and it
feels good to be reunited with the pa-
per where I spent so much of my life.
Though I won’t be in charge of the
sports section again, you may occasionally see me covering a game or two
for Sports Editor Chris Cannon. My
primary news beats will be the Campbell County Board of Education and
the municipal boards of Caryville and
Jacksboro.
I’ll also pitch in with columns, enterprise stories and features.
So, what I’m saying in a roundabout
way is that you’re apt to see me anywhere between Lake City and Jellico,
Pioneer and Speedwell.
Like the old John Denver song, “Hey,
it’s good to be back home again.”
(Sept. 18, 2013)
|
David Davis, managing editor of
the Cleveland Daily Banner, retired
Oct. 30.
|
Tommy Dowdy is the new regional
circulation director for the Bristol Herald Courier. Earlier he served as circulation director of the Stillwater (Okla.)
News Press.
|
Sam Smith has joined the LaFollette
Press as an editorial assistant.
FIVE MONTHS UNTIL DEADLINE
Public notice upload law to take effect April 1
By April 1, all newspapers printing public notices
must also upload those notices to the newspaper’s
website and www.tnpublicnotice.com.
Notices must be posted online for each date that
they run in your print edition.
To find out more or to begin uploading to
tnpublicnotice.com, contact TPA at (865) 584-5761.
Are you uploading your notices yet?
The Tennessee Press
14
NOVEMBER 2013
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
SLIMP: ‘Invention’ has served industry 20 years
TRACKS
FROM PAGE ONE
Emcee Paul Willson, right, gives the needle to Tommy Wilson Sept. 26 during a roast/retirement party for the outgoing publisher.
Roast of the town:
Jones Media Inc. Chief Operating Officer Ralph Baldwin, left, shares a laugh with Tommy Wilson, Advocate &
Democrat, Sweetwater, and his wife, Jill Jordan.
Farewell party for Wilson,
Walker named Tribune sales, marketing director
retiring from A & D
A familiar face
has returned to the
Citizen Tribune offices.
Mike Walker, who
spent 12 years at the
Tribune, returned
to retake the helm
of the advertising
Walker
department after
seven years away from Lakeway Publishers pursuing opportunities both in
Knoxville and in Morristown.
Tribune Editor/Publisher R. Michael
Fishman announced Walker’s return
as sales and marketing director.
“We’re thrilled to have Mike Walker
return to the Tribune,” Fishman said.
“Not only does Mike possess a vast
knowledge of media sales and marketing, but he is a member of our Tribune
family. His 12 years at the Tribune, first
working with Info-Connect and then
as advertising director, were years of
great success and growth, both for the
company and, I think, for Mike, too.”
Walker moved to Morristown in
1978 armed with a radio broadcasting
degree. After working his way up the
corporate ladder in radio, he joined
the Tribune team in 1994 to run InfoConnect, a telephone call-in information system that provided time, temperature as well as news updates and
community information.
After four years, Walker was promoted to advertising manager where he
says he grew by leaps and bounds with
the help of an excellent staff.
That personal growth continued even
when he left the Tribune in 2006 to pursue career opportunities in direct mail
marketing in Knoxville, a commute he
made from Morristown for about five
years.
“At the Tribune I gained a wealth of
knowledge,” Walker said. “Then, in
my subsequent position, I was able to
add to that, build upon it and develop
and explore various concepts that I intend to put into place here.
“We’re going to spend more time analyzing former, current and potential
customers,” he said. “We want to understand what their needs are, and as
a team we’re going to come up with the
right strategies that will best fit those
individual needs.”
Walker, who left the direct mail marketing position in Knoxville in 2011 as
the economy and mobile internet made
huge shifts in that industry, returned
to his radio roots at WCRK before taking a market development manager
position with Coca-Cola.
“I really enjoyed working there,” he
said. “They were great to work for and
with. However, I missed the 30-plus
years of advertising management and
marketing experience that I had built
up. That was the major reason why I
left Coca-Cola. The opportunity presented itself to come back to the Tribune. Being familiar with this market,
familiar with this great organization
and because of that opportunity, I felt
God called me back here.”
Walker said in many ways it’s been
like returning home, but he says, a
home that has evolved in his absence.
Walker and his wife, Glenda, have
a daughter, Chelsea, married to B.J.
Knight, and a son, Eric.
(Citizen Tribune, Morristown,
Oct. 13, 2013)
Bridgemans on staff of Georgia papers
Ron Bridgeman, who has been editor of The Eatonton (Ga.) Messenger
since November 2011, has been named
senior editor for both the Messenger
and the Lake Oconee News.
He is responsible for planning and
coordinating coverage of both weekly
papers and will continue to handle the
editorial and op-ed pages for the Messenger and report on Putnam County
stories.
Karen Bridgeman, who has been
associate editor of the Messenger, has
been named managing editor.
Ron Bridgeman marked his second
anniversary as editor of the Messenger Oct. 31. He has a 40-year career in
newspapers, in Tennessee working as
a reporter for the former Lenoir City
News and The Oak Ridger, editor of
The Oak Ridger and publisher of The
Courier News, Clinton.
