MESSENGER Texas Press
Making Texas History Texas Press Association • texaspress.com • FEBRUARY 2013 • VOL 88 NO 2
Texas Digital Newspaper Program hits one million mark By Laura King
The University of North Texas Libraries celebrated a major milestone in February — free access to one million pages of digitized historical Texas newspapers via The Portal to Texas History. It’s a big deal — not only to UNT and the small team of librarians that make the Texas Digital Newspaper Program a national leader in newspaper digitization, but also to Texas newspapers, such as the Cherokeean Herald. On April 16, 1955, a riot broke out at Rusk State Hospital. Several attendants were taken hostage. Emmett H. Whitehead, editor and publisher of The Rusk Cherokeean (now the Cherokeean Herald), got the scoop. Terrie Gonzalez, Whitehead’s daughter and editor of the familyowned newspaper, shared her late father’s story at the reception for UNT’s Million Page Milestone in Denton on Feb. 27. The event coincided with the 163rd birthday of the Herald.
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Terrie Gonzalez, editor of the family-owned Cherokeean Herald (formerly known as The Rusk Cherokeean), holds one of the last remaining printed copies of The Rusk Cherokeean story on the April 16, 1955, riot at Rusk State Hospital, written by her father, Emmett H. Whitehead, who was editor and publisher at the time. Photo by the Cherokeean Herald.
Results of TCEQ's 2012 Recycled Newsprint Survey released State law sets the objective for newspaper publishers to meet at least one of two recycling goals. In 2012, 45 percent of respondents met this objective, with more than 32 percent exceeding both goals. The first goal calls for recycled newsprint to comprise at least 30 percent of total newsprint purchased. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality defines recycled newsprint as newsprint containing 25 percent or more post-consumer recycled content, which includes paper and other fibrous products that have completed their normal cycle of production and use. The second goal calls for the total amount of newsprint purchased to contain an average of 18 percent post-consumer recycled content. As a group, responding publishers met both the recycled newsprint goal and the postconsumer recycled content goal, exceeding the recycled newsprint goal by 4 percent and the postconsumer recycled content goal by nearly 7 percent. Respondents who did not meet either goal cited inability to obtain sufficient quantities of recycled newsprint at competitive prices, and a few cited the closure of Catalyst Paper's Snowflake recycle mill in Arizona last year as a large factor.
Spring 2013 Contest Guide 'Tis the season for newspaper contests — Don't miss an opportunity to get the recognition your paper deserves!
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MESSEN ESSENGER NGER Texas newspapers make their Texas Press
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE
Texas Press Association 718 West 5th Street Austin, TX 78759 (512) 477-6755 phone (512) 477-6759 fax texaspress.com
2012-2013 TPA BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS
President Russel Skiles, Lamesa Press-Reporter; First Vice President Greg Shrader, Lufkin Daily News; Second Vice President Randy Mankin, Eldorado Success; Treasurer Glenn Rea, Cuero Record; Chairman Chad Ferguson, Banner Press Newspaper
BOARD MEMBERS
Elected: Bill Crist, Snyder Daily News; Sue Brown, Pleasanton Express; Rochelle Stidham, Stephenville Empire-Tribune; Brandi Guy, Thorndale Champion; Brett McCormick, Vernon Daily Record; Chad Engbrock, Wylie News Appointed: Jeff Berger, Hondo Anvil Herald; Mark Henry, Mexia News; Melissa Perner, Ozona Stockman; Ken Esten Cooke, Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post; Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise; Randy Keck, Community News; Hank Hargrave, Normangee Star Regional Presidents: Susan Reeves, Mount Vernon Optic-Herald, NETPA; Amanda Rogers, The Canyon News, PPA; Jason Jarrett, Westlake Picayune, STPA; Murray Judson, Port Aransas South Jetty, TGCPA; Mark Engebretson, Lake Country Sun, WTPA Regional Vice Presidents: Mark Engebretson, Lake Country Sun, NETPA; Wanda Brooks, Moore County News, PPA; Cyndy Slovak-Barton, Hays Free Press, STPA; Danny Reneau, Silsbee Bee, TGCPA; Lisa Davis, Wise County Messenger, WTPA
MESSENGER STAFF Publisher Micheal Hodges Editor laura King Advertising Consultant Diane Byram Volume 88 — Issue No. 2 FEBRUARY 2013 Subscription rate $6 per year Single issue 50 cents © Texas Press Messenger, 2013 (ISSN 1521-7523). Published monthly by Texas Press Service, a business affiliate of Texas Press Association. Periodicals postage paid at Austin, Texas, and additional mailing office, USPS 541-440. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Texas Press Messenger, 718 West 5th Street, Austin, Texas 78701-2783. Printed by Hood County News in Granbury, Texas.
