The Tennessee Press
16
DECEMBER 2005
Mailings coming from TPA
something additional, someone can call
Robyn Gentile, (865) 584-5761, or e-mail
her at rgentile@tnpress.com.
Free flow
“The signing away of First Amendment rights continues unabated.”
Angus Mackenzie
Journalism professor, 1993
Editors, reporters
and ad staff members,
heads up!
2
1
Yesterday would’ve been a good day
to begin reserving copies
of editorial matter, photos and ads
that might be entered
in the
2006 UT-TPA State Press Contests.
If you didn’t do that, how about today?
CMYK
No. 6
DECEMBER 2005
Vol. 69
Happy Holidays
from our Staff!
Yesterday would’ve been a good day
to begin reserving copies
of ad and circulation materials
that might be entered
in the
Advertising/Circulation Ideas Contest.
If you didn’t do that, how about today?
The deadline for entry
is coming in less than
two months—Jan. 20!
C
BY ELENORA E. EDWARDS
Managing editor
M
It was a tie when judging of The Tennessee Press’s Third Annual Be Kind to
Editors Contest took place. One of the
winners was the Chattanooga Times
Free Press, where co-workers of Chris
Vass, weekend editor, rallied behind her
in a personal battle.
Chris, 46, was diagnosed several
weeks ago with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. Still, she
has worked full time at the newspaper
in addition to her roles as wife of John
Vass and mother of Jay, 11. John, by the
way, is business editor of the Times
Free Press.
Chris’ coworkers—reporters, editors
and photographers—became Team
Accounting
Seated: Brenda Mays, accounting services
representative and Kathy Hensley, accounting
services representative
Standing: Laurie Alford, business controller
Y
K
Clipping
Seated: Mary Byers, reader and Brenda
Leek, tabber
Standing: Jeanie Bell, reader; Beth Elliott,
network advertising manager/ clipping
bureau manager; Holly Craft, reader and
Linda Johnson, reader
The deadline for entry
is coming in less than
three months—Feb. 18!
Ad and circulation
staff members,
heads up!
Times Free Press ties
in Be Kind to Editors
Contest; team aids Race
TPA members vote down proposal
on new membership category
CHAD SCHAIVE | CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS
(Above) Team Chris, coworkers of Chris Vass, weekend editor of
the Chattanooga Times Free Press, participated in the Race for
the Cure in her honor.The team was made up of reporters, editors
and photographers at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. From
left are, back row, Bob Gary, Michael Davis, Christina Cooke,
Dorie Turner, Angie Herrington, Beverly Carroll, Ian Berry, Emily
Berry and Katrina Gonzales; front row, Angela Lewis, Megan
Setlich, Stacey Wysong and Judy Walton. Participating but not
pictured were Trevor Higgins and John Vass. (Right) Chris herself
and her son, Jay, were in the Race.
Advertising
Seated: Barry Jarrell, director of
advertising and Moody Castleman, new business development
manager
Standing: Amanda Pearce, print
media buyer; Pam Corley, senior
print media buyer; Kelley Hampton, print media buyer and Jackie
Roberson, tearsheeter
See Page 3 for info about holiday help
drives by Tennessee newspapers.
ANGELA LEWIS | CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS
Member Services
Seated: Robyn Gentile, member
services manager and Angelique
Dunn, administrative assistant
Standing: Kevin Slimp, director
of technology and Greg Sherrill,
executive director
Inset: Elenora Edwards, managing editor,
The Tennessee
Press
Chris and participated in the Sept. 25
Race for the Cure in Chattanooga and
raised $400 to be contributed to the Susan Komen Foundation in Vass’ name.
Vass participated in the Race herself.
Dorie Turner, a metro reporter,
submitted the Times Free Press’ entry.
“Chris is a vibrant, energetic person,
something that hasn’t changed even
in the face of breast cancer,” Turner
said.
The winner announced earlier was
The Jackson Sun, which honored 13 editors with notes of appreciation and an
“Our Editors Top It Off ” celebration.
The Tennessee Press managing editor and the member services manager,
Robyn Gentile, will arrange treats for
both newspapers in coming weeks.
Members of Tennessee Press Association (TPA) have nixed a proposal to
admit free-circulation publications to
associate membership.
Don McFarland of McFarland &
Gann, a Jefferson City accounting firm,
announced the results of a full-membership vote Nov. 12 at a meeting of the TPA
Board of Directors in Knoxville.
McFarland presented the following
report:
Number of ballots mailed to newspapers: 129
Ballots returned by deadline: 86
Ballots for the proposal: 39
Ballots against the proposal: 47
Voting took place during July and
August, with ballots being submitted to
and tabulated by the accounting firm.
This was the first full-membership
vote taken by TPA, and it was made
possible by amendment, in February,
of the constitution and bylaws. The
proposal to take the vote was approved
June 23 at the TPA Summer Convention
in Kingsport.
Plans for Press Institute and Winter Convention taking shape
BY ROBYN GENTILE
Member services manager
Feb. 8-10, 2006—
mark these dates
on your calendar
and make a commitment to participate
in the 2006 Press
Institute and Winter Convention.
Why? “The Press
Albrecht
Institute and Winter Convention has
long been our organization’sbest meeting of the year,” Jay Albrecht, publisher
INSIDE
of The Covington Leader and chairman
of the 2006 Press Institute and Winter
Convention Committee,” pointed out.
“Not only is it a perfect opportunity to
see colleagues from around the state,
but it will certainly be one of our best
group training sessions of the year
as well. We will have many exciting
training options during the 2006 Friday
Drive-In Training event, and we will
have a large number of legislators on
hand for our very important annual
Legislative Reception.
“If you’re looking for a large bang for
your buck, this is the meeting to attend.
I hope to see everyone in Nashville this
PRESIDENT’S COLUMN 4-5
FALL BOARD PHOTOS
2
CONTESTS
HINES
3
6
February.” he said.
Albrecht and members of the committee have finalized most of the convention details, and this is what is being
offered for you and your staff.
Legislative planning session
Publishers, editors, state editors
and government and political reporters
should plan to attend the first-ever Tennessee Legislative Planning Session
sponsored by The Associated Press
and the Tennessee Press Association on
Thursday, Feb. 9. The event will focus
on issues before the 2006 General Assembly and the 2006 U.S. Senate race.
The legislative session will include key
NIE CURRENTS
GIBSON
6
11
legislative leaders who will outline
their agendas for the upcoming session. Invited participants include Gov.
Phil Bredesen, House Speaker Jimmy
Naifeh, Lt. Gov. John Wilder, Sen. Ron
Ramsey and other top leaders. Those
attending this session also will get to
hear from candidates seeking the U.
S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen.
Bill Frist.
“The Senate forum will be the first
time all the candidates will have the
opportunity to gather in one location to
outline their positions and answer questions about the most pressing issues of
the day,” Adam Yeomans, AP Tennessee
SLIMP
INT PHOTOS
14
15
DETAILS
What: 2006 TPA Press Institute and
Winter Convention
When: Wednesday-Friday,Feb. 8-10
Where: Sheraton Nashville
Downtown
Deadline: Friday, Jan. 13
bureau chief, Brentwood, a member of
the committee, noted.
Revamped Drive-In Training
SEE CONVENTION, PAGE 3
IN CONTACT
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Online: www.tnpress.com
CMYK
Be on the lookout for two mailings
this month from the Tennessee Press
Association.
Statements for 2006 dues, along with
press cards and auto decals, and will
be mailed first. Toward the end of the
month, TPA will mail directories and
strip calendars.
As always, if a newspaper needs
The Tennessee Press
2
DECEMBER 2005
DECEMBER 2005
TPA fall business meetings
The Tennessee Press
15
INT sessions Oct. 10-13
PHOTOS BY ELENORA E. EDWARDS | TPS, EXCEPT AS NOTED
PHOTOS BY STEVE LAKE | PULASKI CITIZEN
Steve Lake presiding
John Reed, left, and Frank Gibson
The board meeting Nov. 12 in Knoxville
From left, Leanne Metz, Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association, Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada; Tina Kocher, Jackson Newspapers, Ripley, W.Va.; Lynn
Grillo, Adobe Systems, New York, N.Y.; and Deborah Goodwin, Selma
(Ala.) Times-Journal.
Lisa Griffin, Ray Davis Co., Selma, Ala., and Deborah Goodwin,
Selma (Ala.) Times-Journal
Alan Mores, Harlan Newspapers, Harlan,
Iowa
Don McFarland
Bill Williams, Pauline Sherrer and Mike Fishman review
newspapers applying for TPA membership.
TPAF President W.R. (Ron) Fryar, left, presents a $10,000 check to TPA
President Steve Lake for funding of the 2006 Legal Hotline.
CMYK
CMYK
From left, Lawanda Fralix, Lewisburg; BlytheTomilson, Pulaski;
Danette Williams, Shelbyville; and Scott Stewart, Pulaski
Lu Shep Baldwin
Henry Stokes
Clockwise from left, John McNair, UT; Lisa Griffin, Ray Davis Co., Selma, Ala.; Deborah Goodwin; Wendy
Stewart, Elizabethton Star; and Nathan Simpson, The Kentucky Standard, Bardstown, Ky.
STEVE LAKE | PULASKI CITIZEN
R. Jack Fishman
At luncheon, from left, Greg Sherrill, Robyn Gentile, John Clark,
Gregory Reed, Dorothy Bowles and Charles Primm. Reed is interim
dean of the UT College of Communication and Information. The
group, including TPA President Steve Lake, met Nov. 10 to review
the relationship between UT and TPA.
STEVE LAKE | PULASKI CITIZEN
Kevin Slimp, Joe Albrecht, Ron Fryar
Mike Williams, Pauline Sherrer, Rick Hollow
Karl Kuntz, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
UT-Memphis game
PHOTOS BY ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
Russell Viers,
Kansas City,
Mo.
Pride of the
Southland
Band
From left, John Lyon, Pauline Sherrer, Annette Hurd and Joe Hurd;
foreground, Amanda Hill Bond and Chris Bond
Emily Boswell, Victor Parkins and Jordan Parkins
Michael Williams, Ann Williams, Bill Williams, Mike Alford,
Patrick Alford
Kevin Slimp speaks while David Leamon, Times Beacon Record Newspapers, East Setauket, N.Y., left, and Scott
Stewart, Pulaski Citizen, listen.
Karl Kuntz, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
Wendy Stewart,
Elizabethton
Star, and Nathan
S i m p s o n ,
T h e Ke n t u ck y
Standard,
Bardstown, Ky.
DECEMBER 2005
Exciting future in store for newspaper training
BY KEVIN SLIMP
TPS technology director
Tennessee Press
Association has
achieved a reputation for leading
the way when it
comes to technical training in the
newspaper industry, and exciting
Slimp
changes are in store
as we look toward
the future.
Scott Critchlow, Union City Daily
Messenger, chairs the Technology Committee of Tennessee Press Association.
At our meeting in February, members
of the committee, representing newspapers of all sizes across the state, took
part in a vocal discussion concerning
steps we could take to make training
even more accessible to our members.
A common theme seemed to be the need
to look at other types of training, in
addition to regional training events
and other training opportunities our association offers on an ongoing basis.
Art Ridgway, Knoxville News Sentinel, brought up the idea of online training over the Internet. He mentioned
how difficult it is for staff members to
leave for a full day to attend training in
another city. Ridgway suggested that
offering training that could be accessed
on the computer desktop might be of
great benefit to our newspapers. Other
committee members chimed in with
similar comments.
Over the past few months, I’ve been
testing options in online training to
see what might work for our group.
The Technology Committee suggested
short, weekly training sessions based
on offering one skill or tip in newspaper
pagination or a related subject. With
high-speed Internet access becoming
commonplace among our newspapers,
the time seems right to initiate this type
of training. It might be of interest to
note that the TPS staff investigated a
similar idea almost six years ago, but
many of our members were still using
dialup Internet service at the time.
Testing is going well and I anticipate
rolling out online training over the tnpress.com Web site within the next few
months. We’ll keep you posted.
INT has record session
It’s difficult to imagine we’re already
making plans for the 2006 session of the
Institute of Newspaper Technology.
Over the past few days, I’ve received
requests from publishers in several
states who are looking for information
concerning next year’s session.
We ended up with a total of 63 participants in the October 2005 Institute.
Representing newspapers spanning
from Edmonton (Alberta) and Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) in Canada to New
York and Vermont in the Northeast to
Colorado in the West and most of the
Southern states, the Institute included
CMYK
Board approves SP Contests changes
Six changes to the State Press Contests
were approved Nov. 12 by the Tennessee
Press Association Board of Directors.
The changes were recommended by
the Contests Committee. Henry Stokes,
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis,
chairman, presented the committee’s
report.
The changes, effective with the 2006
contests, are as follows:
1. Nomenclature. Standardize
the following terminology regarding
the contest:
“Category” will refer to an individual
contest within the larger contest. Example: “best personal column” or
“community lifestyles.”
“Division” will refer to any group of
competitors within a category. This is
usually set by circulation or frequency
of publication.
“Award” will refer to any honor or
prize given as a result of judging.
Example: “1st Place.”
2. Individual Recognition. While
reaffirming that the UT-TPA State
Press Awards Contest is intended to
honor newspapers for excellent work,
the contest will assist newspapers that
wish to recognize individuals for their
contribution to winning entries.
For that purpose:
A. Extra paper certificates will be
provided to any newspaper with winning entries, providing the newspaper
includes staff names with nomination
forms.
B. Individual names, when provided,
will be recognized in the awards presentation in a format that does not lengthen
the ceremony. The method of doing this,
such as including names on PowerPoint
slides or awards ceremony programs,
will be a UT-TPA staff decision.
3. Contest category changes
A. Combine “general excellence” with
“sweepstakes” into a single category.
This will not be an entry category.
Awards will be determined by points
collected by entries in all other categories of the contest.
B. Add a category for “school reporting” (education reporting) that will recognize excellence in covering schools
and education as an area of coverage
responsibility. Entries would include
several stories—the maximum number
to be determined by contest staff.
C. Add a “best news story” category,
which may include multiple entries
that demonstrate how a single news
story was reported. Contest staff may
set a maximum number of stories per
entry.
D. Change “best sports section” to
“sports writing.” The category would
recognize excellence in writing about
sports, and entries would include several stories. Contest staff will determine
the maximum number of stories per
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entry. (Personal sports columns would
not qualify and should be entered in the
“personal column” category.)
4. Number of entries. For writing awards, newspapers may submit
up to two entries (reflecting the work
product of two staff members) in each
category.
5. Contest fees will rise from $7 to
$8 for each entry. The additional dollar will either be paid to UT or used
to offset additional contest expense
related to individual certificates and
recognition.
6. Rule 2. In categories requiring
selected editions, each newspaper
may choose which dates to submit.
An exception will be the Make-up and
Appearance category, for which contest
rules will specify the dates.
The deadline for entering the State
Press Contests is Friday, Feb. 17. Contests rules will be included with the
January issue of The Tennessee Press
aand mailed with entry materials to all
TPA member newspapers.
AP multimedia service
aimed to youth
The Associated Press has launched a
new multimedia news service aimed at
young adults in the latest effort by the
newspaper industry to attract young
readers. It will produce original news
using text, photos, video and audio,
to be offered to US newspapers that
are members of the 157-year-old news
cooperative. The service will be called
asap, pronounced “a-s-p-a.”
Ted Anthony, a 37-year-old former
national and foreign correspondent
for AP, will oversee the news service
and its current staff of 20, a number he
expects to rise to 25 by the beginning of
next year. The service has reporters in
Denver, Los Angeles and New York.
The AP produced a prototype of the
service last fall.
classes led by renowned instructors
in state of the art lab
environments.
I’ve grown to appreciate our program even more of
late as I’ve visited
other campuses to
lead training events
for other press associations. Our facilities and instructors
are unmatched.
Here is a sampling
of responses from
the 2005 Institute
evaluations:
“I can’t think of a
thing that would improve the Institute.
My only regret is
that I didn’t bring my
entire staff !”—Matt
Yeager, publisher,
Summersville,
W.Va.
“What a fabulous
session! This experience opened my world with so much
focus. Keep up the fantastic work!”—Pam
O’Donnell, production manager, Manchester, N.H.
“I should have started this years ago!”—
Dick Plum, publisher, Ripley, W.Va.
“The Institute was great! Lots of information at very affordable price. Weather
was great. Location fantastic. Instructors
were top notch! Does it get any better than
this?”—Unsigned Evaluation
Latest books for designers
Three new design-related books of interest are available at most larger and online
bookstores:
Mac OS X Support Essentials (Peachpit
Press 2005), by Owen Linzmayer, has been
fully updated for Mac OS X 10.4. This is
the official curriculum of Apple’s Mac
OS X Help Desk Specialist certification
track. In addition, it is a top-notch guide
for anyone needing to troubleshoot and
optimize OS X systems. It is designed for
support technicians, help desk specialists
and I.T. professionals. It is not a reference to
teach OS X, but a guide for troubleshooting
problems in the operating system. ISBN
0-321-33547-3. $50.
The Photoshop CS2 Help Desk Book
(Peachpit Press 2005), by David Cross, is
an attempt to answer the most frequently
asked questions about this application.
The writing style is quick and to the
point, highlighting answers to specific
problems. This is an excellent reference
for all levels of Photoshop users. ISBN
0-321-33704-2. $35.
InDesign CS/CS2 KillerTips (New Riders
2005), by Scott Kelby and Terry White, is
a book with nothing but tips. They can
make the reader faster and more skillful
with this layout application that is beginning to dominate our industry. Full-color
graphics accompany each tip. This book
is an excellent reference for any InDesign
user. ISBN 0-321-33064-1. $30.
For more information on these books, as
well as other new titles available to newspaper designers, visit www.peachpit.com.
The Tennessee Press
DECEMBER 2005
Papers help communities with holidays help drives
HOW TO CONTACT US
Tennessee Press Association
Mail: 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Web: www.tnpress.com
E-mail: (name)@tnpress.com
Those with boxes, listed
alphabetically:
Laurie Alford (lalford)
Pam Corley (pcorley)
Moody Castleman
(mcastleman)
Angelique Dunn (adunn)
Beth Elliott (belliott)
Robyn Gentile (rgentile)
Kelley Hampton (khampton)
Kathy Hensley (khensley)
Barry Jarrell (bjarrell)
Brenda Mays (bmays)
Amanda Pearce (apearce)
Greg Sherrill (gsherrill)
Kevin Slimp (kslimp)
Advertising e-mail:
Knoxville office:
knoxads@tnpress.com
Tennessee Press Service
Mail: 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
--134 Heady Drive
Nashville, TN 37205
Phone: (615) 356-3914
Fax: (615) 356-3915
Web: www.tnpress.com
Tennessee Press
Association Foundation
Mail: 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Read
The Tennessee Press
—then pass it on!
3
THE PARIS POST-INTELLIGENCER
The advertising staff ofThe Paris Post-Intelligencer participates each year
in the Small Business Expo hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. This
year the theme was “Small Business, It’s no Mystery in Henry County.”
The staff decided on a Scooby Doo theme and adopted a slogan, “It’s no
mystery. All the Clues Are in the News. Read the daily P-I.” The staff fixed
up the circulation van as the Mystery Machine and arrived in style as they
made their grand entrance. “We were beat out by ‘CSI,’ but nonetheless,
our costumes have been the talk of the town,” said Laura Dougherty,
advertising director.
CONVENTION: Tracks offered
FROM PAGE ONE
Training will be offered on Feb. 10 for
newspaper staff members; however, the
time blocks and offerings have been
modified into tracks. Related topics
will fill half-day blocks, which are as
follows:
•Computer Lab Track
Part one: InDesign: the next level
Part two: More Photoshop Tips and
Tricks
•Design Track
Part one: Covering design theory
Part two: Design critique
•Editorial Track
Part one: Ethics in reporting
Part two: AP style
Part three: Roundtable on local
news issues
•Electronic Media Track
Part one: Blogs and newspapers
Part two: Web site strategies
•Legal Track
Part one: Covering open meetings/
records and shield law
Part two: Libel, privacy, HIPAA and
more
•Managers’ Track
Part one: Best revenue ideas for
advertising
Part two: Best revenue ideas for
circulation
Part three: Equipment/software
highlights by Kevin Slimp
•Managers’ Track 2
A moderated discussion on challenges facing newspapers
•Photography Track
Part one: Basics/settings
Part two: Equipment selection
Part three: Best practices discussion
The annual Legislative Reception will
be held on Feb. 8 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on
the hotel’s Legislative Terrace.
Tentative convention schedule
Wednesday, Feb. 8
Committee meetings
2:00 p.m. Board of Directors Meeting
TPA Business Session
TPA Foundation Board of
Trustees
5:30 p.m. Legislative Reception
Thursday, Feb. 9
9:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Legislative planning session
1:30-3:30 p.m. Senatorial debate
6:00 p.m. Reception
7:00 p.m. Banquet. Gov. Phil Bredesen
invited to speak
9:00 p.m. Dessert reception
Friday, Feb. 10
7:45 a.m. NIE program
9:00 a.m. Drive-In Training
Legal Track
Design Track
Photography Track
Managers’ Track
12 noon Lunch
1:45 p.m. Electronic Media Track
Editorial Track
Computer Lab Track
Managers’ Track 2
4:00 p.m. Convention adjourns
TPA will mail registration materials
in mid-December. Hotel reservations
may be made by calling the Sheraton
Nashville Downtown at (615) 259-2000.