Karen Bridgeman has been associate editor for community and online
news for the Messenger since moving
to Georgia from Tennessee in March
2012; she began working online for the
paper in November 2011.
She was director of communications
for the Anderson County public school
system before moving to Eatonton,
and she owned and operated her own
public relations and marketing firm in
East Tennessee for 17 years. She also
worked at The Oak Ridger and The
Courier News.
(Adapted from www.msgr.com,
Oct. 10, 2013)
BY STAFF
Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater
Lots of laughs and even a few tears
were shared when Tommy Wilson,
publisher of the Advocate & Democrat,
Sweetwater, and wife, Jill Jordan, were
honored at a roast and retirement party. The event was held Sept. 26 at Hiwassee College in Madisonville.
Wilson retired the next day after a
distinguished nearly half-century career in the newspaper business that included 23 years with Jones Media Inc.,
the owner of the Advocate & Democrat.
Wilson has spent more than 13 years of
his Jones Media career as publisher of
the Advocate & Democrat and four of
those years as publisher of The Daily
Post-Athenian, Athens, where he also
served as vice president of Jones Media’s Valley Papers.
It seemed no subject was off limits
during the good-natured roast. A host
of roasters—Paul Willson of Citizens
National Bank, Joe Tolson, president
and chief executive officer of the Monroe County Chamber of Commerce,
Tommy Millsaps, the Advocate & Democrat editor; Shan Harris, economic
development director for Monroe
County, Dr. Robin Tricoli, Hiwassee
College president, and her husband,
Dr. Anthony Tricoli, executive director
of the Boys & Girls Club of the Monroe
Area, Ralph Baldwin, chief operations
officer of Jones Media Inc., State Sen.
Mike Bell, State Rep. Jimmy Matlock
and County Mayor Tim Yates—took
turns poking fun at Wilson.
Baldwin showed a box full of items
and replicas, ranging from door facings, phone books and cell phones,
that Wilson had destroyed or damaged
when his temper occasionally got the
best of him over the years.
But in the end, everyone paid tribute
to Wilson’s career.
“He is a man of his word,” Tolson
said.
“I hope our friendship continues
until we are too old to recognize each
other,” Baldwin said.
Many spoke openly of how Wilson
had helped them or their agency. Bell
and Matlock read a state proclamation
from the governor honoring Wilson,
who grew up in Alabama and led numerous newspapers during his career.
“We love all of you,” Wilson said to
the crowd on behalf of his wife as well
as himself.
Numerous state and local officials
were joined at the party by employees,
former employees, friends and family
of Wilson and his wife, who are moving to Florida to be close to family
there.
(Sept. 22, 2013)
Reporter is now an editor
Morgan moves on
Tom Evanoff, a reporter for The
Commercial Appeal, Memphis, was
named its business editor in September. Already serving as the interim
business editor, he has been with the
paper since 2011.
The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, has announced that Clay Morgan is stepping down as the executive
editor and general manager. His last
day will be Nov. 1. He will remain in
the Nashville area.
asked if Slimp had any new “toys.”
By that time Slimp had built a bulletin
board service (BBS), and his clients
could receive proofs and see them onscreen.
McKinney inquired as to whether a
PDF could be sent to a newspaper for
printing. And it couldn’t.
In the meantime, Don Campbell,
executive director of the Tennessee
Press Association, contacted him because he and Dale Gentry of The Standard Banner, Jefferson City, had seen a
BBS that was being used in Wisconsin,
where they had gone to coordinate a
newspaper contest.
He said that if Slimp could devise a
way to get the PDF to print, they would
work out a way for newspapers to be
able to use them.
TPA soon created a BBS for all its
member newspapers. This was made
possible by a grant from the TPA Foundation that would buy modems for all
newspapers, and employed Slimp to
conduct training across the state.
Word about the process spread, and
magazines such as Publish, as well as
the News Sentinel, Knoxville, covered
it. Other press associations wanted the
same thing.
Up to that point, the BBS could send
only black and white ads. But a turning point, Slimp said, came when he
was contacted by Bob Thayes, creator
of the “Frank & Ernest” comic strip.
Thayes wasn’t satisfied with the method he was using to distribute the strip,
and he asked if color comics could
benefit by using the PDF process.
Seeing the necessity to get the color
matter settled, he flew to Silicon Valley, Mountain View, Calif., to Adobe
headquarters. He worked with the
people there, to no avail. They said it
couldn’t be done. But on the way home
TIME LINE
• 1991 Slimp opens AdTech Design
in Knoxville
• 1991 Bulletin board service created for Tennessee newspapers
• 1992 Adobe begins design of Acrobat
• 1993 Slimp inquires and is sent a
copy of Acrobat
• 1995 Slimp finds way to create a
color PDF that could be printed
• 1996 Tennessee newspapers start
using PDFs for advertisers, other uses
• 1998 Slimp is hired by TPS, becomes technology director and Institute of Newspaper Technology director
then moves on a few years.
• 2003 Slimp is rehired by TPS.
on a plane, it dawned on him how to
do it.
