FIRE DESTROYS ANADARKO DAILY NEWS

Transcription

IN THIS ISSUE:
SUIT FILED:
PG 03 | Tulsa World seeks release of inmate photos
NEW FACULTY MEMBERS:
PG 07 | OU’s Gaylord College adds staff members
DISASTER PLAN:
PG 12 | Pull this page out complete before disaster strikes
Official Publication of the Oklahoma Press Association
Vol. 80, No. 9 • Sixteen Pages • September 2009
Download The Oklahoma Publisher in PDF format at
www.OkPress.com/the-oklahoma-publisher
FIRE DESTROYS ANADARKO DAILY NEWS
The foremost concern
on Carolyn McBride’s
mind Saturday, Aug. 24, as
she watched the The Anadarko Daily News building
burn to a husk was how she
and her staff would publish
Monday’s edition.
McBride, co-publisher
of The Daily News along
with her husband Joe, is no
stranger to disaster. It was
only in May that a tornado
came through Anadarko
and ripped the roof off of
the building.
While firemen from
four counties worked to
save businesses connected
to The Daily News and
adjacent bar where the fire
started, McBride and her
daughter, Carla McBrideAlexander, prepared a list
of equipment and supplies
they would need to publish
the newspaper.
By the afternoon of the
fire, it was clear that the
building and everything in
it was a total loss. Carla,
executive administrator for
The Daily News, drove to
Oklahoma City, purchased
three new Macintosh computers and ordered two
more.
The Daily News set
up shop in Main One, an
art gallery owned by the
McBrides and located
around the corner from the
newspaper office. Carla and
her husband, David, pulled
office furniture from stor-
again on Monday – the
second time toting a temporary “Anadarko Daily
News” banner. Wilma
Melot, the OPA’s computer
consultant, was already
‘How on earth would we have gotten by without
our friends? The press people really helped us
and I really appreciate it.’
Carolyn McBride, Co-Publisher Anadarko Daily News
age and began to assemble
desks and computers in
their temporary shop.
Efforts continued into
Sunday as friends, family,
staff and fellow newspaper publishers extended a
helping hand to get The
Daily News back up and
running.
By Monday, the El Reno
Tribune, The Purcell Register, The Clinton Daily
News, Oklahoma City
Friday, The Seminole Producer, Marietta Monitor,
The Duncan Banner, Hugo
Daily News and Oklahoma
Press Association offered
support either in person or
by phone.
Mark Thomas, executive vice-president of OPA,
showed up Sunday and
hard at work setting up
The Daily News’ computer
network.
“How on earth would
we have gotten by without our friends?” asked
McBride. “The press people really helped us and I
really appreciate it.”
Many people helped
out, she said. Anadarko
Bank & Trust showed up
with wastebaskets full of
office supplies along with
new bankbooks, binders
and staplers.
Even The Daily News’
software provider stepped
up, McBride said.
Quark is The Daily
News’ program of choice
for building ads and layout. Only one of the five
copies they owned was up-
BETTER NEWSPAPER CONTEST REMINDER
September 28 is the date all entries must be postmarked by for competition in the
2009 Better Newspaper Contest. Contest rules, events, entry form and mailing labels
are available online at www.OkPress.com/opa-better-newspaper-contest. For questions
contact Lisa Potts or Jennifer Gilliland at (405) 499-0020 or 1-888-815-2672.
Joe McBride Jr., co-publisher of The Anadarko Daily News, fields phone calls as he surveys
the charred remains of the newspaper office. The fire, which started on Aug. 24 in the
building next door, completely destroyed the newspaper building and all its contents.
to-date; the rest were older
versions.
“We didn’t have the
serial numbers or anything after the fire,” said
McBride. “Carla called
Quark. They found the
numbers for us and upgraded all five copies for the
minimal upgrade charge.
“It saved us thousands
of dollars. I couldn’t
believe it.”
With software updated,
computers networked and
banner displayed for all
to see that The Anadarko
Daily News was alive
and kicking, the process
of publishing Monday’s
newspaper began.
Monday’s edition start-
ed with just enough material for a front page, said
McBride. The top story
was the horrific murder of
Pastor Carol Daniels whose
body was found Sunday in
a local church. The second
story was the fire at the
newspaper.
“Then, in walks the
Continued on Page 11
2
THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHER, September 2009
Catseye
OPA PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
BY GLORIA TRO
TROTTER,
OTTER,
Publisher of The Countywide & Sun
Road trip! There’s nothing quite like it, especially if your traveling companion is the
witty, thoughtful and efficient Mark Thomas.
But the best part is meeting and visiting with fellow newspaper publishers across our
great state. There is nothing quite as inspiring as seeing first-hand their love of their communities.
Mark and I headed out early on Aug. 20 for a round of visits in Western Oklahoma.
Our first stop was in Snyder, at the Kiowa County Democrat, where we were greeted by
Carol and Jessee Middick. The Middicks are only a year into their community newspaper
adventure, and are full of vim and vigor. Their office is downtown, with the newspaper
operation sandwiched between booths of antique and arts and crafts vendors.
As retired educators, they are focusing on the local schools, as most of us do. But they
are also heavily into efforts to restore and revitalize their small town, another thing many
of us do.
From Snyder we headed toward Altus, where one of Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s Open Meetings/Records seminars was set for that afternoon. The plan was to eat
lunch in between, but our visit at Snyder ran a bit long and then we ran into an unusual
traffic problem outside Altus. Suddenly the road in front of us was filled with longhorn
cattle and some cowboys!
We had to backtrack to avoid becoming part of the Great Plains Stampede, and quickly
grabbed a sandwich before heading to Southwest Tech Center where Mark kicked off the
seminar and I helped register and hand out Open Meeting books. Then we were off for
the Altus Times, where we had a great visit with publisher Bill Murphy.
Here was a different perspective, since the Times is a daily and part of a group. Bill is
dealing with what a lot of us are – staff cuts. Not only had the receptionist and ad manager positions gone by the board, but the group has centralized graphics production. That
means Bill’s staff has to upload ad materials well in advance so the ads can be built and
sent back to him, an adjustment that will take some getting used to.
After that visit, we headed for Quartz Mountain, where we were to meet up with
Dayva Spitzer for dinner. Mark had scheduled her new board member orientation as part
of our agenda. Talk about multi-tasking!
The next morning Dayva joined us for a visit to Mangum to meet the Paxtons, who put
out the Mangum News-Star. It was a fascinating visit with this four-generation operation.
Casey’s dad sells vacuum cleaners in the front of the office space, and his granddaughter
writes a delightful column for the paper. We picked up some great ideas from Casey and
his family.
Then it was off to Elk City for a visit with Derek Manning at the Elk Citian (the cleanest newspaper office I’ve ever seen) and then to Sayre to see Dayva and Brad’s Sayre
Record & Beckham County Democrat. We had a great visit over a wonderful lunch, and
then went back to Elk City to see Larry Wade, who filled us in on the great things going
on in his town.
Last on the agenda was a quick visit with Rod Serfoss at Clinton. We couldn’t stay
long since I had to get back to Tecumseh for a football scrimmage. By the end of that day,
I was pretty worn out! But I was also very energized and gratified.
I will share some ideas that came from those visits another time, since I’m out of
room. But before I sign off, I must make an important correction in last month’s column.
Remember when I was talking about the committee meetings and mentioned discussion
of rate parity? Well, through a comedy of errors, the column ended up saying that OPA/
OPS was going to ignore that issue! The word “not” was supposed to precede the word
“ignore.”
Somehow, the “not” got lost in the editing process. I’m sure you can all identify with
that kind of boo-boo, but I wanted to assure you that we will be looking at the issue and
definitely not ignoring it.
So, until next time, proofread carefully!
Time to think of disaster planning
by MARK THOMAS, OPA EXECUTIVE VP
It was a typical calm, cool, early Sunday morning, except I was standing in the
ashes of the Anadarko Daily News.
The roof was on the floor. Computers
were melted. Press roller rust spots began
to appear. Rolls of newsprint sat soaked
in a muddy alley. Every plaque and
personal item was charred. Century-old
newspapers ruined.
Crime scene tape was around the bar
next door. The fire didn’t start in the
newspaper, but fire is no respecter of
property lines or public good.
The sick feeling is something I’ve felt
before and hope to avoid from now to
eternity. I didn’t own any of the equipment, morgue, or have any personal
items in the building and I felt a loss.
This was not only a loss of property, but a loss of history and a sense
of despair in a town shocked into the
realization of how disastrous the loss of
a newspaper – no matter how temporary
– would be. And as it usually happens in
a newspaper disaster, the total loss of the
newspaper by fire was not the top story in
the Monday paper.
The Daily News didn’t miss an issue,
and is now pulling triple duty. They’re
putting out a daily paper, sifting through
the ashes and making decisions on how
they are going to move forward. There
is a long list of Daily News staff, townspeople, readers, advertisers, subscribers,
newspapers and neighbors that are to be
congratulated for their cooperation and
efforts to help the newspaper recover.
My memories of past newspaper disasters, or near disasters, kept invading my
thoughts. The fire in Chandler and Ada,
and fire scares in Wetumka, Haskell,
Holdenville and Carnegie. I thought of
recent tornadoes in Lone Grove and
Cordell, and flooding in Watonga and
Blackwell. I thought of ice storms in
nearly every town, including Oologah,
Stroud, Perkins and Norman.
My list is not complete and is too long
to mention. So many papers have suffered through the loss of key employees
through death or illness. And none of
us are truly prepared for an outbreak of
swine flu where your town is quarantined
and businesses can’t operate, local events
are cancelled and citizens are told to stay
home.
I hope you will tear out and use the
disaster checklist in this issue (page 11).
After hearing about Anadarko, a friend
asked if OPA tells newspapers what to
do in a disaster or if we require papers to
have a disaster plan. I kindly explained
that we don’t tell newspapers what to do
but we do provide a disaster planning
checklist and hope they use it.
My mind flashed back to my dear old
dad who, in some crisis occasions, would
look me in the eye and say, “I’m not asking you. I’m telling you!”
If you haven’t done any disaster planning at your newspaper, I’m not asking
– I’m hoping!
Voices of community newspapers
From everyday life to life changing events, Oklahoma newspapers keep readers informed
about what’s happening in their community. Following are samples of what’s appearing in
Oklahoma newspapers.
… I WOULD BE REMISS if I didn’t say something about the passing of Sen.
Edward Kennedy. We agreed on little, if anything, but I always found myself intrigued
by a man whose political life was pulled from the edge of ruin and transformed into one
of most effective members of the United States Senate. Kennedy’s passing marks the
end of an era in American politics.
