April 2008
Missouri Advertising
4
Managers’ Association
will meet May 8-9 at the
Hilton Promenade Hotel
in Branson. Mike Blinder,
below, will be the featured presenter. Send in
nominations for the Old
Pro Award.
Regular Features
President 2
Obituaries 8
On the Move
10
Scrapbook 12
NIE Report 16
Jean Maneke 18
Headquarters gets buffed up
Missouri Press Association’s building in Columbia is being tuckpointed and cleaned.
Up Locust Street on the left is the historic Missouri Theater. It is being renovated
into a performing arts center for the community. (More photos on page 17.)
Missouri Press News, April 2008
www.mopress.com
Missouri well represented in D.C.
M
15 MPAers attend Government Affairs Conference in March
issouri was well represented at the Newspaper As- answering our questions and commenting on the race for the
sociation of America’s Government Affairs Con- Democrat presidential nomination. McCaskill, if you recall,
ference in Washington, D.C., March 5-7. Fifteen was one of the first in Congress to endorse Sen. Obama, and
Missouri newspaper people attended in addition to the NNA she is lavish with her praise for him. She did mention that she
folks from Columbia. That was close to if not the most of is taking considerable heat from women’s advocacy groups for
any state represented.
not supporting Sen. Clinton.
Like last year, the weather cooperated, providing reasonably
In another area, the weather did not
warm temperatures. The only challenge was the
cooperate in February for GAC, Day
wind, which, on Saturday as we left (or tried to
the AP/MPA Day at the
leave) closed Reagan National Airport.
Capitol. Sleet and freezing at Capitol
Things were further complicated when the
rain covered the Jeff City
inbound plane that we were supposed to fly on
area the night before and help us
encountered severe turbulence on approach. A
made travel treacherous.
flight attendant and one passenger were injured,
About 80 brave souls did tell the
and the plane was damaged to the point our
make the trek, however.
flight was cancelled. That meant another long
They heard Gary Forsee, story of
wait, a flight to Chicago where it was snowing,
the new president of the
another wait, and finally the last leg to St. Louis,
University of Missouri sys- newswhere we arrived about 11:30 p.m. That made
tem, talk about his plans.
for a long day for this old man.
The group also heard papers.
Jack Whitaker
The conference was good, with interesting
from all of the statewide
Hannibal Courier-Post
speakers on Thursday, the traditional Capitol
officeholders who could
MPA President
Hill visits Thursday afternoon, and tours/briefget to Jeff City: Att. Gen. Jay Nixon, U.S. Rep.
ings at the State Department and the National
and candidate for governor Kenny Hulshof, State
Archives.
Auditor Susan Montee and Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.
highlight of the meeting was a session with Theodore Soren- Unable to attend the meeting because of weather were State
son, former adviser to President John F. Kennedy. Now Treasurer Sarah Steelman and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.
80, Mr. Sorenson is frail but sharp as a tack. He shared some
wonderful lunch was served at the Governor’s Mansion,
insights into the Kennedy years, including the Bay of Pigs and
followed by comments from Gov. Matt Blunt. Then
the standoff with the Soviet Union over missiles in Cuba. He Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons, House Minority
was also free with his thoughts on the current administration Leader Paul LeVota and House Speaker Rod Jetton answered
and the Democrat Party fight for the Presidential nomination. our questions.
He supports Barack Obama, by the way.
The Government Affairs Conference and Day at the Capitol
We were not able to see all of our representatives and sena- are two ways we can work with our elected officials to bring our
tors, but we did meet with Sen. Claire McCaskill. She came message of open government directly to those who can make
out into the Senate anteroom from presiding over the Senate a difference. Plan to attend one or both of these important
and spent close to 30 minutes discussing current legislation, events next year.
A
A
VOL. 76, NO. 4
APRIL 2008
Official Publication of
Missouri Press
Association, Inc.
PRESIDENT: Jack Whitaker,
Hannibal Courier-Post
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT: Vicki Russell,
Columbia Daily Tribune
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT: Sandy Nelson,
Cass County Democrat-Missourian, Harrisonville
SECRETARY: Brad Gentry, Houston Herald
TREASURER: Kate Martin,
Perry County Republic-Monitor
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Doug Crews
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR: Greg Baker
EDITOR: Kent M. Ford
DIRECTORS: David Bradley, Jr.,
St. Joseph News-Press
Kevin Jones, St. Louis American
Dan Wehmer, Webster County Citizen, Seymour
Mark Maassen, The Kansas City Star
Joe May, Mexico Ledger
Jon Rust, Cape Girardeau
Southeast Missourian
Dennis Warden, Gasconade County Republican
NNA REPRESENTATIVE: Jeff Schrag,
Springfield Daily Events
MISSOURI PRESS NEWS (ISSN 00266671) is published every month for $7.50 per year by the Missouri Press Association, Inc., 802 Locust St., Columbia, MO
65201-4888; phone (573) 449-4167; fax (573) 874-5894; e-mail dcrews@socket.net; website www.mopress.com. Periodicals postage paid at Columbia, MO 652014888. (USPS No. 355620). POSTMASTER: Please send changes of address to Missouri Press Association, 802 Locust St., Columbia, MO 65201-4888.
Missouri Press News, April 2008
www.mopress.com
Go ONLINE now to book your next event and help the MPA Foundation!
www.ytbtravel.com/mopa
Missouri Press News, April 2008
www.mopress.com
3
Mike Blinder featured presenter
for May 8-9 meeting in Branson
M
ike Blinder, who spoke at the MPA
Convention in St. Louis last fall,
will be the featured presenter at the May
8-9 meeting of the Missouri Advertising
Managers’ Association (MAMA). The
ad group will meet Thursday afternoon
and Friday morning at the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing (photo).
Blinder is known internationally
for his expertise in media, sales and
marketing. He has more than 20 years
of experience in radio and television
management.
In the late 1990s he played a key role
in the emerging e-commerce industry
as a senior vice president at a major international internet
application service
company. He spoke
at seminars throughout the country.
In 1999 he formed
The Blinder Group,
a consulting firm
Mike Blinder
that helps businesses
develop successful sales and marketing
strategies. The Blinder Group performs
training, designs sales programs and
conducts seminars for clients all over
the world.
Blinder recently toured the country
for the Newspaper Association of America as a small market interactive revenue
specialist. In that capacity, he spoke at
MPA’s Convention last fall.
This will be a great opportunity for
all of MPA’s member newspapers to get
some excellent advertising training.
Blinder will have Friday’s program.
He’ll begin at 8 a.m. with an overview
of the current state of the advertising
industry and of the best practices for
online infrastructure. Later in the morning his topics will be best practices of
online deployments and local sales for
those deployments.
Nominate ‘Old Pro’ for award
W
ho on your newspaper’s ad staff deserves to be recognized for years of
hard work and creativity?
Nominate that person for Missouri Advertising Managers’ Association’s
Dee Hamilton Old Pro Award.
This award honors a newspaper advertising person who has been in the
business for a number of years and has demonstrated integrity and excellence
in newspaper advertising or marketing.
The award will be presented at the May 8-9 meeting of the Ad Managers’
Association in Branson.
Send nomination notes and documentation to Greg Baker at Missouri
Press, gbaker@socket.net, Missouri Press Association, 802 Locust St., Columbia, MO 65201.
Last year MAMA honored Kevin Jones of the St. Louis American with
the Old Pro Award. The award is named in memory of Dee Hamilton, an
advertising director from the Buffalo Reflex.
4
www.mopress.com
Ad Managers’ board
leads session agenda
O
fficers and directors of the Missouri
Advertising Managers’ Association
will have a board meeting and lunch
beginning at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 8,
in the meeting hotel. Registration for
the general meeting will begin at noon
in the hotel lobby.
At 2 p.m., MPA’s legal hotline counselor Jean Maneke will talk about legal
issues affecting advertising. That will
be followed by a presentation by Greg
Baker, MPA’s
advertising director.
Better Ad
Contest awards
will be presented at 3 p.m.