TPA’s group rate is $119 plus tax. The
deadline for hotel and TPA early registration is Friday, Jan. 13.
Johnson City Press
Christmas Box
Now in its 25th
consecutive holiday season, the
Johnson City
Press Christmas
Box this year will
distribute food
boxes, including
turkeys, hams, all the fixings for a
Christmas feast and enough extras
for several additional meals, to 1,275
low-income households in the Johnson
City area.
In addition, the Christmas Box will
provide 1,625 hams for needy families
served by three neighboring holiday
food distributions conducted in the
newspaper’s circulation area.
Funded entirely by the donations of
its readers, the Johnson City Christmas
Box is conducted through a long-standing partnership with the local Salvation
Army’s annual holiday toys, clothing
and gift distribution for children, teens
and seniors, and more recently with our
local Marine Corps Reserve Toys for
Tots program. The joint distribution,
a large community affair involving
dozens of volunteers representing
each of the project partners, provides
a convenient means for needy families
and individuals to receive assistance
with both holiday food and gifts through
a single outlet.
Donations for the Christmas Box are
encouraged through a series of stories
published bi-weekly from Thanksgiving
weekend through the late December
distribution. The stories anonymously
featuring local families and the financial challenges they face, particularly
during the holidays.
The Johnson City Press covers all
administrative and operational costs of
the Christmas Box so that 100 percent of
donations go directly to food purchases.
Food City grocery stores provide a
substantial discountson food for the
project. Inland Container company
of Elizabethton donates boxes for the
distribution. And this year, Kroger
will the lend the use of an empty store
building for the two-day distribution
set for Dec. 19 and 20.
An estimated $30,000 will be needed
for this year’s Christmas Box. The
Christmas Box is a 501c3 not-for-profit
corporation, and donations are tax
deductible.
(Submitted by John Molley, editor,
Johnson City Press)
Cleveland Daily Banner
Rodgers Christmas Basket Fund
Last year, 980 families in the Cleveland-Bradley County area were given
food baskets from the William Hall
Rodgers Christmas Basket Fund, which
is promoted each year by the Cleveland
Daily Banner.
A record total of $22,000 was given for
the annual basket fund drive in 2004.
For many in Cleveland, a Christmas
basket from the William Hall Rodgers
Basket drive may be all they can look
forward to receiving for Christmas.
Members of the Cleveland-Bradley
County community, however, have a
reputation of caring and giving and
this has been demonstrated through the
years, so no one will go lacking.
Volunteers from First Baptist Church
handle the registration, which takes
place at the church. First Tennessee
Bank handles the receipt of donations,
and an account summary and list of
contributions is run regularly in the
Banner.
The Christmas basket fund was
started prior to World War II to fill the
need in Cleveland and Bradley County.
William Hall Rodgers’ family owned the
Cleveland Daily Banner. He was editor
until his death in 1942. The tradition of
promoting the drive to provide baskets
to the needy in the community was carried on by the Banner as a memorial
to Rodgers.
What began as the first food drive in
Cleveland has sparked others to do the
same, and through the years, the needy
of the community have been helped, not
only through the William Hall Rodgers
Christmas Basket Fund, but through
many projects promoted by churches
and organizations. The needs this year
are expected to exceed those of 2004,
so donations from the community will
be needed.
The first 2005 listing for the Basket
Fund included donations totaling more
than $1,000. This is cause for celebration. The goal for 2005 is $23,500.
(From the Cleveland Daily Banner,
Nov. 2 and 9, 2005)
Bristol Herald Courier
Santa Pal Program
BY DAVID McGEE
Herald Courier staff
The Santa Pal program, celebrating
its 80th year of helping needy children,
kicked off its fund-raising efforts
Nov. 13.
Established by a former Bristol Herald Courier editor,
Santa Pal allows
people to “adopt”
a child and provide him or her
toys and clothing
for Christmas.
It’s a registered nonprofit agency, and
the newspaper remains its primary
sponsor.
Cash donations go into a fund to help
children who don’t get adopted, or they
go into a companion Christmas Basket
Fund, which provides food to needy
families during the holidays….
Last year’s program raised donations
of about $34,000, enough to help 552 local
children from both Bristols and some
areas of Sullivan County in Tennessee
and Washington County in Virginia.
Two hundred forty-nine children were
adopted last year, compared to 266 the
year before.
This year, 345 local children from
kindergartners through eighth-graders
have qualified for the program—fewer
than usual….
Santa Pals, those who adopt children, receive wish lists of up to 10
items along with clothing sizes and a
contact telephone number. They may
deliver the gifts themselves and meet
the families they’re helping, or they
may have the Santa Pal organization
deliver the gifts.
Most spend $50 to $75 per child.
The families of the children not
adopted receive gift cards to the Kmart
store on West State St. Parents must use
the cards for children’s toys or clothing, and no items may be exchanged
for cash.
Qualifying families also receive food
baskets provided by Food City. They’ll be
delivered by Dec. 17 by members of the
Bristol Virginia Fire Department.
(Adapted from an article in the
Bristol Herald Courier, Nov. 13,
2005)
Drive-In Training
Friday, Feb. 10, 2006
Nashville, Tennessee
Registration and details at www.tn
www.tnpress.com
press.com
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
14
DECEMBER 2005
The day my universe changed
(USPS 616-460)
Published monthly by the
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE, INC.
for the
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION, INC.
435 Montbrook Lane
Knoxville, Tennessee 37919
Telephone (865) 584-5761/Fax (865) 558-8687/www.tnpress.com
Subscriptions: $6 annually
Periodicals Postage Paid At Knoxville,TN
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Tennessee Press,
435 Montbrook Lane, Knoxville,TN 37919.
The Tennessee Press is printed by The Standard Banner, Jefferson City.
Greg M. Sherrill.....................................................Editor
Elenora E. Edwards.............................Managing Editor
Robyn Gentile..........................Production Coordinator
Angelique Dunn...............................................Assistant
20
Member
05
Tennessee Press Association
The Tennessee Press
is printed on recycled paper
and is recyclable.
www.tnpress.com
CMYK
OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
Steve Lake, Pulaski Citizen/The Giles Free Press................................President
Henry Stokes, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis.....................Vice President
Pauline Sherrer, Crossville Chronicle..........................................Vice President
Bill Willliams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer...........................................Treasurer
Greg M. Sherrill, Knoxville....................................................Executive Director
DIRECTORS
Keith Wilson, Kingsport Times-News...................................................District 1
Kevin Burcham, The News-Herald, Lenoir City....................................District 2
Tom Overton III, Advocate and Democrat, Sweetwater......................District 3
Bill Shuster, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville................................................District 4
Dennis Stanley, Smithville Review.......................................................District 5
Clint Brewer, The Lebanon Democrat...................................................District 6
Hulon Dunn, Lewis County Herald, Hohenwald..................................District 7
Dennis Richardson, Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon.........District 8
Victor Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange...........................................District 9
Jay Albrecht, The Covington Leader....................................................District 10
Mike Fishman, Citizen Tribune, Morristown...........................................At large
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE
Bob Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange.............................................President
Dale C. Gentry, The Standard Banner, Jefferson City.................Vice President
W. R. (Ron) Fryar, Southern Standard, McMinnville.............................Director
Mike Pirtle, The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro.............................Director
Pauline Sherrer, Crossville Chronicle.....................................................Director
Michael Williams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer......................................Director
Greg M. Sherrill............................................................Executive Vice President
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION
W.R. (Ron) Fryar, Southern Standard, McMinnville...........................President
Larry K. Smith, LaFollette.............................................................Vice President
Richard L. Hollow, Knoxville....................................................General Counsel
Greg M. Sherrill....................................................................Secretary-Treasurer
CONTACT THE MANAGING EDITOR
TPAers with suggestions, questions or comments about items inTheTennessee
Press are welcome to contact the managing editor. Call Elenora E. Edwards,
(865) 457-5459; send a note to P.O. Box 502, Clinton, TN 37717-0502; or e-mail
ElenoraEdwards@Comcast.net. The January issue deadline is Dec. 12.
One of the most earth-shattering,
on an Atari 800 for Christmas that
shocking days of my life occurred
year, which boasted 16k of memory,
back in the mid to mid-late 70s, back
expandable to 48k; even got one of
when every like-minded American
those gizmos called a modem where
boy on the pre side of puberty aspired
you actually placed the telephone
to be Muhammad Ali, Roger Staubach,
headset in its cradle and called
Terry Bradshaw or Elvis (all ironisomeone with the same setup on
cally nearing the end of their careers,
their end to pass text back and forth.
though shining as bright as ever).
Holy smokes! We were riding the
My best friend at the time, the notoritechnological wave, kind of learning
ous Chris Carter, who deserves a story
it as it came. This was sweet, but I was
in his own right, whose father owned
learning other neat new things like
the local Radio Shack, invited me over
Basic Programming and was even
to spend the night—nothing unusual
able to apply Algebra to it, something
there, happened all the time. We were
many of my classmates had decried
watching television and I’m pretty YOUR PRESIDING REPORTER and written off as useless.
sure it was a Muhammad Ali fight
To demonstrate, and I should note
when, upon its conclusion, someone
that I really was for the most part a
Steve Lake
reached behind the set, flipped a toggle
well-behaved student, but for whatswitch and I watched my life change forever…
ever reason I was once disciplined by my teacher to write
What appeared before us was a simple black screen outlined something off a couple hundred times. With Basic Programin white with large gaps on the left and right edges, each ming I wrote it only once with a little formula that told it
protected by a small white bar with a white dot that passed to repeat x number of times, printed it on my dot matrix
back and forth between them, ricocheting off most anything printer and voila! My teacher was very impressed I took
its color with primitive beeps (no whistles). The device was time to type the assignment.
known as Pong! Two paddle wheels extended from a unit that
Technology becomes practical
opponents could turn and vicariously move the correspondTime passes. I find myself in a new town, Pulaski, and a
ing bar up and down either side of the screen to play a game. new school, Giles County High. Still, I couldn’t have been
That was the kicker: A PERSON COULD INTERACT WITH more happy in my own little world—well except maybe if
A TELEVISION!
I could have mustered the courage to ask that specific cute
It was a video incarnation of ping-pong and it still sends girl out on my first date before my entire junior and most
goose bumps down my spine to this day. Never mind that of my senior years slipped by—when my father, knowing
remote control, cordless telephones and other neat gizmos how much I loved computers, comes home and tells me he’s
soon followed. This precursor at that time was something just purchased some for the paper.
beyond my conception, a revelation that blew me away like
I wasn’t overly impressed. Didn’t know anything about
nothing before (though learning how heavy a hand my them, though I assumed they weren’t much different from
parents played in Christmas came close) and hence only that before. I’d, as they say, been there, done that. In fact, he
twice, thus far.
pleaded and downright begged over an extended period of
A glorious youth
time for me to come look at them. Shucks, he was having
My youth was downright dreamy. Next came the Atari just as much difficulty getting anyone on payroll to do so.
2600, Video Arcades and literally hundreds of games. None It wasn’t till well over four years later that I returned from
rocked my world like the first time I saw Pong, but the ride college and started work at the paper that I finally ever did,
was ever more pleasing as technology rapidly advanced. What and though I wasn’t nearly so instantaneously floored as when
my parents never learned till some time later was that my I first saw Pong, my life has never been the same, or rather
brother and I unwrapped our Atari 2600 in the nights leading the way I go about my life has never been the same.
up to Christmas, played with it while they were away, then
What lay before me was the most powerful tool known
rewrapped and returned it under the tree before they caught to man. I saw that even then. I saw many of the mind-bogon, the only time we’ve ever resorted this sordid thing or glingly numerous possibilities this machine held and promreally ever cared to, honest!
ised—still does—and I could see that our world was about
We put on a great show when it finally came time to unwrap to change, rapidly, ever more rapidly. It just so happened it
it for real, as meaningful, though to the other extreme, as if
would do so in the publishing industry first.
we were being spanked, another great act of ours. Come to
The personal computer
think of it, we did love to traipse about the house to see if
Behold: the Apple Macintosh, first introduced in a famous
we might lay hand on what Santa had in store, though we Super Bowl commercial, January 1984 (I remember that
never played with any findings, just boasted of them to Mom without remembering what teams were playing: obviously
and Dad, as if it were a game, or an Easter egg hunt. We had wasn’t Staubach and Bradshaw). It totally and completely
great luck, too; that is, as we learned some time later, till revolutionized the publishing industry like nothing since
our parents cleverly started hiding items at the office or in moveable type. It was, in my belief, the first modern-day PC
my brother’s own closet. That showed us. Today, Mom has and everything that term has come to mean. The boards of
occasionally been known to unearth a hidden present she our vintage Macs (toasters we called them) emblazoned with
meant to give us years ago. What fun!
the signatures of everyone involved in its making.
What this ever-increasing advancement in technology
Goodbye line tape, Linotype, hot wax, paste-up boards,
unwittingly bolstered in me was the desire for more, for the PMTs, darkrooms and so forth. Hello PDF, imagesetters and
latest, greatest gizmo, the desire for technological advance- full-page computer pagination.
ment, the desire for change, something I typically envision
Rome wasn’t built in a day: We went through a massive
the status quo, especially my elders, with resisting, as I’ve learning curve and even years of transition. Our beloved Ed
seen it time and time again. My father can run any number Wilburn, the fastest two-fingered typist I’ve ever met, used to
of small businesses but could never come to grips with the print graphics on our laser printer then proceed to cut them
simple programming of a VCR. My maternal grandmother out with scissors and paste them on a paste-up board where
resists even air conditioning and saves money on her social we’d shoot the page with a camera. This of course was the
security, her only income. She’s perfectly content living in first step. The best thing about a computer was that it would
the world she knows. Who really is to say in such respect remember a previous effort, so an ad, for example, could be
she’s not better off than any of us?
reused, modified and continually improved upon: same with
By the time I reached adolescence in the early years of
the overall design of our paper, which has exponentially shot
the Reagan era, computers began infiltrating our country’s through the roof in terms of quality over the last 20 years.
homes. The notorious Chris Carter opted for a Texas Instru- Using our same press, bought in February 1968, we can now,
ment, the infamous Stephen Wilburn for an Apple II and
class-wiz Jeff Murray owned an Atari 400. I fixed my sights
SEE LAKE, PAGE 5
The Tennessee Press
DECEMBER 2005
Pepe named publisher of The Commercial Appeal
Joseph Pepe,
an experienced
n e w s p a p e r
e x e c u t iv e w i t h
an extensive
background in
strategic business
planning, marketing
and adver tising
Pepe
s a l e s, h a s b e e n
named president
and publisher of The Commercial
Appeal, Memphis. The appointment
was effective Nov. 3. The Commercial
Appeal is owned and operated by The
E. W. Scripps Co.
Pepe comes to Memphis from the
Suburban Journals of St. Louis,
a group of 38 weekly newspapers
and three niche magazines with 420
employees and a combined circulation
of 1.2 million. Pepe served as president
of Suburban Journals of St. Louis
since 2000. During his tenure, he
was credited with increasing the
community newspaper g roup’s
operating efficiencies, improving
the content and graphic design of its
publications, expanding advertising
market share and achieving doubledigit revenue and profit growth.
“We believe The Commercial Appeal
can be one of the most relevant and
dynamic local news organizations in
America for many years to come,”
said Richard A. Boehne, executive
vice president for Scripps and head
of the company’s newspaper division.
“Joe Pepe has the energy, creativity
and experience necessary to guide
that great newspaper to continued
journalistic and economic success in
this adventuresome chapter of media
history.”
Suburban Journals of St. Louis
was owned and operated by Pulitzer
Inc. until June, when Pulitzer was
acquired by Lee Enterprises. Pepe
managed the transition resulting
from Pulitzer’s acquisition of the
community newspaper group in 2000.
Before joining Suburban Journals,
Pepe worked eight years for Howard
Publications Inc. and for The Times,
the company’s newspaper in Munster,
Ind. From 1991 to 1999 he was corporate
director of advertising and marketing
for Howard Publications, advising 17
daily newspaper publishers and their
marketing managers on organizational
development, strate gic g rowth
initiatives, budgeting, staffing and
operations. In 1995 he took on added
responsibilities as senior associate
publisher at The Times, serving as the
newspaper’s chief operating officer
and leading strategic planning and
marketing efforts. He was advertising
director for The Times from 1991 to
1995.
Pepe left Howard Publications and
The Times in 1999 to become publisher
of the San Bernardino (Calif.) Sun,
where he guided the newspaper’s
transition as part of the Los Angeles
Newspaper Group, which had just been
created by MediaNews Group Inc.
From 1984 to 1991, Pepe served
in a variety of roles with Gannett
Co., including corporate director of
customer service; president and chief
operating officer at The Tennessean,
Nashville; vice president and general
manager at the El Paso (Texas) Times;
and president and publisher of The
Bellingham (Wa.) Herald.
Pepe, 49, has a bachelor’s degree in
journalism from the University of
Oklahoma. He has taught in the executive
program at Northwestern University’s
Medill School of Journalism and
participated in executive development
and management seminars at the
American Press Institute.
Pepe succeeds John Wilcox, who
earlier this year was named publisher
of The San Francisco Examiner.
In Tennesse. Scripps also owns the
News Sentinel, Knoxville.
Scantland becomes Macon County Times publisher
Judy Scantland
was recently named
publisher of The Macon County Times,
Lafayette. She began
serving in the position on Oct. 17.
Scantland, a Ruth- Scantland
erford County native,
is a 29-year veteran
of the newspaper business. She brings
with her experience from The Tennessean, Nashville, and The Daily News
Journal, Murfreesboro.
Scantland replaces Truett Langston,
who retired.
After a three-year departure from the
newspaper industry, Scantland said she
is excited about working at the paper
and in the community. To boost the
publication, Scantland said she hopes to
come up with different ways to package
local interest stories and report accurately newsworthy happenings. She
also said she has plans to work closely
with advertisers.
Scantland is an associate member
of the Middle Tennessee Association
of Realtors, Women’s Council of Realtors, Rutherford County Homebuild-
TRACKS
The Seymour Herald recently hired
two full-time staff members and two
interns. Lawana Lavrrar joined the
staff as an advertising account representative. Earlier she worked for the
Democrat News in Fredericktown, Mo.
Darrin Devault was hired as marketing
director and also lends support to the
editorial staff. Most recently he was
public relations director and journalism instructor at Northwest Mississippi Community College. He earned
bachelor’s and master’s degrees from
the University of Memphis and served
as an adjunct instructor.
Casey McMahan is serving as an
editorial intern. He is a journalism
major at the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville. Brandon L. Jones also
joined the editorial staff as an intern.
He is a student at Pellissippi State Community College.
Gina Stafford, former News Sentinel,
Knoxville, reporter and most recently
public relations manager for Blount
Memorial Hospital, Maryville, has been
named director of communications on
the University of Tennessee System
staff. Stafford joined Blount Memorial
in 1999 after six years with the News
Sentinel.
“Gina Stafford’s broad-based knowledge and experience in publicrelations
and print reporting will make her a
key person on our team,” said Hank
Dye, UT’s vice president for public
and governmental relations. “We are
pleased that she’ll be joining us in our
efforts to tell the UT story.”
Before her promotion to public relations manager at Blount Memorial in
2003, Stafford worked as a public relations coordinator with the hospital for
four years. Stafford began her career as
a journalist at the News Sentinel in 1993.
She covered health care and general assignment news for six years and wrote
a twice-monthly fitness column.
ers Association, Women’s Council of
Homebuilders, Noon Exchange Club
and other organizations.
She also works with Habitat for Humanity, the Arthritis Association and
the American Red Cross. She serves on
the board of directors of the Rutherford
County American Cancer Society, is
president of the Rutherford County
Sheriff ’s Citizens Alumni Association
and incident commander for the Community Emergency Response Team
through the Rutherford County Emergency Management Association.
In her leisure time, she enjoys being with her grandchildren, Taylor
and Faith Westbrooks, and attending
sporting events with her family and
friends.
AP provides stories
on open meetings
The Associated Press has made a
package of stories on the increase of
Open Meetings Law violations available
to all Tennessee newspapers.
A year after a statewide public records
audit found that one-third of government agencies denied access to public
records, another disturbing trend has
been identified in Tennessee’s open government laws. The number of suspected
violations of the state’s open meetings
law has increased dramatically over the
past three years, a new report says.
Embargoed for publication until
Nov. 28, the package was posted on the
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government Web site, www.tcog.info, and is
still available.
13
Chairman continues review
of circulation categories
BY ANGEL GRESHAM
Circulation director
Shelbyville Times-Gazette
Every day circulation directors
struggle to reinvent the wheel with
single copy promotions, home delivery
promotions and third party deals that
not only will grow numbers, but also
increase readership for our respective
newspapers. It is these creative efforts
that fuel the TPA Advertising/Circulation Ideas Contest.