Josh Driskell, Editorial, Jenks Journal, 9-03-2009
… I HAVE COME UP with some cash-for-ideas the government may have missed.
Movie cash, because after all we should be paid to watch some of the shows Hollywood
sends out. Next, is cash for trash? Why should we have to pay the city for the privilege
of hauling off our neat stuff? With taxpayer subsidies, they should be able to show a
handsome profit sorting it out. Cash for shoes works for me, because our government is
responsible for the unemployed wearing their shoes out looking for work.
Jim Scribner, Column, Alva Review-Courier, 9-06-2009
3
Tulsa World files suit to see federal inmate photos
The Tulsa World sued the U.S. Marshals Service on Sept. 4, seeking release of
jailhouse photos of federal inmates.
The U.S. Marshals Service cites privacy rights as the reason for withholding
the photos. However, jail mug shots are
public documents under the Oklahoma
Open Records Act, the newspaper noted.
“The Tulsa World disagrees this is an
invasion of privacy for people who have
been arrested,” Executive Editor Joe Worley said. “The public deserves to know
how our law enforcement agencies are
doing. The public needs to know who law
enforcement groups are arresting and how
they are being detained.”
The Tulsa Jail, which holds the prison-
Chandler Chamber
to honor Don Ferrell
on October 3
Don Ferrell, former publisher of the
Lincoln County News in Chandler, will
be one of two Lincoln County legends
roasted by the Chandler Chamber of
Commerce on Oct. 3.
Ferrell is also a former state senator.
“I moved to Chandler at the age
of 33 when my wife Sally and I purchased the Lincoln County News,”
Ferrell said. “I was working at the
Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City
as a journalist when we bought the
paper.”
Ferrell ran for Senator in 1966,
beating three candidates on the Republican ticket. He served eight years in
District 18.
In 1987, he was appointed Adjutant
General Commander of the Oklahoma
National Guard and was later promoted
to Major General.
“I began my service in the Air Force
at the age of 17,” Ferrell said. “I retired
from the Air Force in 1981 at the age
of 62.”
“We sold the newspaper in 1988
and have lived in Chandler ever since.”
Representative Charlie Morgan also
will be roasted at the event.
Tickets are $30 per person and
includes a buffet meal. For more information call (405) 258-0673.
ers, has an agreement with the Marshals
Service, a division of the Justice Department, not to release the photos.
“The privacy interest in a mug shot of a
detainee charged in a federal court with a
crime is necessarily limited,” the World’s
lawsuit states.
“A great deal of information has already
been released, such as the name of the person, the home city and/or street address,
the alleged elements of the crime, the plea,
the request for release, the bond, other
crimes he has committed, risk of flight and
other information used in the criminal or
detention proceedings.”
The World also noted that the Marshals
Service releases photos of inmates who
become fugitives and posts on its Web site
the photos of captured fugitives.
The newspaper requested mug shots
of six inmates indicted in March 2008 on
Aug. 26, 2008 and received written denial
from the Marshals Service on Sept. 15.
Newspaper challenges in the 6th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes
Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and Tennessee,
resulted in a 2005 directive to release federal inmates photos in that circuit’s states.
The Tulsa World cited the directive,
but federal officials responded in writing:
“Please be advised that the Department of
Justice is not bound by this decision outside of the Sixth Circuit.”
Official Publication of the
OKLAHOMA PRESS
ASSOCIATION
3601 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Oklahoma City, OK 73105-5499
(405) 499-0020 • Fax (405) 499-0048
Toll-Free in Oklahoma: (888) 815-2672
Web: www.OkPress.com
E-mail: news@OkPress.com
PUBLISHER
Mark Thomas
mthomas@okpress.com
New student newspaper at RSU
Rogers State University in Claremore
recently began publishing a new monthly
student newspaper titled Hillpost.
“This is the first time RSU has had an
independent student newspaper on its campus in recent history,” said RSU President
Dr. Larry Rice. “A student newspaper is
an important and integral part of campus
life and we are pleased to have the new
Hillpost on campus.”
A student newspaper has not existed at
RSU since it was accredited as a four-year
university in 2000.
The new publication will be produced
by the RSU Student Newspaper Organization (SNO), which formed last spring.
Dr. Mary Mackie, associate professor of
English, will serve as faculty adviser for
the newspaper.
Hillpost will be printed by the Claremore Daily Progress and distributed on
ISSN 1526-811X
each RSU campus in Claremore, Bartlesville and Pryor on the fourth Monday of
each month.
In addition, the Progress will insert
Hillpost into its regular editions.
“The Progress is gratified to be able to
assist the university with this important
project,” said Bailey Dabney, publisher of
the Claremore Daily Progress.
“Nurturing a student newspaper project
such as this is part of the educational mission and community outreach of our local
daily newspaper.”
Sales staff at the Claremore Daily Progress will coordinate advertising in the
Hillpost.
The student newspaper will feature
news occurring on the RSU campus and
surrounding communities, RSU sports and
features about student and faculty accomplishments.
EDITOR
Jennifer Gilliland
jgilliland@okpress.com
OPA OFFICERS
Gloria Trotter, President
The Countywide & Sun
Rod Serfoss, Vice President
Clinton Daily News
Joe Worley, Treasurer
Tulsa World
Mark Thomas, Executive Vice President
Oklahoma City
OPA DIRECTORS
Steve Booher, Past President
Cherokee Messenger & Republican
Rusty Ferguson,
The Cleveland American
Jeff Shultz, Garvin County News-Star
Jeff Mayo, Sequoyah County Times
Jeff Funk, Enid News & Eagle
Robby Trammell, The Oklahoman
Dayva Spitzer, Sayre Record &
Beckham County Democrat
SUBSCRIBE TO
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$12 PER YEAR
THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHER (USPS 406-920)
is published monthly for $12 per year by the
Oklahoma Press Association, 3601 N. Lincoln
Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105-5499. Periodicals
postage paid at Oklahoma City, OK.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE
OKLAHOMA PUBLISHER, 3601 N. Lincoln Blvd.,
Oklahoma City, OK 73105-5499.
4
OPA CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Complete Listing of Events at
www.OkPress.com
SEPT. 25-26, NORMAN
APME NEWSTRAIN THE BUSY EDITOR’S GUIDE
TO JOURNALISM
Become a more effective editor with two days
of training in editing and management skills for
online news. This national program is a twotrack workshop offering (a) hands-on classes
to boost editors’ skills at using social media
and shooting and editing web video; and (b)
the best new ideas for setting and maintaining
standards, planning multimedia content,
ethical decision-making and more. On Friday,
Bob Dotson of NBC’s Today Show will present
“Survival Kit for Professional Storytellers: How
To Compete with Cell Phones and Web Sites.”
Registration is only $50 to attend one or both
days at OU’s Gaylord College of Journalism &
Mass Communication in Norman. Visit
www.okpress.com/newstrain for more info.
SEPT. 29, PONCA CITY
OCT. 1, DUNCAN
OPEN MEETING/
OPEN RECORDS SEMINARS
Attorney General Drew Edmondson, OPA,
ONF and FOI Oklahoma invite the public
to attend these regional seminars about
Oklahoma’s Open Meeting and Records Acts.
Seminars are held from 1 to 4 p.m. and are
free to attend. Venue locations and other
information are available at
www.okpress.com/seminars.
FEB. 4-6, 2010
OPA MID-WINTER CONVENTION
Mark your calendars and plan to attend the
annual convention at the Sheraton & Reed
Center in Midwest City.
For more information on upcoming events, visit the Web
site as noted in the calendar, go to the OPA Web site at
www.OkPress.com or contact Member Services
Director Lisa Potts at (405) 499-0026,
1-888-815-2672 or LPotts@okpress.com.
Media buyers still see value of newspapers
Newspapers are still attractive to advertising agencies, but there are ways to make
them more attractive.
In June 2009, Oklahoma Press Service
Advertising Director Sarah Barrow, Chief
Sales Officer Steve Barrymore and Media
Manager Cindy Shea met with nine advertising agencies to learn how they perceive
newspapers in general and what obstacles
stand in the way of placing newspaper
advertising.
Media buyers are positive about rural
newspapers, according to the reports.
The findings show that agencies believe
the age of readers skews older with major
metros while rural papers have a younger reader demographic due to their high
school sports interest.
“All agencies are open to using news-
interested in OPS’s new Internet ad placement service.
“They include Internet in their overall media campaigns for clients and are
pleased that we’re now offering this,” said
Barrow.
Based on information from the meetings, OPS has made several recommendations including:
• Making a research study and other
secondary research of member newspapers
a high priority.
• Encouraging members to set up Web
sites with standard IAB sizes offering
CPM rates.
• Developing a quarterly newsletter to
keep agencies current with paper changes,
upcoming special sections and industry
developments.
AG calls for release of birth dates
WEB SITE
OF THE MONTH
COLLECTION
OF USEFUL
RESOURCES
iab.net
Interactive Advertising Bureau
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is an
industry-driven association of technology and media
companies dedicated to the improvement and
advancement of online advertising and marketing.
IAB helps create industry standards, provide education
and keep an eye on government regulation and
legislation. Their Website is an invaluable resource for
information, trends, technology and tips.
Newspaper Brokers
Appraisers
Consultants
THOMAS C. BOLITHO
P.O. BOX 849
ADA, OK 74821
(580) 421-9600
bolitho@bolitho.com
paper if it fits the client needs, but they’re
finding it more difficult to justify to clients
because of what is being written in the
national press about declining circulations,” said Barrow.
Readership research of the rural newspapers would help them justify a print buy
to their clients, said Shea.
“Agencies are looking for research on
everything from market coverage to media
consumption habits and we need to have
that available for them,” Shea said.
All the agencies that the staff met with
view OPS as a huge timesaving benefit.
“They look to OPS for a quick turnaround and appreciate our one order/one
bill system,” said Barrymore.
According to the reports, agencies are
We have many years experience in
the community newspaper market
www.nationalmediasales.com
EDWARD M. ANDERSON
P.O. Box 2001
BRANSON, MO 65616
(417) 336-3457
brokered1@aol.com
Attorney General Drew Edmondson
told a crowd at an Aug. 31 Open Meeting/Open Records seminar that Oklahoma
City should release information about two
employees it placed on administrative
leave.
City officials have refused to do so,
saying that they are waiting for Edmonson
to make his opinion official.
In August, the director of the Oklahoma
City’s Weed and Seed program and another
employee were placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into the
mishandling of federal grants associated
with the program. Weed and Seed provides
additional police protection and social programs in high-crime areas.
The Oklahoman requested the birth
date of the director but the city refused,
saying that the name should not have been
released in the first place. The city also
declined to identify the other employee.