Dinner and
entertainment
that evening
will be at Ernie
Briggs Dueling Piano Bar near the
hotel.
Registration information and an agenda for the program have been mailed to
MPA members and they have been in the
MPA Bulletin. They also can be found
on mopress.com.
If you have questions about the meeting, contact MPA’s meeting planner
Kristie Williams at kwilliams@socket.
net or (573) 449-4167.
MA
MA
Register online for
Centennial Golf Classic
R
egistrations already are arriving for
the MPA/Missouri School of Journalism Centennial Classic golf outing in
Columbia on Sept. 10.
This event, to be hosted by Missouri
Press, is the opening event of the School
of Journalism Centennial observance.
You can register for the golf outing, to
be held at A.L. Gustin Golf Course, at
golfdigestplanner.com/3421-MPAGolfOuting/.
Cost for the four-person scramble is
$50, which includes all fees and a box
lunch. You may register as an individual
or you can put a team together. Tee-off
will be at 10 a.m. You can pay online or
request an invoice be sent.
Missouri Press News, April 2008
Editors groups will gather June 12-13
P
Show-Me Press to welcome MSNE, APME to Lake Ozark
rogram details are shaping up for
the first joint meeting on June 1213 of Show-Me Press Association
with the Missouri Society of Newspaper
Editors (MSNE) and Associated Press Managing
Editors (APME).
The meeting will begin on Thursday, June
12, with the Porter Fisher
Golf Classic. The shotgun tee-off for the
four-person scramble will be at 8 a.m. at
Sycamore Creek Golf Course in Osage
Send nominations
for Newspaper,
Photo Halls of Fame
G
et your nominations in now for the
Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame
and the Missouri Photojournalism Hall
of Fame.
Nomination forms for both Halls of
Fame are at mopress.com. Or contact
the MPA office and ask that forms be
emailed, mailed or faxed to you.
Newspaper Hall of Fame nominations
must be in by April 30. Photojournalism Hall of Fame nominations must be
in by May 1.
Those deadlines are a few weeks away,
but don’t put off doing your part. Nominations should include more than just
the completed form. Include as much
material as you can to document your
nominee’s contribution to Missouri’s
newspaper or photojournalism heritage.
Include photos if you can, and letters
from other people supporting your
nomination.
Nominees who are not selected will
remain in consideration by the induction committees for two more years.
(If you have nominated someone in
the past who was not selected, contact
Missouri Press to be sure your nomination remains active. You can provide
additional documentation to support a
past nominee if you like.)
Missouri Press News, April 2008
Beach. Lunch will be provided at the
clubhouse after golf.
Registration for the meeting will
begin at 2 p.m. at the Resort at Port
Arrowhead.
Transportation in Missouri will be the
first topic on the
agenda. At 3 p.m.,
Laurie Marble, community relations,
and Pete Rahn, director, both of the
Missouri Department of Transportation, will take the floor.
Jean Maneke, Missouri Press Association’s legal hotline counselor, will talk
about current law topics at 4:30. She
will be followed by Gary Sosniecki, who
will speak on “10 Tips for a Profitable
Website.”
MSNE will hold a board meeting at
Brokers
5:30.
A dinner cruise aboard the Tropic
Island will depart Port Arrowhead at
6:30.
On Friday, June 13, Show-Me Press
and MSNE will have their business meetings at 7:45 a.m.
Candidates for governor
will be invited to participate in a forum beginning at 9 a.m.
The 11:15 session
will be “Recalibrating
Local News and How AP Can Help.”
That will be followed by the AP Awards
Luncheon.
After lunch, information about the
Missouri School of Journalism’s Centennial Celebration will be presented, and
new UM System President Gary Forsee
will be introduced.
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(417) 336-3457
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EXPERIENCE
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KNOWLEDGE
INTEGRITY
5
New travel website
offers full service,
gives to Foundation
M
Visiting in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, (left), Springfield, the minority whip in the House of Representatives,
visits with Bill Miller, Washington Missourian, and Dave Berry, Neighbor Newspapers,
Bolivar, during the National Newspaper Association’s Government Affairs Conference
in March. Bill Miller’s wife, Jackie, also attended the Conference.
Chatting with U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, Kansas City, during the Government Affairs
Conference are Richard Gard, Missouri Lawyers Media, St. Louis; Missouri Press
Association President Jack Whitaker, Hannibal Courier-Post; and Vicki Russell, Columbia
Daily Tribune. Other Missouri Press Association members who attended the GAC were
Whitaker’s wife, Sarah; Russell’s husband, Hank Waters; Dave and Suzi Bradley of St.
Joseph, Jim and Nancy Sterling of Columbia; Jeff Schrag, Springfield Daily Events; and
MPA Executive Director Doug Crews and his wife, Tricia.
MPA seeks papers from 1908 for display
M
issouri Press Association is planning to display an exhibit of Missouri newspapers this September during
the Missouri School of Journalism’s
100th anniversary celebration.
The exhibit will include selected
newspapers with front pages from
September 1908 and September 2008,
displayed side-by-side.
MPA newspapers whose archives
6
contain original copies of issues from
September 1908 (as near to Sept. 12 as
possible) are asked to send ONE copy
to Missouri Press Association, Attn:
Centennial Display, 802 Locust Street,
Columbia, MO 65201.
The copies will be returned after
the September event. Thank you for
your interest and cooperation in this
project.
www.mopress.com
issouri Press has a new program
to help members book travel arrangements while generating revenue for
Missouri Press Foundation.
MoPress Travel Assist is a complete,
full-featured travel website with Missouri
Press Association’s name and logo. You
can use it for everything from buying
event tickets to renting a car, booking a
flight or arranging an entire vacation.
MoPress Travel Assist offers discounts
on all of your travel needs. At the same
time, all bookings result in contributions
to Missouri Press Foundation.
Check out the website now to see
what this new program has to offer:
ytbtravel.com/mopa.
Every time someone arranges travel or
travel-related services through a website,
travel companies pay commissions for
the purchases. When travel or other
purchases are made through MoPress
Travel Assist, Missouri Press Foundation
receives a portion of the commission.
Missouri Press will make its travel
arrangements through this new service
and encourages its members to do the
same.
The site works like other travel websites. Some of the key features:
• Air, hotel, car rental search and
booking
• Vacation packages
• Cruise packages
• Ordering flowers
• Ordering event and game tickets
• Last-minute travel deals
• Group travel specialist
You, your family and other organizations you are involved with can use
this site whenever travel arrangements,
reservations or tickets are needed. It’s not
just for Missouri Press activities; it’s for
everything and everyone.
So remember, the next time you need
to rent a car, make a hotel reservation,
reserve a flight or plan a vacation, do
it through MoPress Travel Assist. Save
money and help the Missouri Press
Foundation at the same time.
Bookmark the website today: ytbtravel.com/mopa.
Missouri Press News, April 2008
Former alderman
appreciates paper
being watchdog
(This is from a letter to the editor of
the Call Newspapers in St. Louis.)
o the editor:
… Crestwood’s citizens need the
reporting of the Call if for nothing else
than to keep the current city government
honest and from breaking the promises
they made to the voters. Why?
Just recall the recent events surrounding the excessive use of the notopen-to-the-public executive sessions,
the change in the Civil Service rules
regarding an employee’s freedom to
speak to the press and it becomes clear to
any normal thinking person that in the
last three years Crestwood has stopped
allowing access by its citizens to their
government.
Remember the ever-changing budget
numbers from week to week since September 2007. Remember Crestwood’s
financial adviser … saying that it is
“critical” that an actual number is agreed
to for the excess in the general fund.
Remember the mayor stating that the
city doesn’t need a tax increase.
Remember that and remind those in
charge of that when you attend the city’s
town hall meetings because I am sure the
Call will in their pages.
Tim Trueblood,
Crestwood
Call Editor’s note: Mr. Trueblood served
as a Ward 2 alderman for the city from
1993 to 2006. He was unable to seek reelection due to term limits.
T
Southeast Missouri Press
moves meeting to May 30
B
ecause of a schedule conflict, Southeast Missouri Press Association has
changed the date of its annual meeting
from June 13 to Friday, May 30.
