June 22, 2006

Register for the SNPA Convention by July 31 and Save $200 per Person
You can’t afford to miss the new programs at the SNPA convention in Naples – and you can save a bundle by registering early!

The Annual Convention, to be held Oct. 15-17, features new afternoon programs on Sunday and Monday, plus morning breakout discussions by circulation size. Topics include relationships with advertisers, the changing media environment, the value and future of newspapers, making money with free classifieds, practical ways to create a constructive culture, new revenue strategies and the political landscape.

Convention delegates also will have the opportunity to spend an entire afternoon in the state-of-the-art new media complex at the Naples Daily News and its new vodcast operation at Studio 55. Daily News staff members will share their newest innovations, from podcasts and vodcasts to real estate mashups to marketing high school sports data.

The convention program provides many opportunities for delegates to exchange ideas with fellow newspaper executives at interactive programs, roundtables and in one-on-one conversations. World-class speakers such as Publix CEO Ed Crenshaw, retired Time Warner CEO Don Logan, MediaNews Chairman Dean Singleton, Little Rock Publisher Walter Hussman, and political columnist David Brooks will share their insights at the morning sessions.

The Ritz-Carlton Resort in Naples, Fla., will host the convention this year. Room rates at this top-rated resort are reasonable and do not include meal costs. Other housing alternatives are available nearby at lower-cost alternative hotels. Air fares to Naples are plentiful and inexpensive.

To reserve your space at the SNPA Annual Convention and save $200 per person, register by July 31.

Click here to download a faxable registration form.

N.C. Supreme Court Justice to Keynote SNPA First Amendment Summit
Paul Newby, associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, will be the keynote speaker at the 2006 SNPA First Amendment Summit, to be held Friday, Sept. 15, in Atlanta. Newby will present the court's view of the First Amendment.

SNPA publishers, editors and newsroom staff are encouraged to attend. The conference is a one-day, fly-in, fly-out meeting at the Executive Conference Center at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The program is sponsored by SNPA’s First Amendment Committee.

Other conference topics and speakers include:

• Trouble-Shooting Open Government Laws and Violations – Gilbert Johnston, Birmingham attorney (Johnston, Barton, Proctor & Powell LLP) and long-time counsel to The Birmingham News and other media. Gilbert did his undergraduate work at Vanderbilt, and obtained a J.D. from the University of Alabama (1973) and an LLM from Harvard (1974).
• The False Light Lawsuit Epidemic in Florida and Beyond – David Bralow, senior counsel for The Tribune Company and its East Coast properties. Before becoming a renowned media attorney, Bralow was a professional journalist. He received a B.A. from Hampshire College and a masters in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He worked as a reporter for the Clearwater (Fla.) Sun and went on to law school at Temple, where he earned a J.D. in 1986. Upon graduation from law school, he joined the law firm of Holland & Knight, becoming a partner there before joining The Tribune Company as in-house counsel in 2001.

The discussion throughout the day will be moderated by media attorney John Bussian, chairman of SNPA’s First Amendment Committee. The Bussian Law Firm is based in Raleigh, N.C., and its practice is devoted exclusively to representing the media, nationwide, in First Amendment matters. Bussian also is the attorney for Freedom Communications.

Discounts on registration fees apply for everyone who registers before July 1…and for newspapers that register two or more people.

Click here for:

• Online registration
• Details about this year's program
• Registration form

• SmallTownPapers has launched a new service providing small market newspaper publishers with a way to distribute their news and information. SmallTownPapers News Service (STPNS) is dedicated exclusively to news from America’s small towns. “Newspapers from small towns have long been overlooked by media and information gathering industries such as news services because it was too expensive to gather small market news,” said Paul Jeffko, president and founder of SmallTownPapers. “STPNS gives these newspapers a way to share their news and information with the world and gives consumers and organizations an easy way to access local content of interest to them.”
• Quipp Systems Inc. has received an order from American Color Graphics for two Newstec High-Speed inserters, two wide stackers, two Viper 3/4 wrappers, spare parts and installation services. The complete system will be installed at ACGs Dayton, N.J., facility in the next few months.

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Justice Department Clears McClatchy to Buy Knight Ridder
SiliconValley.com reports that the Justice Department has cleared the way for the sale of Knight Ridder to McClatchy after McClatchy agreed to guarantee that it will sell the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The Justice Department reportedly was concerned about McClatchy's ownership of two newspapers in the Twin Cities – Knight Ridder's St. Paul Pioneer Press and its own Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Denver-based MediaNews already has agreed to buy the Pioneer Press, along with the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times and Monterey County Herald. Read the story at siliconvalley.com

Boston Globe Merges Newsroom, Web Site
The Boston Globe is consolidating its newsroom operations and bostonglobe.com to "satisfy complex audience demands" and to stay competitive, MSNBC reports.