City officials said the Open Records
Act prevents them from releasing birth
dates because it is “personal information
within driving records” and that they are
allowed to keep the information confidential if it would “constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
Open records laws require that the city
release the names of employees who are
suspended or disciplined but city officials claim that the employees are merely
on leave and therefore the law does not
apply.
At the Sunshine Law seminar in Tecumseh, Edmondson used Oklahoma City’s
response as an example of “what not to
do.”
“When there is one of these gray areas,
we err on the side of public information,”
Edmondson said. “The argument that is
typically made is that it’s a conduit to
identity theft, and while we are certainly
sensitive to that argument, it seems that
this is more applicable to Social Security
numbers than dates of birth.”
The fact that birth dates are part of other
open public records makes the idea that
their release is a violation of privacy a bit
dubious, said Edmondson.
Edmondson also said that the city
should release the name of the second
employee placed on administrative leave
during the investigation.
City spokeswoman Kristy Yager said
Oklahoma City is still waiting to hear from
Edmondson.
“We’re trying to contact the attorney
general’s office, to see what his opinion
is,” said Yager. “We want to do the right
thing.”
Edmondson said that regardless of
whether a city believes that the law is
on their side, it should consider whether
the disclosure is in the best interest of the
public.
5
Board approves digital image subscriptions at June 6 meeting
The Oklahoma Press Association Board
of Directors met July 23, 2009, in Oklahoma City.
After calling the meeting to order, President Trotter asked the board to review
the minutes of the June 6, 2009, meeting.
Reading of the minutes was suspended
and the board approved the minutes as
presented.
The board reviewed and acknowledged
receipt of OPA and LSP financial statements and investment reports for the period ending June 30, 2009.
The board also reviewed new OPA/S
and LSP contracts for the legal services
of Michael Minnis of Doerner, Saunders,
Daniel and Anderson, which was at the
same rate as the previous year’s contracts.
The board unanimously approved the new
contracts for Minnis to continue as legal
counsel for OPA and LSP in FY 2009-10.
Board members reviewed bids from
four companies on the OPA building heat
and air project. A motion to accept Johnson Control’s bid and OGE Energy Corp.’s
donation to replace and update the heat
and air controls system in the OPA building passed unanimously.
AGREEMENT ADOPTED
In response to an OPA bylaw amendment made in February that allows member newspapers to submit digital images
plus one paper copy of every issue to
OPA as part of their membership dues, the
board unanimously approved adoption of
the following agreement:
After OPA uses the one paper copy for its purposes:
OPA should sell the one copy to OPS for the cost
of an annual subscription to that newspaper.
Collectively, newspaper subscriptions total
around $11,000 (out-of-county rates).
OPA should enter a subscription agreement for
the digital images it receives as dues to Oklahoma Press Service, Inc. under the following
schedule.
Images for most recent calendar year:
$22,000 per year (exclusive use)
Images that are 1-2 years old:
Images that are 2 years old or older:
PROPOSED BUDGETS
Thomas summarized the proposed OPA
budget for 2009-10, which includes elimination of the Creative Services department’s budget, payment of a portion of the
OPS readership survey and replacement
OPA BOARD ATTENDANCE
OFFICERS: President Gloria Trotter, Countywide & Sun; Vice President Rod Serfoss,
Clinton Daily News
DIRECTORS: Past President Steve Booher,
Cherokee Messenger & Republican; Rusty Ferguson, Cleveland American; Jeff Shultz, Garvin
County News Star; Jeff Funk, Enid News &
Eagle, and Robby Trammell, The Oklahoman
OPA STAFF: Executive Vice President Mark
Thomas; Member Services Director Lisa Potts;
OPA Attorney Michael Minnis
ABSENT: Treasurer Joe Worley, Tulsa World;
Jeff Mayo, Sequoyah County Times, and
Dayva Spitzer, Sayre Record & Beckham
County Democrat
of the HVAC controls and depreciation of
that replacement over a 10-year period.
The budget also reflects an invitation
to political candidates for state office to
attend the OPA Summer Conference and
board meetings instead of holding an Election Summit event at the State Capitol.
Thomas said revenue from LSP membership dues are expected to increase due to
members’ increased ad rates, but expenses
are lower because the plan is not currently
defending any cases. After further review,
the board unanimously adopted the proposed 2009-10 OPA and LSP budgets.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Board members reviewed a list of committee members for 2009-10 as well as
the committee meeting schedule, Summer Conference expenses and schedule of
ONF workshops. Thomas said free copies
of the 16th edition of the Open Meeting
and Records book and a brochure of recent
updates will be provided to attendees at
the Attorney General’s regional seminars.
Board members also reviewed the second
Legal Services Plan (LSP) quarterly report
for 2009.
In other business, the board reviewed
a list of OPA members that upload PDFs
of each issue and a list of papers that
are digitally photographed by OPA. After
discussing the importance of uploading,
board members agreed that OPA should
once again educate members so they know
how and why to upload. After additional
education efforts are made, the Board will
review the list of papers not uploading
pages.
OPS BOARD MEETING
The OPS meeting was called to order
at 12:54 p.m. Reading of the June 6, 2009,
minutes was suspended and approved as
presented. The board also acknowledged
receipt of the OPS financial statements for
the period ending June 30, 2009.
SUBSCRIPTION TO DIGITAL IMAGES
For many years, OPS purchased paper
copies of each newspaper issue from OPA
to be used for tearsheets, clippings and
other OPS purposes. OPS can now subscribe to digital images for a specific purpose and limited use.
The board unanimously approved a
motion for OPS departments to buy and
subscribe to the paper copy and digital
images under the following schedule:
OPS Clipping Bureau should buy one paper copy
from OPA for the cost of an annual subscription
to that newspaper. Collectively, newspaper subscriptions total around $11,000 (out-of-county
rates).
OPS Clipping Bureau should subscribe to the digital
images from OPA for the previous two years
worth of newspapers at the rate of $22,000 for
images less than one year old and $11,000 for
images that are one to two years old.
OPS Advertising Department should subscribe to
the digital images from OPA for the past one
year at the rate of $22,000 for images less than
one year old.
The fees for digital images are exclusive and will allow OPS to be the only
subscriber allowed to distribute those digital images outside of its internal company
use, primarily for digital tearsheets and for
clippings.
PROPOSED BUDGET
Thomas summarized the proposed OPS
budget for 2009-10, which included a
health insurance rate increase resulting
in an additional $12,000 budgeted for
employee costs. The budget also includes
$35,000 for a statewide readership survey
to assist OPS clients in making their newspaper advertising buys, elimination of the
creative services department’s budget and
a higher advertising revenue goal.
Sarah Barrow told the board that she,
Steve Barrymore and Cindy Shea met with
nine advertising agencies to discuss their
opinions of OPS and newspapers, as well
as any obstacles they face when placing
newspaper advertising. Barrow summarized some of their findings, including that
the agencies: (1) value rural newspapers
since they have a strong readership base
of varied ages, (2) need readership demographic information to better plan and
justify their newspaper buys, (3) want to
place ads on newspaper Web sites, and (4)
value OPS’ services as a huge time-saving
benefit.
However, Barrow said the agencies
often call newspapers directly to secure
lower rates since newspapers will often
provide discounts not available through
OPS.
Barrow said OPS would strive to
become their clients’ primary industry
news source by producing a quarterly
newsletter with information about publication changes, upcoming special sections, industry developments and research
information. Trotter thanked the staff for
the agency report and asked that a story be
printed in the Oklahoma Publisher.
WEB ADVERTISING
Shea reported that OPS signed a contract with DotConnect, an affiliate of
TownNews.com, to handle placement of
Web advertising. At the time of the report
21 member newspapers had signed up to
Continued on Page 6
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6
OPA/S Board of Directors
Continued from Page 5
receive OPS Web ads, including all CNHI
papers. OPS staff then called papers with
Websites to discuss how to sign up for
the program. Trotter said many members
might not understand questions on the
sign-up form. She asked that a glossary of
terms and price guidelines be provided to
members with Websites.
POLITICAL ADVERTISING
Barrymore reported that staff is now
meeting with political representatives to
ask many of the same questions asked
of the ad agencies. He said the statewide
readership survey will also include some
political and voter questions.
Thomas said that political candidates
previously have not been allowed to buy
ads in the 2x2 program. He suggested that
during the non-election year OPS provide
for a limited time a low-cost incentive to
candidates to prove that newspaper advertising has a high impact and that frequency
is beneficial. A motion to authorize the
creation of a 2x2 package for political
candidates passed unanimously.
MANAGEMENT REVIEW
Trotter said communicating OPS plans
to the membership is a challenge. Suggestions for keeping members informed
included having the OPS advertising director regularly write the newspaper advertising directors informing them of different
programs, ideas and challenges facing our
advertising sales efforts.
Board members also suggested regional
meetings to discuss developing rate structures for all types of products.
Trotter also said the board would like
Thomas to develop a plan where he can
communicate confidential information to
the membership through e-mail.
Don’t have enough
time to do it all?
If you’re looking for a one-stop-shop that can
help your ad department increase sales and
productivity, check out one of our upcoming
webinars. It will only take about 25 minutes
and is free to attend.
Hall of Fame seeks nominations
Nominations are being sought for the
40th annual induction ceremony for the
Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame with
a Dec. 11 deadline.
Dr. Terry M. Clark, director of the
Hall at the sponsoring Mass Communication Department at the University
of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, said
several nominations have already been
received, but more are welcomed. Induction of nine new members will be Friday,
April 9, 2010.
A special program is planned this year
to mark the first 40 years of the Hall,
Clark said, including the relocation of
the display to the Nigh University Center,
and a keynote speaker.
UCO President Roger Webb said
the university is investing significant
resources in upgrading the Hall to better
honor members of the media.
The selection committee is made up of
members of the Oklahoma Press Association, the Oklahoma Professional chapters
of the Society of Professional Journal-
ists and the UCO Mass Communication
Department. Each year all the applications are reviewed, including those made
in earlier years.
Former UCO Journalism chairman
Dr. Ray Tassin started the Hall in 1971.
Journalists are chosen for recognition
each year from among those who have
made outstanding contributions to the
journalism field for at least 10 years.
They must either be Oklahoma natives
or have worked in Oklahoma journalism
for 10 years.
Application forms are available from
the Mass Communication Department
in Edmond, by contacting Sherry Sump
at (405) 974-5121, or on-line at www.
libarts.ucok.edu/masscomm/nomination.
htm.
Last year’s honorees were Sharon K.
Dowell, Lewis Ferguson, Sue Brewster
Hinton, Debbie Jackson, Russell M.