Slimp went to his office directly and
created the first color PDF that would
print.
Thayes began to send his comics by
Syquest cartridge. Slimp would convert the material to PDFs.
Newspapers were beginning to use
more color. Scott Whaley, then with
the Chester County Independent, Henderson, and who had a brand new
printing plant, was the first in Tennessee to take advantage of the new technology. His plant in West Tennessee
began printing a newspaper located in
Cookeville in Middle Tennessee, more
RICHARDSON
FROM PAGE 2
Using that segment of their population, Brevard has created a network of retirees to help new and existing businesses prosper and expand. Their Retiree Resource Network is a collection of more than 65 retired business people who can
offer topnotch consulting free of charge.
In 2007, the network won the Outstanding County Program Award from the
North Carolina Association of County Commissioners and has served as a model
for other rural areas with retirement communities.
The project has also been effective in helping attract prospective clients. The
group works to foster new business start-ups as well as making contacts with
companies from outside the area who may be interested in relocating to the
area.
We presented this idea to our community in a recent editorial. It may not be the
solution, but it is a start. We plan to continue the dialogue and hopefully, together
we can come up with some effective ideas to make some exciting things happen
in our town.
Being willing to respond to our local businesses is such an important part of
what we do and it’s sort of like a boomerang. The support we give our communities during the hard times almost always returns to us when things start to turn
around.
LYNN J. RICHARDSON is publisher of the Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough.
than 200 miles away.
Campbell, who worked with TPA
for 16 years (August 1980 through December 1996), the last six as executive
director, noted, “TPA was a real trendsetter in that way.” He recalled that he
went to a meeting of the Newspaper
Association Managers, where he explained what Tennessee was doing,
and other managers said, “It’ll never
work.” Back in Knoxville, he told
Slimp, who was using the process with
his customers, “It’ll never work.”
Cosimini recalled that Kevin was
able to consider the Acrobat program
and then look three steps ahead, and
that type of approach made the technology successful, he said.
Lisa Griffin, a veteran instructor for
the Institute of Newspaper Technology and employed by Boone Newspapers in Selma, Ala., sought out Slimp
after reading about what Slimp had
discovered.
“I visited him at his office in Knoxville, and he quickly went to work
teaching me the ins and outs of producing news pages that would end up
as separated CMYK plates at remote
printing sites.”
Griffin said her first clue that Slimp
was thorough and prepared in what
he does was when he presented her a
large binder with documentation, examples, procedures and much other
information.
Griffin returned to Alabama and
spread the word.
“This was the start of a great business relationship with Kevin as well as
a great friendship,” Griffin said.
“The equipment has improved, the
technology has advanced,” said Griffin, “but the principles learned in that
office in Knoxville many years ago
have remained the same. It is amazing
to think back on how this simple idea
of creating plates through PDF technology has changed the production
of newspapers, magazines and other
printed materials.”
Slimp has long been an employee of
TPS. Bob DeBusk hired him in 1998.
After a few years, he went to work for
the United Methodist Church, but in
2003, he was rehired by the current executive vice president, Greg Sherrill.
Slimp combines his TPS work with
consulting with newspapers and
speaking across North America on the
issues related to the newspaper industry. His pet project is to get children to
read newspapers.
He is confident that the industry
is strong and will become stronger.
Slimp believes deeply that newspapers
are important in our society. Since he
began delivering newspapers at age 7
or 8, they have been his bliss.
3
Lindsey named
TPA director
TPA
President
Lynn J. Richardson
has appointed Jesse
Lindsey, publisher
of The Lebanon
Democrat, as the
new TPA director
for District 6. Joe
Adams, former pubLindsey
lisher of the Democrat, previously held the position.
Adams’ recent move to a new post in
Kingsport led to his resignation from
the Board of Directors. Lindsey is filling the term, which expires in June
2014.
Lindsey joined The Lebanon Democrat on Sept. 23. Earlier he was publisher of The Rogersville Review.
District 6, in Middle Tennessee, covers TPA member newspapers in these
counties: Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys, Montgomery, Robertson, Stewart, Sumner and
Wilson.
Which district are you in? Who is
your director? A district list, map and
director information are posted at
www.tnpress.com/TPA_districts.pdf.
CONTEST
FROM PAGE ONE
and said, “I sang it growing up in the
Baptist Church.” Certainly appropriate, particularly for metro papers.
Larry Smith, retired publisher of the
The LaFollette Press, suggested that
one as well as another he ran across,
“I Would Be True,” had meaning that
was applicable for all reporters.
The first stanza has these words:
“I would be true, for there are those
who trust me;
I would be pure, for there are those
who care;
I would be strong, for there is much
to suffer;
to dare,
to dare.”
Those words, written in 1906, are by
Howard A. Walter (1883-1918).
FORESIGHT
2013
NOVEMBER
3-5: Event Revenue Summit
sponsored by the Chattanooga
Times Free Press, The Chattanoogan Hotel
8: Society for News Design Annual Workshop and Exhibition,
Louisville, Ky.
