TWN0113 - The Washington Newspaper January 2013 by Washington Newspaper Publishers Association

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THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER Vol. 98, No. 1 January 2013

Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington • www.wnpa.com

Community newspaper bucks the trend North County Outlook makes leap to weekly

ore than five years ago, in late summer 2007, North County Outlook began publishing a bi-weekly community newspaper, serving the residents of Marysville, Arlington, Smokey Point, Lakewood and Tulalip in north Snohomish County. Beginning in January 2013, the tabloid will be published

Beckye Randall

Sue Stevenson

weekly on Wednesdays, a move that allows the company to better meet the needs of advertisers and readers. “We’re a little nervous, but very excited about taking this step,” said editor, co-owner and

co-publisher Beckye Randall. “Producing a paper every other week has been a bit confusing for our advertisers, and the one improvement our readers have asked for is to get the paper in their mailbox weekly,” said Randall. The Outlook is mailed directly to about 23,000 households and businesses in the Marysville to Arlington area. Beginning Jan. 9, the delivery date will be moved up from Thursdays to Wednesdays. To manage the increased production requirements, current part-time staffers will see

additional hours added to their work schedule. The city news reporter, who has been working on assignment outside the office, will now have regular office hours. “Going to a weekly schedule is the next logical step for us,” said Sue Stevenson, advertising sales manager, co-owner and co-publisher. “Our existing advertisers are very supportive of the decision, and we are confident a more standardized schedule will make it easier for new advertisers to recognize the value of our product.”

In addition to the weekly newspaper, North County Outlook Inc. publishes annually two editions of its magazine [360], one as a general interest community resource publication and another focused on health care services. In addition, the company publishes the official Strawberry Festival program each June and other supplements throughout the year. North County Outlook owners are Sue Stevenson, Anita Wuellner and Beckye Randall.

TAKING EXCELLENCE TO THE MAT

Emily Hanson/Shelton Mason County Journal

The judges highlighted Emily Hanson's success at conveying the strength of the victor as well as the determination of his opponent in this second-place winner in the Black and White Sports Photo category, Circulation Groups III and IV combined, in the 2012 Washington Better Newspaper Contest.

Summer journalism intern nominations due Feb. 8 Submit apps for local reporting, marketing interns

NPA publishers who would like to host a journalism intern this summer through the 2013 WNPA Foundation Internship Scholarship program are urged to nominate their candidate by Feb. 8. Up to seven internships are available, including the newly established Wilson-Gay Internship Scholarship (see December 2012 TWN). Your nominee may be a high school student, college student,

or simply someone in your community who you would like to have as an intern at your newspaper this summer. The internship is a 240-hour commitment. Reporting internships must be served in the newsroom of a WNPA regular-member newspaper. In response to comments in exit essays from recent interns, at their September 2012 meeting the Foundation board adopted new requirements for host newspapers: • Keeping in mind that the internship has an educational

purpose, the host editor should preview assignments with the intern and carefully review stories after publication, especially in the opening weeks of the internship. • There should be at least one “job shadowing” opportunity for the intern, scheduled in the early days of the internship if possible. • Each week the editor should have a brief one-on-one meeting devoted to the intern’s professional development. In addition, the board will assign interns a contact person and provide that person’s contact information to the host newspaper’s editor. The board member will check in with the intern at

the mid-point of the internship, and both the intern and the editor will be free to contact the board member at other times. The board’s goal is to ensure that our scholarship students and their host newspapers obtain a solid benefit. Although these internships are most often awarded to reporters, publishers may nominate qualified marketing interns by providing a proposal of the student’s activities, supervision, and goals. The supervisor would assume responsibility for ensuring a solid benefit to the student by providing oversight comparable to the bulleted items listed above. To nominate an intern, by Feb. 8 please send the following

by hard copy or email to Mae Waldron at the WNPA office or mwaldron@wnpa.com: • Letter of nomination from the publisher, including the proposed duties for the intern and the name and title of the person who will supervise the intern • Essay (up to 300 words) from your nominee about their interest in a career in community journalism • Up to five examples of your nominee’s work, if available (pdf, url or hard copy) Winners will be announced by March 9. If you have questions, please call Scott Wilson at (360) 3852900 or Mae Waldron, (206) 634-3838 ext. 2.