The meeting will be at the University
Center at Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau.
May 12-13 is the date of the joint
meeting of Ozark Press Association, Missouri Society of Newspaper Editors and
AP Managing Editors at Lake Ozark.
Missouri Press News, April 2008
Writing the date for today’s column has reminded
me that I have been writing for one small newspaper
or another for fifty-odd years, inspired by something
my brother said.
My brother, who was in the south Pacific during
WWII stationed on a minesweeper; a lonely islandto-island job in that scorching place where the event of
the month was a destroyer bringing supplies and mail.
He said that the small town newspapers were passed on,
read aloud, laughed over, traded, and quoted for weeks.
He said, “It was like everybody on that sweltering old ship was
from the same town.”
… I was so impressed by his description, I tried writing for a little
newspaper in 1953, The Salem Post, published by Bob Van Pelt. Bob didn’t
really need me, but I was a friend of his son’s, and he hired me to write a
feature story. “People move away,” he told me, “but they still subscribe.
Write something fun to bring their minds back home.”
That was the best advice I ever had, and I have followed it one way
or another for 55 years now. I have traveled in good company with all
the good-natured correspondents every small town paper has, to let an
editor feel the pulse of where he lives and listen to the down-home sound
of how people talk.
My own best gift was to remember that last part, which reminds me
of another thing Bob said, “A ‘Letters to the editor column’ is the heart
of any newspaper — it means somebody thinks you matter.”
There used to be a word for small town newspaper editors—wordsmiths, a fine descriptive term my dad used. I liked to hear him say that,
because I think it reminded him that his own father was a blacksmith, a
man who also forged things that would last and people could trust.
In this age of shotgun peppered news and information in your face all
day and night, I still like my brother’s story of those long gone sailors,
swapping papers with glee an ocean away from us, sure that anyplace in
America was what they all called home.
—from the Shannon County Current Wave, Eminence
Seneca News-Dispatch gets gift from past
A
very fragile 104-year-old book has
found its way back to Seneca, its
original home.
Diane Friend, publisher of the Seneca
News-Dispatch, received a call in January
about a book that had belonged to the
late Bob Thomas. It was a bound volume
of copies of the News-Dispatch that were
printed in 1903-04.
“Bob always said his first job was
emptying waste baskets at the Seneca
www.mopress.com
News-Dispatch,” said his widow, Judy.
Thomas kept the book in a plastic
bag as he moved about. After he died a
couple of years ago the book was stored
among his personal items.
A granddaughter found the book
recently and asked her mother what to
do with it. They decided to give it to the
News-Dispatch.
—Seneca News-Dispatch
7
Obituaries
Sedalia
Susan Fischer
S
usan Fischer, 48, a columnist for The
Sedalia Democrat, died at her home
of brain cancer on Feb. 27, 2008.
Mrs. Fischer was a graduate of McCluer High School in Florissant, earned
a journalism degree at MU and a master’s
in English at Central Missouri State in
1996. She worked in the public relations
department at CMSU in the mid-1990s
and taught writing classes.
She had worked briefly as a reporter
for the Suburban Journals in St. Louis,
and wrote a column for The Democrat
from 2005 to 2007.
Survivors include her husband, Joe;
three daughters, two brothers and six
sisters.
St. Louis
E
Edward W. O’Brien
dward W. O’Brien, 92, a longtime
Washington bureau chief and columnist for the old St. Louis Globe-Democrat, died of congestive heart failure on
March 3, 2008, at his home in Bethesda,
Md.
Mr. O’Brien joined the Globe-Democrat in 1954 and covered politics, the
military and the region’s congressional
delegation for 30 years before retiring in
1984. In 1981 he was president of the
Gridiron Club in Washington.
Among survivors are his wife of 59
years, Marian; a daughter, a son and two
grandchildren.
Neosho
J
James Burrows
ames Lawrence Burrows, 59, a reporter and photographer for the
Neosho Daily News for 22 years, died
of heart disease on March 5, 2008. He
was employed by Newton County at the
time of his death.
J School centennial site
Details of the School of Journalism
Centennial Celebration can be found at:
journalism.missouri.edu/e-blast/.
8
Group works on newspaper marketing campaign
This group of Missouri Press members met with Mark and Eleanor Farnen, far right in the
back, on March 13 in the MPA office. The Farnens are developing a marketing program
that Missouri newspapers will be able to use. Participating, from left, MPA Executive
Director Doug Crews, MPA Ad Director Greg Baker, Jennifer Vanderpool and Vicki Russell,
Columbia Daily Tribune, Joe May, Mexico Ledger; the Farnens, Dave Berry, Neighbor
Newspapers; Jane Haberberger and Dawn Kitchell, Washington Missourian.
Man ‘got hooked’ on old papers;
writes history of Pineville people
I
n 1960, James Reed inherited a stack
of newspapers that towered over his
six-foot-plus frame. He hauled them to
Tulsa, Okla., where they languished in
his attic for 20 years.
“I meant to look at them when I had
the time,” Reed told a writer for McDonald County Newspapers.
The newspapers were printed in the
1800s by Reed’s great-great-grandfather,
Claiborne “Claib” Duval, editor of the
Pineville Herald, the only newspaper in
McDonald County at the time.
In 1980 Reed took a closer look at the
eight-foot stack of newspapers.
“I got curious, and I got hooked,”
he said.
For the next six years, Reed produced
a hand-written, 3,000-page work called
“Pineville and Its People.” It followed
the lives of more than 80 families from
1883 to 1942.
Now a resident of Powell in eastern
McDonald County, Reed dedicates
several hours a day to reviewing the old,
fragile newspapers and producing a series
of books called “A Unique Little History
of McDonald County, Missouri.”
Each volume is a year’s worth of news
gathered from Duval’s column titled
“Pineville News.”
“The newspapers I inherited are in
www.mopress.com
pretty good condition and the collection
is almost complete. I’m only missing a
few issues from each year,” Reed said.
Now retired, his goal is to trans c r i b e f o u r v o l u m e s a y e a r.
Among the entries:
“Jan. 11, 1884—The cold that struck
us so suddenly last week was much more
severe on our northern neighbors. At
Pleasant Hill the thermometers marked
30 degrees below zero. Two children
were frozen to death. A carload of 14
mules on the L&S R.R. were frozen to
death and two carloads of cattle were
frozen to death between Pleasant Hill
and Nevada …
“Jan. 14, 1884—Last Wednesday
night two girl-loving boys brought their
girls to the reading society, then took
them to the drug store to treat them.
After setting up the cigars, a pound of
candy, and various other things, they
called for a dram, but the boy who kept
the drug store very prudently refused to
let them have it, for fear it would make
them so sick they couldn’t get home, as
they were already very sick from love.”
“I’m midway through with 1887,”
Reed said. “I figure this endeavor will
keep me busy for the next 15 years. I’ll
finish this when I’m 77!”
—Southwest City Republic
Missouri Press News, April 2008
K.C. Star names
Zieman publisher
M
ark Zieman, editor of The Kansas
City Star since mid-1997, has
been named publisher of the newspaper.
He succeeds Mac
Tully, who resigned
in February to join
Denver-based MediaNews Group.
The McClatchy
Co., The Star’s owner since early 2006,
appointed Zieman,
who served as inMark Zieman
terim publisher since
Tully’s departure. Zieman said he would
hire an editor to replace him as soon as
possible.
Zieman, 47, joined The Star in 1986
after working in the Houston bureau
of The Wall Street Journal for two years.
In 1989 he became editor of The Star’s
projects desk, where he oversaw an examination of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture that won a Pulitzer Prize in
the spring of 1992.
He became managing editor for news
in 1992 and was promoted to editor of
the newspaper five years later.
—The Kansas City Star
Reporter docked pay
for playing at event
D
avid Knopf, a reporter and editor for The Kansas City Star, was
suspended for a day after he played his
guitar at a city councilman’s fundraiser
in February. The Star considered it a
violation of its code of ethics.
