editor colorado
We’re coming to see you
Regional Trainings is eight towns getting ready to begin PAGE 5
Official publication of the Colorado Press Association / coloradopressassociation.com / Vol. LXXXVI, No. 5
What do you think of the CPA?
That’s a wrap Gridlock, but some movement during General Assembly
Tell us what you think and be entered into a drawing
By Greg Romberg CPA Lobbyist
no different; my fingerprints were all over our paper. To disengage with the newsroom was a necessity as I began creating native advertising, but to what degree? The task force we convened to implement our program agreed there were certain lines that couldn’t be crossed. I couldn’t assign stories or set the budget for the next day’s print edition, for example. I also couldn’t line edit stories when they came in. Those became the duties of another managing editor at a sister paper.
The Colorado General Assembly has adjourned after a session that was highlighted by the gridlock that occurs with split control of the Legislature, but with some notable bipartisan successes. Among the bills that passed the House and failed in the Senate were family leave, increased minimum wage, affordable housing, changes in utility regulations, scholarships for pre-school teachers, elder abuse and allowing collection of water in rain barrels. Conversely, the Senate passed bills to scale back renewable energy standards, repeal gun control measures, loosen reporting requirements in issue elections, allow parents more latitude to reject governmental requirements, repeal civil rights enforcement, exercise more control of the health benefit exchange, take over federal responsibilities for land and water and penalize communities that limit fracking that died in House committees. The reality of a Legislature where Republicans control the Senate 1817 and Democrats rule the House 34-31 is that neither party will be able to pass measures that are overly partisan or divisive. And while a major story line of the session has to be the discord and ability of each party to block each other’s partisan priorities, it would be a mistake to suggest that nothing could be accomplished. After years of trying, the Legislature found the money to pass a felony DUI bill. Additionally, bipartisan packages of bills to address work force development and police accountability were passed and an urban renewal bill that allows counties, school districts and special districts input on how their tax revenues will be used won legislative approval. The Legislature also referred a measure to allow the state to keep $58 million of marijuana tax revenues to voters in November. Perhaps most impressively, legislation to reduce the number of state mandated assessments for K-12 students was crafted and passed in the waning days of the session. Competing versions of bills to address the TABOR surplus failed
See NATIVE, Page 7
See RECAP, Page 8
Staff report What is your view of the Colorado Press Association? Do you know all of its services? Do you find those services valuable? These are just some of the questions being asked in a new online survey the CPA is putting out with a focus on how better to serve members. In addition, by taking the survey you will be entered into a drawing for $250. The link to the survey is https:// www.surveymonkey.com/r/CPAMember. The survey will remain open until June 12. “While we are trying to do more and more outreach,” said Jerry Raehal, CEO of the CPA, “we think surveys like this can give us great insight into where we are at and where we need to go.” This is the third survey the CPA has done this year, and Raehel said the goal has been to make surveys both quick for users to take but effective at pulling information. The membership survey is the longest so far — with 15 questions, some of which are tiered — and should take 5 to 15 minutes to complete. “The time it takes for members to conduct the survey will have a much longer and greater impact on how the CPA operates in the future,” said Raehal. “So we are hopeful members will take time out to do so.” The survey also has questions about the CPA’s for-profit affiliate, SYNC2 Media. “We understand how important revenue generation is for our member newspapers,” Raehal said, “and we want to ensure we understand their needs. We also want to find out if they know about all of the services we have that they can use.” If you have questions about the survey, contact Raehal at jraehal@ colopress.net or at 720-274-7171. The CPA recently finished a survey on the annual contest and convention. See next month’s Colorado Editor for results.
May 2015
RESTLESS
iStock photo
The ‘native’ is
Newsrooms and native advertising: Why not?
As I begin to wind down my native advertising fellowship with the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (but by no means my blogging here), I’ve turned my attention to the ethics involved in creating a successful program at a newspaper. At the Dissecting Engagement conference held by RJI last month at the Missouri School of Journalism, I gave a presentation on how editorial staffers could ethically create native advertising. This is what we’ve been doing at the Faribault (Minn.) Daily News for the past eight months. Before I won the fellowship to create and implement the native advertising program at this 5,000 circulation, five-days-a-week paper in Southern Minnesota, I was its managing editor. As anyone who has ever worked at a smalltown paper knows, the ME is more than just an ME. You’re also a coach, copy editor,
photographer, reporter, editorial page editor and page designer when it calls for it. I was
Analysis Jaci Smith, RJI Fellowship