JANUARY 2013

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The Miner’s most loyal reader retires from public life

hen Washington State Sen. Bob Morton announced that he had enough politicking and was resigning, I immediately thought of what he said many times to fellow legislators and me. He said Eastern Washington weekly newspapers are valuable sources of information for him and his constituents. He wasn’t trying to suck up to the Miner or other newspapers in his vast 7th

Officers: President: Bill Forhan, NCW Media, Leavenworth l First Vice President: Keven Graves, Nisqually Valley News, Yelm l Second Vice President: Lori Maxim, Sound Publishing l Past President: Jana Stoner, Northern Kittitas County Tribune, Cle Elum l Secretary: Bill Will, WNPA, Seattle Trustees: Mike Dillon, Pacific Publishing Co., Seattle l Josh Johnson, Liberty Lake Splash, Liberty Lake l Eric LaFontaine, Othello Outlook l Imbert Matthee, Waitsburg Times l Don Nelson, Methow Valley News, Twisp l Stephen McFadden, Ritzville-Adams County Journal l Fred Obee, Port Townsend Leader Staff: Executive Director: Bill Will l Editor/Manager of Member Services: Mae Waldron

Officers: President: W. Stacey Cowles, The SpokesmanReview l Vice President: Mike Shepard, Seattle Times Company Board: Rufus Friday, Tri-City Herald l Jill Mackie, The Seattle Times l Dennis Waller, Chronicle, Centralia Executive Director: Rowland Thompson THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER is the official publication of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. It is published monthly by WNPA, 12354 30th Ave NE, Seattle WA 98125, phone (206) 634-3838. Email: mwaldron@wnpa.com; URL: www.wnpa.com, in conjunction with Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington, P.O. Box 29, Olympia, WA 98507, (360) 943-9960. Email: anewspaper@aol.com.

District but simply stating what he thought was a fact. And it showed more about this simple but effective leader than it really said about the weekly newspapers.

Fred WIllenbrock Publisher, Newport Miner

During his 22 years in office, Bob believed in knowing whom he represented and what they wanted or didn’t want from state government. That’s why he read community newspapers like the Miner and visited with constituents. Bob was an old-school, rural representative. He found out where the potholes in the road were and then got the money to fix them. He read and listened to the people in his rural district and

not those in the glitzy wine and cheese parties in Olympia. Bob not only read the community newspapers but defended the right for them to have access to public records. Again, he didn’t do it for the newspapers but did it for the readers of those newspapers – his constituents. When the Washington Association of Counties and other groups made their regular assault on the open public

records act, a phone call to Bob gained newspapers a hard-nosed champion. We appreciated that and know the people did as well. We’re glad Bob is going to have some time to enjoy life with his family and his district friends. We’ll miss him, but we can still picture him reading the Miner and keeping up with all the people he represented so well for so many years. Reprinted with permission.

Turn at teaching provides some lessons

experienced somewhat of a role reversal when I was invited to Puyallup High School’s student newspaper class one Thursday early this winter. The Viking Vanguard, with a staff of 21, uses Thursdays as workshop days, when they get away from interviewing subjects and typing on keyboards to address different topics. I got a chance to be their teacher for the day. Or at least someone who could start a conversation about the media, how we consume it, and the reasons behind our different rituals. Not everyone picks up a newspaper anymore to get their news, and that’s especially true with the younger generation. In fact, a couple of students in the class preferred Twitter, mostly so they could scan headlines. Sure, it’s limited to 140 characters, but embedded links can take you to different places, and you can read full stories if you so choose. A few others mentioned different aggregate sites — Tumblr and Reddit — yet they basically do the same thing: Pull information from multiple sources you follow, and put them in an