Perry, Dick Pryor, Ray Soldan, Gloria
Trotter and Wayne Trotter.
Zumba class benefits Newspapers In Education
The Poteau Daily News and Ladies
Only Fitness recently hosted a Newspapers in Education fundraiser – Zumbastyle!
The $10 class gave readers a chance
to experience Zumba, an aerobic workout
inspired by Latin dance, and support NIE.
The class was open to women and girls
of all ages.
All proceeds benefited the Daily News’
Newspapers In Education program.
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7
OU’s Gaylord College adds four new faculty members
A Pulitzer Prize winning journalist,
a military public relations practitioner
skilled in crisis communication, and two
Emmy-winners – one a network foreign
correspondent and the other a satellite television producer – have joined the ranks of
full-time faculty members at the Gaylord
College.
“We have an exceptional group of
highly talented professionals joining the
Gaylord College faculty this year,” said
Gaylord College Dean Joe Foote. “Our
students will have an exceptional opportunity to learn from some of the nation’s
best.”
Following is information on the newest
staff members:
of the newspaper for which he served as
associate metropolitan editor from 1976
to 1991. From 1997 to 2003, he covered
the aerospace industry and covered many
of the events that led to the Tribune
being awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2001.
In recent years, Schmeltzer has worked to
expand readership through social media
and online newspaper editions. In addition to the Pulitzer, Schmeltzer also was
a finalist for the UCLA Anderson School
of Management Gerald Loeb Award for
business journalism, three awards from the
Chicago Headliner Club and was awarded
the Distinguished Service award from his
alma mater, Northern Illinois University,
in 2002.
JOHN SCHMELTZER
KATHLEEN JOHNSON
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John
Schmeltzer joined the journalism faculty
as the Engleman/Livermore Professor in
Community Journalism. The Engleman/
Livermore Professorship was established
by Charles and Jean Engleman and Ed
Livermore, Sr. to support the development
of future publishers and leaders in community journalism. Schmeltzer held numerous positions during his 35-year career at
the Chicago Tribune from political writer
during the mid-1970s to assistant business editor in 2008. He was instrumental
in expanding the readership of the Tribune by developing a suburban version
Kathleen Johnson joined the Gaylord
College’s faculty as the McMahon Centennial Professor. The McMahon professorship was the first endowed position for the
journalism program at OU and was funded
in 1989 by the McMahon Foundation
of Lawton. The McMahon professorship
enables the college to attract experienced
professionals to train the next generation
of broadcast journalists. A 1987 telecommunication graduate from Oral Roberts
University in Tulsa, Johnson brings with
her more than 20 years of award-winning
experience in top executive, programming,
production, communications and market-
ing positions in broadcast, network, cable,
satellite and new media. She worked as
a producer with increasing degrees of
responsibility for several NBC television
stations in Tulsa, Florida and Washington,
D.C. from 1986 to 1998 and has worked
as an executive in the satellite television industry. She has received a national Emmy nomination and four regional
Emmy awards as well as seven Telly
awards for her work in children’s television and for long-format newcasts. She is
also the recipient of an Edward R. Murrow
Award from the Radio Television News
Director Association.
ROBERT ‘PRITCH’ PRITCHARD
Robert Pritchard joins Professor David
Tarpenning in overseeing the new studentrun advertising and public relations agency
at the college, which began in August 2009
in the new wing of Gaylord Hall. Pritchard
is a 1974 business administration graduate
of Phillips University in Enid and graduated in 1988 with a master’s of art in public relations from Ball State University in
Indiana. Pritchard has more than 20 years
experience as a public affairs officer in the
U.S. Navy and seven years’ experience as
faculty adviser for the Ball State public
relations and advertising agency, Cardinal Communications. Pritchard has also
been very active in the Public Relations
Society of America and has served as fac-
ulty adviser for the student chapter at Ball
State. He currently serves on the PRSA
College of Fellows and the Educational
Affairs Committee.
MIKE BOETTCHER
Veteran and award-winning network
news correspondent Mike Boettcher joins
the faculty as a visiting professor. Boettcher is a Ponca City native and a former
journalism student at the University of
Oklahoma. He was honored as one of the
Gaylord College’s Distinguished Alumni
in 2003. Boettcher has been recognized
as one of the world’s most experienced
foreign correspondents, covering wars and
revolutions in every part of the globe. He
was the first correspondent to make a live
satellite report for CNN in 1980. Boettcher
has made a career of reporting on terrorism
around the world for NBC and CNN. In
2008 he left NBC to start a private venture,
NoIgnoring.com, serving as a full-time
embedded reporter in Afghanistan and Iraq.
While embedded he co-taught a course on
War and Media at OU via satellite uplink
from Afghanistan and Iraq. He is currently
writing a book about Al Qaeda titled The
Network. Most recently, Boettcher was
working for ABC News this summer while
embedded with an Army unit in Afghanistan. Boettcher has received three National
Headliner Awards, four national Emmy’s
and a Peabody Award for his work.
DEATHS
IVY MAE COFFEY, a longtime Oklahoma
journalist and member of the Oklahoma
Journalism Hall of Fame, died Sept. 1,
2009.
Coffey was born to Ivy Joseph and Nellie Mae Coffey at Comanche.
She attended Oklahoma College for
Women and received a journalism degree
from the University of Oklahoma. She
worked for the Duncan Eagle and Halliburton before moving from Duncan to
Ponca City. She worked at Continental Oil
Co. in public relations and was city editor
of the Ponca City News.
She joined the Oklahoma City Times
and The Daily Oklahoman working as
a reporter and editor. She held positions
as Sunday magazine editor, book editor,
food editor, women’s editor and state staff
reporter. Her favorite assignment was state
staff “rover,” covering all parts of Oklahoma. She spent a year in Washington,
D.C., in The Oklahoman’s bureau and
interviewed Bobby Kennedy a few weeks
before his assassination.
Coffee was inducted into the Oklahoma
Journalism Hall of Fame and received a
Byliners award in communications from
the Association of Women in Communications.
After moving to El Reno, she worked
for the El Reno Tribune and continued
writing mystery book reviews for The
Sunday Oklahoman.
She was a member of Wesley United
Methodist Church and the El Reno Study
Club. She served on the board of Mobile
Meals.
Coffee was an animal lover, especially
dogs and horses. She was one of the spon-
sors of the annual auction of Free to Live
Animal Shelter in Edmond.
Survivors in El Reno are Kay Dyer,
her best friend, and the Dyers, her second
family. She is also survived by nieces
Betty Crabb, Waxahachie, Texas; Jenny
Roberts of Lone Grove and Peggy Coffey,
San Antonio.
WILLIAM ‘BILL’ ROBERT ROBERTS JR.,
62, operations director for Neighbor
Newspapers, died Sept. 6, 2009, at his
home in Broken Arrow. He was 62.
Roberts was born on July 27, 1947, at
Miami, Okla. He graduated from Chanute
High School in 1965 and then graduated
from Neosho County Community College.
He worked for various newspaper syndications for more than 40 years beginning
in Evansville, Ind., as circulation manager
and finally in Broken Arrow as operations
and business manager.
“Bill was in charge of circulation, transportation, building maintenance and management of our commercial lease properties for the entire Oklahoma Neighbor
Newspapers group, said Mike Brown, publisher of Neighbor Newspapers.
“He had worked for Neighbor Newspapers since 1995. He will be missed.”
Roberts was married to Susan Brophy.
They later divorced. He was later married
to Kathryn Swindell.
Roberts is survived by his wife, Kathryn, of the home; son Brian of Phoenix,
Ariz.; daughter Jannette and son Westin
of the home; his father, Bill Roberts and
his wife, Virginia, of Chanute; and a sister,
Twila Busse of Chanute.
8
THE OGE
PHOTO
CONTEST
The wild horse race at the Cavalcade was won by the Skiatook team of Matt Meiser, Cole
Crain and Grant Well. These guys from Oologah weren’t so lucky: Their horse fought like
the devil and won, leaving them defeated on the ground as the horse broke free.
Photo by LOUISE RED CORN,The Bigheart Times (Barnsdall), Published July 23, 2009
JULY 2009 DAILY WINNER:
PAUL B.
SOUTHERLAND
The Oklahoman
JULY 2009 WEEKLY WINNER:
LOUISE RED CORN
The Bigheart Times (Barnsdall)
Edmond Police Department cadets are given 40 seconds to get to their first class after morning
ceremonies for the first Edmond police academy.
Photo by PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND,The Oklahoman, Published July 26, 2009
VIEW ALL WINNING PHOTOS AT
WWW.OKPRESS.COM
9
New grant guidelines Students invited to participate in annual essay contest
focus on investigative
reporting projects
Ethics and Excellence in Journalism
Foundation announced new grant guidelines reflecting priority funding for investigative reporting projects.
“The watchdog role of legacy media
is in jeopardy due to the economic crisis
facing the journalism industry,” said Bob
Ross, President and CEO. “We’re working
to secure its future by funding investigative reporting models of innovation, sustainability and collaboration.”
The Foundation will support investigative reporting programs nationwide. This
includes programs from those organizations that have been long-time partners
of investigative reporting as well as from
startup organizations and projects.
The Foundation seeks to increase investigative reporting and watchdog journalism on state and local issues and is also
encouraging the development of digital
innovations that make data about state and
local issues more available to the public.
Founded by Edith Kinney Gaylord,
Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation’s mission is to invest in the future
of journalism by building the ethics, skills
and opportunities needed to advance principled, probing news and information. The
Foundation makes grants to journalism
schools and other non-profit organizations
focused on the news media.
the event’s Professional Day at The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City.
This marks the eleventh year FOI Oklahoma Inc. has hosted a First Amendment
Congress to discuss these fundamental
freedoms. For questions concerning the
essay contest, contact Linda Lynn at (405)
475-3676. For information about the 2009
First Amendment Congress, contact Kay
Bickham at (405) 341-3169.
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KIP CASPER has joined the advertising
staff at The American in Afton. Previously
general manager and sales rep for another
area newspaper, Casper describes himself
as a “people person” who’s always in a
good mood.
JENNY REDDEN is the new editor
at The Glenpool Post. A 2008 Oklahoma
State University graduate, Redden wrote
for the Sand Springs Leader for four
months. Previously, she worked for the
Tulsa World and as editor-in-chief at
OSU’s Daily O’Collegian.
MANGUM
role of the media as a watchdog of government activity?”
Prizes will be awarded to the first-,
second-, and third-place winners in both
high school and college categories.