voices heard at the Capitol Many people believe that one of the best things about Texas is that we allow our state legislators to meet for only a single 140-day regular session every other year. The 83rd Session of the Texas Legislature opened in January and, as expected, a number of bills have been filed that seek to restrict public access to information or remove public notices from newspapers. And, as usual, Texas Press Association is doing everything it can to thwart those efforts and to support other bills that seek to shine more public light on government activities. Thanks to a multi-pronged effort, our industry and TPA are in perhaps the best position in many years to impact legislation on such issues. The effort began soon after the 2011 legislative session in which the Legislative Advisory Committee — then a joint effort between TPA and Texas Daily Newspaper Association — made the decision that our industry could no longer sit back and respond to legislation after it was filed. With public notices under attack on all fronts, the committee decided it was time to go on the offensive against government agencies and others who want to move such notices out of the public eye and onto little-visited government websites where there would be little or no real oversight. Newspaper leaders across the state agreed, and many of you pitched in funds to hire a lobbyist to spearhead that effort. Laura Prather, an Austin attorney now with the firm of Haynes and Boone LLP, already had served as legal counsel for the LAC and was personally familiar with our efforts and our goals. Highly respected by legislators from across the state, she hit the ground running as our lobbyist and has done a tremendous job in her expanded role representing Texas newspapers. Laura is known for developing
coalitions, and she has done that for us through the creation of Keep Texas Notified. Newspapers are no longer alone in our efforts.
Rambling Russel Skiles TPa PresiDenT 2012-2013
Through that coalition, our message on behalf of all Texans is also being carried by such diverse and powerful groups as AARP, League of Women Voters of Texas, ACLU of Texas, LULAC, Texas NAACP and others. All of them are listed on the group’s website, www.keeptexasnotified.com. That coalition is definitely making a difference in getting our voice heard by lawmakers and their staffs. With TDNA shutting its doors, TPA stepped up and hired longtime newspaperman and LAC member Donnis Baggett to focus on legislative issues in the new position of executive vice president. In the few months he has been on board, Donnis has tirelessly crisscrossed the state meeting with newspapers and lawmakers to convey our position not just on public notices but on other issues important to newspapers. But just as importantly, you, as newspapers, have also stepped up to the plate. Many of you have run a series of public service ads touting the importance of public notices. You have written editorials — and graciously shared them with other newspapers to help spread the word. You have hosted meetings with legislators or made personal contact
with your state representatives and senators. Some of you have even enlisted your local school superintendent or county officials to write letters in support of public notices in newspapers — a stance contrasting with the one pushed so hard by statewide city, county and school organizations. But despite those efforts, I have no doubt that we still face major challenges in the weeks and months ahead. Proposed legislation has already been filed seeking to move ALL public notices in Texas to government websites. Other bills make similar moves in more subtle fashion. Sometimes slight changes in wording would restrict access to various government documents and public records. The real challenge has just begun. That’s why we still need your help. Baggett and TPA Member Services Director Ed Sterling are poring over every single piece of proposed legislation. Anything — either good or bad — that catches their attention is brought to the attention of the LAC. Headed by Jim Moser, that panel of newspaper representatives is meeting every few weeks to look over the proposals and outline a plan of action. At some point, they may be calling on you for help — to write an editorial, contact a lawmaker or even go to Austin and testify. Along that same line, TPA’s firstever Legislative Conference on Feb. 24-25 provided a line of direct communication between our industry and both House Speaker Joe Straus and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. The conference also helped train publishers to serve as effective “grass-roots lobbyists” both at home and in Austin. We certainly face some major legislative issues this spring, but we’re doing everything we can to meet those challenges.