8: TPA Government Affairs
Committee, 9-10:30 a.m.,
The Tennessean building,
Nashville
8: SNPA-TPA Publishers’ Summit, 10:45 a.m.-3 p.m., The Tennessean building, Nashville
28-29: TPA offices closed for
Thanksgiving holiday
2014
FEBRUARY
5-7: TPA Winter Convention &
Press Institute, Nashville
27-March 2: National Institute for
Computer-Assisted Reporting,
Baltimore
MARCH
13: NNA Leadership Summit,
Washington, D.C.
16-19: NAA Media Xchange,
Hyatt Regency Denver, Denver,
Colo.
MAY
1-2: Advertising/Circulation Conference (tentative)
JUNE
5-7: TPA 145th Anniversary
Summer Convention, Gatlinburg
SEPTEMBER
4-6: National SPJ Excellence in
Journalism Conference, Nashville
TBA: Second Annual Border War
Golf Tournament, Kentucky
Kudos
Daniel Richardson and Dennis
Richardson, Magic Valley Newspapers, Camden, were the first to register
for the Nov. 8 Publishers’ Summit in
Nashville.
MARKETPLACE
EXECUTIVE EDITOR POSITION
AVAILABLE - Jonesborough (TN)
Publishing is seeking an executive editor who is creative, bold and multi-talented to join an award-winning team
at its weekly newspaper in the state’s
oldest town, Jonesborough.
The successful candidate will have
excellent organizational and leadership skills, a take-charge attitude,
commitment to the public’s right to
know and a heart for the newspaper’s
role in the community.
This position will also require a
strong background in layout and design and will include editing, writing
and assignment duties. Proficiency
with Adobe Suite programs, including Photoshop and InDesign, will be
essential.
This is an immediate opening. Please
send cover letter, resume with references, clips and salary expectations to
lrichardson@heraldandtribune.com.
The Tennessee Press
2
(USPS 616-460)
Published quarterly by the
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE, INC.
for the
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION, INC.
435 Montbrook Lane
Knoxville, Tennessee 37919
Telephone (865) 584-5761/Fax (865) 558-8687/www.tnpress.com
Subscriptions: $6 annually
Periodicals Postage Paid At Knoxville, TN
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Tennessee Press,
435 Montbrook Lane, Knoxville, TN 37919.
The Tennessee Press is printed by The Standard Banner, Jefferson City.
Greg M. Sherrill.....................................................Editor
Elenora E. Edwards.............................Managing Editor
Robyn Gentile..........................Production Coordinator
Angelique Dunn...............................................Assistant
NOVEMBER 2013
Responding to local business needs
After learning that yet another local business
had decided to close, a local merchant picked up
the phone and called our newspaper.
“What are we going to do?” he wanted to
know.
That question is being asked a lot lately. Like
many others we’ve talked to, there is growing
concern about the demise of local businesses
and the increasing number of empty buildings
along Main Streets everywhere.
We’re not alone here in Tennessee. In fact,
overall we’re better off than most. Communities across the country are seeing doors of businesses and industries slam shut, never to open
again.
It has been a tough month around here. In just
the past two weeks, we learned that a locally-
YOUR
PRESIDING
REPORTER
Lynn J. Richardson
responsibility to it when I uncovered a very old
copy of the Herald & Tribune.
Dated Oct. 14, 1959, it has an editorial cartoon
front and center, above the fold.
The cartoon is for National Newspaper Week.
In it, a couple nestled in their easy chairs and of
course, reading their newspapers, hear a voice
on the radio saying “Again we remind you that
your community paper is what YOU make it!
Support your hometown merchants who in turn
support your home town paper!”
A lot of things have changed over the years
in our industry, but our involvement with our
community and the support we offer our merchants is just as important, if not more so, today
than it was back in 1959.
We don’t have all the answers but we should be
The Tennessee Press
is printed on recycled paper
and is recyclable.
www.tnpress.com
The Tennessee Press can be read on
OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
Lynn J. Richardson, Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough...............................President
Jason P. Taylor, Chattanooga Times Free Press...................................Vice President
Joel Washburn, The McKenzie Banner................................................Vice President
John Finney, Buffalo River Review, Linden................................................Treasurer
Greg M. Sherrill, Knoxville............................................................Executive Director
DIRECTORS
Keith Wilson, Kingsport Times-News...........................................................District 1
Jack McElroy, News Sentinel, Knoxville......................................................District 2
Chris Vass, Chattanooga Times Free Press..................................................District 3
Darren Oliver, Overton County News, Livingston.......................................District 4
Hugh Jones, Shelbyville Times-Gazette.......................................................District 5
Jesse Lindsey, The Lebanon Democrat........................................................District 6
Mark Palmer, The Daily Herald, Columbia...................................................District 7
Brad Franklin, The Lexington Progress........................................................District 8
Daniel Richardson, Magic Valley Publishing, Camden...............................District 9
Eric Barnes, The Daily News, Memphis......................................................District 10
Michael B. Williams...........................................................Immediate Past President
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE
Jeffrey D. Fishman, The Tullahoma News...................................................President
Ralph C. Baldwin, Jones Media Inc., Greeneville.........................................Director
David Critchlow Jr., Union City Daily Messenger.........................................Director
Jason P. Taylor, Chattanooga Times Free Press.............................................Director
Jana Thomasson, The Mountain Press, Sevierville.......................................Director
Greg M. Sherrill...................................................................Executive Vice President
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION
Gregg K. Jones, The Greeneville Sun..........................................................President
Richard L. Hollow, Knoxville............................................................General Counsel
Greg M. Sherrill...........................................................................Secretary-Treasurer
CONTACT THE MANAGING EDITOR
TPAers with suggestions, questions or comments about items in The Tennessee
Press are welcome to contact the managing editor. Call Elenora Easterly Edwards,
(865) 457-5459; send a note to P.O. Box 502, Clinton, Tenn. 37717-0502; or email
ElenoraEdwards@Comcast.net. The deadline for the December issue is Nov. 11.