Our efforts this year are geared
toward
increasing entries and
excitement for the contest. This month
is the third installment of detailing
entry categories to ward off some of
the confusion the many categories
create. This month the highlighted
categories are:
•Best Bulk Promotion
•Best Reader Contest
•Best Subscriber Retention Program
Best Bulk Promotion
Party sales is defined as copies or
subscriptions purchased in quantities of 11 or more which promote the
professional or business interests of
the purchaser. All copies bought by
hotels or restaurants for free distribution to their guests and by sponsors
for free distribution to hospital
patients and nursing home residents,
irrespective of the number of copies,
would qualify as third party sales.
There are two types of third party
sales, direct and sponsored. Direct sales
may be defined as those sales involving the purchase of copies where the
purchaser controls all aspects of the
distribution.
Direct third party sales involve
a single purchaser of newspapers
for a specific event or distribution
program.
Sponsored sales may be defined as
those sales involving the solicitation
of funds from more than one sponsor
for contribution to a specific third party
sales program. An example of this type
of sale is when subscriber “vacation
donation” monies are contributed to a
Meals-on-Wheels program.
Some of the items you need to send
with your entry are but not limited to
the following:
•ROP ads detailing the program
•Letters sent to potential sponsors
•Flyers distributed promoting the
program
•Rack cards used promoting the
program
•Bill stuffers used
•Direct mail pieces
Best Reader Contest
Reader contest are promotions that
get our readers active in the product.
Reader contests are not judged by the
“prize” given, but the creativity and
freshness of the promotion. Reader
contest can be geared toward younger
readers, older readers, new subscribers or even the loyal customer base
that we all have. The best aspect of
reader contest is that you have the
ability to show your “fun” side! Use this
category to showcase your willingness
to provide creative innovativeness in
your market!
Some of the items you need to send
with your entry are:
•ROP ads showing the contests rules
and regulations
•Rack cards promoting the contest
•Pictures of your winners
•Pictures of banners used for the
promotion
•Details on how the winners were
chosen
•Be sure to include the dates of the
promotion
Best Retention Program
Circulation budgets always contain a
“start pressure” budget which usually
seems unreachable. Circulation directors use kiosks, sales crews, carrier
promotion and many other vehicles to
obtain the number of starts needed to
meet the start budget. This category
highlights the best efforts to KEEP those
starts. This is all about retention, not
acquisition!
Have you and your staff devised a
method of keeping your customers
rather than churning them? Have you
worked with your customer service to
create customer contact that increases
your retention rate rather than your
churn rate? Have you implemented
a plan that details the importance of
saving a customer rather than getting a
new one? If you have, then you have an
entry for this category! Show off your
talents in customer service as well as
your commitment to your customers.
Some of the items you can use for this
category are as follows:
•Postcards sent to new subscribers or to subscribers who have had
service issues
•Welcome or miss-you letters to
your customers
•Interoffice signage promoting good
retention efforts
•Carrier memos or flyers reflecting
a commitment to retention efforts
•Reward programs geared toward
customer retention efforts
You will also need to submit:
•Circulation size
•Frequency
•Results
•Length of promotion
•Any other information detailing
your subscriber retention efforts
Contests are usually very exciting,
and this year’s Ideas Contest should not
be any different! Begin gathering your
entry ideas now so you will not miss
a chance to win for your newspaper!
Remember to be creative and, most of
all, have fun with all of it. I look forward
to seeing and hearing all of the great
ideas in April.
Metro offers content free
Hispanic PR Wire and Metro Creative
Graphics and Editorial Services are
providing a database of imagery and
photography. The service is at www.
ContextoLatino.com.
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
4
SCAMA schedules 2006 conference
The Southern Classified Advertising
Managers Association (SCAMA) will
hold its annual conference Feb. 10
through 15, 2006 in Mobile, Ala.
Headquarters will be the River View
Plaza Hotel.
Managers from 17 states are members
of SCAMA. To learn more about the
conference, one can consult the Web
site, www.scama.org, or contact Hugh
J. Rushing, executive officer, at (205)
823-3448 or hrushing@usit.net.
The Web site lists SCAMA members
from Tennessee as being Mike Mach-
askee, Jesse Shockley and Matthew
Moore, Chattanooga Times Free Press;
Tanya Hensley and Pam Gosnell, The
Greeneville Sun; Lee Hugenard, Citizen
Tribune, Morristown; and Joi Whaley,
The Mountain Press, Sevierville.
DECEMBER 2005
LAKE: The day my universe changed, diversions
OBITUARIES
FROM PAGE 11
Thomas F. Jones
Was with Tennessean
Thomas F. (Tom) Jones, who was
retired from The Tennessean, Nashville, died Oct. 15 after a long illness.
He was 70.
The Nashville native leaves his wife of
49 years, Betty; a daughter, Sandra; a son,
Thomas Scott; and a grandson.
Andrew Shapiro
Metro principal
Andrew E. Shapiro, who committed his adult life
to newspapers
through the business his grandfather
began in 1910, Metro
Creative Graphics,
died Oct. 24 after a
two-year battle with
cancer. He was 63.
Shapiro
In August, Shapiro
accepted a lifetime
achievement award from the Newspaper Special Sections Network for his
contributions to newspaper special
sections and specialty publications. He
spoke not about his battle with cancer,
but about ways that newspapers can
use their position and influence within
each of their communities to make a
difference in the fight against cancer. He
made the plea that everyone go back to
their publications and initiate cancerrelated efforts such as special sections,
specialty publications and special event
sponsorships.
Metro Creative Graphics is establishing a foundation in Shapiro’s name
that will bring together the efforts of
publications everywhere that want to
help make a difference. “As an industry
we have the resources and influence
that makes this possible,” said a statement from Metro. “Once established,
the purpose of the foundation will be
to raise funds for cancer research that
will be donated to the American Cancer
Society and Canadian Cancer Society,”
it said. Information on tax-deductible
donations to the foundation will be
available soon from Metro.
REWRITES
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
DECEMBER 2005
DECEMBER 1955
DECEMBER 1980
The Inter American Press Association’s new president was James G.
Stahlman, publisher of the Nashville
Banner. Freedom of the press was the
main objective of the organization.
Frank Robinson, ad director of
Bristol Newspapers, returned to his
hometown to become publisher of the
Elizabethton Star.
Clyde B. Emert, owner-publisher of
The Maryville Alcoa Times since it was
a weekly back in 1915, sold the newspaper to Tutt S. Bradford, then publisher
of the Bristol Herald Courier. Bradford
severed his connection with Bristol and
became publisher of the Times.
Checks came from all over the state,
particularly from small newspapers, in
response to a solicitation for sustaining
members of the National Editorial
Association.
Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher of
the New York Times the past 20 years,
became publisher of The Chattanooga
Times.
The 1981 UT-TPA Press Association
Press Institute was to open with a speech
by Roland Weeks Jr., president of the
Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, and close with one by Michael
Gartner, president of the Des Moines
Register and Tribune Co.
A newspaper has “not only the right
but the duty to print the names of
juveniles” when they are involved in
newsworthy events, a Lebanon judge
said in a ruling favoring The Lebanon
Democrat in a $75,000 libel suit. The
case involved the shooting death of a
cab driver and the involvement of a
teenage girl.
Zelma Copeland was the subject of a
“Meet Your TPA Staff ” feature in The
Tennessee Press. A 20-year veteran of
TPA, she was the office manager.
Tom Franklin was named publisher of
The Lexington Progress by his mother,
Kathleen Franklin, owner and widow of
W.T. (Jew) Franklin, who had died.
Contrariness
“The freedom to have a contrary view
is what freeexpression in American is
all about. So far.”
Burl Osborne, publisher, 1991
TPA Legal Hotline
has new telephone number
Rick Hollow, TPA’s general counsel and provider of the TPA
legal hotline service, has established a new firm—
Hollow & Hollow, LLC.
His new telephone number is (865) 769-1715.
FROM PAGE 4
and have since the mid to late 90s, print full process color,
due to the advancements made on the prepress side.
Aldus PageMaker was the original software application to
take us there, a page layout program. One could easily build
a design, ad or page with speed, precision and flexibility
never known before, blowing away any method standing
before it. It s since been outdone or replaced by Quark
XPress and finally Adobe InDesign.
The only other computer applications worth mentioning
in the build of a newspaper are Microsoft Word and Adobe
Photoshop, two of the most useful, powerful applications
ever created, which along with PageMaker, in scope, may
never be outdone in this industry.
When I began full time work at the paper I desperately
searched for someone to help me learn this machine and
software, finally figuring out no one else really knew
anymore than I; probably being even more intimidated as
having limited computer experience.
A nice thing about being the boss’s son was that I could
take computers apart without so much worry as to what
might happen. I had a reputation for taking things apart
in my younger days: toilets, stopwatches, even a trophy of
my brother’s which I accidentally broke in the process. He
never forgave me. Sometimes I got things back together;
sometimes, well … I didn’t. I’d beg my father to let me put
Christmas presents together: a bicycle, ping-pong table or
waterbed (remember those?). He’d feign disappointment but
then eventually give in, secretly rejoicing he didn’t have to
put the darn thing together. These of course are the best
ways to learn how something works and is essentially how I
learned computers: I taught myself, with help over the years
from manuals, seminars and eventually the Internet.
The Internet
In early 1995 U.S. Internet, based in Knoxville, connected
Pulaski to the World Wide Web, thanks to the leadership
and effort of Mayor Dan Speer and the Giles County
Educational Foundation, seeing that Giles County was an
early adopter of this powerful new technology, well ahead
of most communities our size. As the company eventually
changed hands several times and ended its ties with the
GCED, Pulaski Publishing entered the fray in March 2000,
partnering with Rackley Systems (who sold their interest
the following year) to form a local Internet Service Provider,
iGiles.net. Known as DotSpot Internet in neighboring Lawrence County, the company has progressed over the years
from dial-up and ISDN service, to DSL, to finally Wireless
Broadband, exceeding T1, DSL or cable speeds with a
cheaper price, better security, and without the constraint
of a physical line.
Digital cameras
Another advancement has been the advent of digital
cameras. Now everyone who works in news or advertising
has his or her own digital camera, kept on their person at
all times—one just never knows when that proverbial Kodak
moment will present itself. I have one that fits in a shirt or
coat pocket and holds 733 5-mega-pixel, large-compression
shots. The turnaround on photographs is now near instantaneous and may be taken right up to deadline without worry
of time constraints, such as developing, and at what size,
and coordinating this with the person in charge of doing
it. There is no real cost in digital photographs themselves,
so a photographer can take as many shots as his or her
memory card will hold without worrying about the cost of
film or development; and in doing so, enormously increase
the chances of getting a good shot.
I sometimes allow my nieces and nephew (ages 3-9) to
use my camera under my supervision. It’s small like their
fingers, helps them learn and we’re not really wasting
shots: on the contrary, they sometimes get some great ones.
Furthermore, it’s far easier to store large numbers of digital
shots compared to printed images: a single disc potentially
holds hundreds, if not thousands, of images compared to a
photo album which maybe holds 50, give or take. If stored
properly, a particular digital image can quickly be found by
doing a computer search by either the date or subject matter
or other programmed factors. I literally build digital photo
albums and show my shots in this fashion on my laptop as
opposed to its numerous, bulky, hard copy counterparts.
I still print some using photo paper on a rather inexpensive
inkjet printer to frame about the house or send as Christmas
cards. In most cases, I finally can say their color and quality,
not to mention flexibility, exceeds old 35mm prints. And if all
of this weren’t good enough, digital images can be limitlessly
copied or electronically transferred to others throughout the
world in mere seconds.
A digital hub, a paperless society
Today my whole world revolves around my computer: my
research, my writing, my correspondence, my finances,
my photographs, my home movies, my DVD collection, my
music. Most everything but the bare necessities of life (air,
shelter, food) are now digitized and funneled through a PC. It
used to be in my life I ever needed more storage space for my
ever-increasing content, but with the digital world coming to
be, this trend has actually reversed as we truly are working
toward a paperless society (despite more paper being made
today than ever before).
In fact I’ve thrown out my rubber bands and paperclips; I
just don’t use them anymore. Someday maybe—wince—even
the pens will go: hard for a self-proclaimed man of letters
and books to come to terms with that. I keep reminding
myself, as my father has said numerous times before, we’re
in the news business, not necessarily the newspaper. I still
need hard drive and removable media capacity, but this is
a far cry from needing extra filing cabinets or even storage
rooms. I envision all of this data one day occupying only
the minutest of physical space. I have a personal saying: no
paper but the newspaper, as I’m ever working to remove my
desktop clutter, but even the life of the newspaper appears
limited. I as often read my PULASKI CITIZEN on my laptop
as in the printed form. Someday, if not already, you will
read your paper this way too. Content is the crux, as is the
versatility of its medium, and different media serve different
purposes. I don’t see the printed newspaper altogether disappearing anymore than I see paper currency doing so—more
for security and an alternative convenience than necessity.
Paper has its place and will continue to do so, bringing nice
profits to its makers for years to come: it’s just transitioning
to more of a disposable commodity.
As nice as all this technology is—I actually live for it and
wouldn’t want to live without it—it has pervaded both my
work and personal lives. I continually enjoy stepping away
from it all, looking for excuses to leave the laptop, cell phone
and even news behind, so that I, as my grandmother might
appreciate, may sit with my wife and newborn daughter by a
campfire in the middle of nowhere, enjoying the fresh, open
air and the essence of life.
Yes, my life flipped with a toggle switch, as my predecessors
did with television, radio, motion pictures and electricity,
all the way back to the wheel. Fortunately, for the most part,
we can still flip it off.
(Column adapted from the First PlaceTPA Award-Winning 150th Anniversary Special Section of the Pulaski
Citizen, Dec. 16, 2004.)
STEVE LAKE is publisher of the Pulaski Citizen.
Seigenthaler, Daniel speak on political humor
John Seigenthaler, founder of the First
Amendment Center, Nashville, led a
panel discussion Oct. 28 at the Howard
Baker Center for Public Policy at the
University of Tennessee, Knoxville,
on “Votes and Jokes: Laughter and
America’s Political Personality.” The
discussion was about the use of humor.
The conference featured political leaders and some of the nation’s leading
political columnists, cartoonists and
writers. Charlie Daniel, cartoonist with
the News Sentinel, Knoxville, spoke on
the role of political cartoons.
5
TPA: I remember when...
BY ELENORA E. EDWARDS
Managing editor
Things in my
memory having to
do with the Tennessee Press Association are numerous.
My family owned
T h e L a Fo l l e t t e
Press and the Jellico
Advance-Sentinel
Edwards
for some 36 years,
and I heard it talked,
attended summer conventions, knew
many of the participants and saw The
Tennessee Press regularly.
I am sharing one of those memories,
to encourage others in TPA to share
theirs so they can be printed in future
issues of the Press.
In the “old days,” TPA often held summer conventions in Gatlinburg at the
Mountain View Hotel, a large, gracious
stone structure on Highway 321 where it
meets the parkway. I adored that hotel.
I actually felt sick when I drove into the
city several years ago and saw that it
had been torn down.
But back to TPA.
The Mountain View had a long front
porch, lined with rocking chairs. People
gathered there to visit before the annual
banquet.
I was there one evening in about 1950
with my folks, Lucile and Guy Easterly.
I was sitting in one of the rockers amusing mysef by watching people. And then
I saw Edith O’Keefe Susong, publisher
of The Greeneville Sun.
Mrs. Susong was always dressed
with impeccable taste but with a flair,
partly because she almost always wore
a hat. She was wearing a navy one that
evening, with a slim-cut navy dress.
Lovely. But what made me think “Wow!”
were the most gorgeous shoes and
pocketbook I had ever seen. They were
of print silk, navy, turquoise, aqua and
gold. I had never seen silk shoes, much
less colorful ones with a bag to match!
I was blown away. Wow.
Years later after I finished school and
was working at the Clinton CourierNews, I saw Mrs. Susong fairly regularly
at TPA meetings. I remember the last
time I saw her, at a Sigma Delta Chi
(now SPJ) banquet in the early 1970s
in Knoxville. I believe her grandson,
John M. Jones Jr., was president. We
talked a bit—she had as much grace
as style. Yes, she was wearing a hat.
In her 80s, she was likely the snazziest
woman there.
Mrs. Susong was the mother of
Arne Jones (Mrs. John M. Sr.) and the
grandmother of John M. Jr. and Gregg
Jones, who are active in TPA; Alex
Jones, who once was in the newspaper
business here; Edith S. Jones (Mrs.
Steve Floyd); and Sarah [Sally] Harbison
(Mrs. Steven).
Your turn—share your memories
Won’t you share your favorite TPA
memories through The Tennessee
Press and www.tnpress.com? Tell your
colleagues your earliest memory—or
the weirdest or funniest or most
touching.
We’ll print them, as we can, in future
issues of The Tennessee Press.
One can submit his or her story by
sending it to rgentile@tnpress.com or
ATTN.: TPA Memory, Tennessee Press
Association, 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, Tenn. 37919, or by faxing it
to (865) 558-8687. Robyn Gentile, member
services manager, will pass them on to
the Tennessee Press managing editor.
Spring Into Action!
Plan now to attend the
TPA
Advertising & Circulation
Conference
Paris Landing State Park
April 6-8, 2006
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
12
FORESIGHT
CMYK
2006
DECEMBER
26: TPA offices closed
JANUARY
2: TPA offices closed
13: Deadline for registering for
the Press Institute and Winter Convention
20: Ideas Contest deadline
FEBRUARY
8-10: UT-TPA Press Institute
and Winter Convention,
Nashville
10-15: Southern Classified
Advertising Managers Association Conference, River
View Plaza Hotel, Mobile,
Ala.
17: State Press Contests deadline
MARCH
6-10: NIE Week. Theme, Information Literacy
8-11: NNA Government Affairs
Conference, Wyndham
Washington Hotel, Washington, D.C.
APRIL
2-4: NAA Annual Conference,
The Fairmont, Chicago
6-8: TPA Advertising/Circulation Conference, Paris Landing State Park
30-May 3: Southern Circulation
Managers Association, Chattanooga
JUNE
14-17: AAEC Annual Conference, Embassy Suites Hotel,
Denver, Colo.
15-17: 8th Great Obituary Writers; Conference, Plaza Hotel,
Las Vegas, N.M.
TBA: TPA 137th Annual
Summer Convention, Chattanooga
SEPTEMBER
8: International Literacy Day
OCTOBER
1-7: National Newspaper Week
11-14: NNA 120th Annual
Convention & Trade Show,
The Renaissance Hotel, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Registration materials forTPA events can
be found at www.tnpress.com.
Help ASNE, APMEA
make the case
for freedom
The American Society of Newspaper
Editors and the Associated Press Managing Editors Association think it’s time
to let the public know the importance
of open records in their lives. The organizations need the help of the news
media to make the case.
They are offering free advertisements,
which newspapers can download and in
which a newspaper’s logo can be placed
for publication. They can be found
at the following Web site: www.asne.
org/index.cfm?ID=4168.
DECEMBER 2005
Grant goes to junior high for student newspaper
Athens Junior High teacher Robert Owens, from the Athens City
awarded more than $350,000 to more than 150 middle and high schools
School System, acquired a grant from the Newspaper Association of
which partner with newspapers. Colleges and universities also are
America Foundation for the 2005-06 school year and will partner with
involved as third partners.
The Daily Post-Athenian and Tennessee Wesleyan College in putting it
Here are comments provided by Sandy Woodcock, director of the
to use. Specifically, the grant has allowed for the purchase of software
NAAF.
for the school’s student newspaper, the Cougar Chronicle. The junior
“School newspapers provide students with a wealth of learning
high students will compose their school newspaper with the same
opportunities. They learn writing and analytical skills and have an
computer technology as The Daily Post-Athenian. The grant monies
opportunity to gain meaningful mastery of those skills. They also can
have also allowed for the journalism department of Tennessee Wesleyan
apply those skills, develop leadership and critical thinking and learn
College to design and publish an instructional booklet for the junior
teamwork. Working on a school newspaper provides students with some
NIE
high students on how to implement the software.
of the best educational opportunities they may every have. Studies show
Staff members from The Daily Post-Athenian will assist Owens and CURRENTS that students who work on school publications are more likely to finish
his students with the installation of the software. Tennessee Wesleyan
college, do better while there, and they have a greater understanding
College students from the journalism department of the college will
of and appreciation of the First Amendment.”
Lu Shep Baldwin Robert Owens’ enthusiasm has been outstanding. He is a wonderful
train the students on how to implement the software.