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Digital docs are still public info
Q: Our school board meetings have gone paperless. Each board member has a tablet with the agenda and supporting documentation uploaded. During open meetings, school board members are asked to refer to the information stored in their tablets. Sometimes charts are shown on a screen, but the screen is so far from where the audience sits, the charts are impossible to read. I have no choice other than to go up after meetings and spend time asking about each item. They don’t want to print out a paper copy for me. Got any suggestions? A: Texas attorneys general, time and again, have said that so far as state and local governmental bodies are concerned, there is a “presumption of openness” and that includes those documents your school board members are looking at on their tablets. Make a standing request, in writing, on your newspaper’s letterhead stationery. Hand-deliver it and email it to the secretary and/or whoever the decisionmakers are. You must cite the Texas Public Information Act in order to trigger the law. Ask for the agenda and related materials to be forwarded to you 72 hours in advance of each meeting. If there is confidential information in a meeting packet, you should be provided (electronically or on paper) with a redacted copy. If anything you receive is redacted, your response as a reporter would be to ask the superintendent to cite the specific law that allows each redaction of text.
Q: I am looking for sample application forms for independent contractors and photographers in particular. Are there any forms on file at TPA?
TPA Hotline Ed Sterling TPa memBer serVices DirecTor
A: Two 1990-vintage independent contractor forms are in the vertical files: Newspaper Carrier Wholesaler Agreement and Newspaper Carrier Delivery Agreement. Labor law developments since 1990, however, are mountainous, and that makes me doubt their trustworthiness. Do a Web search and you will find various purveyors who offer independent contractor forms on the Web. But to get sage, up-to-date input tailored to your situation, I suggest you contact Fort Worth-based labor attorney Brian Farrington or Nashville-based labor attorney Mike Zinser. Both attorneys have spoken at Texas Press conferences. Farrington is on the agenda to speak at the Texas Press Midwinter 2014 conference in Frisco. Now, if you want to research independent contractor topics on your own, try
Leader in selling Texas newspapers Call for a Confidential Discussion and References
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the Texas Workforce Commission, www.twc.state.tx.us, where you will find the Appendix E-TWC Independent Contractor Test. Also try www.irs.gov, where you will find a trove of information. Last but not least, I suggest you take advantage of the Publishers Listserver, a forum offered by TPA that makes it quick and easy for you to engage with your peers on an endless array of topics such as independent contractor status. To sign up for it, contact Executive Director Mike Hodges, mikehodges@texaspress.com, or call 512-477-6755. Q: Does “public officer” mean “elected official” as far as the Texas Open Meetings Act is concerned? Our county commissioners court plans to appoint someone to replace a constable who died and I need to know if they can go into closed session about it. A: An elected official like a constable is a public officer. Your commissioners court may discuss the replacement in closed session, but a vote on the matter must be conducted in open session. Q: Every year we do a special section for school board appreciation month. Some of our school districts purchase space in our special section to thank their school board, but other school districts don’t, claiming it is against the law for them to use school funds for something like that. Can a school district use tax dollars to promote or acknowledge its school board? A: There is no prohibition on the purchase of advertising in the Education Code or in the Education chapter of state administrative law. I suggest you ask school districts that say there is a prohibition to cite for you the specific statute, attorney general opinion or court ruling that prevents them from spending tax dollars on local advertising.
Have a question for Ed? Go online to texaspress.com to find more in this series or contact ed at edsterling@texaspress.com.
