Generating excitement among readers and advertisers
Generations is an 8 ½ by 11 glossy magazine that is intended to look like a magazine, not like part of a newspaper, says Brenda Bennett, regional sales manager for the SCNI newspapers in Conyers, Covington, McDonough, Jackson and Jonesboro, Ga. "I think the key to the success of the book is that we're reaching outside of our media markets and looking for stories and travel ideas and food, and it also helps to have a major retailer in the mix."
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Upgrades that save money
Cost cutting at media companies doesn't have to involve the news product. Several participants in an SNPA video conference in April presented ideas that saved money on everyday business operations.
Keeping the lights on costs a lot less than it used to cost at The Jonesboro Sun in Arkansas. Publisher David Mosesso said the switch from fluorescent light bulbs to LED lights has cut the utility bill by 28 percent, or $1,000 month, and the lighting part of the bill by 68 percent. "It's strictly math," he said.
Mosesso credits his production manager, Roger Brumley, with taking the initiative and being skillful enough to do much of the work in-house.
MORECarmage Walls Commentary Prizes awarded
Editorial staff members from The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville and the former editorial page editor of The Ledger in Lakeland, Fla., have been awarded top honors by SNPA in the Carmage Walls Commentary Prize competition.
First-place in the "over 50,000" circulation category went to Mike Clark, Roger Brown, Wayne Ezell and Ron Littlepage of The Florida Times-Union. First-place in the "under 50,000" circulation category was awarded to Glenn Marston, former editorial page editor of The Ledger.
Second-place honors went to John Railey, editorial page editor of the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, and Anita Shelburne, opinion page editor of The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Va.
The awards were presented by Lissa Walls Vahldiek, CEO of Southern Newspapers, Inc., Houston, Texas. Vahldiek is the daughter of the late Benjamin Carmage Walls, for whom this award is named.
Walls, whose newspaper career spanned seven decades, primarily owned community newspapers and advocated strong, courageous and positive editorial page leadership.
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Industry Insight: Why newsroom metrics should have an expiration date
You get what you measure.
Count the number of bylines a newspaper reporter produces, and you'll likely get more bylines. Track page views closely, and your newsroom will be far more attune to what is driving page views and how to get more of them.
What a news organization includes in the set of metrics that leadership and staff monitor regularly can have some unintended consequences. Distraction from things that are more important, if nothing else. Google Analytics can measure a lot of different things, and there's a temptation to include as many ways of measuring audience as one can cram into a spreadsheet. In the process, staff can get hung up on measuring changes in process instead of changes in outcomes.
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MorePost and Courier acquires Steeplechase of Charleston
The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., is getting into the horse racing business, acquiring the ownership rights to Steeplechase of Charleston.
P.J. Browning, publisher of The Post and Courier, said at a Thursday announcement at The Dewberry that acquiring the event helps the media company to diversify its portfolio and invest in its community.
"It makes good business sense for all of us here to pay attention to the ways in which Charleston residents and visitors alike embrace our unique events," Browning said. "Thousands of people attend festivals around town each year, and there's every reason that this can and should happen with Steeplechase."
MoreJobs at SNPA newspapers
Read about the latest job openings posted on the SNPA website. And, send us your listings to post at no cost.
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