Lu Shep Baldwin, Jones Media Newspapers in Education (NIE)
teacher, and we are very proud of him for his commitment to this project.
coordinator, approached Robert Owens about the grant in March 2005. The The Daily Post-Athenian and Tennessee Wesleyan College are looking forward to
Athens Junior High newspaper, at that time, was struggling. Students were still
working with Mr. Owens.
cutting and pasting news
Robert Owens competed
stories. Securing this grant
with other middle and high
offered Mr. Owens the opporschools on a national level
tunity to move forward with
in seeking the grant and
improving the publication
was the only Tennessee
of the school newspaper.
recipient. He is to be comPart of the commitment
mended for his efforts!
with the grant involves a
The NAAF grants become
partnership with a newsavailable each year in Janupaper—in this case, The
ary for all Newspapers In EduDaily Post-Athenian—along
cation programs throughout
with a partnership with a
the United States. Eleven
college. Tennessee Wesleyan
grants are awarded each
College in Athens was eager
year.
to become a partner. The
college is a sponsor of The
LU SHEP BALDWIN is NIE
Daily Post-Athenian’s NIE
coordinaor for Jones Media,
program, and one of the
THE DAILY POST-ATHENIAN, ATHENS Greeneville. She is based in
education classes is a weekly Athens Junior High School’s Robert Owens has received a grant from the Newspaper As- Athens. One can contact her
participant of The DPA’s NIE sociation of America Foundation, and the award was celebrated at an Athens School Board at lbaldwin@xtn.net or, for
program.
meeting. From left are Larry Wallace, vice president of external relations at Tennessee Wes- more information on NIE, one
Since 1977, the Newspaper leyan College; Ralph Baldwin, publisher of The Daily Post-Athenian; Owens; Lu Shep Baldwin, can log on to www.naafoundaAssociation of America Newspapers In Education coordinator for Jones Media, The DPA’s parent company; Athens tion.org.
Foundation (NAAF) has School Board Chairman Mike Bevins; and Director of Schools Craig Rigell.
11
Reported Sunshine Law violations increasing
Watermarks become latest hullabaloo
Just as the public’s trust in the news media showed a slight increase, we
Several innovations in the past have caused few long-lasting ripples.
start using a gimmick that may lose our integrity. Gallup’s Governance
Putting ads on section fronts upset designers more than readers. The
Survey revealed this fall that news media were gaining slightly more
religiously followed maxim that all ads must be clearly labeled as advercredibility from the American public.
tising is also being ignored in too many operations.
Sure, there were grumblings that the media are too liberal (by almost
In August about 40 newspapers, including USA Today, used an ad from
half of all respondents). But there’s always been that conservative vs.
General Motors touting the Chevrolet Impala. Running across the bottom
liberal divide.
of a two-page spread, a running impala interrupted a fake story headlined
The “gimmick” is not new. Called shadow ads or watermark ads, the
“Beyond Africa.” Only a rule separated the fictitious from the factual
concept occurs when an advertiser prints a grayscale logo or brand name
copy on the page. Turning a couple pages, readers could read that the
within editorial matter.
PRESSING interruption was for the new Impala. Many papers did not indicate that
Some trace its modern-day roots to 2001 when Universal Studios bought
the space was advertising.
ads hyping “Jurassic Park III.” Subtle images of flying dinosaurs showed ISSUES
Complaints from shadow ads so far have been few in number, even
up on stock listings or sports agate pages of 15 newspapers. Today many
though the practice is becoming more common across the country. Adalso appear in movie listings.
Randy Hines ditional publications already undertaking such ads include The New York
Now slowly catching on across the country, shadow ads are making
Times, the New York Daily News, the Hartford (Conn.) Courant and the
publishers happy because of the added revenue in tight times. But they
Philadelphia Inquirer.
are upsetting many Tennessee editors who see the practice blurring that once
Until now, most Volunteer State newspapers did not have a policy for or against
impenetrable line between news and advertising.
watermark or shadow ads. Such a discussion—perhaps as a New Year’s resoluThe Chicago Tribune Co. issued a policy in early summer on how and when tion—should be held soon between advertising and editorial.
watermark ads could run in its 11 major dailies that include the Los Angeles
On a slightly related note, the talented Mike Peters, creator of “Mother Goose
Times and New York’s Newsday.
and Grimm,” recently used “Keebler” in his Sunday cartoon. The word was not
“It’s a very unwise thing to do,” Don Wycliff, public editor at the Chicago a watermark but clearly indicated on a tree with a large sign. A few colorful elves
Tribune, complained in a June 3 Editor & Publisher article. “It blurs the line made it clear what product was being discussed. When I asked Mike if he at least
between advertising and editorial in an era when our credibility is already under received a case of cookies for the plug, he said, “No such luck…If the product
assault from all sides.”
placement thing worked, I’d do a lot of cartoons about Mercedes.”
Newspaper ad growth projections are the major reason why ad managers
are looking at new ways to increase revenue while layoffs and cutbacks are DR. RANDY HINES, former Tennessee educator, teaches in the Department of
widespread. Figures aren’t in for all of 2005, of course, but ad revenue was up Communications at Susquehanna University. His address is 514 University Ave.,
a mere 3.9 percent for 2004. For the first six months of this year, ad growth was Selinsgrove, Pa. 17870. For training or workshop information, he can be reached at
only 2.2 percent.
randyhinesapr@yahoo.com.
The Tennessee Press
DECEMBER 2005
The number of reported Sunshine Law violations
in Tennessee is increasing rapidly, a just-completed
survey by the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government shows, with more and more complaints
coming from unlikely sources.
The survey included a review of newspaper
reports provided by the Tennessee Press Service’s
clipping service and reports made directly to TCOG.
It found the following:
•115 reports of suspected violations between Jan.
1, 2003 and Oct. 31, 2005. All but six involved city and
county boards and commissions and committees
covered by the state’s open meetings act.
•45 of the reports came during the first 10 months
of this year–an average of one a week, but the most
troubling part of the statistics showed an increase
of 45 percent in the number of reports when the
first 10 months of 2005 reports are compared with
all of 2003; 31 were reported in all of 2003, and 39
came in 2004.
Many stories were just the initial reports with no
followup on what happened after the legality of a
meeting was challenged, but the number is probably
conservative since it includes only those meetings
that reporters, editors and citizens knew about and
reported. There’s no doubt that if we counted all
the calls that came into Rick Hollow’s TPA Legal
Hotline during the same period, the number would
be even higher.
The reports came from the smallest towns and the
largest cities, but perhaps the most interesting trend
was the number of cases where members of local
boards, commissions and city councils complained
they had been excluded from discussions of important public business by fellow elected officials.
In the past, suspected Sunshine Law violations
were reported only by reporters and editors who
didn’t see them as inside baseball or something
that only journalists cared about. Nowadays, more
papers are reporting them because the stories reflect
conflict between the citizens and their government.
I’ve known cases which weren’t reported because
reporters and editors didn’t have the time or good
enough sources to find out what happened inside
private gatherings, so they avoided the embarrassment of what they perceived to be weakness.
Our survey found 31 examples (14 this year alone)
of those offices have any jurisdiction
of city attorneys, city and county
under the Sunshine Law, so protests
mayors and citizens questioning the
fall on deaf ears.
legality of meetings.
In Nashville, Athens, Franklin,
Complaints included reports of
Clarksville, Blount and Hamilton
elected bodies using public e-mail
counties, public officials were found
accounts to discuss public business
to be using e-mail to get around
without sharing the information
the Sunshine Law. In Nashville,
with their constituents, meetings
the practice continued despite
where little or no notice was given
repeated warnings from the city’s
in advance, “pre-meetings” where the TENNESSEE
law department that their actions
agenda is discussed before the group
violate the law.
goes into session, votes quickly and COALITION
In some towns and cities, officials
leaves the public in the dark on the FOR OPEN
argue that their deliberations do not
debate, and cases of secret ballots
being used to make important and GOVERNMENT violate the law because no votes were
taken. So, their argument goes, they
sometimes controversial decisions.
don’t have to announce the meetings
In February of this year, the attor- Frank Gibson
in advance and they don’t
ney for the White House
have to disclose what
Board of Mayor and Althey’re meeting about.
dermen apologized to The
In one case, the Lawrence
News-Examiner in Galla- Gibson is executive director of the TenCounty Commission was
tin because his clients met nessee Coalition for Open Government.
accused of having unanthe day before without his One can contact him at fgibson@tcog.info;
nounced “pre-meetings.”
knowledge and ordered a (615) 202-2685; or TCOG, P. O. Box 22248,
That prompted the county
reporter to leave the meet- Nashville, Tenn. 37202. For more information
mayor to remind a reing. The BMA had met to on Tennessee’s government access laws and
porter that there are no
discuss applications for a list of Sunshine Law problems reported in
penalties for violating
city administrator. Add- Tennessee newspapers over the past three
the law, so there’s no big
ing insult to injury, White years, go to www.tcog.info.
deal.
House officials had refused
The survey found sevearlier that day to release a list of applications,
eral cases of elected bodies voting by secret ballot,
which were clearly public record.
In Unicoi County, the county Economic Develop- evaluating the local school director by submitting
ment Board cancelled a meeting when a reporter unsigned performance reviews, determining how
much of a pay raise to give its top administrator
showed up.
The survey showed that citizens are getting more by having board members send their written
aggressive in challenging unannounced meetings, recommendations out of county to a state agency
though there is little they can do except to take the to be tabulated and returned.
In Claiborne County, the local paper reported
body to court. That costs money citizens don’t have
or don’t want to spend. Frustration is cheaper, so that the county commission voted to ask the
county mayor to resign. A source on the commisyou don’t see many suits.
Unlike the public records act, the Sunshine Law sion reported that 16 of the 21 members voted for
doesn’t allow citizens to get their legal fees reim- the motion. The vote was taken by secret ballot.
The Jackson Sun reported that a Madison
bursed. They have no place to go for legal advice
and no place to complain, although some have filed County Commission committee held a series of
complaints with the governor’s office, the state unannounced meetings earlier this year to pick
comptroller and the local district attorney. None a fellow commissioner to become the county’s
finance director. When the private meetings were
exposed, the committee started over, but there was
a problem: only three of the 13 original applicants
were interested in being interviewed. It’s costing local government in some cases. In Savannah, the City
Commission agreed to pay its fired city manager an
extra month’s pay after his wife accused three commissioners of acting in an unannounced meeting.
The Daily Herald in Columbia reported in September that the Maury County Board of Education met
in private to discuss “a legal matter.” A 20-year-old
Supreme Court decision allows public bodies to go
into secret sessions to receive information from
their lawyer about pending litigation or in situations where some legal controversy may be brewing.
They’re not supposed to discuss or vote on anything
behind closed doors.
A citizen who didn’t know any better might have
taken the “legal matter” excuse and gone away, but
The Daily Herald checked and found that no lawyer
was present in the meeting.
That case illustrates one of two things: either the
exemption is still misunderstood two decades after
the courts established it, or elected officials are
violating it intentionally out of convenience and
because nothing can be done about it.
South Carolina has an attorney-client exemption
in its law. In a recent survey of South Carolina officials by the press association and the Associated
Press, one of every four public officials acknowledged discussing other business when they were
behind closed doors in lawyer-client meetings.
The results of the TCOG survey and the poor showing of public agencies in last year’s public records
audit may provide some clue as to what the results
would be if we asked that question here.
FRANK GIBSON is executive director of the
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government and a
longtime editor and reporter at The Tennessean
in Nashville. TCOG is a press and public alliance
dedicated to improving and preserving Tennessee’s
open government laws. One can reach him at
fgibson@tcog.info or by calling (615) 202-2685. Find
other resources on the Coalition’s Web site: www.
tcog.info.
OBITUARIES
Sharon J. Arms
Former DPA employee
Sharon Jean Arms, an employee of
The Daily Post-Athenian, Athens, for
16 years, died Sept. 23 at her home in
Cleveland. She was 47.
She leaves her husband, Randy P.
Arms; children, Tessa Smithy of Cleveland, Candace Hewitt of Cookeville,
Summer Hughes of Carrollton, Ky. and
Tomorrow Brock of Panama City Beach,
Fla.; and four grandchildren.
Duncan C. Bennett
Former editor
Duncan C. Bennett, former newspaper editor, died Nov. 17 at his home in
Maryville. He was 80.
He was news editor of The Knoxville
News-Sentinel and the Clinton CourierNews and served as public relations
director at Maryville College.
A Pennsylvania native, Bennett had
resided in Maryville many years, and
he was a 1950 graduate of Maryville
College.
He was a member of the Knoxville
chapter of the American Newspaper
Guild and a former president of the
Clinton Optimist Club.
He leaves his wife of 55 years, Ilda; a
son, Duncan G. Bennett; three daughters, Rosalind Magnuson, Rebecca Ann
Bennett and Adrienne Bennett; and
three grandchildren.
Melanie Bennett
munity news and main copy desk. She
served as president of the Knoxville
Newspaper Guild.
Reared in Geraldine, Ala., she graduated from Auburn University in 1985.
Before joining the News Sentinel,
she worked on several newspapers in
Alabama and Pennsylvania and for USA
Today. She had been at the Ledger-Enquirer since 2000, first as a copy editor
and page designer and since about 18
months ago, as a police reporter.
She leaves her husband, Paul Bennett,
and a son, Cody.
positions at the News & Advance, the
Las Vegas Sun, The Leaf-Chronicle,
Clarksville, and The News-Examiner in
Gallatin. Brooks retired in 2002.
He worked for his community in many
ways, including service on the Sumner
Foundation Board of Directors.
Brooks loved knowledge and was an
expert on Greek and Roman history and
the War Between the States.
He leaves his wife, Martha (Marty)
Brooks of Gallatin, and two daughters,
Tammy Dawn Brooks of Henderson,
Nev. and Emily Margaret Brooks of
Gallatin.
Former copy editor
Frederick Brooks
Retired publisher
Mary Cunningham
Melanie Bennett, a former copy editor with the News Sentinel, Knoxville,
died Oct. 25 at her home in Columbus,
Ga. She was 42.
Bennett was a reporter at the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. She worked at the
News Sentinel from 1994 until 2000 as
a sports department copy editor, com-
Frederick (Fred) Brooks, former publisher of The News-Examiner, Gallatin,
died Nov. 14. He was 57.
He began his career in newspapers
as a proof runner at the News & Daily
Advance in Lynchburg, Va. Through the
succeeding years, he filled management
Mary Ruth Cunningham Dyer of
Weston, W.Va. died of cancer Sept. 15
in Morgan, W.Va. She was 80.
A West Virginia native, she moved to
Oak Ridge in 1943 to work as an administrative assistant in the Manhattan
Once with Oak Ridger
Project. She met her future husband,
Robert H. Dyer, there. She worked at The
Oak Ridger from 1975 to 1978.
She leaves three sons, Lawrence A.
Dyer of Snellville, Ga., Richard D.
Dyer of Ann Arbor, Mich. and Dean P.
Dyer of Oak Ridge; six grandchildren
and six great-grandchildren; and her
former husband.
Aloda G. Gentry
Courier correspondent
Aloda Gwaltney Gentry, longtime
columnist for the Carthage Courier, died
Sept. 14 in Lebanon. She was 86.
Gentry’s final column appeared a
week after her death. She was a native
of Donelson and a homemaker. She was
a member of Brush Creek United Methodist Church, where she had served as
communion coordinator and a Sunday
school teacher.
SEE OBITUARIES, PAGE 12
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
6
The Tennessee Press
10
DECEMBER 2005
The Tennessee Press
DECEMBER 2005
Newspapers
participate
in Career Fair
UT’s Career Fair on Oct. 26 drew
six newspapers, a magazine and
the Tennessee Press Association,
represented by Greg Sherrill, executive
director, and Robyn Gentile, member
services manager, to the campus in
Knoxville. Students called at various
booths to learn about the participants
and to check for potential internships
and jobs. The fair had a total of 24
participants.
From left,Tajuana Hughlett, Kris Snoke and Eric Janssen ofThe Commercial
Appeal, Memphis
TPA open house
PHOTOS BY ELENORA E. EDWARDS | TPS, EXCEPT AS NOTED
Dennis Burnett and Greg Lusk
Jay Albrecht, Joe Albrecht and W. R. (Ron)
Fryar
Johnny Teglas, left, and Terri Likens of The Roane
County News, Kingston
PHOTOS BY ROBYN GENTILE
AND GREG SHERRILL | TPA
Rick Hollow, Frank Gibson and others in foyer
Christy Simpson and Mark Cox, Citizen Tribune,
Morristown
Students check out the News Sentinel, Knoxville,
booth.
TPAers judge Mississippi ad contest
CMYK
CMYK
Hulon Dunn and Keith McCormick
Georgiana Vines, UT instructor, and Mark Kennedy, Chattanooga Times
Free Press
7
From outside, TPAers at open house
Rep. Stacey Campfield
and Drew Johnson
Staff members from Tennessee newspapers met Nov. 18 in
Nashville to judge the advertising contest of the Mississippi
Press Association. The judging was coordinated by Robyn
Gentile, TPA member services manager, who was assisted by
Angelique Dunn.
Madeline Lake
in the arms of
Janet Rail
PHOTOS BY ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
Bonnie Hufford and Robyn Gentile
STEVE LAKE | PULASKI CITIZEN
Evan Carawan, left, with hammered dulcimer, and
Michael Ginsburg with banjo, entertained.
From left, Sissy Smith, Shelbyville
Times-Gazette; Judy Scantland, Macon
CountyTimes, Lafayette; Barbara Farmer, LewisburgTribune; and Hulon Dunn,
Lewis County Herald, Hohenwald
Judy Scantland, Macon County Times,
Lafayette, and Barbara Farmer, Lewisburg Tribune
Keith McCormick, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville,
and Roger Wells, The Lebanon Democrat
STEVE LAKE | PULASKI CITIZEN
Patrick Alford tries the fiddle, and Michael Ginsburg reacts
Left, Carolyn Wilson, executive director of MPA, and
Angelique Dunn, TPA, recording results
Barbara Farmer, Lewisburg Tribune, and Sissy
Smith, Shelbyville Times-Gazette
Valerie Laprad, left, and Faye Weichman, Middle
Tennessee Times, Smithville
Laura Dougherty, The Paris Post-Intelligencer, and Sissy Smith, Shelbyville
Times-Gazette
Bill and Ann Williams and granddaughter Ann Barnett
Henry Stokes, Joe and Annette Hurd. Joe is the son of Kathryn
Craddock, publisher of The Courier, Savannah.