easily digestible format. A news feed, if you will. Bonus points if multimedia such as photos or video is included. Brian Ease of McLean access is a Editor, major point, too. Kids use Peninsula Gateway, those sources Gig Harbor because they’re just a touch away with an application on their smartphone or tablet. And it’s so fast that they can get real-time information. One of my questions to the class was about how they viewed newspapers. After all, they work hard to produce one. Does it still have a place in their world? The consensus was to document history. To go more in-depth than 140 characters. To display community events with names and faces of the people you recognize, so you can clip them out and keep them in a scrapbook. They also said they see print

as a more credible source of news. And they laughed when I told them the Internet never lies. The trick is to communicate with all kinds of different people who consume media in many different ways. While high school students may not run to grab the newspaper off their doorstep each morning, others do. Some read it cover to cover. Some scan headlines and choose to read stories based on how interesting they sound. Others may read after school or work, or only on Sundays. More people than ever before get their news online, and many of those folks are following links on Facebook or Twitter. YouTube? You betcha. The Vanguard staff members are figuring that out, too. They started a Facebook page last year and posted results of Puyallup High sports contests. When they had someone at a game to take photos, they posted them on Facebook, too. And they “tagged” the people who appeared in the photos, which sent the subjects a note to let them know they were online. There really isn’t an equivalent of “tagging” in print, unless

you’re the source of a story, and you know you might be quoted. One of the greatest challenges we face in the next several years is how to deal with newspaper websites. Twenty years ago, when the concept of same-day reporting online to break news before it hit print was born out of a competitive race to be the first, an industrial mistake was made — it was given away for free. Now, it’s expected that online content be free, and newspaper publishers have worried about the impact ever since. In the past five years, newspapers have gone from print products to multimedia companies that have many different facets, from blogs to Twitter personalities. The next nut to crack is the web, and how much readers are willing to pay for the hyperlocal content they won’t find anywhere else. Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 253-358-4150 or by email brian.mclean@gateline. com or brian.mclean@puyallupherald.com. Reprinted with permission.

Our resolution: Preserve, celebrate freedoms

ew-year resolutions often have the real-world substance and life expectancy of steam vapor. We resolve to lose weight, communicate better, stay in closer touch with family – often to no avail. But then there are resolutions that stick. Think of the five freedoms of the First Amendment as a resolution by the nation’s Founders, setting out the goals of religious freedom, freedoms of speech and press, and rights to assemble freely and petition the government for change. Goals for a new nation and at the same time the workings of a free society. Of course, the Founders set out their promises of freedom of expression and faith not just for a new year but for a new era, with no expiration date. Their resolution was binding on succeeding generations. So how are we doing? In the wake of what critics have called “journalistic bedlam” after the December school shootings in Newtown, Conn., came calls for “common-sense media control” and even outright government censorship of breaking-news reports. When the deliberately shocking Westboro Baptist Church advertised an intention to parade its anti-homosexuality views during some of the Newtown

funerals, public pushback included attacks on the group’s and members’ websites by hackers. A petition started on a White House website to have Gene the protesters Policinski vice president/ declared a executive “hate group” director, – presumably First Amendment to remove Center legal protections afforded Westboro and its ilk by a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Snyder v. Phelps. And after a New York state newspaper published the names and addresses of gun-permit holders in several counties, not only were angry comments aimed at the editors, but a Maryland legislator also proposed banning publication of the “private” information of who holds gun permits in his state. Until news media and publicaccountability groups mounted a successful challenge, Congress was considering legislation to greatly restrict which bureaucrats could speak with the public or journalists about work even remotely connected to national security. The original proposal probably would have eliminated

a long-standing practice of background briefings on terrorism and other security matters. To be sure, our national debates on First Amendment issues have sometimes produced less-than-ideal situations: the 1798 Sedition Act, the 1950s “blacklists” of authors and playwrights, Vietnam-era and post-9/11 surveillance or suppression of protesters or religious faiths deemed extreme or weird. But the good news is that we’ve generally come to our First Amendment senses after flirting with such limits, controls and pogroms. Congress as editor? The specter of government “media control” raises questions not just of constitutionality but also of practicality. Who makes the final decision on what the “one, true story” is? How would government stop publication of “wrong” facts immediately after an event without a massive bureaucracy that would, at the very least, be far too slow to deal with any kind of breaking news? Moreover, do we want government to produce a single set of approved facts? As to Westboro’s antics: Far better for the public to hear and see the hate-filled messages directly. Yes, without its sidewalk performances, few would know of this family-run group from Topeka, Kan. But our Founders believed the cure for speech you don’t like