High School winners will be recognized on Oct. 28 during the First Amendment Congress Education Day at Tom
Steed Center in Midwest City. College
winners will be honored Oct. 29 during
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BRIEFS
THE
Oklahoma high school students and
college undergraduates can win cash prizes by entering the 2009 First Amendment
Congress Essay Contest, sponsored by
FOI Oklahoma Inc. Entrants have until
Oct. 2 to submit their essays.
For this year’s essay, young writers
are asked to consider the question: “What
is the impact of Internet news, blogs and
social networking sites on the traditional
STAR-NEWS
recently updated its Website. The new site
includes brief descriptions of the stories
found in the printed version of the paper,
photo slide shows and short video clips.
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10
Counting impressions equals counting dollars
That InterWeb Thing
by KEITH BURGIN, OPA STAFF
When I was young, my mother told me
to always try to make a good impression.
She should have added that I should count
them as well, because one day I would
have to sell them.
Two weeks ago, an excellent question
was posed to the creative department here
at OPA.
“How do I estimate my impression
inventory?”
Impression inventory is the number of
online ad impressions your Website has
available during a given time period. You
need to know what you have to sell to
advertisers.
Every time a display ad loads in a Web
browser, it generates an impression, which
is the indication that some person has just
seen it.
In actuality, it simply means that a
browser has displayed the ad. There’s no
way of telling whether your visitor physically “saw” the ad, but impressions are the
most accurate way of gauging traffic for
an ad and an accepted industry standard
for sales.
The first place you should look for
an estimate of impressions is the past. If
you’re already running some sort of ad
rotation software on your Website, it will
usually count impressions for you by ad
and month.
If this information is available, you’re
golden. Use past performance to estimate
future performance and you’ll be pretty
darn close.
Unfortunately, not everyone has this
data. Either you haven’t been using this
type of software or haven’t placed any
ads, etc., so you have to find another way
to estimate how many times an ad might
appear.
Let’s dive into your Website statistics.
The numbers are easy to understand if you
know what to look for.
This data should be available through
your site hosting company or Google Analytics, if you have it set up. If you don’t
have it set up, I recommend you do it. It’s
a powerful tool for creating revenue and
increasing readership on the Web.
It would be logical to assume that “page
views,” the number of pages displayed in
a month’s time, would be a reasonable
estimate of how many impressions an ad
might get in that period.
You know what happens when we
assume, though. Things get a bit messed
up; what did you think I was going to
say?
Page views often include data from
search engines and intelligent programs
that scan Websites for information. This
kind of traffic will not generate true
“impressions” and if you compare page
views to actual impressions at the end
of the month, you’re going to come up
short of your estimate – often by a large
margin.
My favorite indicator involves a look
at two numbers in your Website statistics.
The first number is “unique visitors.”
Unique visitors is a tally of how many
individuals accessed your Website during
a period of time.
The second number is average pages
viewed per visitor.
Multiply these two numbers and you’ll
be very close to possible impressions without overestimating. This method should
get you started.
Oh, while your looking at your Website
statistics, take a peek at where your traffic
is coming from and what search terms visitors use to find you.
There’s tons of information in those statistics that can help you not only increase
your traffic, but sell more ads to your
clients.
In a couple of months, check your
impression count from our ad network
provider, Dot Connect, or your rotation
software and use that.
If there’s an issue regarding your Website, internet technology that effects newspapers or other items that you would
like to see discussed here, please e-mail
kburgin@okpress.com. I’ll be happy to
find some answers for you.
Now straighten that tie, make a good
impression and count it. It’s money in your
pocket.
Henninger offers 10 design tips to save you time and money
by ED HENNINGER
Design isn’t about “making pretty.”
It isn’t about “jazzing up” your paper.
Design is about creating a product that is
crisp, contemporary and compelling.
It’s also about saving you money by
being more efficient. Here are ten design
tips to help you save time, effort and
money with every issue.
1.
2.
3.
FIND your best fonts. You don’t have to
buy new fonts to make your paper more
readable. You probably have some hidden gems in your system – but perhaps
no one has taken the time to look. If
you’re using Times, there are others that
work much better. Among them: Century
Old Style, Cheltenham and Utopia.
TRIM font lists. There’s nothing more
frustrating for a designer than to have to
scroll up-and-down, up-and down, upand-down to click on just the right font
for a headline. Use font management
software to keep these to no more than
two dozen lines.
REDO typography and edit to save
4.
5.
6.
space. Review listings such as a weekly
calendar, an agenda of public meetings
and the like. Often, trimming these items
and placing them together can result in
a savings of an entire page of newsprint.
See if you can’t tighten the typography
in classifieds. Over the course of a year,
saving a page of newsprint here and
there can make a serious difference in
your bottom line.
CREATE page models. With occasional exceptions, page 1 will tend to
fall into a half-dozen similar looks. Take
advantage of this by creating models
your editor can refer to before she
begins designing.
MAKE a plan. Don’t wait until every
story is finished to begin work on a
page. Instead of assembling a page so
that every story will fit, design the page
first and then tweak the length of the
stories if needed. Include your writers in
the planning so they will know how long
their story must be.
CREATE software templates. Problems with styles and the like on a “recy-
7.
8.
9.
cled” electronic page will slow down
pagination again and again. Start fresh
by building sound templates and using
them.
CREATE pagination libraries. Set up
your software so that your designers
can go to libraries and drag out elements such as column sigs, section
flags – even whole parts of pages,
such as the masthead and index. Don’t
let your designers try to convince you
that it’s better to just work from the
same page from the last issue (see #6,
above).
USE style sheets. Incorporate linked
and nested styles into everything you do
on the page. These can save a half-hour
or more in pagination time per issue.
Have your editor use that time to do a
better job of planning.
CROSS-TRAIN. That sports writer can
be trained to do some news pages,
and vice versa. With increased effort on
the part of all newsroom staff, you can
publish a quality newspaper with fewer
people. And take advantage of the skills
of people in your advertising design
department to help the newsroom with
charts and graphs.
10. MAKE DEADLINE. Nothing costs more
than being late off the press. The overtime alone can be a killer…and the
problem often begins on the desk. If
the designer has a reputation of always
being late, move that person’s deadline
up. If it’s a problem reporter, work with
that person. Never, ever accept anyone
habitually missing deadline.
These ten tips probably won’t save you
gobs of money overnight – but over time
they can create substantial savings. And
I’m reminded of a quote from the late
Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois: “A billion
here and a billion there and pretty soon
you’re talking big money.”
ED HENNINGER, an independent newspaper
consultant and Director of Henninger Consulting,
offers comprehensive newspaper design services
including redesigns, workshops, design training
and design evaluations. Contact him at 803327-3322 or edh@henningerconsulting.com.
www.henningerconsulting.com
11
PREPARE YOURSELF BEFORE DISASTER STRIKES
A call no one wants to receive is one telling you that
your business has been destroyed by fire, flood, tornado or
some other sort of disaster.
If you’re not prepared, the results can be devastating.
It’s never easy to start from ground zero but having a
well documented, up-to-date disaster plan will make your
road to recovery easier.
Fill out this page and see how prepared you would be
if a disaster struck. Make sure you review the information
annually and make adjustments as necessary.
The newspaper has a very unique and important
responsibility to the community in times of disaster and
must plan to operate in a crisis. Developing a checklist of
items leads to the development of a disaster plan, which
will provide the publisher and staff confidence that they
are prepared to fulfill their obligation to their community,
neighbors, family and friends. In times of crisis you are
needed more than ever.
The Disaster Plan for Newspapers is also available on
the OPA Website at www.okpress.com/disaster-checklistfor-newspapers.
PREPLANNING
Preplanning is the most important step in avoiding or
knowing what to do in case of a disaster. Setting a calendar
date each year to update the plan, review the list, make
a new inventory tape, talk to employees, have a disaster
training exercise, and other related matters is the easiest
way to ensure this important item doesn’t slip through the
cracks in the hectic schedule of a newspaper.
CHECKLIST 1: Pick a disaster – any disaster
YES
NO
❒ ❒
I have made a list of all possible disasters that might
affect my paper. (Include tornado, flood, bomb, fire,
sabotage, lawsuit, computer system failure, key
employee death or disability, other types.)
❒ ❒
I have evaluated what areas of my operation would
need to be restored first if a disaster strikes my whole
paper, or just a portion of my business.
CHECKLIST 2: We’re OK here – How about YOU?
YES
NO
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
I have made decisions on what to do if the paper
avoids a direct disaster, but the disaster involves
my town, subscribers, advertisers, employees, a
family member, independent contractors, or our key
suppliers.
I have made a list of steps to take (for all areas
including news, advertising, legal notices, circulation,
accounting, business operations, etc.) if one of these
“contingent” disasters affects my newspaper.
I have made a list of key employees we depend on
for the basic newspaper function and what the key
responsibilities of those employees are in order to get
the newspaper published.
I have thought about what to do if any employee or a
family member is killed or disabled by a disaster.
I have set priorities on what additional lines of
business the newspaper might operate, and how they
will be affected by the disaster.
CHECKLIST 3: I’ll get by with a little help from my friends
YES
❒ ❒
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❒
❒
❒
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❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
NO
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
I have made a list of which newspapers or
businesses I will call on to help with critical
newspaper functions.
I have a list of their names, numbers, and critical
functions they are to perform.
I have documented my newspaper’s technical
configurations.
I have a list of the software that is critical to
publishing the paper.
I have a list of other “non-publishing” software,
such as accounting and circulation, that would
be necessary to complete other functions of the
newspaper.
I have a list of the exact number and type of
machines I need.
I have a list of alternate phone numbers to use in
case of a disaster.
I know where to get Internet access and e-mail for
me and my staff.
The staff knows where to assemble if the newspaper
equipment or offices are unusable.
If I print other newspapers, I know where I would
send my customers.
If I print other papers, I have a list of other printers
and know what to tell them so they help my
customers immediately.
If I am printed elsewhere and my printer has the
disaster, we have discussed where to go and what to
do.
We know what to tell carriers, post office workers,
convenience store distributors and others in case
there are changes in the method of delivery of the
newspaper.
The local police, fire and medical personnel know
us, will vouch for us, and won’t panic and shut us out
when the TV stations and helicopters arrive on the
scene.
CHECKLIST 4: My insurance policy doesn’t cover WHAT?
YES
NO
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
My insurance agent has been out to my paper in the
last year to see my operation and review my policy.
My policy is tailored to specific needs of my
newspaper; not a general policy.
I know where my insurance policies are located, and
keep them in a safe place.
Continued on next page
Anadarko Daily News’ office destroyed
Bureau of Indian Affairs with a seven-page
legal ad,” said McBride. The Daily News
normally runs eight pages.