Knopf was hired to play at the 55th
birthday celebration of Councilman
Ed Ford. Guests were encouraged to
donate $50 or more to Ford’s campaign
committee.
Knopf did not contribute or help
organize the event, but The Star’s code
limits journalists’ participation in public
political events and generally prohibits
staff from working at fundraising events.
He returned the money he received for
performing to the event’s organizer.
—from The Kansas City Star
Missouri Press News, April 2008
Another Triple Crown for Star
T
he Kansas City Star’s Sports Daily
section has captured another Triple
Crown — a top-10 ranking in daily section, Sunday section and special section.
Judging by The Associated Press Sports
Editors was done in Orlando.
It was The Star’s second straight
Triple Crown and its third since 2003.
No other paper with circulation over
250,000 won the Triple Crown this year.
The Star also won nine top-10 writing
awards.
•Joe Posnanski and Jason Whitlock
placed in the top 10 for column writing,
the second time in the past three years
they have done so.
•Bill Reiter and Blair Kerkhoff won
in the explanatory stories category for
pieces on the MU-KU rivalry.
•In feature writing, Sam Mellinger
won for a story about figure skater Tonya
Harding, Posnanski placed for a story
from Japan about Royals manager Trey
Hillman, and Reiter won for a profile of
a Royals prospect.
•In the game-story category, Posnanski won for his story about Zach Johnson
winning the Masters golf championship,
and Reiter won for a story about a drag
race.
•In project reporting, The Star won
a top-10 ranking for a package that
examined the influence of money in
football. Contributing to that project
were Candace Buckner, Randy Covitz,
Kerkhoff, Jason King, J. Brady McCollough, Mellinger, Posnanski, Reiter,
Howard Richman, Adam Teicher and
Mechelle Voepel.
During the past five years, The Star
has won more top-10 awards than any
other paper in the 250,000 and over
circulation division.
Its award in the special section category was for a preview devoted to
pitching aces.
—from The Kansas City Star
T
hese individuals and businesses have made recent contributions to
Missouri Press Foundation. Their generosity will help the Foundation continue its educational programs and its support of projects
that promote Missouri newspapers and newspaper people.
A donation to the Foundation in honor or in memory of an associate or
friend is an eloquent way to recognize the person’s contributions.
A pledge to the Foundation Builders program, which is a four-year
commitment, helps ensure that Foundation efforts will continue in the
future.
Donations to Newspapers In Education programs are directed back to
the donor’s local newspaper to support its NIE efforts.
All donations to the Foundation are deeply appreciated.
Newspapers In Education
Kay Hazel, Washington, for the Missourian
In Education Program and Book Buzz
Photojournalism Hall of Fame
Mr. and Mrs. William L. Miller, Washington
www.mopress.com
9
On the Move
• Park Hills — Angel Wofford and
Early Brewer are the new circulation
managers for the Park Hills Daily Journal. Both previously were district managers for the paper. Wofford now handles
Early Brewer
Angel Wofford
subscription sales and distribution for
the Daily Journal and the Farmington
Press, working out of the Farmington
Press office. Brewer, working in Park
Hills, handles customer service.
Wofford and Brewer are natives of the
Park Hills area and have known each
other most of their lives. Before joining
the Daily Journal in 2006 they worked
together in a dental lab.
Jessica James
• Versailles — Jessica James has joined
the staff of the Versailles Leader-Statesman as a reporter.
After graduating
from Versailles High
School in 2002,
James attended Missouri Valley College
in Marshall, where
she studied English.
• Mound City — Pat McGee and
Karen Cowan have joined the Mound
City News. McGee, of Big Lake, is the
receptionist and office manager. Cowan,
of Fairfax, is a proofreader with experience in radio and public relations. She
was raised in Massachusetts and has lived
in Colorado and Alaska, where her husband was a big-game hunting guide.
• Sullivan — Marty Tiefenbrunn has
been hired as the sports editor of the
Independent News. He is a 1977 graduate
of Sullivan High School, attended East
10
Central College and earned a degree in
marketing management from Southwest Missouri State University. He has
been very active in local youth athletic
programs, is a multi-sport official and
served on the Sullivan School Board
from 1985-2002.
• Smithville
— Michael Westblade has joined the
news staff of the
Smithville Herald as
a part-time reporter.
The 2004 Smithville
High School graduate will graduate in
May from Park UniMichael Westblade versity with a degree
in journalism.
• Bolivar — Sarah West has been
hired as the administrative assistant
and customer service representative
for Neighbor Newspapers, working out
of the office of the
Bolivar Herald-Free
Press.
West hails from
Boonville and graduated in 2004 from
Harding University
Sarah West
in Searcy, Ark., with
a degree in advertising.
West taught English for a year and a
half at China University of Geosciences
in Wuhan, China, and has backpacked
in many countries in Europe and Southeast Asia. She is working on a master’s
degree in international affairs at Missouri State University.
Jerome Curry
• Higginsville
— Jerome P. Curry,
who has four decades of media experience, is the new
reporter for the Higginsville Advance.
He had been retired
since 2001.
Curry began his
www.mopress.com
career with the Associated Press in the
1960s, moved to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and later became a freelance writer.
He later worked for newspapers in Texas
and started a media consulting firm.
• St. Louis — Tony Messenger, formerly the editorial page editor of the
Spring field NewsLeader, is the new
state Capitol reporter for the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch. He
joined bureau chief
Virginia Young’s
political reporting
team on March 24.
He replaced Matt
Franck, who became
Tony Messenger
education editor of
the Post-Dispatch in December.
Messenger joined the Columbia Daily
Tribune in 1999 as city editor and became a full-time columnist. He left the
Tribune for the job in Springfield.
Last year Messenger gained statewide
attention by writing about the email
handling practices in Gov. Matt Blunt’s
office and the firing of the governor’s
deputy counsel, Scott Eckersly.
• Louisiana — Valerie Gilbert, previously the office and production manager
of the Louisiana Press-Journal, has been
named publisher of the weekly. Gilbert, who lives in Bowling Green, has
more than 20 years
of experience in the
newspaper business
and has been associated with the PressJournal since 1990.
Gilber t’s husband and former
publisher of the
Press-Journal, Walt
Valerie Gilbert
Gilbert, announced
the appointment. He is vice president
of Lakeway Publishers, owner of the
paper. He said Lakeway’s acquisition
of the Centralia Fireside Guard and The
Vandalia Leader have required him to be
away from Louisiana more frequently.
Valerie has been the de facto publisher
at Louisiana for some time and “has
earned the title,” Walt said.
Missouri Press News, April 2008
Group to present
‘Lifetime’ award
to David Lipman
M
issouri Professional Communicators, in affiliation with the
National Federation of Press Women,
will present its 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award to David Lipman, a former
managing editor of the St. Louis PostDispatch.
The Virginia Betts White Quest
Awards program will be at 11:30 a.m.
Saturday, April 12, at Ces and Judy’s, Le
Chateau Village, 10405 Clayton Road,
Frontenac. A reception for honorees will
precede lunch.
Other honorees will be Joan Berkman,
Christine Buck, Robert Duyff, Ruth
Ezell, Barbara Pierce and Mike Shipley.
Lipman was president of Missouri
Press Association in 1997, and he was
inducted into the Missouri Newspaper
Hall of Fame in 2002.
Tickets for the awards program are
$50 each. Tables of 10 are available. Reservations should be made by April 4.
Send reservations to Fran Mannino,
133 Wilson Ave., Kirkwood, MO
63122. Make checks to NFPW-MPC.
For more information call Susan Fadem at (314) 991-1099.
Old paper found in California shows
Atchison County’s War Fund quota
T
he Atchison County Mail in Rock
Port recently received a letter from
a man in Yuba City, Calif., along with a
copy of the weekly from 1927.
Copies of old newspapers were left in
a house the man bought. They had been
used as insulation between the wooden
floor and linoleum that was installed in
1943. The previous owner of the house
had been a resident of Atchison County
and continued to take the paper after
moving to Yuba City.
The Mail ran a story about receiving
the old paper. It reprinted a story from
the paper with the headline “$6,500 Is
Quota Here For War Fund.”