owned barbecue restaurant has vacated its space and in
mid-November, we will say goodbye to a nine-year veteran
shop that assumed the role of an anchor retailer in our
downtown.
The closures have also extended to our restaurant row on
the nearby four-lane bypass, with a promising 1-year-old
locally-owned eatery biting the dust.
It is extremely concerning, as you might imagine, to watch
such things happen and it is an issue with which we can all
identify.
However, one of the most telling things about all this is the
fact a merchant called our newspaper asking for help.
That is an indication, if not an inspiration, that our local
businesses look to us to be part of the solution when there
are problems in the community.
Some of our communities across Tennessee have strong
economic development leadership. In others, not so much.
But whatever the case, it is a tough job and one that requires determination and consistency. All he or she can
do is just keep plugging away, constantly researching companies that might be looking for a new home and inviting
them to come to town.
I doubt there is one of them, though, who wouldn’t appreciate some help.
That’s where we come in.
I was reminded of our place in the community and our
willing to step up and help find solutions, looking for ways to
take good care of the businesses we currently have. In doing
so, we exhibit to prospects that we are ready and willing to
provide resources that can help ensure their future success
once they get here.
That merchant’s call prompted us to do some research on
how other small towns deal with such issues and we found
ourselves looking at a study conducted by the University of
North Carolina called “Small Towns, Big Ideas.”
The project looked at such communities as Ord, Nebraska, population 2,300; Fairfield, Iowa, population 9,500 and
Etowah, here in Tennessee, that has 3,600 residents.
However, the case study that most caught our eye, was the
one done in nearby Brevard, N.C., population 6,300.
Brevard, much like our community, has capitalized on
both its history and its scenic beauty. Tourism has played
a huge part in the community’s success, bringing in nearly
$70 million in revenue for the county as a whole.
There’s another similarity. Brevard is a popular place to
retire and the town has found a way to capitalize on the economic value of those retirees, and not just as consumers.
The leadership in that area “is tapping into the business
expertise within its retiree population as a tool for supporting local entrepreneurship,” the study reports.
SEE RICHARDSON, PAGE 3
The Tennessee Press
NOVEMBER 2013
15
Overview: Took Muse for a spin, had a nice ride
BY KEVIN SLIMP
TPS technology director
Back in the days
of CS5, it became
relatively simple for
an InDesign user to
design a website in
InDesign, then export it as a Flash file
that could be viewed
online.
Slimp
Although it worked
well, it wasn’t very long before Flash
files became problematic, primarily
because of Apple’s refusal to support
them on iPads and iPhones. So even
though I’d created several websites in
InDesign, I quickly changed that practice.
Then came InDesign CS5.5 and CS6,
which made it possible to export HTML5 directly from InDesign. Frankly,
though, the process always seemed to
work with less than perfect results, so
I gave up on that idea.
When I subscribed to Adobe Creative
Cloud a few months ago, I looked around
the site for apps available through the
normal subscription. Along with InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and other
applications I used regularly, there was
a name I hadn’t thought of in a while:
Muse.
I’ve done a lot
of beta testing
for
companies
through the years.
With Adobe, some
of the titles were
InDesign
(we
called it “K2” back Muse is a webthen),
Acrobat site design app
and more. Some- from Adobe.
where around 2010 or 2011, I remember
beta testing an app called “Muse” that
purported to be the easiest website tool
ever developed. I had my doubts, but I
remember being quite impressed with
Muse as I went through the beta.
Fast forward a couple of years and
I’m looking through the Creative Cloud
options and, lo and behold, there is
Muse CC.
Wanting to find new apps for professional designers who are already subscribed to the Cloud, I decided to take
Muse for a spin. It was a nice ride.
To do a full review of the project
would take pages, so let’s take a quick
overview, and you can decide if it’s
worth downloading Muse and trying it
out for yourself.
Creating new documents
The first thing I noticed about Muse
was that the process for creating a new
website was much the same as creating
a new document in InDesign. I simply
entered the size (in pixels instead of
inches), the margin and a few other details. When I hit the OK button, there
appeared before me a white page, much
like I would see in InDesign.