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lETTER TO THE EDiTOR
New digital platform may lead to demise of newspaper contest Dear Texas Press Association: I read with regret the announcement that the Texas Better Newspaper Contest will now be conducted online. At a time when we have argued for retaining struggling print newspapers, advocated for legal notices being in print, lobbied before legislators to retain certain mailing and other privileges, we are now giving up conducting our contest in print? The printed newspaper page is undeniable proof of the authenticity of the newspaper’s work and product. I cannot even imagine the many ways in which the online page could be changed or improved before being sent online into the contest, long after the page appeared in print. I believe that trust in the contest will be lost unnecessarily. Also, with this new system in which there are no parameters for our entry selections, newspapers will not be judged on the steadiness of their product but on a random few of their best items. Just as the expression, “teachers teach to the test,” newspapers will “write to the contest.” Further, I contend that your members should have had a say in this major decision, for I believe that the contest is the primary thing that keeps many of us part of the association. I predict that this could result in fewer and fewer entries, perhaps leading to the demise of the contest. I urge you to reconsider. If this decision cannot be changed this year, then entries should be allowed to be submitted by mail as well. Perhaps we could find ways to streamline the printed page concept. Sincerely, Jean Murph, publisher Citizens’ Advocate
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Former Hays Free Press publisher Bob Barton dies at 82 By Juan Palomo, Hays Free Press
Robert C. (Bob) Barton Jr., proud son of Central Texas, family man, newspaperman, politician, friend and mentor to many — and a staunch believer in social justice as a basic right for all — died Jan. 19, the birthdate of one of his heroes, Martin Luther King Jr. He was 82. His death, of congestive heart failure, also came a few days before the second inauguration of President Barack Obama, a leader whose election four years ago served to affirm Barton’s undying faith in his country as a nation of fairness and equality. Barton served in the Texas House of Representatives, but he was known throughout Central Texas as an influential political operative who mentored, advised and supported numerous candidates who became successful officeholders. He had a fascination with demographics before that word joined the political lexicon and he was known to accurately predict the outcome of a local election before the polls closed based solely on the number of people who had voted in certain key precincts. Barton’s populist roots in Central Texas and Hays County were deep. He
Bob Barton — Photo courtesy of the Hays Free Press. was born on April 5, 1930, in Austin — because there was no hospital in Buda — to longtime Buda residents Robert C. Barton and Marietta Fly Barton. His father was a rancher and superintendent of the Buda School District. A prod-
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uct of the Buda schools, Barton earned a teaching degree from Texas State University and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict, stationed in Germany. Bob and Wynette Word of Kyle were
married in 1955 and had two sons, Jefferson Word and David Gilbreath Slaughter. Wynette is a Jungian psychoanalyst practicing in Kyle and Austin. In 1952, Barton and close friend Moe Johnson entered the newspaper world with the purchase of the Kyle News, which eventually became a county-wide award-winning newspaper known as the Hays County Citizen. After selling The Citizen in 1978, Barton established what is now the Hays Free Press, a consistent award winner in regional and statewide newspaper contests. Over the years, Barton mentored and encouraged numerous journalists who went on to successful careers in the field. He was a strong defender of the First Amendment but also believed that a newspaper had an obligation to treat its readers and community with respect. In 1998, Barton combined his love of history, politics and newspapers to produce a highly readable history, in newspaper form, of Hays County from the Indian days to the arrival of the railroad. An avid historian and lover of Central Texas lore, Barton devoted the last several years of his life to historical research, in addition to writing occasionally for the Hays Free Press.
Spring 2013 Contest Guide TEXAS BETTER NEWSPAPER CONTEST Nancy Monson Spirit of FOI Award Fred Hartman Excellence in Sportswriting Award FRANK W. MAYBORN AWARD for Community leadership
Photo by Andrew Brosig for The Daily Sentinel, Nacogdoches, 2012 Texas Better Newspaper Contest, Sports Photo, Division 2, 1st Place Central Heights senior Lance Phillips, center, raises his hand to the sky as he’s hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates after hitting in the winning run during the University Interscholastic League Class 2A Semifinal game against Palmer at Dell Diamond in Round Rock.