Atchison County was asked to raise
that amount for the National War Fund.
Collections would be distributed among
agencies such as the USO, war prisoners’ aid, refugee relief and assistance to
Belgian, British, French, Greek, Norwegian, Polish, Russian and other relief
organizations.
Every citizen of the county was asked
to contribute.
The story said that during the previous September, residents of Atchison
County had purchased about $476,000
in government bonds.
Nevada Daily Mail switches to morning
T
he Nevada Daily Mail and Sunday
Herald-Tribune and their partner, the Fort Scott Tribune in Kansas,
switched from afternoon to morning
publication on March 1.
Publisher Julie Righter said the change
will give readers news earlier in the day,
including sports results from the previous evening. Papers will be on vending
racks by 6 a.m., she said.
The papers also switched from de-
livering subscriber copies by carrier to
using the mail. The Sunday Herald-Tribune has become a weekend paper and
is delivered in the Saturday mail.
The Monday edition of the Fort Scott
Tribune has been discontinued. Classified sections of the Nevada and Fort
Scott papers have been combined.
Rust Communications, Cape Girardeau, owns the papers.
Press club honors native of Belton
T
ad Bartimus, who wrote a Teen Talk
column for the Belton Star Herald
years ago, received the Washington Press
Club Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award in February at the annual
Congressional Dinner.
Bartimus was 15 when her journalism career began with the Star Herald.
Publisher Joe Mauer hired her to work
on Saturdays, taking subscriptions and
cleaning up the office. She began writing Teen Talk at 16, when she was a
sophomore.
The 1965 Belton High School graduate became the first female AP bureau
chief and was named a Pulitzer Prize
finalist twice.
Bartimus and her husband have lived
in Hawaii for the past 12 years. She is
a volunteer writing coach at the high
school where her husband teaches sixth
Missouri Press News, April 2008
grade. She writes a weekly commentary,
Among Friends, for United Feature
Syndicate.
While working for the AP, Bartimus
covered the war in Vietnam, reported
from Europe and Latin America and was
a roving correspondent in the United
States. She covered the construction of
the Alaska pipeline just before being
appointed AP bureau chief.
Since leaving the AP in 1993, she
has been a professor of journalism in
Anchorage and has served as a professor-in-residence at the Missouri School
of Journalism, her alma mater, and other
universities.
Bartimus was nominated for Pulitzers
in feature writing in 1989 and 1991. She
founded the Journalism and Women
Symposium in 1985.
—from the Belton Star Herald
www.mopress.com
11
Scrapbook
• St. Louis — The St. Louis PostDispatch has cut 31 positions, mainly
from the circulation, classified ad,
production, purchasing, marketing and
telephone operations. No newsroom
jobs were cut.
• Bolivar — Neighbor Newspapers
in southwest Missouri now offer color
on every page of their weekly The Edge
and Drive classified ad sections.
People get free ads in the sections for
items priced less than $100, and they
get free online ads regardless of the cost
of the item. Customers do have to pay
a fee to cover color costs.
• Fort Leonard Wood — The GUIDON, the weekly newspaper that serves
Fort Leonard Wood, was named in
February the first-place overall winner in
the Metro-Format Newspaper category
of the 2007 Maj. Gen. Keith L. Ware
Journalism competition.
Allison Choike of the GUIDON
announced in March.
staff was named the
Moss-Holland Civilian Journalist of
the Year. She took
first place in commentary and in photojournalism.
Managing editor
Robert Johnson received second place
Allison Choike
in feature articles
and commentary.
The GUIDON
placed first in special achievement
in print media for
an insert that was
created for soldiers
leaving during Holiday Block Leave.
All first-place
Robert Johnson
winners moved on
to compete for Fort Leonard Wood at
the Department of the Army level in
Washington, D.C. Winners were to be
• Centralia — The Fireside Guard
and the Centralia Women’s Network
sponsored a forum for city council and
school board candidates on March 27
in City Hall.
• Sedalia — The Sedalia Democrat
presented its first Freedom Torch Award
to Ron Ditzfeld, owner of Ditzfeld
Transfer. Individuals who provide exemplary service to the community are
candidates for the award.
The Democrat printed features on
Ditzfeld and nine award finalists on Feb.
10. Videos of the people who made the
nominations are on the paper’s website,
sedaliademocrat.com.
• Bolivar — The Bolivar HeraldFree Press asked readers to submit their
memories of significant local sporting
events for inclusion in the annual Progress issue in March.
The paper also asked readers to help
it find Polk County’s most important
moments, most interesting and famous
people, oldest businesses and churches
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The Missouri Bar
Jefferson City
573-635-4128
12
You can’t trust just
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nutrition ... contact the
For information about agriculture or issues
affecting rural Missouri, contact:
(573) 893-1467
M ISSOURI
D IETETIC
A SSOCIATION
and get connected with a Licensed Registered
Dietitian in your area. We are the nutrition experts for you, your family and your organization.
P.O. Box 1225 • Jefferson City, MO 65102
(573) 636-2822 • www.eatrightmissouri.org
Advertise on the websites that people go to
— their local newspapers. Across Missouri,
across the country. Call Missouri Press Service.
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Missouri Press News, April 2008
and unique things and places. One category the paper planned to include in its
special issue was “things we couldn’t live
without in Polk County.”
• St. Louis — During Black History
Month in February, the St. Louis American ran an excerpt from the book “The
PHL in the STL.”
The book was written by the American’s sports editor, Earl Austin Jr. It
chronicles the history of basketball in the
Public High League in St. Louis.
• Moberly — Heidi Dimmitt, assistant editor of the Shelby County Herald in
Shelbyville and the Clarence Courier, was
one of the judges for the Miss Moberly
2008 pageant on Feb. 23.
Dimmitt was Miss Clarence in
1992.
• Marshall — The Democrat-News
tied for first place in Best of the Web
competition among Rust Communications newspapers. Rust, based in Cape
Girardeau, owns more than 40 daily and
weekly newspapers in eight states.
Marshall shared top honors with the
Shelbyville (Tenn.) Times-Gazette.
Publisher Shelly Arth received the
award on Feb. 7 at the Rust Communications meeting in Cape Girardeau.
Contributing to the success of the
website were ad compositor, technician
and webmaster Jessica Wise, editor
Eric Crump, production assistant Janet
Bryson and ad manager Mike Davis.
• Washington — The Missourian
recently launched a redesigned website,
including a navigation guide, in an effort
to encourage more readers to use the site.
Michelle Oyola is the Missourian’s editor
of emissourian.com.
• St. Louis — Call Newspapers asked
its readers to nominate women for a
special feature in the March 13 issue
highlighting women from the south St.
Louis County area’s past, present and
future.
The paper told readers it was “looking for persons who, through hard work
and determination, have made the world
around them a better place.”
• Mt. Vernon — The grand prize in
the Lawrence County Record’s recipe contest went to a Hawaiian Wedding Cake,
a treat of pineapple, coconut and cream
cheese. A $100 grocery gift certificate
went to the winner in the competition
with 24 semi-finalists.
First and second place and a runnerup were chosen in each of five categories.
All of the recipes submitted for the contest were included in a book published
by the newspaper in March.
• Washington — Children at the Our
Lady of Lourdes School showered Jeanne
Miller Wood with cards, popcorn and a
gift on Jan. 28. Wood is the photo editor
of the Washington Missourian. She and
other people in the community were
honored by the school during Catholic
Schools Week.
The school recognized Wood for her
coverage of school events.
• Hannibal — Mary Lou Montgomery, editor of the Courier-Post, shared
“war stories” with journalism students at
Hannibal Middle School on Feb. 7. She
was one of several local people involved
with journalism or communications who
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A public information organization of insurance companies.
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It’s What’s For Dinner.
This wa
Th
way to
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to common sens
ense.
e.
MPA
Postal Help
Ron Cunningham
(417) 849-9331
postalhelp@aol.com
Missouri Press News, April 2008
Missouri Beef Industry Council
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www.mopress.com
13
Rob Viehman publishes the weeklies.