The Muse Desktop
For an InDesign or Illustrator user,
HOW TO CONTACT US
Tennessee Press
Association
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Email: (name)@tnpress.
com
Those with boxes, listed
alphabetically:
Laurie Alford (lalford)
Placing elements and creating links is a breeze in
Muse.
Pam Corley (pcorley)
Angelique Dunn (adunn)
Beth Elliott (belliott)
Robyn Gentile (rgentile)
Frank Gibson (fgibson)
Earl Goodman (egoodman)
Kathy Hensley (khensley)
Creating a new site in Muse is much like creating a new
document in InDesign.
Whitney Page (wpage)
Greg Sherrill (gsherrill)
Kevin Slimp (kslimp)
Kayretta Stokes (kstokes)
Alisa Subhakul (asubhakul)
David Wells (dwells)
Tessa Wildsmith
(twildsmith)
Muse is very straightforward. Most of
the same shortcuts work that work in
those apps. Most of the same panels
that we’re used to are in the same place.
You’ll find the Character Panel, various
styles and more.
Working with tools
The toolbar in Muse looks surprisingly similar to the toolbar in InDesign. Placing files on the page works
the same. Elements can be copied and
pasted from InDesign and other applications.
Want to place a photo? Place it like
you do in InDesign or Illustrator. Want
to place a video? Place it like a photo.
All that HTML stuff
HTML code. That’s what separates the
design from the web guru. Not to fear.
I wanted to place a Google Map right
on my page. I simply went to maps.
google.com in my browser and copied
the HTML code by clicking a button on
the site. I then went to Muse, entered
Object>Insert HTML, and there it was.
A Google Map on my page. I could move
through the map on my website just
Think of the Plan Panel in Muse as the Pages Panel in
InDesign and you get the idea.
like I could on maps.google.com. I was
nothing short of amazed.
Text
I’m a Dreamweaver hack from way
back. I always hated working with text
in Dreamweaver. It never seemed to
look the way I wanted when I saw the
final product. Not so with Muse.
Text works like text in InDesign.
Even more amazing, you can choose
from thousands of web safe fonts using
Type Kit, a service included in Creative
Cloud. You don’t even have to leave the
application to visit a website. It’s built
right into Muse.
Exporting HTML
I’m not one for hyperbole, but seriously, this is nothing short of fantastic.
Not only will Muse export the HTML,
which it does just fine, but it will FTP it
to your web host for you. Just enter the
necessary information and password
and, boom!, you’re online.
And if that’s not enough, Adobe will
host the site for you. When you finish
designing a Muse site, it’s already online, so others can view it. You’re given
the necessary URL so others can find it.
If you want, and probably do, you can
purchase your own URL (Kevin-Slimp.
com, for instance) and point it to Adobe’s server. A Creative Cloud subscription includes hosting up to five Muse
sites.
Listen, I don’t work for Adobe. It matters not to me whether you subscribe
to the Creative Cloud or not. But I’m
guessing, for smaller papers, we could
pay for our Cloud subscriptions in web
hosting fees alone.
That should be enough to whet your
appetite. For more information, visit
Adobe.come to download a free trial
version of Muse.
I was so impressed with Muse that I
decided to add it to the curriculum of
the Institute of Newspaper Technology.
I must really like it.
Heather Wright (hwright)
Advertising email:
knoxads@tnpress.com
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Web: www.tnadvertising.biz
Tennessee Press
Association Foundation
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
The Tennessee Press
16
No surprises here; INT
is huge success again
(See photos made at the Institute
on pages 8 and 9)
BY KEVIN SLIMP
INT director
C
M
Y
K
There was a time when I could hardly rest in the weeks leading up to the
Institute. Worries about hardware and
software were the cause of nightmares
on a nightly basis. Instructors not
showing up or calling to cancel at the
last minute made the days leading up
to the Institute of Newspaper Technology an angst-filled period.
The past couple of sessions have
gone so smoothly that it makes me
worry a little about what might be on
the horizon in coming years. The October 2013 session was no exception. It
went off without a hitch. Evaluations
have been incredibly positive. Everyone seemed to learn enough to make
their “brains hurt” during the seven
hours of classes each day, then have
great times with new friends at our
planned events each evening.
Brian Hurley, Chicago, attended the
Institute for the 11th straight time.
Lisa Miller, who manages 11 newspa-
pers in North Dakota, South Dakota,
Minnesota and Iowa, attended for the
fifth straight year. Wanda Koch, from
Baton Rouge, attended with her staff
for the sixth year. We had the biggest
group of TPA members ever, with 32
Tennesseans in attendance. The newspaper with the most representatives
came from the News Sentinel, Knoxville. TPAF scholarships continue to
make it affordable for any TPA member to attend.
I talked with one attendee from another state who told me her cost to
attend was well more then $2,000 with
travel. And, she added, “worth every
penny.”
Brian Hurley, who manages technology for more than 60 daily and weekly
newspapers in the Midwest, left with
the familiar words, “I’ll be back next
year.”
We had attendees from every corner
of Tennessee. Fifteen states were represented.