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Introducing TPA's
Spring Contest Guide
Frank W. Mayborn Award for Community Leadership
DEADliNE: MAy 3, 5 P.M. | SEND NOMiNATiONS TO lKiNg@TEXASPRESS.COM ➤ Sue Mayborn, publisher of the Temple Daily Telegram and Killeen Daily Herald, established this former TDNA award in 1992 to honor the commendable leadership and service demonstrated by her late husband, Frank W. Mayborn. The Frank W. Mayborn Award for Community Leadership is awarded annually to a publisher or newspaper executive who contributed most significantly to society during the past year. The community leadership of the awarded candidate should be current (not necessarily spanning the candidate's lifetime). The selection committee will decide, based on nominees, how much emphasis the committee wants to place on current activity compared to lifetime achievement. If no nominations are presented in a given year, the selection committee will choose the nominee. The nominee should have exhibited outstanding and exemplary leadership to the community
(city, state or nation), which reflected credit upon the newspaper business. At the time of their nomination, candidates should hold a position with a Texas newspaper. There are no restrictions as to who may submit nominees. If they choose, members of the selection committee may submit candidates. Nominations must be submitted in writing and should include biographical information, as well as supporting documents explaining why a newspaper executive should receive the award. No limitations are placed upon the length of the information submitted, but conciseness and clarity are encouraged. Presentation qualities of the nomination sub-
missions (such as use of artwork, photographs, etc.) will not influence positively or negatively the selection of the award recipient. The newspaper executive chosen by the selection committee shall be awarded a plaque and will name a Texas college or university of his or her choice to receive a scholarship award of $3,000. School officials will then select an outstanding full-time student journalist to receive the scholarship award. Deadline for submittal is Friday, May 3 at 5 p.m. The award will be presented at TPA's annual newspaper contest awards ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Houston on June 22, following the TPA Newspaper Executives Retreat.
Recognizing the best in editorial and advertising
Texas Better Newspaper Contest DEADliNE: MARCH 29, 5 P.M. | ENTER AT WWW.BETTERBNC.COM What’s the best way to avoid a DQ in the Texas Better Newspaper Contest? Don’t wait until the last minute to submit your entries. The entry deadline is just a few weeks away. All entries must be submitted via the BetterBNC online contest platform at www.betterbnc.com by Friday, March 29 at 5 p.m. BetterBNC will automatically close the contest to entries at deadline. No late entries will be accepted. If you submit your entries now, TPA staff will be available to answer any questions you might have. You can also request notification of any disqualifications and may be allowed to resubmit. If you wait until the last days before deadline, there simply won’t be enough time. To get started, establish a contestant manager (i.e. a single point of contact for your newspaper). The contestant manager is critical so TPA has one point of contact for contest updates and
information. The manager can add additional users to the contest, called authorized entrants, so multiple staff members can submit entries. Once you’ve established a contestant manager, log into your account on www.betterbnc.com using your temporary password: bnc (lower case). As soon as you log in, the system will prompt you to create a secure password and enter your contact information. Now you can begin submitting entries. (Once you have submitted two entries, you will receive an email validating your contestant manager account, enabling you to create authorized entrant accounts to help you make entries on behalf of your newspaper.) If you have any questions during the submission process contact TPA’s contest coordinator, Laura King, at lking@texaspress.com or 512-477-6755.
➤ MuST READ If you are submitting an entry in the General Excellence, Routine Special Section, Blue Moon Special Section or Community Service categories, use www.issuu.com to create an e-reader of your publication. Do not upload single-page PDFs of an entire issue or special section. Issuu is a free online service that can be used to upload large, multi-page files. Simply upload your pages to Issuu and a unique URL will be created that can be added to your online contest entry and will take the judge directly to your content on www.issuu.com. (You may need to combine files and reduce the size of your final PDF. Visit www.txbnc.tumblr.com for helpful tutorials on using Adobe Acrobat and Issuu.)
Spring Contest Guide
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Back by popular demand
Fred Hartman Excellence in Sportswriting Award DEADliNE: MAy 3, 5 P.M. | SEND ENTRiES TO lKiNg@TEXASPRESS.COM
➤ This year, the contest is open to any journalist currently employed with a Texas newspaper over 10,000 in circulation.
Hartman
Once again, Hartman Newspapers L.P. is giving one talented sportswriter a chance to claim $1,000 and the title of best sportswriter in Texas. The family-owned newspaper group is sponsoring the Fred Hartman Excellence in Sportswriting Award, named in honor of the late Texas sportswriter and newspaper owner. Fred Hartman began his newspaper career as a sportswriter and eventually became editor and publisher of The Baytown Sun, working for Carmage Walls and Southern Newspapers.