New York Times, Dow Jones Consider New Fees for Online Content
Citing success at charging for online content, both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal announced this week that they were considering adding more content to paid tiers. WSJ Publisher Gordon Crovitz said that paid online content generates "a very high-margin" caliber of revenue, and added that he is "surprised that other publishers, who have what one would think would be high-quality brands, have not found a way to charge for the bulk of their content." Read the full story on smartmoney.com

Paid Newspaper Circulation Up World-wide, but Down in U.S.
New data released today at the World Newspaper Congress in Moscow show that paid circulation grew 0.56 percent worldwide in 2005 from a year earlier, taking global sales to a new high of 439 million daily. Advertising revenues in paid dailies were up 5.7 percent last year from a year earlier, and up 11.7 percent over five years. By contrast, the circulation of U.S. dailies fell 2.35 percent in 2005 and 4.02 percent over five years. Read the full story at mediapost.com

FCC Re-opens Review of Corporate Media Ownership
The Federal Communications Commission resumed its review of rules that limit corporations' ownership of broadcast stations and newspapers on Wednesday by seeking comments on local ownership limits for radio and TV, on the ban on daily newspapers owning nearby broadcast stations, and on other issues. The last time the FCC considered these issues, it received three million public comments and two votes by the U.S. Senate to reverse its 2003 decision to loosen the rules. In 2004 a federal appeals court rejected the rules and sent them back to the agency. For two accounts, visit MediaWeek and nypost.com.

Reader's Corner contains, from time to time, links that require registration on another site. Registration rules and requirements are established by the host site and participation by eBulletin readers is entirely voluntary. Articles cited here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SNPA or its Board of Directors. Links refer the reader to the source material.

Tulsa World Establishes E-mail and Electronic Communication Policy
World Publishing Company, publisher of the Tulsa World, has established a policy that governs the use of electronic mail, telephone communications and internet systems, including the use of web sites and weblogs.

The policy says that employees should "apply their efforts, while 'on the clock' toward Tulsa World endeavors." It specifies that electronic and telephone communication systems are to be used primarily for business purposes, directs employees to compose e-mail and voice mail messages to reflect well on the company, and warns that all electronic files and messages are company property.

The policy also addresses:

• file management
• privacy and passwords
• solicitation for charitable or commercial ventures
• anti-harrassment policies
• confidentiality
• access to information sources, including web sites, blogs and forums
• Internet postings
• political speech
• use of personal web sites and weblogs

"The company respects the rights of employees to use personal web sites and weblogs during non-working hours as a medium of self-expression," the policy states. "Employees should know, however, that although web sites or weblogs are generally viewed as forums for personal expression, the posting of certain comments and information can have a harmful effect on the company, its reputation and its employees."

The policy stipulates that:

• Employees should not create, post or otherwise access weblogs or personal web sites during working hours.
• Employees who identify themselves as employees of the World Publishing Company or Tulsa World must make clear to readers that their views do not necessarily reflect the views of World Publishing Company or the Tulsa World. The company also requires that this notice be placed in a reasonably prominent place on personal sites: “The views expressed on this web site/weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.”
• No confidential or proprietary information can be disclosed.
• The company has exclusive rights to certain concepts and developments produced that are related to the company’s business. Employees are prohibited from using company trademarks on personal sites and from reproducing company material and material submitted to the Tulsa World for publication.
• The company prohibits the posting of obscene, harassing, offensive, derogatory or defamatory comments about the company, its employees, customers, vendors, partners and affiliates, and others – including competitors.
• Links or references to the company web site are prohibited unless approved by the director of human resources.
• The company reserves the right to monitor web sites or weblogs. The company may require that personal web site or weblog commentary be confined to topics unrelated to the company.

For a complete copy of the policy, click here.

eBulletin Archives Now Available
Can't remember when you saw it in the SNPA eBulletin? Find it in the eBulletin archives.

All of the SNPA eBulletins from November 2000 to the present are just a few clicks away. Here's how to access them:

• Log on to the members section of the SNPA web site – www.snpa.org.
• Choose "eBulletin" from the menu on the left rail of the home page.
• Enter your search term and press "Enter."
• Links to all the eBulletins in which that term appears will be listed. If you'd like to see all of the eBulletins, enter "eBulletin" as the search term.
• Have more questions? Contact anyone on the SNPA staff at (404) 256-0444.

List Newspaper Job Openings on the SNPA Web Site
SNPA member newspapers can post job openings free of charge on the SNPA web site. To post your job, send the text of the ad to Helen Anne Richards at helen@snpa.org. Most announcements will stay on the site for a month, but you can request shorter or longer runs. Click here to access the SNPA Jobs Board.