Barring any unforeseen surprises,
we’ll hold the 18th session of the Institute next year. And you can bet that
people will go home with filled brains
once again.
Kennedy’s death changed
nation, news coverage
Managing editor
Many citizens of the United States
will remember, some all too well, the
assassination of John F. Kennedy, the
35th president. He was shot at 1 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, in Deely Plaza in
Dallas, Texas, and Walter Cronkite,
CBS News anchor, broke the news at
1:40 p.m.
A survey of many accounts of the
assassination, the nation’s shock and
analyses, including the Warren Commission report issued Sept. 29, 1964,
make it clear that we don’t know and
never will know all that happened.
Many newspapers came out with extra editions, something we rarely see
now. Some had them the afternoon of
the assassination because their afternoon editions were already out and
others didn’t want to wait until the
next morning to carry the news.
It was the first news event since
“modern television” to get continuous coverage, taking precedence over
regular programming.
It was the first time that murder was
shown on live TV—that when, two
days later, police were transferring
suspect Lee Harvey Oswald, who had
been arrested the same day as the as-
sassination, from police headquarters
to the county jail, Jack Ruby stepped
out of the crowd and shot him. I saw
that, having come into my dorm at
Maryville College, stopped to watch
with other women what was going on,
and Blam! Oswald died, taking with
him all he knew about who conceived
the plot, how it was developed, and,
perhaps, who else might have been involved.
Many articles have begun to appear
in newspapers and other periodicals
about the tragedy. For years now, journalists, broadcasters, columnists and
others have said it was the moment in
which America lost its innocence, the
moment when Camelot ceased to exist
(a concept I consider tripe). Various
television and radio news shows have
begun to air retrospectives and remembrances of the assassination and term
in office of Kennedy, the youngest man
ever to be elected the country’s number one leader.
On pages 10 through 12, The Tennessee Press shows the front pages of
the four metro papers in Tennessee as
they announced Kennedy’s death. We
thank those staffs for the good deal of
trouble they took to provide the images. Next month, we’ll see how they
mark the anniversary.
NOVEMBER 2013
Reminder: Nov. 8 is date
for second Publishers’ Summit
Tennessee Press Association (TPA)
and the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association will serve as co-hosts
for a Publishers’ Summit Friday, Nov.
8, in Nashville. It is set for 10:45 a.m. to
3 p.m. at The Tennessean building.
Tennessee Press Service Technology
Director Kevin Slimp will lead discussion on the following topics: the state
of newspapers in Tennessee; what
newspapers need to do to prepare for
the future; an update on TPA/TPS legislative issues; and revenue.
Participants are asked to bring examples to be shared of something that
has worked well for their newspapers.
TPA held a similar summit for East
Tennessee area publishers in May.
For more information, contact TPA
Executive Director Greg Sherrill
at (865) 584-5761 x106 or gsherrill@
tnpress.com.
Carmack, Tennessean editor,
assassinated 105 years ago
Managing editor
The story of Edward Ward Carmack, editor of the
Nashville Tennessean, took place
during the late 19th
century and early
20th century when
Carmack
many feuds were
still settled by which man was the best
shot.
Carmack’s shooting death occurred
Nov. 9, 1908, 105 years ago this month.
Born in Sumner County, he became a
lawyer and practiced in Columbia; was
elected to the state House of Representatives; joined the Nashville Democrat;
became editor-in-chief of the Nashville American when the newspapers
merged; and then became editor of the
Memphis Commercial. He served two
terms in the U.S. House and one as a
U.S. senator, then lost in a re-election
bid.
Carmack resumed practicing law,
but, still interested in politics, ran
for governor and lost. He joined the
Nashville Tennessean, apparently bitter about his lack of political fortune.
He began to write editorials about his
gubernatorial opponent, Malcolm Patterson, and about Duncan Cooper, who
had given him his first newspaper job.
Cooper sent word that he was insulted and wasn’t taking it any more, but
soon, Carmack wrote further.
It was by chance that they met on the
street, with Cooper being accompanied
by his son, Robin. Carmack fired two
shots and Robin Cooper three. Cooper
was wounded twice, and Carmack was
killed.
Both Robin Cooper and Duncan Cooper were charged, and a long trial took
place. Both were found guilty.
On appeal, the Supreme Court let the
conviction of Duncan Cooper stand
but dismissed that of Robin Cooper.
Soon thereafter, Gov. Patterson pardoned Duncan Cooper.
Some 10 years, later, Robin Cooper
was murdered, a crime that was never
solved but which many people thought
was committed as a reaction to that of
Carmack.
A statue of Carmack, the only newspaperman assassinated in Tennessee,
stands near the Capitol and Legislative Plaza.
(From various sources)
GOAL: $1,000,000
No. 5
NOVEMBER 2013
Vol. 77
Slimp’s ‘invention’ has served
newspaper industry for 20 years
$900K
Managing editor
Many, if not most, of us in the newspaper industry in Tennessee know
Kevin Slimp. Most of us know what a
PDF is.
But what many, if not most, don’t
know is that Slimp is the father of the
PDF as we know it.