Janice Horner, Mike Alford and TPA President Steve
Lake
The Tennessee Press
8
DECEMBER 2005
TPA Western Grand Division
The Tennessee Press
DECEMBER 2005
TPA Middle Grand Division
9
TPA Eastern Grand Division
6
9
1
4
2
8
5
7
10
3
CMYK
CMYK
TPA GRAND DIVISIONS
Tennessee Press Association by grand division and district
DISTRICT 9
DISTRICT 7
DISTRICT 5
DISTRICT 3
DISTRICT 1
Dresden, Dresden Enterprise
Dyer, The Tri-City Reporter
Dyersburg, State Gazette
Humboldt, The Chronicle
Martin, Weakley County Press
Milan, The Milan Mirror-Exchange
Paris, The Paris Post-Intelligencer
Tiptonville, The Lake County Banner
Trenton, The Herald Gazette
Union City, Union City Daily Messenger
District 9 director: Victor Parkins,
The Milan Mirror-Exchange
Ardmore, Your Community Shopper
Centerville, Hickman County Times
Columbia, The Daily Herald
Fairview, The Fairview Observer
Hohenwald, Lewis County Herald
Lawrenceburg, The Democrat-Union
Lewisburg, Marshall County Tribune
Linden, Buffalo River Review
Pulaski, The Giles Free Press
Pulaski, Pulaski Citizen
Waynesboro, The Wayne County News
District 7 director: Hulon Dunn,
Lewis County Herald, Hohenwald
Fayetteville, Elk Valley Times
Lynchburg, The Moore County News
Manchester, Manchester Times
McMinnville, Southern Standard
Murfreesboro, The Daily News Journal
Shelbyville, Shelbyville Times-Gazette
Smithville, Smithville Review
Smithville, The Middle Tennessee Times
Tracy City, Grundy County Herald
Tullahoma, The Tullahoma News
Winchester, The Herald-Chronicle
Woodbury, Cannon Courier
District 5 director: Dennis Stanley,
Smithville Review
Athens, The Daily Post-Athenian
Benton, Polk County News/Citizen Advance
Chattanooga, Chattanooga Times-Free Press
Chattanooga, Hamilton County Herald
Cleveland, Cleveland Daily Banner
Dayton, The Herald-News, Ed Emens
Dunlap, The Dunlap Tribune
Jasper, The Jasper Journal
Madisonville, The Democrat/Laker
Pikeville, The Bledsonian-Banner
South Pittsburgh, South Pittsburgh Hustler
Sweetwater, Monroe County Advocate & Democrat
District 3 director: Tom Overton,
Monroe County Advocate & Democrat, Sweetwater
Bristol, Bristol Herald Courier
Elizabethton, Elizabethton Star
Erwin, The Erwin Record
Greeneville, The Greeneville Sun
Jefferson City, The Standard Banner
Johnson City, Johnson City Press
Jonesborough, Herald and Tribune
Kingsport, Kingsport Times-News
Morristown, Citizen Tribune
Mountain City, The Tomahawk
Newport, The Newport Plain Talk
Rogersville, Rogersville Review
District 1 director: Keith Wilson,
Kingsport Times-News
DISTRICT 10
Alamo, The Crockett Times
Bartlett, Bartlett Express
Brownsville, The States-Graphic
Collierville, Collierville Herald
Cordova, The Cordova Beacon
Covington, The Covington Leader
Germantown, Germantown News
Halls, The Halls Graphic
Memphis, The Commercial Appeal
Memphis, The Daily News
Memphis, Memphis Business Journal
Millington, The Millington Star
Ripley, The Lauderdale County Enterprise
Ripley, The Lauderdale Voice
Somerville, Fayette County Review
Somerville, The Fayette Falcon
District 10 director: Jay Albrecht,
The Covington Leader
DISTRICT 8
DISTRICT 6
Bolivar, The Bolivar Bulletin-Times
Camden, The Camden Chronicle
Henderson, Chester County Independent
Huntingdon, Carroll County News-Leader
Jackson, The Jackson Sun
Jackson, Jackson Today
Lexington, The Lexington Progress
McKenzie, The McKenzie Banner
Parsons, The News Leader
Savannah, The Courier
Selmer, Independent-Appeal
District 8 director: Dennis Richardson,
Carroll County News-Leader,
Huntingdon
Ashland City, Ashland City Times
Clarksville, The Leaf-Chronicle
Dickson, The Dickson Herald
Dover, The Stewart-Houston Times
Gallatin, The News-Examiner
Lebanon, The Lebanon Democrat
Lebanon, The Wilson Post
Mt. Juliet, Mt. Juliet News
DISTRICT 4
Nashville, Nashville Record
Nashville, The Tennessean
Portland, The Portland Leader
Springfield, Robertson County Times
Waverly, The News-Democrat
District 6 director: Clint Brewer,
The Lebanon Democrat
TPA welcomes new members
Jackson Today
The Knoxville Journal
Byrdstown, Pickett County Press
Carthage, Carthage Courier
Celina, Citizen-Statesman
Cookeville, Herald-Citizen
Crossville, Crossville Chronicle
Gainesboro, Jackson County Sentinel
Hartsville, The Hartsville Vidette
Jamestown, Fentress Courier
Jellico, Jellico Advance-Sentinel
Lafayette, Macon County Times
LaFollette, LaFollette Press
DISTRICT 2
Livingston, Livingston Enterprise
Livingston, Overton County News
Oneida, Independent Herald
Oneida, Scott County News
Red Boiling Springs, Macon County Chronicle
Sparta, The Expositor
Spencer, The Mountain View
Wartburg, Morgan County News
District 4 director: Bill Shuster,
Herald-Citizen, Cookeville
Clinton, The Courier-News
Harriman, The Harriman Record
Kingston, The Roane County News
Knoxville, The Knoxville Journal
Knoxville, News Sentinel
Lenoir City, The News-Herald
Maryville, The Daily Times
Maynardville, The Union News Leader
Oak Ridge, The Oak Ridger
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee Star Journal
Rockwood, The Rockwood Times
Sevierville, The Mountain Press
Seymour, The Smoky Mountain Herald
Tazewell, The Claiborne Progress
District 2 director: Kevin Burcham,
The News-Herald, Lenoir City
The Tennessee Press
10
DECEMBER 2005
The Tennessee Press
DECEMBER 2005
Newspapers
participate
in Career Fair
UT’s Career Fair on Oct. 26 drew
six newspapers, a magazine and
the Tennessee Press Association,
represented by Greg Sherrill, executive
director, and Robyn Gentile, member
services manager, to the campus in
Knoxville. Students called at various
booths to learn about the participants
and to check for potential internships
and jobs. The fair had a total of 24
participants.
From left,Tajuana Hughlett, Kris Snoke and Eric Janssen ofThe Commercial
Appeal, Memphis
TPA open house
PHOTOS BY ELENORA E. EDWARDS | TPS, EXCEPT AS NOTED
Dennis Burnett and Greg Lusk
Jay Albrecht, Joe Albrecht and W. R. (Ron)
Fryar
Johnny Teglas, left, and Terri Likens of The Roane
County News, Kingston
PHOTOS BY ROBYN GENTILE
AND GREG SHERRILL | TPA
Rick Hollow, Frank Gibson and others in foyer
Christy Simpson and Mark Cox, Citizen Tribune,
Morristown
Students check out the News Sentinel, Knoxville,
booth.
TPAers judge Mississippi ad contest
CMYK
CMYK
Hulon Dunn and Keith McCormick
Georgiana Vines, UT instructor, and Mark Kennedy, Chattanooga Times
Free Press
7
From outside, TPAers at open house
Rep. Stacey Campfield
and Drew Johnson
Staff members from Tennessee newspapers met Nov. 18 in
Nashville to judge the advertising contest of the Mississippi
Press Association. The judging was coordinated by Robyn
Gentile, TPA member services manager, who was assisted by
Angelique Dunn.
Madeline Lake
in the arms of
Janet Rail
PHOTOS BY ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
Bonnie Hufford and Robyn Gentile
STEVE LAKE | PULASKI CITIZEN
Evan Carawan, left, with hammered dulcimer, and
Michael Ginsburg with banjo, entertained.
From left, Sissy Smith, Shelbyville
Times-Gazette; Judy Scantland, Macon
CountyTimes, Lafayette; Barbara Farmer, LewisburgTribune; and Hulon Dunn,
Lewis County Herald, Hohenwald
Judy Scantland, Macon County Times,
Lafayette, and Barbara Farmer, Lewisburg Tribune
Keith McCormick, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville,
and Roger Wells, The Lebanon Democrat
STEVE LAKE | PULASKI CITIZEN
Patrick Alford tries the fiddle, and Michael Ginsburg reacts
Left, Carolyn Wilson, executive director of MPA, and
Angelique Dunn, TPA, recording results
Barbara Farmer, Lewisburg Tribune, and Sissy
Smith, Shelbyville Times-Gazette
Valerie Laprad, left, and Faye Weichman, Middle
Tennessee Times, Smithville
Laura Dougherty, The Paris Post-Intelligencer, and Sissy Smith, Shelbyville
Times-Gazette
Bill and Ann Williams and granddaughter Ann Barnett
Henry Stokes, Joe and Annette Hurd. Joe is the son of Kathryn
Craddock, publisher of The Courier, Savannah.
Janice Horner, Mike Alford and TPA President Steve
Lake
FORESIGHT
CMYK
2006
DECEMBER
26: TPA offices closed
JANUARY
2: TPA offices closed
13: Deadline for registering for
the Press Institute and Winter Convention
20: Ideas Contest deadline
FEBRUARY
8-10: UT-TPA Press Institute
and Winter Convention,
Nashville
10-15: Southern Classified
Advertising Managers Association Conference, River
View Plaza Hotel, Mobile,
Ala.
17: State Press Contests deadline
MARCH
6-10: NIE Week. Theme, Information Literacy
8-11: NNA Government Affairs
Conference, Wyndham
Washington Hotel, Washington, D.C.
APRIL
2-4: NAA Annual Conference,
The Fairmont, Chicago
6-8: TPA Advertising/Circulation Conference, Paris Landing State Park
30-May 3: Southern Circulation
Managers Association, Chattanooga
JUNE
14-17: AAEC Annual Conference, Embassy Suites Hotel,
Denver, Colo.
15-17: 8th Great Obituary Writers; Conference, Plaza Hotel,
Las Vegas, N.M.
TBA: TPA 137th Annual
Summer Convention, Chattanooga
SEPTEMBER
8: International Literacy Day
OCTOBER
1-7: National Newspaper Week
11-14: NNA 120th Annual
Convention & Trade Show,
The Renaissance Hotel, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Registration materials forTPA events can
be found at www.tnpress.com.
Help ASNE, APMEA
make the case
for freedom
The American Society of Newspaper
Editors and the Associated Press Managing Editors Association think it’s time
to let the public know the importance
of open records in their lives. The organizations need the help of the news
media to make the case.
They are offering free advertisements,
which newspapers can download and in
which a newspaper’s logo can be placed
for publication. They can be found
at the following Web site: www.asne.
org/index.cfm?ID=4168.
DECEMBER 2005
Grant goes to junior high for student newspaper
Athens Junior High teacher Robert Owens, from the Athens City
awarded more than $350,000 to more than 150 middle and high schools
School System, acquired a grant from the Newspaper Association of
which partner with newspapers. Colleges and universities also are
America Foundation for the 2005-06 school year and will partner with
involved as third partners.
The Daily Post-Athenian and Tennessee Wesleyan College in putting it
Here are comments provided by Sandy Woodcock, director of the
to use. Specifically, the grant has allowed for the purchase of software
NAAF.
for the school’s student newspaper, the Cougar Chronicle. The junior
“School newspapers provide students with a wealth of learning
high students will compose their school newspaper with the same
opportunities. They learn writing and analytical skills and have an
computer technology as The Daily Post-Athenian. The grant monies
opportunity to gain meaningful mastery of those skills. They also can
have also allowed for the journalism department of Tennessee Wesleyan
apply those skills, develop leadership and critical thinking and learn
College to design and publish an instructional booklet for the junior
teamwork. Working on a school newspaper provides students with some
NIE
high students on how to implement the software.
of the best educational opportunities they may every have. Studies show
Staff members from The Daily Post-Athenian will assist Owens and CURRENTS that students who work on school publications are more likely to finish
his students with the installation of the software. Tennessee Wesleyan
college, do better while there, and they have a greater understanding
College students from the journalism department of the college will
of and appreciation of the First Amendment.”
Lu Shep Baldwin Robert Owens’ enthusiasm has been outstanding. He is a wonderful
train the students on how to implement the software.
Lu Shep Baldwin, Jones Media Newspapers in Education (NIE)
teacher, and we are very proud of him for his commitment to this project.
coordinator, approached Robert Owens about the grant in March 2005. The The Daily Post-Athenian and Tennessee Wesleyan College are looking forward to
Athens Junior High newspaper, at that time, was struggling. Students were still
working with Mr. Owens.
cutting and pasting news
Robert Owens competed
stories. Securing this grant
with other middle and high
offered Mr. Owens the opporschools on a national level
tunity to move forward with
in seeking the grant and
improving the publication
was the only Tennessee
of the school newspaper.
recipient. He is to be comPart of the commitment
mended for his efforts!
with the grant involves a
The NAAF grants become
partnership with a newsavailable each year in Janupaper—in this case, The
ary for all Newspapers In EduDaily Post-Athenian—along
cation programs throughout
with a partnership with a
the United States. Eleven
college. Tennessee Wesleyan
grants are awarded each
College in Athens was eager
year.
to become a partner. The
college is a sponsor of The
LU SHEP BALDWIN is NIE
Daily Post-Athenian’s NIE
coordinaor for Jones Media,
program, and one of the
THE DAILY POST-ATHENIAN, ATHENS Greeneville. She is based in
education classes is a weekly Athens Junior High School’s Robert Owens has received a grant from the Newspaper As- Athens. One can contact her
participant of The DPA’s NIE sociation of America Foundation, and the award was celebrated at an Athens School Board at lbaldwin@xtn.net or, for
program.
meeting. From left are Larry Wallace, vice president of external relations at Tennessee Wes- more information on NIE, one
Since 1977, the Newspaper leyan College; Ralph Baldwin, publisher of The Daily Post-Athenian; Owens; Lu Shep Baldwin, can log on to www.naafoundaAssociation of America Newspapers In Education coordinator for Jones Media, The DPA’s parent company; Athens tion.org.
Foundation (NAAF) has School Board Chairman Mike Bevins; and Director of Schools Craig Rigell.
11
Reported Sunshine Law violations increasing
Watermarks become latest hullabaloo
Just as the public’s trust in the news media showed a slight increase, we
Several innovations in the past have caused few long-lasting ripples.
start using a gimmick that may lose our integrity. Gallup’s Governance
Putting ads on section fronts upset designers more than readers. The
Survey revealed this fall that news media were gaining slightly more
religiously followed maxim that all ads must be clearly labeled as advercredibility from the American public.
tising is also being ignored in too many operations.
Sure, there were grumblings that the media are too liberal (by almost
In August about 40 newspapers, including USA Today, used an ad from
half of all respondents). But there’s always been that conservative vs.
General Motors touting the Chevrolet Impala. Running across the bottom
liberal divide.
of a two-page spread, a running impala interrupted a fake story headlined
The “gimmick” is not new. Called shadow ads or watermark ads, the
“Beyond Africa.” Only a rule separated the fictitious from the factual
concept occurs when an advertiser prints a grayscale logo or brand name
copy on the page. Turning a couple pages, readers could read that the
within editorial matter.
PRESSING interruption was for the new Impala. Many papers did not indicate that
Some trace its modern-day roots to 2001 when Universal Studios bought
the space was advertising.
ads hyping “Jurassic Park III.” Subtle images of flying dinosaurs showed ISSUES
Complaints from shadow ads so far have been few in number, even
up on stock listings or sports agate pages of 15 newspapers. Today many
though the practice is becoming more common across the country. Adalso appear in movie listings.
Randy Hines ditional publications already undertaking such ads include The New York
Now slowly catching on across the country, shadow ads are making
Times, the New York Daily News, the Hartford (Conn.) Courant and the
publishers happy because of the added revenue in tight times. But they
Philadelphia Inquirer.
are upsetting many Tennessee editors who see the practice blurring that once
Until now, most Volunteer State newspapers did not have a policy for or against
impenetrable line between news and advertising.
watermark or shadow ads. Such a discussion—perhaps as a New Year’s resoluThe Chicago Tribune Co. issued a policy in early summer on how and when tion—should be held soon between advertising and editorial.
watermark ads could run in its 11 major dailies that include the Los Angeles
On a slightly related note, the talented Mike Peters, creator of “Mother Goose
Times and New York’s Newsday.
and Grimm,” recently used “Keebler” in his Sunday cartoon. The word was not
“It’s a very unwise thing to do,” Don Wycliff, public editor at the Chicago a watermark but clearly indicated on a tree with a large sign. A few colorful elves
Tribune, complained in a June 3 Editor & Publisher article. “It blurs the line made it clear what product was being discussed. When I asked Mike if he at least
between advertising and editorial in an era when our credibility is already under received a case of cookies for the plug, he said, “No such luck…If the product
assault from all sides.”
placement thing worked, I’d do a lot of cartoons about Mercedes.”
Newspaper ad growth projections are the major reason why ad managers
are looking at new ways to increase revenue while layoffs and cutbacks are DR. RANDY HINES, former Tennessee educator, teaches in the Department of
widespread. Figures aren’t in for all of 2005, of course, but ad revenue was up Communications at Susquehanna University. His address is 514 University Ave.,
a mere 3.9 percent for 2004. For the first six months of this year, ad growth was Selinsgrove, Pa. 17870. For training or workshop information, he can be reached at
only 2.2 percent.
randyhinesapr@yahoo.com.
The Tennessee Press
DECEMBER 2005
The number of reported Sunshine Law violations
in Tennessee is increasing rapidly, a just-completed
survey by the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government shows, with more and more complaints
coming from unlikely sources.
The survey included a review of newspaper
reports provided by the Tennessee Press Service’s
clipping service and reports made directly to TCOG.
It found the following:
•115 reports of suspected violations between Jan.
1, 2003 and Oct. 31, 2005. All but six involved city and
county boards and commissions and committees
covered by the state’s open meetings act.
•45 of the reports came during the first 10 months
of this year–an average of one a week, but the most
troubling part of the statistics showed an increase
of 45 percent in the number of reports when the
first 10 months of 2005 reports are compared with
all of 2003; 31 were reported in all of 2003, and 39
came in 2004.
Many stories were just the initial reports with no
followup on what happened after the legality of a
meeting was challenged, but the number is probably
conservative since it includes only those meetings
that reporters, editors and citizens knew about and
reported. There’s no doubt that if we counted all
the calls that came into Rick Hollow’s TPA Legal
Hotline during the same period, the number would
be even higher.
The reports came from the smallest towns and the
largest cities, but perhaps the most interesting trend
was the number of cases where members of local
boards, commissions and city councils complained
they had been excluded from discussions of important public business by fellow elected officials.
In the past, suspected Sunshine Law violations
were reported only by reporters and editors who
didn’t see them as inside baseball or something
that only journalists cared about. Nowadays, more
papers are reporting them because the stories reflect
conflict between the citizens and their government.
I’ve known cases which weren’t reported because
reporters and editors didn’t have the time or good
enough sources to find out what happened inside
private gatherings, so they avoided the embarrassment of what they perceived to be weakness.
Our survey found 31 examples (14 this year alone)
of those offices have any jurisdiction
of city attorneys, city and county
under the Sunshine Law, so protests
mayors and citizens questioning the
fall on deaf ears.
legality of meetings.
In Nashville, Athens, Franklin,
Complaints included reports of
Clarksville, Blount and Hamilton
elected bodies using public e-mail
counties, public officials were found
accounts to discuss public business
to be using e-mail to get around
without sharing the information
the Sunshine Law. In Nashville,
with their constituents, meetings
the practice continued despite
where little or no notice was given
repeated warnings from the city’s
in advance, “pre-meetings” where the TENNESSEE
law department that their actions
agenda is discussed before the group
violate the law.
goes into session, votes quickly and COALITION
In some towns and cities, officials
leaves the public in the dark on the FOR OPEN
argue that their deliberations do not
debate, and cases of secret ballots
being used to make important and GOVERNMENT violate the law because no votes were
taken. So, their argument goes, they
sometimes controversial decisions.
don’t have to announce the meetings
In February of this year, the attor- Frank Gibson
in advance and they don’t
ney for the White House
have to disclose what
Board of Mayor and Althey’re meeting about.
dermen apologized to The
In one case, the Lawrence
News-Examiner in Galla- Gibson is executive director of the TenCounty Commission was
tin because his clients met nessee Coalition for Open Government.
accused of having unanthe day before without his One can contact him at fgibson@tcog.info;
nounced “pre-meetings.”
knowledge and ordered a (615) 202-2685; or TCOG, P. O. Box 22248,
That prompted the county
reporter to leave the meet- Nashville, Tenn. 37202. For more information
mayor to remind a reing. The BMA had met to on Tennessee’s government access laws and
porter that there are no
discuss applications for a list of Sunshine Law problems reported in
penalties for violating
city administrator. Add- Tennessee newspapers over the past three
the law, so there’s no big
ing insult to injury, White years, go to www.tcog.info.
deal.
House officials had refused
The survey found sevearlier that day to release a list of applications,
eral cases of elected bodies voting by secret ballot,
which were clearly public record.
In Unicoi County, the county Economic Develop- evaluating the local school director by submitting
ment Board cancelled a meeting when a reporter unsigned performance reviews, determining how
much of a pay raise to give its top administrator
showed up.
The survey showed that citizens are getting more by having board members send their written
aggressive in challenging unannounced meetings, recommendations out of county to a state agency
though there is little they can do except to take the to be tabulated and returned.
In Claiborne County, the local paper reported
body to court. That costs money citizens don’t have
or don’t want to spend. Frustration is cheaper, so that the county commission voted to ask the
county mayor to resign. A source on the commisyou don’t see many suits.
Unlike the public records act, the Sunshine Law sion reported that 16 of the 21 members voted for
doesn’t allow citizens to get their legal fees reim- the motion. The vote was taken by secret ballot.
The Jackson Sun reported that a Madison
bursed. They have no place to go for legal advice
and no place to complain, although some have filed County Commission committee held a series of
complaints with the governor’s office, the state unannounced meetings earlier this year to pick
comptroller and the local district attorney. None a fellow commissioner to become the county’s
finance director. When the private meetings were
exposed, the committee started over, but there was
a problem: only three of the 13 original applicants
were interested in being interviewed. It’s costing local government in some cases. In Savannah, the City
Commission agreed to pay its fired city manager an
extra month’s pay after his wife accused three commissioners of acting in an unannounced meeting.
The Daily Herald in Columbia reported in September that the Maury County Board of Education met
in private to discuss “a legal matter.” A 20-year-old
Supreme Court decision allows public bodies to go
into secret sessions to receive information from
their lawyer about pending litigation or in situations where some legal controversy may be brewing.
They’re not supposed to discuss or vote on anything
behind closed doors.
A citizen who didn’t know any better might have
taken the “legal matter” excuse and gone away, but
The Daily Herald checked and found that no lawyer
was present in the meeting.
That case illustrates one of two things: either the
exemption is still misunderstood two decades after
the courts established it, or elected officials are
violating it intentionally out of convenience and
because nothing can be done about it.
South Carolina has an attorney-client exemption
in its law. In a recent survey of South Carolina officials by the press association and the Associated
Press, one of every four public officials acknowledged discussing other business when they were
behind closed doors in lawyer-client meetings.
The results of the TCOG survey and the poor showing of public agencies in last year’s public records
audit may provide some clue as to what the results
would be if we asked that question here.
FRANK GIBSON is executive director of the
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government and a
longtime editor and reporter at The Tennessean
in Nashville. TCOG is a press and public alliance
dedicated to improving and preserving Tennessee’s
open government laws. One can reach him at
fgibson@tcog.info or by calling (615) 202-2685. Find
other resources on the Coalition’s Web site: www.
tcog.info.
OBITUARIES
Sharon J. Arms
Former DPA employee
Sharon Jean Arms, an employee of
The Daily Post-Athenian, Athens, for
16 years, died Sept. 23 at her home in
Cleveland. She was 47.
