Janie Gray has retired as publisher of the Baytown (Texas) Sun after nearly four decades of newspaper work.

Sun advertising director Carol Skewes succeeded Gray as publisher.

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By Steve Gray, Morris Publishing Group

This may be my final blog post, for reasons I explain in its opening paragraphs.

So I'm using this last opportunity to sum up the huge challenge that faces newspaper companies – and the things I believe could possibly turn the tide from ongoing decline to growth.

It's a very tall order – but with the right leadership and commitment of resources, perhaps it could be done.

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A newly formed media group with Oklahoma ties has purchased three newspapers in the southern part of the state from Civitas Media.

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By Steve Gray, vice president of strategy and innovation, Morris Communications

Family ownership of a media company or any other kind of company can be a beautiful thing. But it has its own unique challenges and solutions.

These are rarely discussed in the open, either inside the company or at industry conferences. But there's a whole world of solutions and best practices available for family owners, if you know where to find them.

If you're a member of an owning family, or if you work for a family-owned company, Steve Gray's latest blog post may help you see where to look.

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Lester T. Simpson, publisher of the Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News, was elected president of SNPA for 2017-18 on Monday afternoon during the SNPA-Inland Annual Meeting. Read this article for news about the election of additional officers and directors.

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Lester T. Simpson, publisher of the Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News, will be nominated during the SNPA-Inland Annual Meeting to be the next president of SNPA.

SNPA members will elect officers for 2017-18 on Monday afternoon, Sept. 11, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Read this article to see who has been nominated to the SNPA Board of Directors.

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By Steve Gray, vice president of strategy and innovation, Morris Communications

Can a strong editorial voice become the center of a new local business model?

Yes, it can.

It's happening right now in Jacksonville, Fla., where Mark Nusbaum, publisher of The Florida Times-Union, has launched a new magazine with the mission of reviving the flagging downtown.

This is local advocacy journalism of a high order – an extension of The Times-Union's editorial page. And Mark and company have crafted a unique business model around it by recruiting 20 leaders of key institutions as premier partners/sponsors in support of the crusade.

Read this article for the details.

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By Steve Gray, vice president of strategy and innovation, Morris Communications

In the superheated political atmosphere that surrounds us, a basic lesson in journalism that I learned as a young editorial writer could help the media cool things down.

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By Steve Gray, vice president of strategy and innovation, Morris Communications

My son asked me some tough questions recently:

"Do you share this sense that, increasingly, there are two bubbles in America, and that neither has much real interest in learning about the other's perspective? Or maybe that doing so is actually approaching impossibility because of the fact that we're geographically and socially and economically so separated?

"And if so ... is there anything we can do about it?"

In my latest blog post, I did my best to answer him.

Read Steve Gray's column

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By Steve Gray, vice president of strategy and innovation, Morris Communications

In this moth's Media Reset blog, Steve Gray suggests a project that will make an impact in any community -- and it doesn't take a roomful of Big-J journalists to do it.

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