The PDF (that stands for portable
document format) was a breakthrough
in at least two ways. It cleared up the
problem of incompatibility (docu-
$800K
$700K
ments created on a PC could not be
read on a Mac, and vice versa), and it
made possible the electronic transmission of documents from one location
to another for printing.
Slimp’s involvement began in 1993
when he learned that a then-small
company, Adobe, was working on just
such a program, called Acrobat. At
the time, as owner of an ad agency, he
was aware of how expensive it was to
create color proofs and get them to a
client, since they had to be sent by courier. His cost to print and deliver one
ad averaged $80.
He called Adobe, where he was put
in touch with Gary Cosimini, who sent
Slimp a copy of the Acrobat software.
He began to work with it and figured
out how to create proofs that could
be created and read on any computer.
The problem was, they could not be
printed.
Vernon McKinney, a former newspaperman who owned a service bureau
near Slimp’s office, dropped in and
SEE SLIMP, PAGE 3
BELIEVERS
Contributors to the TPAF
‘I Believe’ campaign thus far:
• Cannon Courier, Woodbury
• Jim Charlet, in memory of Martha C.
Charlet
• Chattanooga Times Free Press
• Nathan Crawford, In Memory of James
Walter Crawford Sr. and C.T. (Charlie)
Crawford Jr.
• Crossville Chronicle, In Memory of
Perry Sherrer
• Gannett Foundation
The Jackson Sun
The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville
The Tennessean, Nashville
• Hollow & Hollow LLC
• Joe Hurd, The Courier, Savannah
• Jones Media, In Memory of Edith
O’Keefe Susong and Quincy Marshall
O’Keefe
The Advocate & Democrat,
Sweetwater
The Daily Post Athenian, Athens
The Daily Times, Maryville
The Greeneville Sun
The Herald-News, Dayton
The Newport Plain Talk
News-Herald, Lenoir City
The Rogersville Review
• Kennedy Newspapers, Columbia
• Lakeway Publishers, Morristown
Citizen Tribune, Morristown
The Elk Valley Times, Fayetteville
Grundy County Herald, Tracy City
The Herald-Chronicle, Winchester
Manchester Times
The Moore County News, Lynchburg
The Tullahoma News
• The Milan Mirror-Exchange
• News Sentinel, Knoxville
• The Paris Post-Intelligencer, In Memory
of W. Bryant Williams
• Republic Newspapers
The Courier News, Clinton
• Richard Rowlett, Rowlett Advertising
Service, Goodlettsville
• Union City Daily Messenger
• Bill and Anne Williams, Paris, in honor of
Michael Williams’ presidency of TPA
$600K
Chris Menees, staff reporter with the Union City Daily Messenger, won
the Reporter’s Hymn Contest conducted by The Tennessee Press during
September. She won $50.
$500K
‘I Love to Tell the Story’
perfect for reporters
$400K
Managing editor
$304,850
10-13
$300K
$200K
$100K
Tell the story. That’s what journalists do. And they’ve got to love it or 1)
they wouldn’t work for modest pay and
2) they wouldn’t do a very good job.
So, Chris Menees, a staff reporter
with the Union City Daily Messenger,
is the winner of the Reporter’s Hymn
Contest. She suggested “I Love to Tell
the Story,”
“It’s an old standard from the Baptist
Hymnal,” she wrote. It’s also in many
other hymnals and is the one this reporter had in mind all along.
Menees will receive $50.
She was not the only one to suggest
“I Love to Tell the Story”—she was the
first, though.
Richard Clark, vice president of
inside sales and small business ini-
INSIDE
RICHARDSON
FORESIGHT
tiatives for the Northeast Tennessee
Media Group, Johnson City, wrote,
“Clearly, for reporters the hymn needs
to be ‘I Love to Tell the Story.’”
The words to this hymn were written
by Katherine Hankey (1834-1911).
Amanda Kimbrell, administrative
assistant at the News-Herald, Lenoir
City, also suggested that one.
Karen Geary, creative director at
The Paris Post-Intelligencer, wife of
a Methodist minister, offered these
suggestions: “Behold What News We
Bring,” “Good News” and “No Other
Story.”
Lise Cutshaw, media and marketing
coordinator at the Mary B. Martin
School of Arts at East Tennessee State
University, Johnson City, proposed
“We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations,”
SEE CONTEST, PAGE 3
2
3
ADVERTISING
OBITS
4
5
ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
Kevin Slimp holds in his left hand the first sheet of film printed from a PDF. It was printed at The Typecase in
Knoxville, owned by Vernon McKinney, a former newspaper publisher and past TPA president (1971-72). The
newspaper page Slimp is holding is the first color broadsheet printed from a PDF. It was printed with Scott
Whaley’s help on the press of the Chester County Independent, Henderson. The framed item is the story in the
Nov. 25, 1995 issue of the News Sentinel, Knoxville, telling about Slimp’s invention.
REWRITES
TRACKS
5 GIBSON
13-14 SLIMP
13
15
IN CONTACT
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Online: www.tnpress.com

November 2013 - Tennessee Press Association

Transcription

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