“We got another five or six-page legal
on Thursday from the county treasurer.
Those things were a godsend.”
The Daily News’ 1962 printing press
was a charred ruin, so El Reno Tribune
printed the newspaper, as they did after
the tornado.
The Apache News, produced on
Andarko’s press for nearly 30 years, is
being printed at Lindsay News.
“We’re looking at a couple of presses,”
said McBride. “We have some decisions
we need to make. Until then, we’re printing at El Reno.”
They’re also considering rebuilding on
the original site, said McBride.
door. That’s still closed off while they
investigate.
“We need to get a bulldozer in and
shore up. Then we can get in and see if
there’s anything we
can salvage.”
Subscriber lists
and bookkeeping
records were on flash
drives that
Carolyn McBride, Co-Publisher Anadarko Daily News thumb
survived the fire.
“But we lost our
The building that housed the newspaper ad copy,” said McBride. “You just have a
– built in 1906 – was a complete loss.
habit of not backing that stuff up. So we’re
“We’ve been able to enter our build- starting over with logos and rebuilding
ing as we please,” said McBride. “The our ads.
fire started in the Tornado Alley Bar next
“We didn’t have our files backed up off-
‘We didn’t have our files backed up offsite.
I would tell every newspaper …do that!’
site. I would tell every newspaper, ‘Great
day in the morning, do that!’”
The files were backed up, she said, but
not stored where they should have been.
There were other factors that complicated publishing efforts that first week.
Carolyn McBride was suffering from bronchial pneumonia through the entire ordeal.
Wednesday after the fire, a lightning strike
took out The Daily News’ computer network.
“If you keep working, keep your head
down and don’t think about the fact that
you have problems, your focus becomes
publishing the paper,” said McBride.
“We never thought about not publishing. It never crossed our minds.”
12
DISASTER CHECKLIST (CONTINUED)
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
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I have reviewed the list of my equipment and clearly
understand what is covered by insurance and what is
not.
I have replacement cost insurance, including
incidental costs.
I have business interruption coverage, and know the
length and limits of that coverage.
CHECKLIST 5: But it’s worth more than that to ME!
YES
NO
❒ ❒
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I know the true value of each piece of property and
can explain and justify these values to a claims
adjuster.
I know the true business interruption costs if I could
not publish as usual.
I have determined some items are minor and not
worth covering.
I have determined that some risks are unavoidable
and not covered them with insurance.
I have decided it is not economically feasible to cover
some property/risks.
CHECKLIST 6: Let me show you around
YES
NO
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
Local fire personnel have toured my paper in the past
year to familiarize their personnel with our building,
hazards, exits, etc.
Local medical personnel have toured my paper in the
past year to make sure they know how to get in and
out of the building in case of a medical emergency.
Local police personnel have toured my paper in the
past year to make sure they know about my property
and can protect my paper in case of a disaster.
I have made changes to my building, hazards, etc.
since the last visit of my local fire, medical and police
personnel.
I have a copy of the layout of my paper, and a listing
of addresses and phone numbers of key personnel.
I have a listing of alternate addresses and phone
numbers for key personnel.
I have the paper layout and personnel lists in a
secure, accessible place in case of a disaster.
CHECKLIST 7: If I had to do it over again…
YES
NO
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
I have thought about what parts of my business I
would change if I had to restart the newspaper or any
other businesses I operate.
I have thought about what new offices and/or
equipment would be required if my paper becomes
damaged beyond repair.
I have made a calculation about how much income I
would need to keep the paper alive while waiting on
insurance settlements.
I know the state law on how many issues I can miss
before I lose my status as a legal newspaper.
I have thought about exactly how long it would take
to restore my paper to normal operation after each
type of disaster.
CHECKLIST 8: Didn’t we have something over there?
YES
❒
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NO
❒
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❒
❒
I have made a detailed, room-by-room inventory list
of everything at the newspaper.
My inventory also has descriptions and model
numbers of all pieces of equipment and software.
In the past year, I have made a videotape of my
entire operation.
I have set a date each year to videotape everything
in the operation.
I know if there is any “third party property” at my
newspaper office.
I have included “third party property” in my inventory
list.
I know if “third party property” is included in my
insurance coverage.
All employees understand whether their personal
property would be covered by insurance.
I have stored my paper’s detailed inventory list and
videotape in a safe and secure place.
We know the location of all racks and how we would
distribute papers if they were destroyed.
CHECKLIST 9: I thought you knew that stuff was important!
YES
❒
❒
❒
❒
NO
❒
❒
❒
❒
I have a written list of all vital records pertaining to
my newspaper.
I have backed up all my computer information.
I have a regularly scheduled plan to back up all
computer information.
I store the back up information and copy of all vital
records in a safe and secure place.
CHECKLIST 10: What would we do without you?
YES
NO
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
If the publisher does not serve as the disaster
manager, the staff knows who will be in charge.
I am emotionally and physically ready, willing and
able to be the disaster manager for my newspaper.
Our paper is prepared to be the hub of information
for townspeople, before, during and after the
broadcast media have left the area.
I have made a list of immediate actions to take and
which staff people are responsible for what items in
the event of a disaster.
I have the list stored in an easily accessible and
secure place, and staff knows where it is.
CHECKLIST 11: Quiet on the set! And … ACTION!
YES
NO
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
❒ ❒
Our newspaper staff knows the basics of our action
plan in case of a disaster.
Our basic action plan includes important names and
phone numbers.
We set a specific date each year to have a disaster
training exercise and in the past year have had this
exercise.
Our staff knows what to do if the disaster happens
during working hours as well as when the office is
closed.
A copy of basic staff actions are posted in the
building as a quick employee guide.
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Employees have a copy of the basic action plan and
their responsibilities at their home.
The employees know what records to safeguard.
The employees know to minimize physical damage,
such as location of fire extinguishers.
I know which employees are trained for First Aid and
CPR.
I know which employees will be called away if the
National Guard is called upon, or if they are volunteer
fire, ambulance, police personnel.
I have made contingency plans for the absence of
those employees.
DEVELOP AN ACTION AND RECOVERY PLAN
In a disaster, one person should be in charge. That person will assess
the situation, determine the priorities, gather available resources,
initiate specific orders to staff, monitor follow-through on critical needs
and make immediate changes to the plan as needed.
STEP 1 - Priorities in the event of a disaster are:
1. Personnel Safety – Remove people from the disaster site and
further danger. Administer first aid if needed.
2. SOS Calls – Alert public safety authorities.
3. Property damage mitigation – Turn off power, isolate or remove
equipment, records, etc. Secure premises to eliminate danger and
destruction of evidence.
STEP 2 - Follow the organization plan:
1. Implement the chain of command. The person in charge (disaster
manager) will deal with emergency and insurance personnel, loss
consultant, public relations, and internal/external communications.
2. Implement the employee responsibility actions and list.
Authorize and delegate to employees so they will implement
subsequent phases of the plan – relocation, back-up resources,
implementation of short term goals (i.e. we’re not going to miss an
issue), etc.
STEP 3 - Follow guidelines for short term survival
and long-term recovery:
SHORT TERM SURVIVAL ACTIONS:
1. Gather the personnel needed to continue business – write, sell,
publish, distribute.
2. Have them use appropriate backup facilities or alternate site as
set up in preplan.
3. Maintain records of all transactions, rentals, purchases and other
recovery items for insurance.
4. Begin updating latest inventory list immediately while property and
equipment are fresh in your mind.
5. Call frequent staff meetings to boost morale, uncover staff needs.
Encourage input from staff members.
6. Recognize and deal with post-disaster stress of all involved
parties. It is there whether seen or not.
LONG TERM RECOVERY:
1. Re-evaluate your business strategy. You are under no obligation to
replicate loss.
2. Determine the true need to replace items in every affected area.
Approach each with an initial evaluation. You may want to change
some areas, eliminate others. A change in an affected area could
make an undamaged area no longer compatible or necessary.
3. Work to solidify master recovery plan as you would to build a new
business.
4. Do not overlook the positive aspects of recovery and renewal.
Inform your staff and community.
5. Plan a Grand Opening.
13
Mac’s new Snow Leopard worth the price
computer notes
from the road
by WILMA MELOT
A careful look at Mac’s new OSX
Snow Leopard will convince you that this
is an upgrade well worth buying.
The cost is only $29, which makes this
a minor upgrade but a major version jump
to 10.6.
Snow Leopard requires an Intel processor, 1GB of ram, 5GB of hard drive
space (7GB for the full install) and a
DVD drive to run the upgrade disk.
The first thing you’ll notice is that
Snow Leopard looks very much like
Leopard – not much is visually different.
This new software is more of an underthe-hood update.
After upgrading, your machine will
run faster and smoother. Many of the
frustrations expressed with 10.5 have
been addressed. Snow Leopard boots up
and shuts down faster than previous operating systems.
In fact, it does everything faster – from
ejecting drives to performing a search.
Mac’s backup software, Time Machine,
is faster the first time it’s used; even the
install is faster, taking half the time of an
older version.
Snow Leopard takes up less space on
your hard drive – only 7GB. That leaves
room for photos, music files, documents
and printer drivers, which Mac saw fit to
provide more of.
In Preview, text is easier to select from
columns. This is great news if you work
with a lot of PDFs.
Now you can scan directly into Preview and have the ability to soft-proof
photos prior to processing them in Photoshop.
There are a lot of changes in Preview
that you’ll want to take a closer look at.
The finder is re-written in Cocoa and
now truly supports a 64-bit processor, if
you have one.
If you have a machine that acts as a
file server, it can now go to sleep and still
offer access to files on its drive.
Just like Leopard, Snow Leopard does
not support OS 9 programs – no classic mode. If you’re running those older
programs, stick with 10.4 Tiger. If you
already made the move to all OSX software, you’re good to go.
I’m hopeful that photo correction
has been improved. Apple changed the
default gamma from 1.8 to 2.2, which
means monitors should show images better. Leave the new settings for a week or
two after upgrading to get a feel for the
new look of the screen. If you don’t like
it, change gamma back to 1.8. However,
I strongly recommend giving the new
setting a try – you’ll quickly get used to
2.2.
One of the big changes in Snow Leopard is the improvement to search functions. Spotlight now gives you a menu
that shows the type of files you find
and allows you to look within the media
you’re searching.
For those who use it, better support
for Microsoft Exchange Servers is built
into 10.6.
File sharing between desktops is
improved with Boot Camp and Windows
installed on your machine.
Overall, this is a good upgrade if you
have a new Intel-based Mac. It improves
not only the function but also the speed of
your computer for very little money.