• St. Louis — Post-Dispatch reporter
Todd C. Frankel has won the 2008
Jesse Laventhol Prize for Deadline News
Reporting by an Individual from the
American Society of Newspaper Editors
(ASNE).
The award was for three stories, one
about troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, another about a kidnapper and his
two young victims, and a third about
people who were at the courthouse
where the kidnapper pleaded guilty.
Frankel’s work will be featured in
“Best Newspaper Writing,” a book edited by the Poynter Institute based on the
work of winners and finalists.
The award will be presented April
14 at ASNE’s annual conference in
Washington.
President Bush receives accolades from Marshfield
Nick Inman, left, and Debbie Chapman of the Marshfield Mail were in College Station,
Texas, on Feb. 29 to present to President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, the
Edwin P. Hubble Medal of Initiative from the city of Marshfield and a framed copy of the
Marshfield Mail from the Bushes’ July 4, 1991, visit to Marshfield. The Hubble medal
is presented annually to individuals who have shown great initiative in their chosen
field and is presented by the Hubble Legacy Committee, which is a sub-committee of
the Marshfield Cherry Blossom Festival Committee. Inman is a reporter for the Mail;
Chapman is general manager and ad manager. They made the presentation at the
George Bush Presidential Library. (Photo by Chandler Arden, George Bush Presidential
Library Foundation)
shared with students their experiences
and the potential in their fields.
• Washington — The Washington
Missourian and the Parents as Teachers
program eighth annual Family Reading
Night was held Feb. 29.
Area elementary school parent-teacher
organizations hosted reading activity
tables and community leaders and others
read to children in a variety of reading
rooms throughout Washington Middle
School.
Other sponsors of the program are
the Washington Kiwanis Club, Pepsi of
New Haven, Washington Public Library,
Washington Community Teachers’ Association/MNEA and the Run to Read
project.
14
• Kansas City — The Crime Stoppers Foundation honored The Northeast
News as one of its outstanding supporters. Publisher Michael Bushnell
accepted the award at a breakfast early
in February.
Each week The Northeast News publishes photos of some of the most wanted
criminals in the area.
• Cuba — Three Rivers Publishing
Co. has invited any non-profit organization in Crawford County to raise
money by selling subscriptions to the
Cuba Free Press and the Steelville StarCrawford Mirror.
The company will give to organizations $4 for each new subscription sold
and $2 for each renewal.
www.mopress.com
• St. Louis — St. Louis American
health editor Consuelo Wilkins, M.D.,
earned the Distinguished Community
Service Award from Washington University School of Medicine.
Dr. Wilkins is an assistant professor
of medicine and psychiatry at the school
and medical director for Barnes-Jewish
Extended Care.
• Richmond — Former publisher of
The Daily News, Brian Rice, was given
the Melvin “Brick” Hicks Award by
the Richmond Fire Department in late
January for his dedication and service
to the community, and for displaying
the courage, honor and dedication of a
firefighter.
Since then Rice has taken over as publisher of the Excelsior Springs Standard.
JoEllen Black took over as publisher in
Richmond.
• Poplar Bluff — Because of ice on
the roads, the Daily American Republic
suspended delivery on Feb. 11. Subscribers who did not receive their Monday
issues received them with their Tuesday
papers.
• Washington — The Missourian
and the Washington Town and Country
Fair Board won an award at the recent
International Association of Fairs and
Expositions conference in Las Vegas.
Missouri Press News, April 2008
The award was for Outstanding Media
Commitment to Agricultural Programming – Newspaper Coverage.
Accepting the award for the newspaper were editor/publisher Bill Miller Sr.,
reporter Sarah Wienke, and photo editor
Jeanne Miller Wood.
• Thayer — Areawide Media, publisher of the South Missourian News, set
up a Tornado Lost and Found on its
website, areawidenews.com. People who
found items after a tornado hit the area
on Feb. 5 can post descriptions of the
items and how to reclaim them.
• Kansas City — Star reporter Lee
Hill Kavanaugh has won the 2008
Eugene S. Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award. She won for “Love
to Last a Lifetime,” the first part of a
two-day series, “Zeke’s Gift,” that was
published in April 2007.
The story followed an Olathe, Kan.,
couple who learned their unborn son
had a genetic defect that would end
his life shortly after birth. Rather than
Missouri Press News, April 2008
terminating the pregnancy, the couple
chose to celebrate their child’s life and
mourn his death. They turned to a perinatal hospice center for assistance.
Kavanaugh also won the Pulliam
Award in 2003. She is one of only two
two-time winners of the award.
The award has been offered since
1960 by the Ball State University Department of Journalism. It carries a
$1,500 award from the Pulliam family
of Indianapolis, former owners of The
Indianapolis Star.
Judges praised Kavanaugh’s “meticulous reporting and compelling
story-telling, expertly weaving dialogue
with narrative and description, while
maintaining journalistic balance and
fairness.”
—The Kansas City Star
• Kansas City — The Kansas City
Star won the American Planning Association’s 2008 journalism award for its
series last year on light rail. The two-part
series won in the category of more than
100,000 circulation.
www.mopress.com
Reporters Jeffrey Spivak, Michael
Mansur and Brad Cooper worked for
several months on the stories. After
interviews with dozens of civic leaders
and transit experts, the reporters devised
a consensus plan that would work.
The Planning Association honors
newspapers for excellent coverage of
city and regional planning topics. The
award will be presented April 30 at its
conference in Las Vegas.
•Centralia — The Fireside Guard
started a simple contest for kids recently.
Young readers look for certain words
in the newspaper. When they find the
words, they log onto firesideguard.com
and fill out a form.
The first one to fill out the form wins
a free sundae from Roscoe’s Ice Cream
Parlor on the square.
• Albany — The Ledger held a 140th
anniversary party on Feb. 21. It served
cake and punch and held drawings for
prizes all day. It also offered special advertising rates.
15
Newspaper In Education Report
About 70% of papers
have used our program
T
Lots more to come in eighth year
his month marks the eighth year
• Provide training for Missouri’s
of Missouri Press Association’s educators in the effective use of the
statewide Newspaper In Educa- newspaper in the classroom.
tion efforts. We have a lot to be proud of,
• Promote the importance of civic
and this month I thought we’d celebrate literacy to Missouri’s young citizens and
all that we’ve accomplished.
provide the resources to help achieve that
In the spring of 2001, the Board civic literacy.
of Directors of Missouri
• Represent MisPress Association made
souri’s newspapers in
the commitment to staff
encouraging literacy
a part-time coordinator
and civic initiatives
to oversee a new educaacross the state, region
tional outreach program
and country.
in partnership between the
• Promote journalAssociation and the Misism education to ensure
souri Press Foundation.
the future of a free,
Missouri Newspapers In
ethical press.
Education was born.
In 2008, Missouri
Our first project was
Press has 288 member
a series of regional worknewspapers. Of those:
shops around the state
• 242 are weeklies
showing community newsor semi-weeklies and
papers how to get started Dawn Kitchell is MPA’s NIE 67 percent have parin reaching out to young director. Contact her at (636) ticipated in our NIE
readers. That fall we re- 932-4301; kitchell@yhti.net. efforts.
leased our first serialized
• 44 are commustory, “Hannah’s Diary: A Tale of the nity dailies and 70 percent have parPony Express,” written by Kay Hively ticipated.
and produced through a grant from Veri• 2 are metropolitan dailies and both
zon. More than 80 newspapers published have participated in our NIE efforts.
that first story!
We believe the best way to encourage
ast forward eight years. We’re still young people to read the newspaper is
working toward the same goals:
to include content of interest to them.
• Introduce newspapers to the class- And if we expect teachers to use our
room setting as a Living Textbook.
newspapers in their classrooms, we have
• Provide or assist newspapers in find- to ensure that content is relevant to what
ing in-paper youth content relevant to they must teach. More than 70 percent
Missouri’s classrooms and families.
of our newspapers are small community
• Ensure that resources we create are weeklies with circulations under 5,000,
high quality and meet the needs of all of so we provide that content as in-paper
Missouri’s newspapers, from the smallest features. We strive to provide our feacirculation of 350 to the largest circula- tures in concise, camera-ready formats.
tion of 350,000.