is more speech, not less – and in each generation, the marketplace of ideas will have a few stalls operated by the wildly unpopular. Finally, trying to close off public and press access to government officials to stem leaks hasn’t worked in the past – and with the Internet, there’s even less reason to believe it would work today. Government secrecy is needed in some matters, and laws on treason and espionage already are on the books. Case in point: Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, facing trial in March for leaking huge amounts of secret documents to the global web organization WikiLeaks. But whistleblowers who disclose waste, fraud and abuse are positive factors in self-governance, not turncoats. Let’s not condemn a mid-level official who exposes internal policy disagreements on water-quality standards in the same voice as a spy whose work endangers national security. So let’s keep faith with the Founders and resolve to step into the New Year with a goal of preserving, using and celebrating our core freedoms. Gene Policinski is senior vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center, 1207 18th Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn., 37212. Web: www. firstamendmentcenter.org. E-mail: gpolicinski@fac.org.

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JANUARY 2013

TNT redesign gets high and low marks from readers

ix days into the Tacoma News Tribune’s redesign, which debuted Nov. 20, reader comments ran about two to one in favor of the new look. Executive Editor Karen Peterson characterized the changes as tailored to hard-core newspaper readers. In a Nov. 18 column she posited reasons the paper could skip trying to lure new readers with a new design. • Readers can buy or access the news in the formats they prefer, not just on paper. For example, more than 99 percent of Sunday Tribunes are read by subscribers who, Peterson sug-

gested, “spread their papers out on the kitchen counter and don’t need a giant headline to sell them” on buying the paper. • The newspaper, as compared to a website that doesn’t have a newsroom and related resources behind its work, is expected to be credible and authoritative. TNT reasoned it made sense for its printed product to look like a serious news source. Design director David Montesino created the new look, incorporating input from a panel of readers. The six major changes opened with a flag featuring a new take on the local skyline and

Mount Rainier, with a new angle of view and a woodcut-style graphic. When a reader complained the new image didn’t look like the city’s skyline, Peterson printed the photo it was based on with her Nov. 28 column, a follow-up on reader reaction to the design. In the redesign, headline treatment changed in two ways. The size of headlines is geared to the importance of the story instead of being based on page location, and the new headline font, Miller, has more authority than the previous font. That space-saving approach to headlines leads to the third

major change, which is the option to feature more stories on each page. Readers mistakenly believed the body font was made smaller and that pages had more, narrower columns and were longer than before. Not so, wrote Peterson. The body text was unchanged, though it displays ragged right instead of justified, and rules separate the columns. The new headlines, the ragged-right text with rules, and an increased number of stories on a page contribute to a look that leans toward early nineteenth-century newspapers. Those changes generated a

mix of reactions, pro (“This new paper is a joy.”) and con (“I tried to read it, only to get dizzy and frustrated…”). To bring personality to section fronts, columnists are featured at the tops of section fronts instead at the bottom. A new reader-feedback section on page 2 accommodates readersubmitted photos and comments, poll results and other items from the web. The elements the section displaced were moved to the back of the sports section, adjacent to the weather feature.

Edmonds carrier’s wrong turn saves woman’s life Daily Herald, Everett

hirley Morales made a wrong turn on her route when she saw in the flash of her headlights the woman in the ditch. The Everett Herald newspaper carrier was delivering papers with her 2-year-old about 5 a.m. Nov. 18. She didn’t know what to think until she heard the cries for help. The woman was an 84-yearold who had wandered from her home late at night, tripped in the drainage ditch and broken her ankle, hip and arm. Morales

grabbed the two blankets she kept in the car for her son, Damian, whom she calls her “little carrier,” and wrapped them around the woman. “I was scared to move her, but I wanted her to keep warm. It was raining and she had just socks and a regular jacket,” Morales said. “She was trembling.” Morales called her boyfriend, Gilberto Vera Lopez, who was delivering papers on a nearby route. He arrived and the Lynnwood couple called 911 and waited for the ambulance to