Quark offers great deal on upgrade through end of September
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to
update any version of Quark Express to
8.0, the latest version, for only $300. But
hurry, the offer is only good until the end
of this month.
Even if you have 3.0 or 4.1 or 7.0,
those old serial numbers will let you
jump to 8.0. Of course, you’re going to
need a newer computer to run the latest
version. The new version will open files
from older ones so the conversion should
be easy.
Specs for this program are:
Macintosh – OSXv10.4 (Tiger) or 10.5
(Leopard). A G5 or faster Power PC or
Mac Intel®, 1GB of RAM and 1 GB of
hard disk space.
Windows – XP Service Pack 2 or 3
or Windows Vista; 1GB of RAM and
500MB of hard drive space.
Many people are afraid to upgrade to
the latest version of Quark because of
extensions used with older versions. My
advice is to call and make sure that the
new program supports or has replacements for your old extensions.
By the way, the new Quark has proven
to be problematic with older printers so
when you call find out if it supports your
older lasers and image writers. Since
many of us send PDFs to our printers
check and see if they can accept the
newer type of Quark documents.
The program looks much like Quark
7 at first glance. But if you’re upgrading
from 4, 5 or 6 it will look like a new pro-
gram. The active windows down the side
of the screen are like most Adobe programs. These let you have quick access to
many tools instead of fishing the menus.
Quark 8.0 works well with Photoshop,
even letting you turn on and off layers
within the Quark document – if the photo
is saved as PSD.
My favorite thing about this new version is how well it works with Adobe
Acrobat, letting you use the PDF-X standards when creating one.
Although it may take a little getting
used to if you’re coming from an older
version, this deal is too good for Quark
users to pass up.
plugged IN
Time to backup is
before disaster strikes
Think about what a loss a major fire
at your newspaper office would be like.
We found out the hard way in Anadarko that starting from scratch can be a
painful process.
Losing things that might seem minor
can be a major headache in the reconstruction process. It’s a good idea to
have your important information and
data backed up off-site.
Back up your files, documents, ads
and artwork – but don’t stop there. Keep
copies of passwords, software serial
numbers, e-mail settings, setup info for
services such as Associated Press and
necessary Websites.
Keep records of every program you
run on your machines. Even if you
salvage the hard drive from a fire, you
may want to install everything on a new
machine and this information is vital.
Don’t forget the small programs you
run such as Fetch, Acrobat and printer
drivers. You might jot down your settings for Acrobat Distiller as well as
your print setups. Contacts and bookmarks also are nice to have.
Accounting and circulation data also
need to be backed up off site. Flash jump
drives are an excellent tool for archiving
data. I recommend keeping two copies
in different locations.
Taking an hour or so to protect your
data can save you hours of heartache if
a crisis occurs.
Photoshop Elements
worth considering
Upgrading to a new computer might
be more expensive than you realize if
your software was never upgraded.
If you find yourself in this situation,
consider Photoshop Elements for most of
your workstations. It can do the majority
of work on black and white photos.
However, you still need one full copy
of Photoshop for CMYK work.
OPA COMPUTER CONSULTANT WILMA MELOT’S COLUMN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE OKLAHOMA ADVERTISING NETWORK (OAN).
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE OAN PROGRAM, CONTACT OKLAHOMA PRESS SERVICE AT (405) 499-0020.
14
Writer teaches journalism students how to write
Clark’s Critique
BY TERRY CLARK, Journalism Professor,
University of Central Oklahoma
TClark@uco.edu
“Watch people. Listen. Write short
leads. Find the human side.”
How do you teach writing? It’s about
as hard as writing itself, because what
worked with one group of students may
not work the next semester.
But I know this… students have to be
exposed to good writing and good writers
if they’re going to improve.
That’s why I asked M. Scott Carter to
speak to my feature writing class recently. Carter, one of the top wordsmiths in
Oklahoma journalism, recently joined the
Journal Record in Oklahoma City, coming
from the Norman Transcript and Moore
American.
What has captured my interest in his
writing is his ability to find the human side
of almost any issue, and to tell a story that
grabs you and makes you read more.
So what follows are some excerpts
of the advice he gave my students. They
lapped it up, mesmerized by his anecdotes
and humor. He was there to talk about
interviewing, but their questions and his
experiences broadened the lessons of the
day.
Here are some Carter quotes I think all
journalists need to be reminded of:
“Journalism may be a business, but
journalism is about people. You are the
historians, the storytellers.
“I like people. I like watching people.
I like weirdos, not the chamber of commerce. I grew up with the underdog. I
may be losing my hair, but I’m charming
as hell.
“You have to be interested in people,
and you can’t interview them from a
phone. Unplug the technology. There is
no replacement for a good interview, two
people sitting face to face.
“Interest yourself in the subject. Write
what you want to know.”
Carter uses a recorder for “99.7%” of
his work.
“People are used to little silver things
all over the place. I think a notebook puts
them at unease. That way I get all the
quotes right.”
Carter said he learned to write short
leads from Mark Twain.
“Look at ‘Tom Sawcat and “two smelly dogs” live in
yer.’ The lead is one
Oklahoma City.
word: ‘Tom.’ Next paraThe lead on his bio reads:
graph: ‘No answer.’
“M. Scott Carter has spent a life“You have to learn
time breaking the rules.
to write a lead. Avoid
“And enjoying it.”
English teachers. My
CLARK’S CRITIQUE: Lot of
goal is to get people to
examples in our state press of the
plunk down 50 cents
kind of writing Carter is talking
and read.
about, including some ideas you
“People will read
can steal. Here are a few:
your stuff if, (a) you
Julie Harding, city editor of
slap them up against the
the
Weatherford News, under “To
head to get their attenTweet
or not to Tweet” writes:
tion, and (b), it’s easy
“If
you
are in business and aren’t
to read.
tweeting,
blogging
or posting notic“I can’t write the
es
on
your
Facebook
fan page for
rest of the story without
your
clients
and
customers,
experts
writing the lead first.
warn
you
might
be
left
behind
by
The lead is the signpost
your
technology-forward,
Internet
that says ‘go here.’”
savvy competitors.”
He illustrated his
Marie Price of the Oklahopoints with examples Mustang News gets fans ready
ma
City Journal Record, under
from his writing and for the bedlam football game
“Climbing
our way out of the red”
stories about how he with big play on the front page. Enid News & Eagle tells the story
writes:
watches people in malls with big photos and excellent packaging.
“OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoand on the street. He
ma
budget leaders find themselves
said feature techniques
clip and put on their refrigerator doors.
like
emergency
management officials tryshould be used in news writing.
That’s better than awards.
ing
to
assess
damage
while the tornado
“Find the human side to the city council
“Every issue has a human component,”
is
still
raging,
asking
not
‘What the heck
story. How does it affect me or my readers, he concluded.
WAS
that?’
but
‘What’s
happening?’
and,
and write about that. If it’s a boring meetCarter got his start in journalism at
more
importantly,
‘What
do
we
do
now?’”
ing, write about people. They’re your best age 13, sweeping floors at The Yale News
Maunda Rust of the Lawton Constitusubject.
for Homer Ray, who he describes as “my
tion
writes of people who live with chronic
“Approach your story with how it hero.” He made 50 cents an hour, enough
pain:
affects the people.
to buy a cherry limeade, and had his first
“As 22-year-old Jim Horinek approach“Print is not dead. Print’s problems are story published when he was 14. He credes
the large metal doors at the end of a
itself, cutting back on staff and not writing its his father’s storytelling around a camp
hallway
at Cameron Village, his irritability
stories to be read. It’ll be around as long as fire with getting him started.
is
perceptible
through gritted teeth because
you want it to.
He’s bounced around, attending Northhe
knows
the
elevator is already malfunc“Yes, the big papers are in trouble ern Oklahoma and OSU where he was editioning.
because of debt and technology, but not tor of both student newspapers. He worked
“‘This always happens’” ….
mid-sized and small papers.
at the Blackwell Journal-Tribune and the
Cathy Spaulding of the Muskogee
“Write about things that affect people.” Stillwater NewsPress.
Phoenix
profiles a local Rosie the Riveter
He spoke fondly of the late Lee Bell at
He’s also spent time in public relations
of
WWII:
the Stillwater NewsPress.
for the Oklahoma State Senate, for speak“Flora Tye couldn’t begin to count all
“If you want to be great, let someone ers of the Oklahoma House and the Metthe
rivets she riveted during her three years
rip your stuff to shreds.
ropolitan Library system before returning
with
Douglas Aircraft during World War
“Lee Bell was crotchety, but one hell to journalism. He’s currently working on
II.
She
just knew she was fast.
of an editor. I turned something in, and he a master’s degree in professional writing
“‘I
could
shoot them so fast, my partner
attacked it with his red pencil. Finally, he at OU.
would
holler
and say, ‘slow down,’ she
just wadded it up, threw it in the wastebasHe’s won a lot of awards, and his
recalled.”
About
1,500 of these WWII vets
ket and growled, ‘Go do that again.’”
essays and stories have appeared in major
die
every
day
folks.
What’s your excuse
Carter told the students they had to newspapers. He’s a member of SPJ and on
for
not
telling
their
stories?
read to become good writers, and to learn the board of the Oklahoma City Literacy
Donny Cofer, managing editor of The
to listen.
Council.
Seminole
Producer, under “My Dad the
“You never know all the people you
He, his wife Karen, four children, one
oilman”
writes:
touch with good stories – the stories they
Continued on Page 15
15
Newspapers must file Statement of Ownership by Oct. 1
Postal Notes
by BILL NEWELL, OPA POSTAL CONSULTANT
All periodicals must submit a completed Statement of Ownership (PS Form
3526) to their post office of entry by October 1 of this year.
Reminder: Look at your print schedule
for the period Oct. 1, 2009, to Sept. 30,
2010, for any period where you will not be
publishing an issue so you can include this
information in your statement.
For publications that print more frequently than weekly, a facsimile or something including the information on the
3526 must be published within the first 10
days of October.
For weeklies, it must be published in an
issue published in the month of October.
For those published less frequently than
weekly, it must be published in the first
issue published after October 1.
Clark’s Critique
“It was 1939, and oil was big in these
here parts.
“A man from Edmond decided to move
his family to Seminole to try and claim his
part of the black gold business.”
Good verbs equal good leads: Helen
Barrett in the Alva Review-Courier:
“Two agenda items dealing with deannexation from City of Alva boundaries
withered under the deafening silence of
a lack of a second during the city council
meeting Monday night.”
HEAD’EM UP AWARDS: First
place, Tulsa World on a Sara Plummer
story about small school districts’ extracurricular activities: “Will the next tune
be taps?” on a story about smaller school
districts having a tough time keeping vocal
and instrument music.