Since 2001 we have provided hun• Provide training for Missouri’s news- dreds of Newspaper In Education feapapers on how to create and enhance tures to our newspapers. This year alone
relationships with young readers in their we will provide 64 new youth features
communities.
for our newspapers, including the eight-
F
16
www.mopress.com
chapter serial “Pressing West.”
And from that first story, “Hannah’s
Diary,” our serial project has grown to
include 28 stories — with more on the
way — that have been published in
more than 400 newspapers across the
nation and in Australia! MPF serials have
become an important resource for community newspapers nationwide.
In our youth features we’ve taught
civics, geography, history, science, sports,
the importance of the newspaper and of
reading it together. To teach these things,
we’ve partnered with many excellent
Missouri organizations, including The
Missouri Bar, Missouri’s departments
of Natural Resources, Conservation,
Agriculture and Tourism, Missouri
Geographical Alliance, Missouri State
Teachers Association, the Hawthorn
Foundation… and many more.
The Living Textbook workshop has
become one of our most important
projects, providing training to educators in ways to integrate the newspaper
into today’s classroom. Teacher Ambassador Scholarships allow newspapers to
provide funding for teachers from their
communities to attend.
n the beginning, we mailed our youth
features to our newspapers. Through
technology, we’ve been able to make
our features available faster and easier.
In 2007 we added an FTP site, www.
mo-nie.com, enabling us to archive our
youth features, make them easier to access and track usage. In 2007, the site
had 1,332 downloads.
Our ability to provide youth content
easily and affordably has made our
website a destination for newspapers
nationwide. In addition to sharing our
features when the content is appropriate
to all – such as our features on Constitution Day and Bill of Rights Day – we
also have partnered with vendors to disseminate even more resources for small
newspapers.
The newspaper industry is in the
midst of an evolution, but regardless
of what formats readers will choose to
access their news in the future, connecting young readers to their communities
and promoting the importance of civic
education will remain as important, if
not more so, than it has been for the past
eight years. And Missouri’s newspapers
will continue to lead the way.
I
Missouri Press News, April 2008
Jail denies records of inmate who died
(From the Springfield News-Leader,
Feb. 23.)
iting a federal privacy law, the
Greene County Jail refused to
provide medical information
about a 22-year-old inmate who died
about 13 hours after being taken from
the jail by ambulance.
Shelly Compton of Strafford died Jan.
29 at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield.
She suffered from pneumonia related to
a staph infection, said Greene County
Medical Examiner Doug Anderson.
Sheriff Jack Merritt refused to discuss
Compton’s illness before her release,
citing the federal Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA).
The News-Leader filed a Sunshine
Law request for records, but the county
refused, again citing HIPAA.
HIPAA is intended to improve efficiency in health care delivery and
to provide continuation of insurance
coverage when a policyholder’s situation
changes. The law restricts the release of
health information about individuals by
health care providers and insurers.
Jean Maneke, MPA’s legal consultant
and an expert on the Sunshine Law, said
C
HIPAA regulations do not apply to the
jail. Maneke said a common misperception of HIPAA is that it applies to public
entities like fire districts and police departments, which it doesn’t.
A Green County deputy said the jail
is covered by HIPAA because it has
several medical professionals on staff, it
keeps medical records of inmates and it
bills inmates for the medical care they
receive.
If an inmate dies, his or her medical
records are turned over to the medical
examiner. Medical examiner reports,
which may include information from
medical records from the jail, are public
information, the deputy said.
MPA building repairs
The Missouri Press board of directors in January approved more than $40,000 in repairs
to the brick and mortar of the MPA’s nearly 80-year-old headquarters building. Bids
were requested and the project was awarded to Mid-Continental Restoration Co, Inc. of
Ft. Scott, KS. The project includes repairing faulty brick and mortar, caulking windows,
cleaning and sealing the exterior surface. The repair crew began work in February, and
depending on weather, should finish soon.
Missouri Press News, April 2008
www.mopress.com
17
What newspapers print
still can result in change
Judge selection rules amended
M
ost of the time when I talk of the meeting. Nothing in the Supreme
about sunshine law viola- Court rules permitted the commission
tions and we get to the point to omit this information from its meetof what happens when someone breaks ing notice, which was required by the
the law, I feel fairly powerless. Yes, you sunshine law.
can complain to Missouri’s attorney
Reporters covering this committee
general, but I realize the
wrote stories about this
odds of anything happenviolation. And not long
ing from that office are
after that, the names of
generally slim. Yes, you
the candidates, which
can complain to your local
WERE permitted to be
prosecutor, but the odds of
kept confidential, were
that person taking action
leaked to the media. Soon
are even slimmer, because
certain governmental ofthat person is usually servficials complained about
ing to defend the public
the lack of openness and
body that broke the law.
a struggle ensued between
You can hire your own
those supporting the Misattorney, but most folks
souri Plan and those becan’t afford that option.
lieving the system was
So, when the caller is a Jean Maneke, MPA’s Legal
flawed due to the secrecy
newspaper, my last sug- Hotline attorney, can be
of the process.
gestion is that they write reached at (816) 753-9000,
his article is NOT
about the violation. After jmaneke@manekelaw.com.
about whether the
all, as many of you remind
Missouri Plan works.
me, you now buy ink not by the barrel What is interesting to me is that there
but by the train car load.
was much coverage of the entire issue.
But on occasion, I find the power of This subject drew much public attenthe press is not just a euphemism. The tion.
power of the pen really exists and it is
News columns discussed the benefits
mightier than the sword on occasion.
that might come from more openness
Just a few weeks ago, I saw again the in the process.
difference you make in our state’s operaAnd recently, Chief Justice Laura
tion. But let’s backtrack, to see how far Denvir Stith announced that new rules
we’ve come.
had been adopted by the Court that
ate last year, the Missouri Supreme would provide greater openness in this
Court’s appellate judicial evalua- process. “Members of the Court think it
tion committee was in the process of is important to make the process more
selecting a panel of candidates for the public to the extent not inconsistent
Missouri Supreme Court. Reporters with encouraging well-qualified appliwanted to be close by where they met cants to apply,” she said in announcing
to see who would be coming and going. the change.
The committee, according to the MisThe amended rules will require notice
souri Constitution, is governed by state of the date, time AND place of meetings
law except as it is instructed by Supreme 24 hours in advance. Certain informaCourt rule. The committee announced tion regarding the pool of candidates will
the date and time of its meeting to the be released – information not previously
public, but did not announce the place made available to the public. And the
T
L
18
www.mopress.com
final nominees for the position will have
their applications made public, with
confidential or personal information
redacted.
No, this isn’t everything that everyone
wanted. But it is a sign to me that those
buying ink by the barrel OR the train car
load can make a difference in the state.
And it makes me proud.
On another interesting front, I read
an article the other day about the use
of the photos from the MySpace page
of the young woman caught in the entanglement with New York Gov. Eliot
Spitzer. Some copyright lawyers were
arguing about the media’s right to use
those photos and whether they were
infringing on important rights.
My i n i t i a l
perception,
I believe when
had one of you
called me to
news happens,
check on this,
is that if it is
use of such
being used in
the context of a
photos doesn’t
news story, your
use would have
require
fallen under the
“fair use” expermission
ception of the
law. Obviously,
of the
other media entities, such as
photographer.
The New York
Times and the
AP, reached the
same conclusion. It is true that the
source of the photos must be credited
in a situation like that, but I believe
when news happens, use of such photos
doesn’t require permission of the photographer.
It’s an interesting question. What if
you know a photographer has taken
photos that you have access to, but
which you have not requested permission to use, and then a situation arises
where you need or want to use those
photos? Where the photographer has not
given you permission to use them, do
you have the right to use them first and
ask permission later? I don’t know that
there’s much case law that would help us
determine the correct answer.
I’m glad folks with bigger budgets
for lawyers than most of you do got
there first!