Poulsbo’s NKH wins honor from local media group

n the Local Media Association Newspaper of the Year contest, the North Kitsap Herald of Poulsbo won third place among non-daily newspapers with 10,001-22,500 circulation. “This is clearly a must-read newspaper,” the judges wrote, “with strong stories on a public shooting and the end [to] a ferry subsidy. Tough stories shoulder next to features on teachers—and that’s just what a newspaper is supposed to do. There is a strong ROP advertising presence of local retailers and services, which makes this a must-have publication for ads and editorial.” Herald leaders are publisher Donna Etchey and editor Richard Walker. LMA, formerly Suburban Newspapers of America, an-

Donna Etchey

Richard Walker

nounced the winners of this national, general-excellence competition on Dec. 4, 2012. The contest has six classes, four non-daily and two daily. Judging is by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Mo. Winners were recognized in the December issue of Local Media Today, the LMA newsletter.

Olympian, TNT add digital option

tarting Dec. 17, the Olympian and the News Tribune of Tacoma incorporated digital content into the subscription options available to readers. Nonsubscribers may access 15 page views per month for free, and can view the homepage, obituaries and classified ads anytime. Readers renewing their print subscription can include digital access for $2.50 per month. Those who prefer digital-only subscriptions will pay $9.95 per month to access the eEdition, website, and use mobile apps for the iPhone and Android phones. Subscribers to theNewsTri-

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arrive 11 minutes later. Their actions helped save Catherine Joan Walsh, who was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Walsh was transferred Dec. 3 to a rehab facility in Edmonds. “It was a Sunday. If it wasn’t for the newspaper carrier, God knows what would have happened,” said Pat Upton, Walsh’s daughter. “We are grateful that there are still people out there who will stop and do something to help someone else.” After taking a wrong turn that morning, Morales decided to

begin her route in the neighborhood she usually visits last when she found Walsh in the ditch. Walsh was disoriented. She couldn’t remember what she was doing or how long she’d been outside, but told Morales that her arm and leg were broken. Walsh couldn’t remember where she lived, but Morales told police that she knew an elderly woman lived a few houses down. Though the two had never met, Morales left Walsh’s newspaper on the windowsill so that she wouldn’t have to walk out into the driveway to reach it.

“Mom had a guardian angel that night,” Upton said. At Harborview, doctors said that if Walsh had been out there much longer that she would have been at risk for shock or hypothermia. “Those blankets helped a lot. The trauma nurse at Harborview said mom wasn’t very cold, at least not as cold as he thought she’d be,” said Terry Walsh, 54, another Walsh daughter. “Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers.” Her daughters are hopeful that she will fully recover.

JANUARY 2013

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PASSINGS

Retired Peninsula Daily News photographer dies at 64 Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles

or more than 30 years, Tom Thompson captured the North Olympic Peninsula through a camera lens and won awards for photos ranging from a stark image of the fallen Hood Canal Bridge to an offbeat photo of a horse nibbling on its owner’s neck. The retired chief photographer of the Peninsula Daily News did it all with a smile on his face, a calming influence and a keen eye for the right moment and the perfect shot as he covered every kind of news — from parades to disasters, from fires and car accidents to City Council meetings and high school sports. Thompson died Nov. 28 at his home in Port Angeles surrounded by family members after suffering a brain aneurysm. He was 64. He retired from the PDN in August 2007 after 33 years and began a successful second career with his own construction business and property development company, Clear Horizon LLC. “Tom was the consummate professional and a highly respected, beloved colleague,” said John Brewer, PDN publisher and editor. “He made us a better newspaper. He didn’t need words to communicate; his camera work alone would take you to the heart of the story. “His personnel file is filled with letters from readers complimenting the photos he took. Parents especially loved his photos of their children. “He was so well-liked in the community that he was an ambassador for the newspaper,” Brewer added. “And he carried his talents and outstanding craftsmanship into his general contracting business, making sure his customers

