A community newspaper for community newspaper people Official publication of the Arizona Newspapers Association for distribution to all employees of ANA-member newspapers
Acrobat 8: What’s all the fuss about?
JANUARY 2007
Page 11
A N Ag r a m s
ANA makes changes to ad networks
Postal reform bill adopted...finally
Just like your newspaper, advertising is the fuel that keeps the wheels of the Arizona Newspapers Association turning. With that in mind, ANA has increased network ad rates, effective Jan. 1, 2007. The price for a 2by2 display ad now costs $699, while a 2by4 display ad now costs $1398. These ads run in 60 newspapers statewide, with a total circulation of 621,543. The new deadline for 2by2 and 2by4 ads is Tuesday 5 p.m., the
The National Newspaper Association this week urged President Bush to sign into law the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, the first major legislative reform of the United States Postal Service since 1970. NNA President Jerry Tidwell, publisher of the Hood County (Texas) News, said passage of the legislation on the final day of the 109th Congress, before dawn on Dec. 9, capped more than a decade of work by community newspaper publishers and other major mailers. NNA Postal Committee Chairman Max Heath hailed the passage as a breakthrough in the long impasses over price caps, repayment of over-funded pension accounts and various labor matters. Heath and the NNA Postal Committee oversaw NNA’s work on the bill since NNA first endorsed postal reform in 1996. “The Postal Service is affected by the Internet and so are newspapers,” Tidwell said. “We foresaw a decade ago that the regimen of costly postal rate cases and pricing that depended upon an ever-growing First Class mail stream needed to come to an end. But we believe, along with Postmaster General Jack Potter, that print media are going to be in our lives for some time to come. The Postal Service has to be able to deliver our mail promptly and at an affordable price for either of our institutions to survive.” Tidwell congratulated and thanked the key bill sponsors: Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Thomas Carper, D-Del., and Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., John McHugh, RN.Y., Henry Waxman, D-Calif. and Danny Davis, D-Ill. He said their leadership in the face of repeated stalls in five successive Congresses had been remarkable. Heath said the bill contained
week prior. Ads for the Arizona Statewide Classified Advertising Network (AzCAN) are $330. The deadline for classified ads is Tuesday 5 p.m., the week prior. AzCAN is printed in 92 Arizona newspapers, reaching over 1.1 million readers. For more information about the changes or these programs in general, contact the Network Advertising Manager, Sharon Schwartz by phone at (602) 261-7655 ext. 108 or by email at s.schwartz@ananews.com.
What is your newspaper doing for National Sunshine Week? March 11-17, 2007 is National Sunshine Week! Sunshine Week is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, civic groups, libraries, non-profits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know. Though spearheaded by journalists, Sunshine Week is about the public’s right to know what its government is doing, and why. Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger. Anyone can be a part of Sunshine Week. In the first two national Sunshine Weeks, not only journalists, but also students, teachers, private citizens, librarians, civic
leaders, public officials, bloggers, non-profit groups were involved. The only requirement is that you do something to engage in a discussion about the importance of open government. It could be a large public forum or a classroom discussion, an article or series of articles about access to important information, or an editorial. The extent to which you participate is up to you. “This is not just an issue for the press. It’s an issue for the public,” said Andy Alexander, ASNE Freedom of Information chair, who is chief of the Cox Newspapers’ Washington bureau. “An alarming amount of public information is being kept secret from citizens and the problem is increasing by the month. Not only do citizens have a right to know, they have a need to know.” “We’re going into our third year of Sunshine Week, and the concept CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
ANAgrams Arizona Newspapers Association 1001 N. Central Avenue, Suite 670 Phoenix, AZ 85004-1947
many provisions that will help community newspapers. “We looked for an iron clad guarantee that within county mail would not see a continuation of the unjustified increases that the Postal Service wants in 2007,” Heath said. “The bill sponsors assured us of their support in holding the Postal Service to the intent of the price cap law, and we will be watching closely to see that it works. “Also,” he said, “there are several provisions in this bill put there expressly at the request of NNA, including a provision that solves the ‘wandering route’ problem where the Postal Service believed it had to charge higher postage when a few households on an in-county route happened to fall over a county line.” NNA’s Director of Public Policy Tonda F. Rush said the passage had been a hard fought battle by NNA’s Congressional Action Team. “Some of us began to think we would never live to see it,” she said. A year of rulemaking and setting up of procedures will follow the President’s signature. Mailers may not see the effects of the change until 2008, she said. New postal rates set under the old law are expected in May 2007. Among the provisions in the new law are: - Price caps for Periodicals, First-Class and Standard Mail, to be set by USPS within a cost of living index. - New Postal Regulatory Commission powers, including a role in setting service standards, which are now only informally-recognized for periodicals, as well as subpoena rights for USPS information. Preservation of Within County Mail, which USPS is required to CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 “PRSRT STD” U.S. POSTAGE PAID PHOENIX ARIZONA PERMIT NO. 3429
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