Missouri Press News, April 2008
Missouri Newspaper Organizations
NORTHWEST MISSOURI PRESS ASSOCIATION: President, Dennis Ellsworth, St. Joseph;
First Vice President, Jim Fall, Maryville; Secretary, Kathy Conger, Bethany; Treasurer, W.C.
Farmer, Rock Port. Directors: Leslie Speckman, Savannah; Chuck Haney, Chillicothe; Steve
Tinnen, Plattsburg; Jamey Honeycutt, Cameron; Kay Wilson, Maryville; Steve Booher, St.
Joseph; Matt Daugherty, Smithville.
SHOW-ME PRESS ASSOCIATION: President, Trevor Vernon, Eldon; First Vice President, John
Spaar, Odessa; Secretary-Treasurer, Sandy Nelson, Harrisonville. Directors: Stacey Rice, Drexel;
Judy Spaar, Odessa; Past President/Director Gary Beissenherz, Concordia.
OZARK PRESS ASSOCIATION: President, Roger Dillon, Eminence; Vice President, Tianna
Brooks, Mountain View; Secretary-Treasurer, Sharon Vaughn, Summersville. Directors: Dala
Whittaker, Cabool; Brad Gentry, Houston; Jeff Schrag, Springfield; David Burton, Springfield;
Keith Moore, Ava; Jim Hamilton, Buffalo; Kimball Long, El Dorado Springs; Past President,
Rosemary Henderson, Mt. Vernon.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI PRESS ASSOCIATION: President, Kate Martin, Perryville; First Vice
President, Elaine Pursell, Dexter; Second Vice President, Gera LeGrand, Cape Girardeau;
Secretary-Treasurer, Michelle Friedrich, Poplar Bluff; Historian, Mrs. Mildred Wallhausen,
Charleston; Executive Secretary, Ann Hayes, Southeast Missouri State University. Directors:
Kim Million-Gipson, Piedmont; Peggy Scott, Festus; Judy Schaaf-Wheeler, Ironton; H. Scott
Seal, Portageville; Diane McClain, Kennett.
DEMOCRATIC EDITORS OF MISSOURI: President, Richard Fredrick, Paris; First Vice
President, Bob Cunningham, Moberly; Secretary, Beth McPherson, Weston; Treasurer, Linda
Geist, Monroe City.
MISSOURI CIRCULATION MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION: President, Brenda Carney,
Harrisonville; First Vice President, Jack Kaminsky, Joplin; Second Vice President, Steve Edwards,
St. Joseph; Secretary, David Pine, Kansas City; Treasurer, Doug Crews, Columbia. Directors:
Jim Kennedy, Bolivar; Ken Carpenter, Kansas City; Rob Siebeneck, Jefferson City.
MISSOURI ADVERTISING MANAGERS’ ASSOCIATION: President, Steve Hutchings,
Gainesville; First Vice President, Trevor Vernon, Eldon; Second Vice President, Bobbie Snodgrass,
Joplin; Secretary, Jim Salzman, Jackson; Treasurer, Doug Crews, Columbia. Directors: Debra
Kiser, Jefferson City; Stacy Rice, Drexel; Dennis Warden, Owensville; Suzie Wilson, Milan. Past
President, Jane Haberberger, Washington.
MISSOURI ASSOCIATED DAILIES: President, Joe May, Mexico; Vice President, Ben Weir, Jr.,
Independence; Secretary, Shelly Arth, Marshall; Treasurer, Doug Crews, Columbia; Past President,
Larry Freels, Kirksville. Directors: Jack Whitaker, Hannibal; Arnie Robbins, St. Louis; Charlie
Fischer, Sedalia; Don Wyatt, Springfield; Dan Potter, Columbia; Randy Cope, Neosho.
MISSOURI PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATORSV: Co-Presidents, Fran Manino, Kirkwood,
and Janice Denham, Kirkwood; Secretary, Peggy Koch, Barnhart; Publicity, Colene McEntee,
St. Peters; Membership, Suzanne Corbett; Treasurer/Archivist, Dee Rabey, Granite City, Ill.;
Contest, Janice Denham, Kirkwood; Quest Awards, Susan Fadem, Olivette; Conference Director,
Michelle Oyola; Newsletter, Karen Glines, Des Peres and Peggy Koch; At Large, Verna Smith,
St. Louis; Mary Kimbrough, St. Louis; Susan Fadem.
MISSOURI PRESS SERVICE: President, Steve Oldfield, Adrian; Vice President, John Spaar,
Odessa; Secretary-Treasurer, Gary Sosniecki, Vandalia. Directors: Dave Berry, Bolivar; Dane
Vernon, Versailles.
MISSOURI PRESS FOUNDATION, INC.: President, Tom Miller, Washington; First Vice President,
David Lipman, St. Louis; Second Vice President, Mrs. Betty Spaar, Odessa; Secretary-Treasurer,
Doug Crews, Columbia. Directors: R.B. Smith III, Lebanon; Wallace Vernon, Eldon; Rogers
Hewitt, Shelbyville; James Sterling, Columbia; Mrs. Wanda Brown, Harrisonville; Mrs. Avis
Tucker, Warrensburg; Edward Steele, Columbia; Robert Wilson, Milan; Kirk Powell, Pleasant
Hill; Wendell Lenhart, Trenton.
MISSOURI-KANSAS AP PUBLISHERS AND EDITORS: Chairman, John Montgomery,
Hutchinson, Kan. Missouri AP Managing Editors: Chairman, Carol Stark, Joplin; Past Chairman,
Oliver Wiest, Sedalia.
MISSOURI SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS: President, Buzz Ball, Carthage; First Vice
President, Cathy Ripley, Chillicothe; Second Vice President, Dale Brendel, Independence;
Secretary-Treasurer, Doug Crews, Columbia. Directors: Chris Wrinkle, Hannibal; Dennis Ellsworth,
St. Joseph; Rob Viehman, Cuba; Jeff Schrag, Springfield; Sam Blackwell, Cape Girardeau; and
Oliver Wiest, Sedalia; Past President, Buck Collier, St. Louis.
MISSOURI COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION: President, Alexandra Nicolas, Missouri Southern
State University; Vice President, Morgan Ryman, Metropolitan Community College, Longview;
Secretary, Jesse Cordova, Missouri Southern State University; MPA Liaison, Pat Sparks, Longview
Community College; Adviser, T.R. Hanrahan, Missouri Southern State University.
Missouri Press News, April 2008
www.mopress.com
CALENDAR
April
11-13 — Missouri College Media
Association Convention, Missouri
Southern State University, Joplin
17 — Missouri Press Foundation
Board meeting, Columbia
17 — MPA Past Presidents and
Spouses Dinner, Columbia
30 — Better Newspaper Contest
entry deadline
May
8-9 — Missouri Advertising Managers’
Association, Hilton Promenade
Hotel, Branson
30 — Southeast Missouri Press
Association meeting, Southeast
Missouri State University,
Cape Girardeau
June
11 — Missouri Press Board of
Directors meeting, Lake Ozark
12 — MPA Porter Fisher Golf
Classic, Sycamore Creek Golf
Course, Osage Beach
12-13 — Show-Me Press, MSNE/
APME joint meeting, Resort
at Port Arrowhead, Lake Ozark
July
16-18 — Living Textbook Newspapers
In Education seminar, Columbia
11 — MPA judges Illinois Press
Association Newspaper Contest,
Upper Crust, Columbia
12 — Performance in Celebration
of 200th Anniversary of First
Missouri Newspaper, Thespian
Hall, Boonville
September
10 — MPA/Missouri School
of Journalism Centennial
Golf Classic, A.L. Gustin Golf
Course, Columbia
10-12 — Missouri School
of Journalism Centennial
Celebration, Columbia
11-13 — 142nd MPA Convention,
Stoney Creek Inn, Columbia
25-28 — NNA Convention and
Trade Show, St. Paul, Minn.
Farmers are part of our electric co-op.
Missouri’s Electric Cooperatives
Touchstone Energy®
Missouri Press News, April 2008
www.mopress.com