He became a newspaper owner later in his career, but he never lost his passion for sportswriting. Each year the contest alternates between two fixed circulation breaks: over 10,000 and under 10,000. This year the contest is open to any journalist currently employed with a Texas newspaper over 10,000 in circulation. Submit digital tear sheets of five of your best sports stories originally published in a Texas newspaper during calendar year 2012. Sports photos will not be considered. The winner will be chosen based on quality
Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas presents the new
Nancy Monson Spirit of FOI Award DEADliNE: APRil 8, MiDNigHT | SEND ENTRiES TO AWARDS@FOiFT.ORg Monday, April 8, is the deadline for electronic submission of entries for the 2013 Nancy Monson Spirit of FOI Award, which this year for the first time will recognize work in three divisions. Sponsored by the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and the Texas Press Association and named after FOIFT’s former executive director, the award recognizes journalists and/or newspapers for outstanding efforts that uphold First Amendment principles, increase public access to gov-
ernment and improve awareness of state open government statutes. FOIFT is one of the leading education and advocacy non-profit organizations in the country, working for open government and access to public information for more than 30 years. Spirit of FOI Award nominations for calendar year 2012 can be a single news story or series, an editorial or series of editorials, columns, editorial cartoons or a community FOI project. Entries should be emailed to
awards@foift.org with the subject line FOI AWARD ENTRY: NEWSPAPER NAME. You should try to keep the total size of each completed PDF below 4MB. If your file is larger than this, you can reduce the file size in Adobe Acrobat. Download the complete FOI Award guidelines on www.texaspress.com for more info. Entries must be received by midnight, Monday, April 8. For more information, email awards@foift.org.
of writing. All entries must be emailed or transferred (via a file sharing service like Dropbox or Google Docs) to TPA's contest coordinator, Laura King, at lking@texaspress.com by 5 p.m. on Friday, May 3. Multiple sportswriters from the same paper may enter, but all contest entries must be submitted by an editor or publisher. The winner will be announced at TPA's annual newspaper contest awards ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Houston on June 22, following the TPA Newspaper Executives Retreat.
➤ DiViSiONS • A – Daily and non-daily newspapers, circulation up to 9,999 • AA – Daily newspapers, Sunday circulation 10,000-99,999 • AAA – Daily Newspapers, Sunday circulation 100,000 and up
➤ ENTRy PREPARATiON All entries must be submitted electronically and include the following: • a letter, headed with the name of the person or organization nominated and the classification entered, explaining the effort being cited; • PDFs of pages containing the coverage being entered; • and letters or additional support documents.
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Spring Contest Guide CAll FOR JuDgES
Volunteers needed to judge Arkansas editorial contest
Thank you to our advertising judges! Seven judges gathered at the Austin American-Statesman on Feb. 15 to select the winners in the Arkansas Press Association 2013 Texas Better Newspaper Advertising Contest. What troopers! We can't thank them enough for volunteering their time and expertise. Their eorts make the Better Newspaper Contest swap possible. Pictured above, left to right:
SuE BROWN | Pleasanton Express TiFFANy WADDEll | Western Observer TRACy MACK | The Hays Free Press DWigHT MCKENZiE | TPA TiA STONE | granite Publications BRANDi guy | granite Publications KiM JuNg | Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post And thank you to Jason Jarrett with Cox Media Group and the Austin American-Statesman for hosting the event!