LEFT PHOTO: Tom Thompson / Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles; RIGHT PHOTO: Dave Logan / For Peninsula Daily News LEFT: The first public view of the fallen Hood Canal Bridge, which sank during a powerful storm in 1979, came in this photograph by Tom Thompson. RIGHT: Tom Thompson, right, receives a proclamation of appreciation in August 2007 from the Clallam County Board of Commissioners on his retirement from Peninsula Daily News in Port Angeles. The proclamation saluted Thompson’s photo work and was presented by Steve Tharinger, then chairman of the commissioners and now a state representative.

always got a great job done for a fair price.” Many of his photos were transmitted by The Associated Press — the PDN is a contributor to this news service, the world’s largest — and were published by other newspapers nationwide. His photos also received awards from AP and from Sigma Delta Chi-Society of Professional Journalists. Fellow PDN staffers marveled at his even temperament despite tense deadline situations. “He never raised his voice,” said Executive Editor Rex Wilson. “He had this calming way about him. He was always in control, always fully prepared when on assignment. “He had a big-picture view of life and of his craft.” Said Keith Thorpe, who worked with Thompson and is now PDN chief photographer, “Tom knew everyone, and he’d

been just about everywhere — he was the elder statesman of photography on the Peninsula.” Thompson was the first photographer to reach the scene when hurricane-force winds sank the west half of the Hood Canal Bridge on Feb. 13, 1979. He recalled a white-knuckle drive from Port Angeles, driving through buffeting winds and dodging fallen trees and debris strewn across state Highway 104 in Jefferson County. He found that the steel transfer span that once led from the land span to the rest of the floating bridge was in the canal. The west half of the bridge was gone, and off in the distance, the east half was still afloat. “The sun was breaking through the clouds enough to provide the light I needed for photography, but it was still an eerie feeling to be aware of the clouds overhead that had been a

part of the storm that could do so much damage,” Thompson recalled in a 2009 interview. Thompson stomped through brambles to capture the right angle and quickly left to make his 11 a.m. deadline for what was then an evening newspaper. “After I took some more shots from the southern side of the bridge to illustrate the damaged span and the open gap where the bridge used to be, I rushed back to my car. “I threaded my way back through the maze of debris and made it back to the office with just enough time to process my film and produce three or four quick prints, and the presses rolled shortly after.” The photo was sent to AP and appeared in newspapers from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to the New York Times. Thomas A. Thompson was born May 30, 1948, in Seattle. He worked for AP in Seattle

as a lab technician and part-time photographer before joining the PDN in May 1974. He also attended Peninsula College and received an associate degree in journalism in 1998. At his PDN retirement party in 2007, he said he felt “very blessed in my career to enjoy my craft, live in a place surrounded by beautiful geography, work with some great people, create some rewarding images and to see many changes.” His survivors include his wife, Diane; stepmother Grace Thompson of Moses Lake; two brothers, Joe and Roger Thompson of Helena, Mont.; sons Wade and Scott of Federal Way; daughter Brooke Nelson of Port Angeles, a member of the City Council; stepchildren Lisa Lovern and Michael Cooper of Lynnwood; 10 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Press’s veteran sports editor ‘Bob’ Taylor passes at 63 Issaquah Press

obert L. “Bob” Taylor, former longtime sports editor of the Issaquah Press, died Christmas Eve morning, Dec. 24, 2012, at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. He was 63. Taylor, of Renton, was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, and was battling that and leukemia at the time of his death. He wrote about his illness many times in the Press.

He married his wife, the former Pauline Namit, who he called his best friend, in 1976, and she was his main caregiver in his last years. Bob Taylor He was very proud of his adult son, David, a University of Washington graduate. Family meant everything to him. He

also loved his dog, Katie. Taylor was half Finnish and proud of his heritage. He was born Oct. 4, 1949, in Vancouver, Wash., to Hilda (Kopra) and Layton Taylor, and raised on a farm in Southwest Washington. He loved listening to music, especially jazz and big band music, and he had a keen interest in history, especially the Civil War, colonial times and the Old West. He also enjoyed fishing, genealogy, reading, writing, cooking, baseball card collecting and baseball historical research. He loved to tell stories, often turning a short topic into a long one, and people loved to hear him tell them. He was a positive person, no matter the circumstances, and he remained upbeat despite his illnesses. Taylor’s career began in 1972, when he graduated from Western Washington University with a bachelor’s degrees in journalism and history. He was hired by the weekly Bellingham Metropolitan and started that job the day of his graduation. Taylor went on to become sports editor at the Bellingham Herald for two years.