She leaves her husband, Randy P.
Arms; children, Tessa Smithy of Cleveland, Candace Hewitt of Cookeville,
Summer Hughes of Carrollton, Ky. and
Tomorrow Brock of Panama City Beach,
Fla.; and four grandchildren.
Duncan C. Bennett
Former editor
Duncan C. Bennett, former newspaper editor, died Nov. 17 at his home in
Maryville. He was 80.
He was news editor of The Knoxville
News-Sentinel and the Clinton CourierNews and served as public relations
director at Maryville College.
A Pennsylvania native, Bennett had
resided in Maryville many years, and
he was a 1950 graduate of Maryville
College.
He was a member of the Knoxville
chapter of the American Newspaper
Guild and a former president of the
Clinton Optimist Club.
He leaves his wife of 55 years, Ilda; a
son, Duncan G. Bennett; three daughters, Rosalind Magnuson, Rebecca Ann
Bennett and Adrienne Bennett; and
three grandchildren.
Melanie Bennett
munity news and main copy desk. She
served as president of the Knoxville
Newspaper Guild.
Reared in Geraldine, Ala., she graduated from Auburn University in 1985.
Before joining the News Sentinel,
she worked on several newspapers in
Alabama and Pennsylvania and for USA
Today. She had been at the Ledger-Enquirer since 2000, first as a copy editor
and page designer and since about 18
months ago, as a police reporter.
She leaves her husband, Paul Bennett,
and a son, Cody.
positions at the News & Advance, the
Las Vegas Sun, The Leaf-Chronicle,
Clarksville, and The News-Examiner in
Gallatin. Brooks retired in 2002.
He worked for his community in many
ways, including service on the Sumner
Foundation Board of Directors.
Brooks loved knowledge and was an
expert on Greek and Roman history and
the War Between the States.
He leaves his wife, Martha (Marty)
Brooks of Gallatin, and two daughters,
Tammy Dawn Brooks of Henderson,
Nev. and Emily Margaret Brooks of
Gallatin.
Former copy editor
Frederick Brooks
Retired publisher
Mary Cunningham
Melanie Bennett, a former copy editor with the News Sentinel, Knoxville,
died Oct. 25 at her home in Columbus,
Ga. She was 42.
Bennett was a reporter at the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. She worked at the
News Sentinel from 1994 until 2000 as
a sports department copy editor, com-
Frederick (Fred) Brooks, former publisher of The News-Examiner, Gallatin,
died Nov. 14. He was 57.
He began his career in newspapers
as a proof runner at the News & Daily
Advance in Lynchburg, Va. Through the
succeeding years, he filled management
Mary Ruth Cunningham Dyer of
Weston, W.Va. died of cancer Sept. 15
in Morgan, W.Va. She was 80.
A West Virginia native, she moved to
Oak Ridge in 1943 to work as an administrative assistant in the Manhattan
Once with Oak Ridger
Project. She met her future husband,
Robert H. Dyer, there. She worked at The
Oak Ridger from 1975 to 1978.
She leaves three sons, Lawrence A.
Dyer of Snellville, Ga., Richard D.
Dyer of Ann Arbor, Mich. and Dean P.
Dyer of Oak Ridge; six grandchildren
and six great-grandchildren; and her
former husband.
Aloda G. Gentry
Courier correspondent
Aloda Gwaltney Gentry, longtime
columnist for the Carthage Courier, died
Sept. 14 in Lebanon. She was 86.
Gentry’s final column appeared a
week after her death. She was a native
of Donelson and a homemaker. She was
a member of Brush Creek United Methodist Church, where she had served as
communion coordinator and a Sunday
school teacher.
SEE OBITUARIES, PAGE 12
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
6
SCAMA schedules 2006 conference
The Southern Classified Advertising
Managers Association (SCAMA) will
hold its annual conference Feb. 10
through 15, 2006 in Mobile, Ala.
Headquarters will be the River View
Plaza Hotel.
Managers from 17 states are members
of SCAMA. To learn more about the
conference, one can consult the Web
site, www.scama.org, or contact Hugh
J. Rushing, executive officer, at (205)
823-3448 or hrushing@usit.net.
The Web site lists SCAMA members
from Tennessee as being Mike Mach-
askee, Jesse Shockley and Matthew
Moore, Chattanooga Times Free Press;
Tanya Hensley and Pam Gosnell, The
Greeneville Sun; Lee Hugenard, Citizen
Tribune, Morristown; and Joi Whaley,
The Mountain Press, Sevierville.
DECEMBER 2005
LAKE: The day my universe changed, diversions
OBITUARIES
FROM PAGE 11
Thomas F. Jones
Was with Tennessean
Thomas F. (Tom) Jones, who was
retired from The Tennessean, Nashville, died Oct. 15 after a long illness.
He was 70.
The Nashville native leaves his wife of
49 years, Betty; a daughter, Sandra; a son,
Thomas Scott; and a grandson.
Andrew Shapiro
Metro principal
Andrew E. Shapiro, who committed his adult life
to newspapers
through the business his grandfather
began in 1910, Metro
Creative Graphics,
died Oct. 24 after a
two-year battle with
cancer. He was 63.
Shapiro
In August, Shapiro
accepted a lifetime
achievement award from the Newspaper Special Sections Network for his
contributions to newspaper special
sections and specialty publications. He
spoke not about his battle with cancer,
but about ways that newspapers can
use their position and influence within
each of their communities to make a
difference in the fight against cancer. He
made the plea that everyone go back to
their publications and initiate cancerrelated efforts such as special sections,
specialty publications and special event
sponsorships.
Metro Creative Graphics is establishing a foundation in Shapiro’s name
that will bring together the efforts of
publications everywhere that want to
help make a difference. “As an industry
we have the resources and influence
that makes this possible,” said a statement from Metro. “Once established,
the purpose of the foundation will be
to raise funds for cancer research that
will be donated to the American Cancer
Society and Canadian Cancer Society,”
it said. Information on tax-deductible
donations to the foundation will be
available soon from Metro.
REWRITES
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
DECEMBER 2005
DECEMBER 1955
DECEMBER 1980
The Inter American Press Association’s new president was James G.
Stahlman, publisher of the Nashville
Banner. Freedom of the press was the
main objective of the organization.
Frank Robinson, ad director of
Bristol Newspapers, returned to his
hometown to become publisher of the
Elizabethton Star.
Clyde B. Emert, owner-publisher of
The Maryville Alcoa Times since it was
a weekly back in 1915, sold the newspaper to Tutt S. Bradford, then publisher
of the Bristol Herald Courier. Bradford
severed his connection with Bristol and
became publisher of the Times.
Checks came from all over the state,
particularly from small newspapers, in
response to a solicitation for sustaining
members of the National Editorial
Association.
Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher of
the New York Times the past 20 years,
became publisher of The Chattanooga
Times.
The 1981 UT-TPA Press Association
Press Institute was to open with a speech
by Roland Weeks Jr., president of the
Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, and close with one by Michael
Gartner, president of the Des Moines
Register and Tribune Co.
A newspaper has “not only the right
but the duty to print the names of
juveniles” when they are involved in
newsworthy events, a Lebanon judge
said in a ruling favoring The Lebanon
Democrat in a $75,000 libel suit. The
case involved the shooting death of a
cab driver and the involvement of a
teenage girl.
Zelma Copeland was the subject of a
“Meet Your TPA Staff ” feature in The
Tennessee Press. A 20-year veteran of
TPA, she was the office manager.
Tom Franklin was named publisher of
The Lexington Progress by his mother,
Kathleen Franklin, owner and widow of
W.T. (Jew) Franklin, who had died.
Contrariness
“The freedom to have a contrary view
is what freeexpression in American is
all about. So far.”
Burl Osborne, publisher, 1991
TPA Legal Hotline
has new telephone number
Rick Hollow, TPA’s general counsel and provider of the TPA
legal hotline service, has established a new firm—
Hollow & Hollow, LLC.
His new telephone number is (865) 769-1715.
FROM PAGE 4
and have since the mid to late 90s, print full process color,
due to the advancements made on the prepress side.
Aldus PageMaker was the original software application to
take us there, a page layout program. One could easily build
a design, ad or page with speed, precision and flexibility
never known before, blowing away any method standing
before it. It s since been outdone or replaced by Quark
XPress and finally Adobe InDesign.
The only other computer applications worth mentioning
in the build of a newspaper are Microsoft Word and Adobe
Photoshop, two of the most useful, powerful applications
ever created, which along with PageMaker, in scope, may
never be outdone in this industry.
When I began full time work at the paper I desperately
searched for someone to help me learn this machine and
software, finally figuring out no one else really knew
anymore than I; probably being even more intimidated as
having limited computer experience.
A nice thing about being the boss’s son was that I could
take computers apart without so much worry as to what
might happen. I had a reputation for taking things apart
in my younger days: toilets, stopwatches, even a trophy of
my brother’s which I accidentally broke in the process. He
never forgave me. Sometimes I got things back together;
sometimes, well … I didn’t. I’d beg my father to let me put
Christmas presents together: a bicycle, ping-pong table or
waterbed (remember those?). He’d feign disappointment but
then eventually give in, secretly rejoicing he didn’t have to
put the darn thing together. These of course are the best
ways to learn how something works and is essentially how I
learned computers: I taught myself, with help over the years
from manuals, seminars and eventually the Internet.
The Internet
In early 1995 U.S. Internet, based in Knoxville, connected
Pulaski to the World Wide Web, thanks to the leadership
and effort of Mayor Dan Speer and the Giles County
Educational Foundation, seeing that Giles County was an
early adopter of this powerful new technology, well ahead
of most communities our size. As the company eventually
changed hands several times and ended its ties with the
GCED, Pulaski Publishing entered the fray in March 2000,
partnering with Rackley Systems (who sold their interest
the following year) to form a local Internet Service Provider,
iGiles.net. Known as DotSpot Internet in neighboring Lawrence County, the company has progressed over the years
from dial-up and ISDN service, to DSL, to finally Wireless
Broadband, exceeding T1, DSL or cable speeds with a
cheaper price, better security, and without the constraint
of a physical line.
Digital cameras
Another advancement has been the advent of digital
cameras. Now everyone who works in news or advertising
has his or her own digital camera, kept on their person at
all times—one just never knows when that proverbial Kodak
moment will present itself. I have one that fits in a shirt or
coat pocket and holds 733 5-mega-pixel, large-compression
shots. The turnaround on photographs is now near instantaneous and may be taken right up to deadline without worry
of time constraints, such as developing, and at what size,
and coordinating this with the person in charge of doing
it. There is no real cost in digital photographs themselves,
so a photographer can take as many shots as his or her
memory card will hold without worrying about the cost of
film or development; and in doing so, enormously increase
the chances of getting a good shot.
I sometimes allow my nieces and nephew (ages 3-9) to
use my camera under my supervision. It’s small like their
fingers, helps them learn and we’re not really wasting
shots: on the contrary, they sometimes get some great ones.
Furthermore, it’s far easier to store large numbers of digital
shots compared to printed images: a single disc potentially
holds hundreds, if not thousands, of images compared to a
photo album which maybe holds 50, give or take. If stored
properly, a particular digital image can quickly be found by
doing a computer search by either the date or subject matter
or other programmed factors. I literally build digital photo
albums and show my shots in this fashion on my laptop as
opposed to its numerous, bulky, hard copy counterparts.
I still print some using photo paper on a rather inexpensive
inkjet printer to frame about the house or send as Christmas
cards. In most cases, I finally can say their color and quality,
not to mention flexibility, exceeds old 35mm prints. And if all
of this weren’t good enough, digital images can be limitlessly
copied or electronically transferred to others throughout the
world in mere seconds.
A digital hub, a paperless society
Today my whole world revolves around my computer: my
research, my writing, my correspondence, my finances,
my photographs, my home movies, my DVD collection, my
music. Most everything but the bare necessities of life (air,
shelter, food) are now digitized and funneled through a PC. It
used to be in my life I ever needed more storage space for my
ever-increasing content, but with the digital world coming to
be, this trend has actually reversed as we truly are working
toward a paperless society (despite more paper being made
today than ever before).
In fact I’ve thrown out my rubber bands and paperclips; I
just don’t use them anymore. Someday maybe—wince—even
the pens will go: hard for a self-proclaimed man of letters
and books to come to terms with that. I keep reminding
myself, as my father has said numerous times before, we’re
in the news business, not necessarily the newspaper. I still
need hard drive and removable media capacity, but this is
a far cry from needing extra filing cabinets or even storage
rooms. I envision all of this data one day occupying only
the minutest of physical space. I have a personal saying: no
paper but the newspaper, as I’m ever working to remove my
desktop clutter, but even the life of the newspaper appears
limited. I as often read my PULASKI CITIZEN on my laptop
as in the printed form. Someday, if not already, you will
read your paper this way too. Content is the crux, as is the
versatility of its medium, and different media serve different
purposes. I don’t see the printed newspaper altogether disappearing anymore than I see paper currency doing so—more
for security and an alternative convenience than necessity.
Paper has its place and will continue to do so, bringing nice
profits to its makers for years to come: it’s just transitioning
to more of a disposable commodity.
As nice as all this technology is—I actually live for it and
wouldn’t want to live without it—it has pervaded both my
work and personal lives. I continually enjoy stepping away
from it all, looking for excuses to leave the laptop, cell phone
and even news behind, so that I, as my grandmother might
appreciate, may sit with my wife and newborn daughter by a
campfire in the middle of nowhere, enjoying the fresh, open
air and the essence of life.
Yes, my life flipped with a toggle switch, as my predecessors
did with television, radio, motion pictures and electricity,
all the way back to the wheel. Fortunately, for the most part,
we can still flip it off.
(Column adapted from the First PlaceTPA Award-Winning 150th Anniversary Special Section of the Pulaski
Citizen, Dec. 16, 2004.)
STEVE LAKE is publisher of the Pulaski Citizen.
Seigenthaler, Daniel speak on political humor
John Seigenthaler, founder of the First
Amendment Center, Nashville, led a
panel discussion Oct. 28 at the Howard
Baker Center for Public Policy at the
University of Tennessee, Knoxville,
on “Votes and Jokes: Laughter and
America’s Political Personality.” The
discussion was about the use of humor.
The conference featured political leaders and some of the nation’s leading
political columnists, cartoonists and
writers. Charlie Daniel, cartoonist with
the News Sentinel, Knoxville, spoke on
the role of political cartoons.
5
TPA: I remember when...
BY ELENORA E. EDWARDS
Managing editor
Things in my
memory having to
do with the Tennessee Press Association are numerous.
My family owned
T h e L a Fo l l e t t e
Press and the Jellico
Advance-Sentinel
Edwards
for some 36 years,
and I heard it talked,
attended summer conventions, knew
many of the participants and saw The
Tennessee Press regularly.
I am sharing one of those memories,
to encourage others in TPA to share
theirs so they can be printed in future
issues of the Press.
In the “old days,” TPA often held summer conventions in Gatlinburg at the
Mountain View Hotel, a large, gracious
stone structure on Highway 321 where it
meets the parkway. I adored that hotel.
I actually felt sick when I drove into the
city several years ago and saw that it
had been torn down.
But back to TPA.
The Mountain View had a long front
porch, lined with rocking chairs. People
gathered there to visit before the annual
banquet.
I was there one evening in about 1950
with my folks, Lucile and Guy Easterly.
I was sitting in one of the rockers amusing mysef by watching people. And then
I saw Edith O’Keefe Susong, publisher
of The Greeneville Sun.
Mrs. Susong was always dressed
with impeccable taste but with a flair,
partly because she almost always wore
a hat. She was wearing a navy one that
evening, with a slim-cut navy dress.
Lovely. But what made me think “Wow!”
were the most gorgeous shoes and
pocketbook I had ever seen. They were
of print silk, navy, turquoise, aqua and
gold. I had never seen silk shoes, much
less colorful ones with a bag to match!
I was blown away. Wow.
Years later after I finished school and
was working at the Clinton CourierNews, I saw Mrs. Susong fairly regularly
at TPA meetings. I remember the last
time I saw her, at a Sigma Delta Chi
(now SPJ) banquet in the early 1970s
in Knoxville. I believe her grandson,
John M. Jones Jr., was president. We
talked a bit—she had as much grace
as style. Yes, she was wearing a hat.
In her 80s, she was likely the snazziest
woman there.
Mrs. Susong was the mother of
Arne Jones (Mrs. John M. Sr.) and the
grandmother of John M. Jr. and Gregg
Jones, who are active in TPA; Alex
Jones, who once was in the newspaper
business here; Edith S. Jones (Mrs.
Steve Floyd); and Sarah [Sally] Harbison
(Mrs. Steven).
Your turn—share your memories
Won’t you share your favorite TPA
memories through The Tennessee
Press and www.tnpress.com? Tell your
colleagues your earliest memory—or
the weirdest or funniest or most
touching.
We’ll print them, as we can, in future
issues of The Tennessee Press.
One can submit his or her story by
sending it to rgentile@tnpress.com or
ATTN.: TPA Memory, Tennessee Press
Association, 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, Tenn. 37919, or by faxing it
to (865) 558-8687. Robyn Gentile, member
services manager, will pass them on to
the Tennessee Press managing editor.
Spring Into Action!
Plan now to attend the
TPA
Advertising & Circulation
Conference
Paris Landing State Park
April 6-8, 2006
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
12
DECEMBER 2005
The day my universe changed
(USPS 616-460)
Published monthly by the
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE, INC.
for the
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION, INC.
435 Montbrook Lane
Knoxville, Tennessee 37919
Telephone (865) 584-5761/Fax (865) 558-8687/www.tnpress.com
Subscriptions: $6 annually
Periodicals Postage Paid At Knoxville,TN
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Tennessee Press,
435 Montbrook Lane, Knoxville,TN 37919.
The Tennessee Press is printed by The Standard Banner, Jefferson City.
Greg M. Sherrill.....................................................Editor
Elenora E. Edwards.............................Managing Editor
Robyn Gentile..........................Production Coordinator
Angelique Dunn...............................................Assistant
20
Member
05
Tennessee Press Association
The Tennessee Press
is printed on recycled paper
and is recyclable.
www.tnpress.com
CMYK
OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION
Steve Lake, Pulaski Citizen/The Giles Free Press................................President
Henry Stokes, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis.....................Vice President
Pauline Sherrer, Crossville Chronicle..........................................Vice President
Bill Willliams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer...........................................Treasurer
Greg M. Sherrill, Knoxville....................................................Executive Director
DIRECTORS
Keith Wilson, Kingsport Times-News...................................................District 1
Kevin Burcham, The News-Herald, Lenoir City....................................District 2
Tom Overton III, Advocate and Democrat, Sweetwater......................District 3
Bill Shuster, Herald-Citizen, Cookeville................................................District 4
Dennis Stanley, Smithville Review.......................................................District 5
Clint Brewer, The Lebanon Democrat...................................................District 6
Hulon Dunn, Lewis County Herald, Hohenwald..................................District 7
Dennis Richardson, Carroll County News-Leader, Huntingdon.........District 8
Victor Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange...........................................District 9
Jay Albrecht, The Covington Leader....................................................District 10
Mike Fishman, Citizen Tribune, Morristown...........................................At large
TENNESSEE PRESS SERVICE
Bob Parkins, The Milan Mirror-Exchange.............................................President
Dale C. Gentry, The Standard Banner, Jefferson City.................Vice President
W. R. (Ron) Fryar, Southern Standard, McMinnville.............................Director
Mike Pirtle, The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro.............................Director
Pauline Sherrer, Crossville Chronicle.....................................................Director
Michael Williams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer......................................Director
Greg M. Sherrill............................................................Executive Vice President
TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION
W.R. (Ron) Fryar, Southern Standard, McMinnville...........................President
Larry K. Smith, LaFollette.............................................................Vice President
Richard L. Hollow, Knoxville....................................................General Counsel
Greg M. Sherrill....................................................................Secretary-Treasurer
CONTACT THE MANAGING EDITOR
TPAers with suggestions, questions or comments about items inTheTennessee
Press are welcome to contact the managing editor. Call Elenora E. Edwards,
(865) 457-5459; send a note to P.O. Box 502, Clinton, TN 37717-0502; or e-mail
ElenoraEdwards@Comcast.net. The January issue deadline is Dec. 12.
One of the most earth-shattering,
on an Atari 800 for Christmas that
shocking days of my life occurred
year, which boasted 16k of memory,
back in the mid to mid-late 70s, back
expandable to 48k; even got one of
when every like-minded American
those gizmos called a modem where
boy on the pre side of puberty aspired
you actually placed the telephone
to be Muhammad Ali, Roger Staubach,
headset in its cradle and called
Terry Bradshaw or Elvis (all ironisomeone with the same setup on
cally nearing the end of their careers,
their end to pass text back and forth.
though shining as bright as ever).