TPA has some exciting news to share: the Arkansas Press Association 2013 Better Newspaper News-Editorial Contest will be judged at one of our members' favorite locations ... the TCU campus in Fort Worth! Our friends at the Texas Center for Community Journalism have graciously agreed to host the event. The judging will be held Thursday, May 2 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This will be the first time TPA has held a Better Newspaper Contest judging outside of Austin. We're looking for about 40 volunteers. If you can't make it to Fort Worth, you can still participate. Arkansas Press Association will ship some of their larger categories to a few select judges around April 15 — judges will have about three weeks to select winners and return the entries. If you would like to serve as a judge, either on site or from your office or home, please contact Laura King at lking@texaspress.com. See the list of categories below: News Story Feature Story Series Reporting Investigative Reporting Beat Reporting Sports News Story Sports Feature Story Sports Column Editorial News/Political Column General Interest Column Humorous Column Headline Writing Singe News Photograph Single Feature Photograph Single Sports Action Photo Single Sports Feature Photo Picture Page/Photo Essay Best Front Page Features Page Sports Page Special Issue or Special Section Political Coverage Agriculture/Business Coverage Education Coverage Tourism Coverage Health/Medical Coverage Editorial Cartoonist Website Design Freelancer Recognition
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Cherokeean Herald celebrates 163rd birthday with new archives
FROM PAGE 1
“It was the story of the day,” she started. “The Dallas Morning News came over to Rusk to cover the story and the Houston Chronicle — they were all in our office to set up satellite offices and use our telephones — and the rioting patients at the hospital only wanted to talk to one person. And that one person was my dad. “He was 29 years old, and he walked behind that fence — they had the superintendent held hostage — and he listened and found out what was on their minds and what it would take to end the standoff and the hostage situation. He published a special edition that night and put it out on the streets and
that brought a conclusion to the riot. It was an amazing story. “As I was staring at this framed story of the newspaper in my office, I was thinking … remember Jurassic Park and the dinosaur DNA that was embedded in the amber? These newspaper stories are trapped in microfilm and they can’t get out.” Gonzalez is the self-proclaimed president of the portal’s unofficial fan club. The Herald received nearly $100,000 in library grants through the Tocker Foundation to fund the digitization process, still in progress. The private foundation, which supports library projects in rural Texas communities, has provided $355,000 in funding for newspaper digitization. The Texas Digital Newspaper
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Program receives the majority of its support (roughly $1 million over the years) through the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress. “UNT in 2007 was designated as one of only eight U.S. universities and the only university in Texas selected by the National Endowment for the Humanities to digitize their state’s newspapers,” said the president of UNT, V. Lane Rawlins. “Today there are 32 institutions across the country that are so designated, but UNT is still the only Texas institution, and that’s significant because, as I have learned, Texans take their history seriously.”
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The portal now contains more than 500 newspapers from 102 counties in Texas. The oldest newspaper in the collection is an 1829 issue of the Texas Gazette from San Felipe de Austin. Newspaper digitization is achieved largely through the scanning of microfilm, a costly and time-consuming process that often involves locating and retrieving collections of printed newspapers (sometimes from a barn or an attic), shipping them to a microfilm vendor, and scanning them upon their return. The Digital Newspaper Unit at UNT is trying to raise $125,000 for a largescale scanner (the Zeutschel Omniscan 14000 AO) that would help them move into the modern era of digitizing content. “This would allow us to digitize every size newspaper,” explained Mark Phillips, assistant dean for Digital Libraries. “We can work with faded newspapers. We can work with newspapers that are damaged, because there’s less handling. We don’t have to ship them, and we can capture them in color, which is the next big thing for us to be able to do.” The digital newspaper collection also includes recent issues of Texas newspapers. PDFs can be added to the portal at no cost to newspapers. Publishers can set the terms of the arrangement so they can preserve the legacy of their papers and still make the history of their communities accessible to the world. The Cherokeean Herald, for example, has placed an embargo on issues published within the last three years. “Newspapers are the town crier,” Gonzalez said. “We were Facebook before there was Facebook. We’ve been putting that information out there, and all this stuff is important. Now that it is digitized forevermore, it’s not something I ever have to worry about.” Last fall, UNT Libraries established an endowment for the portal to help ensure long-term sustainability of the project, which comprises nearly 300,000 historical materials. “The funds are used for technology, for purchasing collections, and it’s also for working with our educational component to build lesson plans and to move this content into K-12 … not only K-12 but into undergraduate and graduate programs in Texas and all around
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FROM PAGE 9 the world,” Phillips said. Last semester, Martin Halbert, dean of UNT Libraries, was helping his 11-year-old daughter with a school project — her assignment was to create a new toy that was a modification of an old toy. She chose the Radio Flyer. “So she said to me, ‘Well, Dad, one of the things I’m supposed to find out is how much a Radio Flyer cost in my community in the old days.’ And I thought, well, we can look that up in The Portal to Texas History,” Halbert said. The portal uses optical character recognition technology to convert text images, such as newspaper pages, into searchable text, which allowed Halbert and his daughter to search newspaper ads, in addition to articles. “What did a Radio Flyer cost in 1948? What did it cost in 1954?” he mused. “It was interesting. They always advertised right before Christmas, and there was a pretty steady period through the late '40s up to the '50s when it was about $10 for a Radio Flyer. “My daughter was fascinated by that.”