Second place, tie, Guymon Daily Herald: “Mum’s the Word,” on a Katie Martire
photo of a woman making mum corsages
for homecoming, and Tecumseh’s Countywide and Sun, on a Wayne Trotter story
about water rates going up: “Dig Deeper,
Shawnee!”
Third place, tie, North Central Reporter on county fair time: “Pickles, pie and
a parade,” and UCO Vista on a story by
Caleb McWilliams, headline by Laura
Hoffert: “Edmond Urologist Aims for Congress”.
Publish the form in its entirety in your
newspaper and send a copy of the newspaper that it appears in to the post office
for proof of publication. Write what page
number the form appears on page one.
It is requested that you send a copy of
your statement of ownership to the Oklahoma Press Association and, if you’re a
member of the National Newspaper Association, one to them as well.
NOTE: OPA offers PS Form 3526 as a
PDF document you can fill out. The form
is available at www.okpress.com/postalform-3526. Now you can type in the information, print it out and send it the Post
Office.
FIVE-DAY DELIVERY?
The question as to whether the post
office will be going to five-day delivery
this year is still “iffy,” but it doesn’t look
like it will happen anytime soon.
Senator Susan Collins, a ranking mem-
ber of the sub-committee that oversees
USPS appropriations, still remains firm to
continue six-day delivery. However, there
is still the potential that any senator can
make an amendment from the floor that
would change this.
OPA STAFF
DIRECTORY
ADMINISTRATION
MARK THOMAS, Executive Vice President
mthomas@okpress.com • (405) 499-0033
ROBERT WALLAR, Accounting Manager
RATE INCREASE
Though the CPI is expected to be negative, the USPS may be allowed to file for a
rate increase due to special circumstances.
Postmaster General Jack Potter is on
record saying that a big increase would
drive away mailers.
This may mean that they will be looking at a small increase, from 3 to 4 percent,
with standard mail shoppers being a little
less and periodicals a little more.
The USPS has until February 2010
before they have to file for any changes
in rates.
rwallar@okpress.com • (405) 499-0027
STEVE BARRYMORE, Chief Sales Officer
sbarrymore@okpress.com • (405) 499-0034
SCOTT WILKERSON, Front Office/Building Mgr.
swilkerson@okpress.com • (405) 499-0020
MEMBER SERVICES
LISA POTTS, Member Services Director
lpotts@okpress.com • (405) 499-0026
ADVERTISING
SARAH BARROW, Ad Director
sbarrow@okpress.com • (405) 499-0021
CINDY SHEA, Media Manager
cshea@okpress.com • (405) 499-0023
Access denied to record containing birth date
By MICHAEL MINNIS, OPA ATTORNEY
The continuing conflict between privacy concerns and open
government heated up this summer when a journalist was
denied access to documents containing the birth date of a public
employee.
After a public employee was placed on administrative
leave because of an investigation of certain allegations, a
journalist asked the City of Oklahoma City for access to records
containing the name and birth date of the public employee.
The City denied access citing two statutory exceptions to
the Open Records Act. The first exception is for “personal information within the
driver records”. 51 O.S. § 24A.5(1)(c); § 24A.8(G)(c)(3). The second exception
cited by the city applies where the release of the information would “constitute a
clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” Id. § 24A.7(A)(2).
As Oklahoma State University Associate Professor Joey Senat has noted, the
driver’s license exemption does not apply to records of a municipality.
In explaining the second claimed exemption, the City contends that releasing the
public employee’s birth date would lead to “identity theft” and thus such release
would be an “unwarranted invasion” of privacy.
Although identify theft may be a possible valid concern, the evidence supporting
this conclusion as to a public employee has yet to be proffered.
Personal identifying information such as a birth date is available from other
public documents such as voter lists, i.e., the information is not “private.”
Public access to this type of information is not for the purpose of publishing
the birth date, but to differentiate the person under investigation from others with
the same or similar names. The personal identifying information is necessary if the
public wants to obtain additional information about their public employee.
In the case of a public employee, the public need for accurate, complete
information should prevail over the potential risk of identify theft.
The courts undoubtedly will wrestle with this particular issue in the near future.
The city reportedly is seeking an Attorney General’s opinion.
KATHY NASH, OCAN/2by2 Coordinator
knash@okpress.com • (405) 499-0025
LANDON COBB, Account Executive
lcobb@okpress.com • (405) 499-0022
MELISSA TORRES, Advertising Assistant
mtorres@okpress.com • (405) 499-0035
CREATIVE SERVICES
JENNIFER GILLILAND, Creative Services Director
jgilliland@okpress.com • (405) 499-0028
KEITH BURGIN, Editorial Assistant
kburgin@okpress.com • (405) 499-0029
COMPUTER ADVICE
WILMA MELOT, Computer Consultant
wmelot@okpress.com • (405) 499-0031
POSTAL ADVICE
BILL NEWELL, Postal Consultant
bnewell@okpress.com • (405) 499-0020
OPEN (DIGITAL CLIPPING)
LOUISE GARVIN, OPEN Manager
lgarvin@okpress.com • (405) 499-0032
JOSH COLEMAN, Digital Clipping Account Exec.
jcoleman@okpress.com • (405) 499-0036
GENERAL INQUIRIES
(405) 499-0020 • Fax (405) 499-0048
Toll-Free in Oklahoma: 1-888-815-2672
16
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE JULY 2009 CONTEST WINNERS
Column:
Editorial:
RUSTY
FERGUSON
BARB
WALTER
Cleveland American
The Hennessey Clipper
JULY 2009 COLUMN WINNER RUSTY
FERGUSON, CLEVELAND AMERICAN
Standing Tall
Twenty-five steps.
I’ve been thinking a lot about those steps.
Arm-in-arm with my daughter, that’s how many times
our feet will move forward Saturday evening as we stride
from the back of the church sanctuary to the other end of the
center aisle where Libbyʼs Prince Charming will be waiting
to take her hand from mine.
I’m convinced it was a father of the bride who originally
suggested the stroll down the aisle be at a leisurely pace in
order to cling, for as long as possible, to his little girl.
Although it seems like a literal leap through time that
brings me to this tuxedo moment of reality, as a family
we’ve learned that there is no one giant step that gets the job
done or takes us where we want to be, instead such goals are
accomplished step by step.
It’s a definite trip down Memory Lane that will bring
those little steps racing from my mind to my heart as I
begin that emotional expedition, hoping a smile keeps the
tears at bay.
I envision a precious moment as we begin our journey
down that aisle. She’ll be dressed like a princess, and as I
glance at that beauty beside me, I’m certain her veiled updo
will be hidden by memories of ringlets, pigtails and even
moments of hilarity, recalling how she looked helplessly
into the mirror, patiently teaching Dad the basics of braiding hair.
Maybe it will be memories of pacing the long hospital
hallways with Deana as she grew frustrated at Libby’s prolonged hesitation to enter this world. Or, how can a parent
forget those middle of the night mis-steps that stubbed a toe
while on the way to soothe a cry? Then there’s that magical
moment she pulled herself up to the coffee table, let go and
took those first wobbly steps toward our open arms.
Perhaps, as she grips my arm, my firm belief that “the
hardest step to take is often the one through the door” will
be reinforced. At least that’s how this dad felt when it came
time to ascend those stairs at Westside School and offer a
kiss goodbye.
She says she’ll be wearing white peep-toe shoes hidden
beneath her flowing gown, but as she glides next to me, I’m
likely to be thinking of the seasons of her life when she was
taught to have “pretty feet” as she glistened in glitter and
sequins at dance recitals, or told to move those feet with
swift, strong kicks to maneuver that soccer ball to the net.
I’ll remember the matching sneakers all lined-up as she
kept in rhythm with the cheer squad, or the yells of encouragement shared from the stands suggesting she get off the
ground to rebound the ball or watching in amazement as she
positioned herself just right to Fosbury Flop her body across
the bar without dragging those feet!
She tells me she’ll be carrying a bouquet of roses and
hydrangeas, but for a time, my mind may be tracking back
to the spring day I convinced my toddler to “model” next to
every blooming flower in the front yard, or the Christmas
she eagerly held a puppy that sprang from his box, or the
gentle and playful hands she compassionately uses to care
for or teach a child. My thoughts may drift to the way she
lifted her hand in excitement to wave her first set of car keys
in the air, or the hands that carried boxes to her first college
dorm. Will I recognize that hand with the diamond ring as
the same one I placed in my own to cover her mouth and
nose as I lowered her into baptismal waters? It’s the same
hand she used to teach herself to find notes on a guitar so she
could lead out in praise and worship services; such sweet
memories are sure to overflow.
Truthfully...maybe it’s that twenty-fifth step that I’ve
thought most about...as all too soon, our wedding walk will
be completed, and it will be time for me to step aside.
Like so many dads before me, I’m in search of an
answer... Where did the time go? How did 22 years pass as
quickly as my 25-step bridal beat is sure to disappear?
A friend recently reminded me that while I should revel
in all the “firsts” that my first-born provided, I should also
anticipate all the firsts that are still to come.... steps yet to
be taken.
So, Libby and Sol, the time is here for you to take your
first steps as husband and wife. Wisdom from the book of
Proverbs (16:9) reminds us that in our hearts we plan our
life’s course, but it is the Lord who determines our steps. I
pray you’ll always lean on one another for support as you
put one foot in front of the other, daily seeking the Lord’s
direction.
May your life together be even more bountiful in beautiful moments as those I’ll be remembering.... step by step.
Enter and Win a
$100 Check from ONG!
Judge for the July 2009 Contest
Tim Allen, Deputy Treasurer for Policy and Administration
Office of Oklahoma State Treasurer
1.
Each month, send a tear sheet or photocopy of your best
column and/or editorial to ONG Contest, c/o OPA, 3601
N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105-5499.
2.
Include the author’s name, name of publication, date of
publication and category entered (column or editorial).
3.
Only ONE editorial and/or ONE column per writer per
month will be accepted.
4.
All entries for the previous month must be at the OPA
office by the 15th of the current month.
5.
Winning entries will be reproduced on the OPA Web site
at www.OkPress.com.
Entries must have been previously published.
Contest open to all OPA member newspapers.
Although Oklahoma Natural Gas Company selects
representative contest winners’ work for use in this monthly
ad, the views expressed in winning columns and editorials
are those of the writers and don’t necessarily reflect the
Company’s opinions.
Thank you for continued support of “Share The Warmth”
Read the Winning Columns and Editorials on the OPA Web site: www.OkPress.com (Under Contests)

FIRE DESTROYS ANADARKO DAILY NEWS

Transcription

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