Holy smokes! We were riding the
My best friend at the time, the notoritechnological wave, kind of learning
ous Chris Carter, who deserves a story
it as it came. This was sweet, but I was
in his own right, whose father owned
learning other neat new things like
the local Radio Shack, invited me over
Basic Programming and was even
to spend the night—nothing unusual
able to apply Algebra to it, something
there, happened all the time. We were
many of my classmates had decried
watching television and I’m pretty YOUR PRESIDING REPORTER and written off as useless.
sure it was a Muhammad Ali fight
To demonstrate, and I should note
when, upon its conclusion, someone
that I really was for the most part a
Steve Lake
reached behind the set, flipped a toggle
well-behaved student, but for whatswitch and I watched my life change forever…
ever reason I was once disciplined by my teacher to write
What appeared before us was a simple black screen outlined something off a couple hundred times. With Basic Programin white with large gaps on the left and right edges, each ming I wrote it only once with a little formula that told it
protected by a small white bar with a white dot that passed to repeat x number of times, printed it on my dot matrix
back and forth between them, ricocheting off most anything printer and voila! My teacher was very impressed I took
its color with primitive beeps (no whistles). The device was time to type the assignment.
known as Pong! Two paddle wheels extended from a unit that
Technology becomes practical
opponents could turn and vicariously move the correspondTime passes. I find myself in a new town, Pulaski, and a
ing bar up and down either side of the screen to play a game. new school, Giles County High. Still, I couldn’t have been
That was the kicker: A PERSON COULD INTERACT WITH more happy in my own little world—well except maybe if
A TELEVISION!
I could have mustered the courage to ask that specific cute
It was a video incarnation of ping-pong and it still sends girl out on my first date before my entire junior and most
goose bumps down my spine to this day. Never mind that of my senior years slipped by—when my father, knowing
remote control, cordless telephones and other neat gizmos how much I loved computers, comes home and tells me he’s
soon followed. This precursor at that time was something just purchased some for the paper.
beyond my conception, a revelation that blew me away like
I wasn’t overly impressed. Didn’t know anything about
nothing before (though learning how heavy a hand my them, though I assumed they weren’t much different from
parents played in Christmas came close) and hence only that before. I’d, as they say, been there, done that. In fact, he
twice, thus far.
pleaded and downright begged over an extended period of
A glorious youth
time for me to come look at them. Shucks, he was having
My youth was downright dreamy. Next came the Atari just as much difficulty getting anyone on payroll to do so.
2600, Video Arcades and literally hundreds of games. None It wasn’t till well over four years later that I returned from
rocked my world like the first time I saw Pong, but the ride college and started work at the paper that I finally ever did,
was ever more pleasing as technology rapidly advanced. What and though I wasn’t nearly so instantaneously floored as when
my parents never learned till some time later was that my I first saw Pong, my life has never been the same, or rather
brother and I unwrapped our Atari 2600 in the nights leading the way I go about my life has never been the same.
up to Christmas, played with it while they were away, then
What lay before me was the most powerful tool known
rewrapped and returned it under the tree before they caught to man. I saw that even then. I saw many of the mind-bogon, the only time we’ve ever resorted this sordid thing or glingly numerous possibilities this machine held and promreally ever cared to, honest!
ised—still does—and I could see that our world was about
We put on a great show when it finally came time to unwrap to change, rapidly, ever more rapidly. It just so happened it
it for real, as meaningful, though to the other extreme, as if
would do so in the publishing industry first.
we were being spanked, another great act of ours. Come to
The personal computer
think of it, we did love to traipse about the house to see if
Behold: the Apple Macintosh, first introduced in a famous
we might lay hand on what Santa had in store, though we Super Bowl commercial, January 1984 (I remember that
never played with any findings, just boasted of them to Mom without remembering what teams were playing: obviously
and Dad, as if it were a game, or an Easter egg hunt. We had wasn’t Staubach and Bradshaw). It totally and completely
great luck, too; that is, as we learned some time later, till revolutionized the publishing industry like nothing since
our parents cleverly started hiding items at the office or in moveable type. It was, in my belief, the first modern-day PC
my brother’s own closet. That showed us. Today, Mom has and everything that term has come to mean. The boards of
occasionally been known to unearth a hidden present she our vintage Macs (toasters we called them) emblazoned with
meant to give us years ago. What fun!
the signatures of everyone involved in its making.
What this ever-increasing advancement in technology
Goodbye line tape, Linotype, hot wax, paste-up boards,
unwittingly bolstered in me was the desire for more, for the PMTs, darkrooms and so forth. Hello PDF, imagesetters and
latest, greatest gizmo, the desire for technological advance- full-page computer pagination.
ment, the desire for change, something I typically envision
Rome wasn’t built in a day: We went through a massive
the status quo, especially my elders, with resisting, as I’ve learning curve and even years of transition. Our beloved Ed
seen it time and time again. My father can run any number Wilburn, the fastest two-fingered typist I’ve ever met, used to
of small businesses but could never come to grips with the print graphics on our laser printer then proceed to cut them
simple programming of a VCR. My maternal grandmother out with scissors and paste them on a paste-up board where
resists even air conditioning and saves money on her social we’d shoot the page with a camera. This of course was the
security, her only income. She’s perfectly content living in first step. The best thing about a computer was that it would
the world she knows. Who really is to say in such respect remember a previous effort, so an ad, for example, could be
she’s not better off than any of us?
reused, modified and continually improved upon: same with
By the time I reached adolescence in the early years of
the overall design of our paper, which has exponentially shot
the Reagan era, computers began infiltrating our country’s through the roof in terms of quality over the last 20 years.
homes. The notorious Chris Carter opted for a Texas Instru- Using our same press, bought in February 1968, we can now,
ment, the infamous Stephen Wilburn for an Apple II and
class-wiz Jeff Murray owned an Atari 400. I fixed my sights
SEE LAKE, PAGE 5
The Tennessee Press
DECEMBER 2005
Pepe named publisher of The Commercial Appeal
Joseph Pepe,
an experienced
n e w s p a p e r
e x e c u t iv e w i t h
an extensive
background in
strategic business
planning, marketing
and adver tising
Pepe
s a l e s, h a s b e e n
named president
and publisher of The Commercial
Appeal, Memphis. The appointment
was effective Nov. 3. The Commercial
Appeal is owned and operated by The
E. W. Scripps Co.
Pepe comes to Memphis from the
Suburban Journals of St. Louis,
a group of 38 weekly newspapers
and three niche magazines with 420
employees and a combined circulation
of 1.2 million. Pepe served as president
of Suburban Journals of St. Louis
since 2000. During his tenure, he
was credited with increasing the
community newspaper g roup’s
operating efficiencies, improving
the content and graphic design of its
publications, expanding advertising
market share and achieving doubledigit revenue and profit growth.
“We believe The Commercial Appeal
can be one of the most relevant and
dynamic local news organizations in
America for many years to come,”
said Richard A. Boehne, executive
vice president for Scripps and head
of the company’s newspaper division.
“Joe Pepe has the energy, creativity
and experience necessary to guide
that great newspaper to continued
journalistic and economic success in
this adventuresome chapter of media
history.”
Suburban Journals of St. Louis
was owned and operated by Pulitzer
Inc. until June, when Pulitzer was
acquired by Lee Enterprises. Pepe
managed the transition resulting
from Pulitzer’s acquisition of the
community newspaper group in 2000.
Before joining Suburban Journals,
Pepe worked eight years for Howard
Publications Inc. and for The Times,
the company’s newspaper in Munster,
Ind. From 1991 to 1999 he was corporate
director of advertising and marketing
for Howard Publications, advising 17
daily newspaper publishers and their
marketing managers on organizational
development, strate gic g rowth
initiatives, budgeting, staffing and
operations. In 1995 he took on added
responsibilities as senior associate
publisher at The Times, serving as the
newspaper’s chief operating officer
and leading strategic planning and
marketing efforts. He was advertising
director for The Times from 1991 to
1995.
Pepe left Howard Publications and
The Times in 1999 to become publisher
of the San Bernardino (Calif.) Sun,
where he guided the newspaper’s
transition as part of the Los Angeles
Newspaper Group, which had just been
created by MediaNews Group Inc.
From 1984 to 1991, Pepe served
in a variety of roles with Gannett
Co., including corporate director of
customer service; president and chief
operating officer at The Tennessean,
Nashville; vice president and general
manager at the El Paso (Texas) Times;
and president and publisher of The
Bellingham (Wa.) Herald.
Pepe, 49, has a bachelor’s degree in
journalism from the University of
Oklahoma. He has taught in the executive
program at Northwestern University’s
Medill School of Journalism and
participated in executive development
and management seminars at the
American Press Institute.
Pepe succeeds John Wilcox, who
earlier this year was named publisher
of The San Francisco Examiner.
In Tennesse. Scripps also owns the
News Sentinel, Knoxville.
Scantland becomes Macon County Times publisher
Judy Scantland
was recently named
publisher of The Macon County Times,
Lafayette. She began
serving in the position on Oct. 17.
Scantland, a Ruth- Scantland
erford County native,
is a 29-year veteran
of the newspaper business. She brings
with her experience from The Tennessean, Nashville, and The Daily News
Journal, Murfreesboro.
Scantland replaces Truett Langston,
who retired.
After a three-year departure from the
newspaper industry, Scantland said she
is excited about working at the paper
and in the community. To boost the
publication, Scantland said she hopes to
come up with different ways to package
local interest stories and report accurately newsworthy happenings. She
also said she has plans to work closely
with advertisers.
Scantland is an associate member
of the Middle Tennessee Association
of Realtors, Women’s Council of Realtors, Rutherford County Homebuild-
TRACKS
The Seymour Herald recently hired
two full-time staff members and two
interns. Lawana Lavrrar joined the
staff as an advertising account representative. Earlier she worked for the
Democrat News in Fredericktown, Mo.
Darrin Devault was hired as marketing
director and also lends support to the
editorial staff. Most recently he was
public relations director and journalism instructor at Northwest Mississippi Community College. He earned
bachelor’s and master’s degrees from
the University of Memphis and served
as an adjunct instructor.
Casey McMahan is serving as an
editorial intern. He is a journalism
major at the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville. Brandon L. Jones also
joined the editorial staff as an intern.
He is a student at Pellissippi State Community College.
Gina Stafford, former News Sentinel,
Knoxville, reporter and most recently
public relations manager for Blount
Memorial Hospital, Maryville, has been
named director of communications on
the University of Tennessee System
staff. Stafford joined Blount Memorial
in 1999 after six years with the News
Sentinel.
“Gina Stafford’s broad-based knowledge and experience in publicrelations
and print reporting will make her a
key person on our team,” said Hank
Dye, UT’s vice president for public
and governmental relations. “We are
pleased that she’ll be joining us in our
efforts to tell the UT story.”
Before her promotion to public relations manager at Blount Memorial in
2003, Stafford worked as a public relations coordinator with the hospital for
four years. Stafford began her career as
a journalist at the News Sentinel in 1993.
She covered health care and general assignment news for six years and wrote
a twice-monthly fitness column.
ers Association, Women’s Council of
Homebuilders, Noon Exchange Club
and other organizations.
She also works with Habitat for Humanity, the Arthritis Association and
the American Red Cross. She serves on
the board of directors of the Rutherford
County American Cancer Society, is
president of the Rutherford County
Sheriff ’s Citizens Alumni Association
and incident commander for the Community Emergency Response Team
through the Rutherford County Emergency Management Association.
In her leisure time, she enjoys being with her grandchildren, Taylor
and Faith Westbrooks, and attending
sporting events with her family and
friends.
AP provides stories
on open meetings
The Associated Press has made a
package of stories on the increase of
Open Meetings Law violations available
to all Tennessee newspapers.
A year after a statewide public records
audit found that one-third of government agencies denied access to public
records, another disturbing trend has
been identified in Tennessee’s open government laws. The number of suspected
violations of the state’s open meetings
law has increased dramatically over the
past three years, a new report says.
Embargoed for publication until
Nov. 28, the package was posted on the
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government Web site, www.tcog.info, and is
still available.
13
Chairman continues review
of circulation categories
BY ANGEL GRESHAM
Circulation director
Shelbyville Times-Gazette
Every day circulation directors
struggle to reinvent the wheel with
single copy promotions, home delivery
promotions and third party deals that
not only will grow numbers, but also
increase readership for our respective
newspapers. It is these creative efforts
that fuel the TPA Advertising/Circulation Ideas Contest.
Our efforts this year are geared
toward
increasing entries and
excitement for the contest. This month
is the third installment of detailing
entry categories to ward off some of
the confusion the many categories
create. This month the highlighted
categories are:
•Best Bulk Promotion
•Best Reader Contest
•Best Subscriber Retention Program
Best Bulk Promotion
Party sales is defined as copies or
subscriptions purchased in quantities of 11 or more which promote the
professional or business interests of
the purchaser. All copies bought by
hotels or restaurants for free distribution to their guests and by sponsors
for free distribution to hospital
patients and nursing home residents,
irrespective of the number of copies,
would qualify as third party sales.
There are two types of third party
sales, direct and sponsored. Direct sales
may be defined as those sales involving the purchase of copies where the
purchaser controls all aspects of the
distribution.
Direct third party sales involve
a single purchaser of newspapers
for a specific event or distribution
program.
Sponsored sales may be defined as
those sales involving the solicitation
of funds from more than one sponsor
for contribution to a specific third party
sales program. An example of this type
of sale is when subscriber “vacation
donation” monies are contributed to a
Meals-on-Wheels program.
Some of the items you need to send
with your entry are but not limited to
the following:
•ROP ads detailing the program
•Letters sent to potential sponsors
•Flyers distributed promoting the
program
•Rack cards used promoting the
program
•Bill stuffers used
•Direct mail pieces
Best Reader Contest
Reader contest are promotions that
get our readers active in the product.
Reader contests are not judged by the
“prize” given, but the creativity and
freshness of the promotion. Reader
contest can be geared toward younger
readers, older readers, new subscribers or even the loyal customer base
that we all have. The best aspect of
reader contest is that you have the
ability to show your “fun” side! Use this
category to showcase your willingness
to provide creative innovativeness in
your market!
Some of the items you need to send
with your entry are:
•ROP ads showing the contests rules
and regulations
•Rack cards promoting the contest
•Pictures of your winners
•Pictures of banners used for the
promotion
•Details on how the winners were
chosen
•Be sure to include the dates of the
promotion
Best Retention Program
Circulation budgets always contain a
“start pressure” budget which usually
seems unreachable. Circulation directors use kiosks, sales crews, carrier
promotion and many other vehicles to
obtain the number of starts needed to
meet the start budget. This category
highlights the best efforts to KEEP those
starts. This is all about retention, not
acquisition!
Have you and your staff devised a
method of keeping your customers
rather than churning them? Have you
worked with your customer service to
create customer contact that increases
your retention rate rather than your
churn rate? Have you implemented
a plan that details the importance of
saving a customer rather than getting a
new one? If you have, then you have an
entry for this category! Show off your
talents in customer service as well as
your commitment to your customers.
Some of the items you can use for this
category are as follows:
•Postcards sent to new subscribers or to subscribers who have had
service issues
•Welcome or miss-you letters to
your customers
•Interoffice signage promoting good
retention efforts
•Carrier memos or flyers reflecting
a commitment to retention efforts
•Reward programs geared toward
customer retention efforts
You will also need to submit:
•Circulation size
•Frequency
•Results
•Length of promotion
•Any other information detailing
your subscriber retention efforts
Contests are usually very exciting,
and this year’s Ideas Contest should not
be any different! Begin gathering your
entry ideas now so you will not miss
a chance to win for your newspaper!
Remember to be creative and, most of
all, have fun with all of it. I look forward
to seeing and hearing all of the great
ideas in April.
Metro offers content free
Hispanic PR Wire and Metro Creative
Graphics and Editorial Services are
providing a database of imagery and
photography. The service is at www.
ContextoLatino.com.
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
4
DECEMBER 2005
Exciting future in store for newspaper training
BY KEVIN SLIMP
TPS technology director
Tennessee Press
Association has
achieved a reputation for leading
the way when it
comes to technical training in the
newspaper industry, and exciting
Slimp
changes are in store
as we look toward
the future.
Scott Critchlow, Union City Daily
Messenger, chairs the Technology Committee of Tennessee Press Association.
At our meeting in February, members
of the committee, representing newspapers of all sizes across the state, took
part in a vocal discussion concerning
steps we could take to make training
even more accessible to our members.
A common theme seemed to be the need
to look at other types of training, in
addition to regional training events
and other training opportunities our association offers on an ongoing basis.
Art Ridgway, Knoxville News Sentinel, brought up the idea of online training over the Internet. He mentioned
how difficult it is for staff members to
leave for a full day to attend training in
another city. Ridgway suggested that
offering training that could be accessed
on the computer desktop might be of
great benefit to our newspapers. Other
committee members chimed in with
similar comments.
Over the past few months, I’ve been
testing options in online training to
see what might work for our group.
The Technology Committee suggested
short, weekly training sessions based
on offering one skill or tip in newspaper
pagination or a related subject. With
high-speed Internet access becoming
commonplace among our newspapers,
the time seems right to initiate this type
of training. It might be of interest to
note that the TPS staff investigated a
similar idea almost six years ago, but
many of our members were still using
dialup Internet service at the time.
Testing is going well and I anticipate
rolling out online training over the tnpress.com Web site within the next few
months. We’ll keep you posted.
INT has record session
It’s difficult to imagine we’re already
making plans for the 2006 session of the
Institute of Newspaper Technology.
Over the past few days, I’ve received
requests from publishers in several
states who are looking for information
concerning next year’s session.
We ended up with a total of 63 participants in the October 2005 Institute.
Representing newspapers spanning
from Edmonton (Alberta) and Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) in Canada to New
York and Vermont in the Northeast to
Colorado in the West and most of the
Southern states, the Institute included
CMYK
Board approves SP Contests changes
Six changes to the State Press Contests
were approved Nov. 12 by the Tennessee
Press Association Board of Directors.
The changes were recommended by
the Contests Committee. Henry Stokes,
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis,
chairman, presented the committee’s
report.
The changes, effective with the 2006
contests, are as follows:
1. Nomenclature. Standardize
the following terminology regarding
the contest:
“Category” will refer to an individual
contest within the larger contest. Example: “best personal column” or
“community lifestyles.”
“Division” will refer to any group of
competitors within a category. This is
usually set by circulation or frequency
of publication.
“Award” will refer to any honor or
prize given as a result of judging.
Example: “1st Place.”
2. Individual Recognition. While
reaffirming that the UT-TPA State
Press Awards Contest is intended to
honor newspapers for excellent work,
the contest will assist newspapers that
wish to recognize individuals for their
contribution to winning entries.
For that purpose:
A. Extra paper certificates will be
provided to any newspaper with winning entries, providing the newspaper
includes staff names with nomination
forms.
B. Individual names, when provided,
will be recognized in the awards presentation in a format that does not lengthen
the ceremony. The method of doing this,
such as including names on PowerPoint
slides or awards ceremony programs,
will be a UT-TPA staff decision.
3. Contest category changes
A. Combine “general excellence” with
“sweepstakes” into a single category.
This will not be an entry category.
Awards will be determined by points
collected by entries in all other categories of the contest.
B. Add a category for “school reporting” (education reporting) that will recognize excellence in covering schools
and education as an area of coverage
responsibility. Entries would include
several stories—the maximum number
to be determined by contest staff.
C. Add a “best news story” category,
which may include multiple entries
that demonstrate how a single news
story was reported. Contest staff may
set a maximum number of stories per
entry.
D. Change “best sports section” to
“sports writing.” The category would
recognize excellence in writing about
sports, and entries would include several stories. Contest staff will determine
the maximum number of stories per
Sitting on your newspaper’s archives?
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entry. (Personal sports columns would
not qualify and should be entered in the
“personal column” category.)
4. Number of entries. For writing awards, newspapers may submit
up to two entries (reflecting the work
product of two staff members) in each
category.
5. Contest fees will rise from $7 to
$8 for each entry. The additional dollar will either be paid to UT or used
to offset additional contest expense
related to individual certificates and
recognition.
6. Rule 2. In categories requiring
selected editions, each newspaper
may choose which dates to submit.
An exception will be the Make-up and
Appearance category, for which contest
rules will specify the dates.
The deadline for entering the State
Press Contests is Friday, Feb. 17. Contests rules will be included with the
January issue of The Tennessee Press
aand mailed with entry materials to all
TPA member newspapers.
AP multimedia service
aimed to youth
The Associated Press has launched a
new multimedia news service aimed at
young adults in the latest effort by the
newspaper industry to attract young
readers. It will produce original news
using text, photos, video and audio,
to be offered to US newspapers that
are members of the 157-year-old news
cooperative. The service will be called
asap, pronounced “a-s-p-a.”
Ted Anthony, a 37-year-old former
national and foreign correspondent
for AP, will oversee the news service
and its current staff of 20, a number he
expects to rise to 25 by the beginning of
next year. The service has reporters in
Denver, Los Angeles and New York.
The AP produced a prototype of the
service last fall.
classes led by renowned instructors
in state of the art lab
environments.
I’ve grown to appreciate our program even more of
late as I’ve visited
other campuses to
lead training events
for other press associations. Our facilities and instructors
are unmatched.
Here is a sampling
of responses from
the 2005 Institute
evaluations:
“I can’t think of a
thing that would improve the Institute.