News Briefs
Grand Saline Sun acquired by Lake Country Media Lake Country Media LLC, a new media company located in Grand Saline, has purchased The Grand Saline Sun. The Sun is now locally owned and operated by Dan and Ann Moore, who have lived and worked in the newspaper business in East Texas for more than 13 years. Moore’s wife, Ann, will serve as business manager and co-owner. Together they bring years of experience in the newspaper industry and business management. Their goal is to take the newspaper to the next level in print and online. “I feel as if I’m returning home since I have family in Wood County and spent many years here in the area with my family prior to and after marrying Dan,” Ann said. The first item of business for the couple was transitioning the newspaper from centralization of an out-oftown owned entity to a locally owned and operated business. Emphasis has initially been placed on customer service, product quality and a new website.
Ann and Dan Moore “I believe after working with both corporate and family owned newspapers for over 13 years in a variety of roles has prepared me for a time such as this, the fulfillment of a lifelong dream — owning my own newspaper,” Dan said. Dan started out in the media field in 1984 when he lived in Mineola and served as sales manager for KMOO
radio. He later returned to Mineola in 1999 and served as advertising director for the Mineola Monitor. One and a half years later, he transferred to the Lindale News & Times as advertising director and was promoted to publisher three months later. After six years as publisher in Lindale, he accepted the position of general manager at Blue Bonnet Publishing in Kilgore, owned and operated by Bill Woodall, whose parents owned The Grand Saline Sun many years ago. After a short time serving as publisher of The (Liberty County) Vindicator and The (Anahuac) Progress, owned by Granite Publications, he accepted the position of advertising sales manager for the Palestine Herald-Press, a daily newspaper owned by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. Prior to purchasing The Grand Saline Sun, Dan was general manager of The De Queen Bee in De Queen, Ark., owned by Lancaster Management Inc. in Gadsden, Ala.
Considering a sale? W. B. Grimes & Company has sold over 1,400 newspapers over the years and appraised thousands of others.
Rollie Hyde handles Texas, the Southwest and Plains States Rollie D. Hyde | 405.735.7394 | rhyde@att.net Sign up for our twice a month industry newsletter, ask for a no obligation free appraisal or review our current listings all over the United States at:
W. B. Grimes & Company • www.mediamergers.com W. B. Grimes & Company | Corporate Office: 24212 Muscari Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20882 | 301.253.5016 | Larry Grimes, President
MESSENGER VOL 88 NO 2 FEBRUARY 2013
Midwinter Memories
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Photos from the Texas Press 2013 Midwinter Conference & Trade Show, Jan. 17-19 at The Westin Galleria Houston. By TPA IT Director Fred Anders.
Willis Webb, Larry Jackson, Mary Henkel Judson, Sam Fore Keach and Jeremy Halbreich.
Lesa Major and Roy Robinson.
Julie and Willis Webb.
Debbie Day and Lou Ann Sornson.
Susie Jackson, Jeanne Samuels and Peggy Cooke.
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MESSENGER VOL 88 NO 2 FEBRUARY 2013
Midwinter Memories
Shawn Jones and David Valdez.
Jeff Berger goes for a bunt!
Larry Jackson and Mary Henkel Judson.
Krisan Buckel inspects a TNF Silent Auction Item.
Lisa Pfeifer and her son, Steve.
Sam Fore Keach and Ken Esten Cooke.