October 6-8 in Chicago

Annual Meeting:
Finding new business models and solutions in the print world

Posted

The first Annual Meeting of the new association being formed by the merger of SNPA and Inland Press Association will feature industry innovators who are finding new business models and solutions in the print (and digital) world. Join us Oct. 6-8 in Chicago!

The collective experience being shared by industry veterans, media experts and rising stars makes this a meeting that will be valuable to publishers as well as their key department heads. Take advantage of the team discount offered to newspapers that send five or more employees ... or discounted first-time rates for staff members who have never before attended an SNPA or Inland annual meeting.

Funding coverage

One confirmed presenter, Jennifer Preston, is helping to steer the future and cultivate other rising stars and organizations, as the Knight Foundation's vice president of journalism. Previously, she was a reporter for The Philadelphia Daily News, an editor at New York Newsday, and The New York Times' first social media editor.

An example of the impact Preston and the Knight Foundation is having was seen just last month when The Dallas Morning News staff writer Obed Manuel revealed that a U.S. citizen, Dallas-born Francisco Erwin Galicia, was being held for weeks in the custody of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On July 23, days after The Morning News articles appeared, Galicia was released.

Preston and the Knight Foundation's connection to this story? The foundation is a major funder of Report For America, and Obed Manuel is one of 61 emerging journalists in 50 newsrooms in 2019 whose salary is partly paid by RFA to report on under-covered topics and communities.

Another way of funding coverage will be discussed in a session on the Google News Initiative currently underway at The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., and at McClatchy newspapers.

Newspaper Champions

The Annual Meeting also will spotlight newspaper champions, including Frederic Rutberg, the retired judge who along with three other investors bought The Berkshire Eagle in western Massachusetts and three sister dailies in Vermont in 2016. His business plan: Staff up the newsroom, focus on investigative projects and local news, and improve the newspapers' websites.

Rutberg will report on how that strategy is working. He also will deliver the message that appears to be resonating with people in the Berkshires. "It is not the printing presses or the paper itself that makes newspapers effective watchdogs," he wrote in a recent note to readers. "It is because we employ scores of full-time, well-trained, hardworking reporters who themselves become the watchdogs. This is why we posted billboards throughout Berkshire County that show a large part of our news team. Their work not only enlightens us, but indirectly it eases our tax burdens."

The registration fee for Inland and SNPA members is $795.

First-time newspaper attendees – those who have never attended an Inland or SNPA annual meeting before – can register at the first-time rate of $595 (members) or $895 (non-members).

Team discounts also are available to newspapers that send five or more employees from the same paper.  Contact Carley Lintz at clintz@inlandpress.org to request the team discount for the fifth (and additional) staff members.

Sponsorship and Exhibit Opportunities

R&D companies have a great opportunity to network with Inland and SNPA members. at this Joint Annual Meeting.  Reserve space to show newspaper executives how you can help them grow their bottom line with the products and services that your company offers.

annual-meeting, snpa, inland
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