My only regret is
that I didn’t bring my
entire staff !”—Matt
Yeager, publisher,
Summersville,
W.Va.
“What a fabulous
session! This experience opened my world with so much
focus. Keep up the fantastic work!”—Pam
O’Donnell, production manager, Manchester, N.H.
“I should have started this years ago!”—
Dick Plum, publisher, Ripley, W.Va.
“The Institute was great! Lots of information at very affordable price. Weather
was great. Location fantastic. Instructors
were top notch! Does it get any better than
this?”—Unsigned Evaluation
Latest books for designers
Three new design-related books of interest are available at most larger and online
bookstores:
Mac OS X Support Essentials (Peachpit
Press 2005), by Owen Linzmayer, has been
fully updated for Mac OS X 10.4. This is
the official curriculum of Apple’s Mac
OS X Help Desk Specialist certification
track. In addition, it is a top-notch guide
for anyone needing to troubleshoot and
optimize OS X systems. It is designed for
support technicians, help desk specialists
and I.T. professionals. It is not a reference to
teach OS X, but a guide for troubleshooting
problems in the operating system. ISBN
0-321-33547-3. $50.
The Photoshop CS2 Help Desk Book
(Peachpit Press 2005), by David Cross, is
an attempt to answer the most frequently
asked questions about this application.
The writing style is quick and to the
point, highlighting answers to specific
problems. This is an excellent reference
for all levels of Photoshop users. ISBN
0-321-33704-2. $35.
InDesign CS/CS2 KillerTips (New Riders
2005), by Scott Kelby and Terry White, is
a book with nothing but tips. They can
make the reader faster and more skillful
with this layout application that is beginning to dominate our industry. Full-color
graphics accompany each tip. This book
is an excellent reference for any InDesign
user. ISBN 0-321-33064-1. $30.
For more information on these books, as
well as other new titles available to newspaper designers, visit www.peachpit.com.
The Tennessee Press
DECEMBER 2005
Papers help communities with holidays help drives
HOW TO CONTACT US
Tennessee Press Association
Mail: 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Web: www.tnpress.com
E-mail: (name)@tnpress.com
Those with boxes, listed
alphabetically:
Laurie Alford (lalford)
Pam Corley (pcorley)
Moody Castleman
(mcastleman)
Angelique Dunn (adunn)
Beth Elliott (belliott)
Robyn Gentile (rgentile)
Kelley Hampton (khampton)
Kathy Hensley (khensley)
Barry Jarrell (bjarrell)
Brenda Mays (bmays)
Amanda Pearce (apearce)
Greg Sherrill (gsherrill)
Kevin Slimp (kslimp)
Advertising e-mail:
Knoxville office:
knoxads@tnpress.com
Tennessee Press Service
Mail: 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
--134 Heady Drive
Nashville, TN 37205
Phone: (615) 356-3914
Fax: (615) 356-3915
Web: www.tnpress.com
Tennessee Press
Association Foundation
Mail: 435 Montbrook Lane,
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Read
The Tennessee Press
—then pass it on!
3
THE PARIS POST-INTELLIGENCER
The advertising staff ofThe Paris Post-Intelligencer participates each year
in the Small Business Expo hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. This
year the theme was “Small Business, It’s no Mystery in Henry County.”
The staff decided on a Scooby Doo theme and adopted a slogan, “It’s no
mystery. All the Clues Are in the News. Read the daily P-I.” The staff fixed
up the circulation van as the Mystery Machine and arrived in style as they
made their grand entrance. “We were beat out by ‘CSI,’ but nonetheless,
our costumes have been the talk of the town,” said Laura Dougherty,
advertising director.
CONVENTION: Tracks offered
FROM PAGE ONE
Training will be offered on Feb. 10 for
newspaper staff members; however, the
time blocks and offerings have been
modified into tracks. Related topics
will fill half-day blocks, which are as
follows:
•Computer Lab Track
Part one: InDesign: the next level
Part two: More Photoshop Tips and
Tricks
•Design Track
Part one: Covering design theory
Part two: Design critique
•Editorial Track
Part one: Ethics in reporting
Part two: AP style
Part three: Roundtable on local
news issues
•Electronic Media Track
Part one: Blogs and newspapers
Part two: Web site strategies
•Legal Track
Part one: Covering open meetings/
records and shield law
Part two: Libel, privacy, HIPAA and
more
•Managers’ Track
Part one: Best revenue ideas for
advertising
Part two: Best revenue ideas for
circulation
Part three: Equipment/software
highlights by Kevin Slimp
•Managers’ Track 2
A moderated discussion on challenges facing newspapers
•Photography Track
Part one: Basics/settings
Part two: Equipment selection
Part three: Best practices discussion
The annual Legislative Reception will
be held on Feb. 8 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on
the hotel’s Legislative Terrace.
Tentative convention schedule
Wednesday, Feb. 8
Committee meetings
2:00 p.m. Board of Directors Meeting
TPA Business Session
TPA Foundation Board of
Trustees
5:30 p.m. Legislative Reception
Thursday, Feb. 9
9:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Legislative planning session
1:30-3:30 p.m. Senatorial debate
6:00 p.m. Reception
7:00 p.m. Banquet. Gov. Phil Bredesen
invited to speak
9:00 p.m. Dessert reception
Friday, Feb. 10
7:45 a.m. NIE program
9:00 a.m. Drive-In Training
Legal Track
Design Track
Photography Track
Managers’ Track
12 noon Lunch
1:45 p.m. Electronic Media Track
Editorial Track
Computer Lab Track
Managers’ Track 2
4:00 p.m. Convention adjourns
TPA will mail registration materials
in mid-December. Hotel reservations
may be made by calling the Sheraton
Nashville Downtown at (615) 259-2000.
TPA’s group rate is $119 plus tax. The
deadline for hotel and TPA early registration is Friday, Jan. 13.
Johnson City Press
Christmas Box
Now in its 25th
consecutive holiday season, the
Johnson City
Press Christmas
Box this year will
distribute food
boxes, including
turkeys, hams, all the fixings for a
Christmas feast and enough extras
for several additional meals, to 1,275
low-income households in the Johnson
City area.
In addition, the Christmas Box will
provide 1,625 hams for needy families
served by three neighboring holiday
food distributions conducted in the
newspaper’s circulation area.
Funded entirely by the donations of
its readers, the Johnson City Christmas
Box is conducted through a long-standing partnership with the local Salvation
Army’s annual holiday toys, clothing
and gift distribution for children, teens
and seniors, and more recently with our
local Marine Corps Reserve Toys for
Tots program. The joint distribution,
a large community affair involving
dozens of volunteers representing
each of the project partners, provides
a convenient means for needy families
and individuals to receive assistance
with both holiday food and gifts through
a single outlet.
Donations for the Christmas Box are
encouraged through a series of stories
published bi-weekly from Thanksgiving
weekend through the late December
distribution. The stories anonymously
featuring local families and the financial challenges they face, particularly
during the holidays.
The Johnson City Press covers all
administrative and operational costs of
the Christmas Box so that 100 percent of
donations go directly to food purchases.
Food City grocery stores provide a
substantial discountson food for the
project. Inland Container company
of Elizabethton donates boxes for the
distribution. And this year, Kroger
will the lend the use of an empty store
building for the two-day distribution
set for Dec. 19 and 20.
An estimated $30,000 will be needed
for this year’s Christmas Box. The
Christmas Box is a 501c3 not-for-profit
corporation, and donations are tax
deductible.
(Submitted by John Molley, editor,
Johnson City Press)
Cleveland Daily Banner
Rodgers Christmas Basket Fund
Last year, 980 families in the Cleveland-Bradley County area were given
food baskets from the William Hall
Rodgers Christmas Basket Fund, which
is promoted each year by the Cleveland
Daily Banner.
A record total of $22,000 was given for
the annual basket fund drive in 2004.
For many in Cleveland, a Christmas
basket from the William Hall Rodgers
Basket drive may be all they can look
forward to receiving for Christmas.
Members of the Cleveland-Bradley
County community, however, have a
reputation of caring and giving and
this has been demonstrated through the
years, so no one will go lacking.
Volunteers from First Baptist Church
handle the registration, which takes
place at the church. First Tennessee
Bank handles the receipt of donations,
and an account summary and list of
contributions is run regularly in the
Banner.
The Christmas basket fund was
started prior to World War II to fill the
need in Cleveland and Bradley County.
William Hall Rodgers’ family owned the
Cleveland Daily Banner. He was editor
until his death in 1942. The tradition of
promoting the drive to provide baskets
to the needy in the community was carried on by the Banner as a memorial
to Rodgers.
What began as the first food drive in
Cleveland has sparked others to do the
same, and through the years, the needy
of the community have been helped, not
only through the William Hall Rodgers
Christmas Basket Fund, but through
many projects promoted by churches
and organizations. The needs this year
are expected to exceed those of 2004,
so donations from the community will
be needed.
The first 2005 listing for the Basket
Fund included donations totaling more
than $1,000. This is cause for celebration. The goal for 2005 is $23,500.
(From the Cleveland Daily Banner,
Nov. 2 and 9, 2005)
Bristol Herald Courier
Santa Pal Program
BY DAVID McGEE
Herald Courier staff
The Santa Pal program, celebrating
its 80th year of helping needy children,
kicked off its fund-raising efforts
Nov. 13.
Established by a former Bristol Herald Courier editor,
Santa Pal allows
people to “adopt”
a child and provide him or her
toys and clothing
for Christmas.
It’s a registered nonprofit agency, and
the newspaper remains its primary
sponsor.
Cash donations go into a fund to help
children who don’t get adopted, or they
go into a companion Christmas Basket
Fund, which provides food to needy
families during the holidays….
Last year’s program raised donations
of about $34,000, enough to help 552 local
children from both Bristols and some
areas of Sullivan County in Tennessee
and Washington County in Virginia.
Two hundred forty-nine children were
adopted last year, compared to 266 the
year before.
This year, 345 local children from
kindergartners through eighth-graders
have qualified for the program—fewer
than usual….
Santa Pals, those who adopt children, receive wish lists of up to 10
items along with clothing sizes and a
contact telephone number. They may
deliver the gifts themselves and meet
the families they’re helping, or they
may have the Santa Pal organization
deliver the gifts.
Most spend $50 to $75 per child.
The families of the children not
adopted receive gift cards to the Kmart
store on West State St. Parents must use
the cards for children’s toys or clothing, and no items may be exchanged
for cash.
Qualifying families also receive food
baskets provided by Food City. They’ll be
delivered by Dec. 17 by members of the
Bristol Virginia Fire Department.
(Adapted from an article in the
Bristol Herald Courier, Nov. 13,
2005)
Drive-In Training
Friday, Feb. 10, 2006
Nashville, Tennessee
Registration and details at www.tn
www.tnpress.com
press.com
CMYK
The Tennessee Press
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The Tennessee Press
2
DECEMBER 2005
DECEMBER 2005
TPA fall business meetings
The Tennessee Press
15
INT sessions Oct. 10-13
PHOTOS BY ELENORA E. EDWARDS | TPS, EXCEPT AS NOTED
PHOTOS BY STEVE LAKE | PULASKI CITIZEN
Steve Lake presiding
John Reed, left, and Frank Gibson
The board meeting Nov. 12 in Knoxville
From left, Leanne Metz, Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association, Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada; Tina Kocher, Jackson Newspapers, Ripley, W.Va.; Lynn
Grillo, Adobe Systems, New York, N.Y.; and Deborah Goodwin, Selma
(Ala.) Times-Journal.
Lisa Griffin, Ray Davis Co., Selma, Ala., and Deborah Goodwin,
Selma (Ala.) Times-Journal
Alan Mores, Harlan Newspapers, Harlan,
Iowa
Don McFarland
Bill Williams, Pauline Sherrer and Mike Fishman review
newspapers applying for TPA membership.
TPAF President W.R. (Ron) Fryar, left, presents a $10,000 check to TPA
President Steve Lake for funding of the 2006 Legal Hotline.
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From left, Lawanda Fralix, Lewisburg; BlytheTomilson, Pulaski;
Danette Williams, Shelbyville; and Scott Stewart, Pulaski
Lu Shep Baldwin
Henry Stokes
Clockwise from left, John McNair, UT; Lisa Griffin, Ray Davis Co., Selma, Ala.; Deborah Goodwin; Wendy
Stewart, Elizabethton Star; and Nathan Simpson, The Kentucky Standard, Bardstown, Ky.
STEVE LAKE | PULASKI CITIZEN
R. Jack Fishman
At luncheon, from left, Greg Sherrill, Robyn Gentile, John Clark,
Gregory Reed, Dorothy Bowles and Charles Primm. Reed is interim
dean of the UT College of Communication and Information. The
group, including TPA President Steve Lake, met Nov. 10 to review
the relationship between UT and TPA.
STEVE LAKE | PULASKI CITIZEN
Kevin Slimp, Joe Albrecht, Ron Fryar
Mike Williams, Pauline Sherrer, Rick Hollow
Karl Kuntz, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
UT-Memphis game
PHOTOS BY ROBYN GENTILE | TPA
Russell Viers,
Kansas City,
Mo.
Pride of the
Southland
Band
From left, John Lyon, Pauline Sherrer, Annette Hurd and Joe Hurd;
foreground, Amanda Hill Bond and Chris Bond
Emily Boswell, Victor Parkins and Jordan Parkins
Michael Williams, Ann Williams, Bill Williams, Mike Alford,
Patrick Alford
Kevin Slimp speaks while David Leamon, Times Beacon Record Newspapers, East Setauket, N.Y., left, and Scott
Stewart, Pulaski Citizen, listen.
Karl Kuntz, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
Wendy Stewart,
Elizabethton
Star, and Nathan
S i m p s o n ,
T h e Ke n t u ck y
Standard,
Bardstown, Ky.
The Tennessee Press
16
DECEMBER 2005
Mailings coming from TPA
something additional, someone can call
Robyn Gentile, (865) 584-5761, or e-mail
her at rgentile@tnpress.com.
Free flow
“The signing away of First Amendment rights continues unabated.”
Angus Mackenzie
Journalism professor, 1993
Editors, reporters
and ad staff members,
heads up!
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1
Yesterday would’ve been a good day
to begin reserving copies
of editorial matter, photos and ads
that might be entered
in the
2006 UT-TPA State Press Contests.
If you didn’t do that, how about today?
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No. 6
DECEMBER 2005
Vol. 69
Happy Holidays
from our Staff!
Yesterday would’ve been a good day
to begin reserving copies
of ad and circulation materials
that might be entered
in the
Advertising/Circulation Ideas Contest.
If you didn’t do that, how about today?
The deadline for entry
is coming in less than
two months—Jan. 20!
C
BY ELENORA E. EDWARDS
Managing editor
M
It was a tie when judging of The Tennessee Press’s Third Annual Be Kind to
Editors Contest took place. One of the
winners was the Chattanooga Times
Free Press, where co-workers of Chris
Vass, weekend editor, rallied behind her
in a personal battle.
Chris, 46, was diagnosed several
weeks ago with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. Still, she
has worked full time at the newspaper
in addition to her roles as wife of John
Vass and mother of Jay, 11. John, by the
way, is business editor of the Times
Free Press.
Chris’ coworkers—reporters, editors
and photographers—became Team
Accounting
Seated: Brenda Mays, accounting services
representative and Kathy Hensley, accounting
services representative
Standing: Laurie Alford, business controller
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Clipping
Seated: Mary Byers, reader and Brenda
Leek, tabber
Standing: Jeanie Bell, reader; Beth Elliott,
network advertising manager/ clipping
bureau manager; Holly Craft, reader and
Linda Johnson, reader
The deadline for entry
is coming in less than
three months—Feb. 18!
Ad and circulation
staff members,
heads up!
Times Free Press ties
in Be Kind to Editors
Contest; team aids Race
TPA members vote down proposal
on new membership category
CHAD SCHAIVE | CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS
(Above) Team Chris, coworkers of Chris Vass, weekend editor of
the Chattanooga Times Free Press, participated in the Race for
the Cure in her honor.The team was made up of reporters, editors
and photographers at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. From
left are, back row, Bob Gary, Michael Davis, Christina Cooke,
Dorie Turner, Angie Herrington, Beverly Carroll, Ian Berry, Emily
Berry and Katrina Gonzales; front row, Angela Lewis, Megan
Setlich, Stacey Wysong and Judy Walton. Participating but not
pictured were Trevor Higgins and John Vass. (Right) Chris herself
and her son, Jay, were in the Race.
Advertising
Seated: Barry Jarrell, director of
advertising and Moody Castleman, new business development
manager
Standing: Amanda Pearce, print
media buyer; Pam Corley, senior
print media buyer; Kelley Hampton, print media buyer and Jackie
Roberson, tearsheeter
See Page 3 for info about holiday help
drives by Tennessee newspapers.
ANGELA LEWIS | CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS
Member Services
Seated: Robyn Gentile, member
services manager and Angelique
Dunn, administrative assistant
Standing: Kevin Slimp, director
of technology and Greg Sherrill,
executive director
Inset: Elenora Edwards, managing editor,
The Tennessee
Press
Chris and participated in the Sept. 25
Race for the Cure in Chattanooga and
raised $400 to be contributed to the Susan Komen Foundation in Vass’ name.
Vass participated in the Race herself.
Dorie Turner, a metro reporter,
submitted the Times Free Press’ entry.
“Chris is a vibrant, energetic person,
something that hasn’t changed even
in the face of breast cancer,” Turner
said.
The winner announced earlier was
The Jackson Sun, which honored 13 editors with notes of appreciation and an
“Our Editors Top It Off ” celebration.
The Tennessee Press managing editor and the member services manager,
Robyn Gentile, will arrange treats for
both newspapers in coming weeks.
Members of Tennessee Press Association (TPA) have nixed a proposal to
admit free-circulation publications to
associate membership.
Don McFarland of McFarland &
Gann, a Jefferson City accounting firm,
announced the results of a full-membership vote Nov. 12 at a meeting of the TPA
Board of Directors in Knoxville.
McFarland presented the following
report:
Number of ballots mailed to newspapers: 129
Ballots returned by deadline: 86
Ballots for the proposal: 39
Ballots against the proposal: 47
Voting took place during July and
August, with ballots being submitted to
and tabulated by the accounting firm.
This was the first full-membership
vote taken by TPA, and it was made
possible by amendment, in February,
of the constitution and bylaws. The
proposal to take the vote was approved
June 23 at the TPA Summer Convention
in Kingsport.
Plans for Press Institute and Winter Convention taking shape
BY ROBYN GENTILE
Member services manager
Feb. 8-10, 2006—
mark these dates
on your calendar
and make a commitment to participate
in the 2006 Press
Institute and Winter Convention.
Why? “The Press
Albrecht
Institute and Winter Convention has
long been our organization’sbest meeting of the year,” Jay Albrecht, publisher
INSIDE
of The Covington Leader and chairman
of the 2006 Press Institute and Winter
Convention Committee,” pointed out.
“Not only is it a perfect opportunity to
see colleagues from around the state,
but it will certainly be one of our best
group training sessions of the year
as well. We will have many exciting
training options during the 2006 Friday
Drive-In Training event, and we will
have a large number of legislators on
hand for our very important annual
Legislative Reception.
“If you’re looking for a large bang for
your buck, this is the meeting to attend.
I hope to see everyone in Nashville this
PRESIDENT’S COLUMN 4-5
FALL BOARD PHOTOS
2
CONTESTS
HINES
3
6
February.” he said.
Albrecht and members of the committee have finalized most of the convention details, and this is what is being
offered for you and your staff.
Legislative planning session
Publishers, editors, state editors
and government and political reporters
should plan to attend the first-ever Tennessee Legislative Planning Session
sponsored by The Associated Press
and the Tennessee Press Association on
Thursday, Feb. 9. The event will focus
on issues before the 2006 General Assembly and the 2006 U.S. Senate race.
The legislative session will include key
NIE CURRENTS
GIBSON
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legislative leaders who will outline
their agendas for the upcoming session. Invited participants include Gov.
Phil Bredesen, House Speaker Jimmy
Naifeh, Lt. Gov. John Wilder, Sen. Ron
Ramsey and other top leaders. Those
attending this session also will get to
hear from candidates seeking the U.
S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen.
Bill Frist.
“The Senate forum will be the first
time all the candidates will have the
opportunity to gather in one location to
outline their positions and answer questions about the most pressing issues of
the day,” Adam Yeomans, AP Tennessee
SLIMP
INT PHOTOS
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DETAILS
What: 2006 TPA Press Institute and
Winter Convention
When: Wednesday-Friday,Feb. 8-10
Where: Sheraton Nashville
Downtown
Deadline: Friday, Jan. 13
bureau chief, Brentwood, a member of
the committee, noted.
Revamped Drive-In Training
SEE CONVENTION, PAGE 3
IN CONTACT
Phone: (865) 584-5761
Fax: (865) 558-8687
Online: www.tnpress.com
CMYK
Be on the lookout for two mailings
this month from the Tennessee Press
Association.
Statements for 2006 dues, along with
press cards and auto decals, and will
be mailed first. Toward the end of the
month, TPA will mail directories and
strip calendars.
As always, if a newspaper needs