He covered the World Series in 1974. He then worked in Colorado for seven months before returning to the Evergreen State. For almost 20 years, Taylor covered sports for the nowdefunct Journal-American (later called the Eastside Journal), a daily newspaper based in Bellevue. Although he worked the Seattle Mariners’ beat on three different occasions, the University of Washington football beat for two years and a year with the Seattle Sounders, most Eastside readers will remember him as a high school sports writer and “living encyclopedia of Eastside sports.” After a stint as a teacher (Taylor had substituted in the Issaquah, Renton, Bellevue and Snoqualmie Valley districts and the Archdiocese of Seattle), and a stopover at the Whidbey Island News-Times in Oak Harbor, he had covered prep sports for the Press since May 22, 2000. He retired this past March with plans to write books. Outside of sports, Taylor made an impact on Issaquah with his “Faith in Focus” series,

introducing readers to many of the religious congregations and pastors in the area. He also wrote many features about various topics, and he loved telling the stories of veterans. He also volunteered his time and love to special-needs children. Taylor won many awards for editorial performance, reporting, writing and public service. In 1990, he was recognized for his volunteer work with the Bellevue School District. In 1993, he received an honorary diploma from St. Joseph’s Indian School in South Dakota. In 1996, he received the Spirit of the KingCo Conference award, and the JournalAmerican sports section was named one of the top 10 daily sports/special sections. Taylor won many Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and Society of Professional Journalists awards for his stories and columns in the Press. He was to be presented with another award Jan. 19 at the Washington State Track and Field Coaches Convention.

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JANUARY 2013

Centralia daily owner Jeri Lafromboise dies at 79 Daughter Jenifer to take over lead role Chronicle, Centralia

hen told, in 1968, that only a man could handle the messy business of printing news, Jeraldine Lafromboise became that man. “Call me J.R. from now on if you have to,” Lafromboise told the board of trustees that governed her recently deceased husband’s newspaper group, which included the Daily Chronicle and the Aberdeen Daily World. Though the board members protested — a schoolteacher pregnant with her second child really wasn’t fit to run a paper, they said — Lafromboise would hear nothing of selling the family business. Instead, she became the publishing company’s president and chairman of the board — and an expert in newspapers. “She immersed herself in the business and surrounded herself with people who knew what they were doing,” her daughter Jenifer recalled. “That was my

mom. No one was going to tell her what to do.” On Dec. 28, Jeraldine Royce Loomis Lafromboise, owner of the Chronicle for Jeraldine Lafromboise the last 56 years, died. She was 79. Friends and family remember Jeri as smart, kind and fun loving, and as a businesswoman who was fiercely private in her dealings but who adored her employees and wasn’t afraid to take chances for them. Born Dec. 14, 1933 in Hoquiam to Jennie Loomis Meade and Roy Loomis, Lafromboise spent most of her youth in Auburn. After graduating from Auburn High School in 1951, she attended the University of Washington where she was a cheerleader and a member of the Alpha Phi sorority. In 1955, Lafromboise became the university’s home-

coming queen, graduated with a degree in education and married the love of her life, Richard. The newlyweds settled in California where Richard served in the Air Force and Lafromboise taught elementary school. Upon Richard’s retirement from military service, the couple moved to Olympia. There, Lafromboise gave birth to Rick, her first child. In 1965, the family moved to Seattle, and in 1968, Richard purchased the Centralia Daily Chronicle, the third newspaper in his publishing group which already included the Aberdeen Daily World and Redding, Calif.-based Red Bluff Daily News. Only months after purchasing the Chronicle, Richard died and Lafromboise took over her husband’s newspapers. In 1969, she gave birth to her second child, Jenifer. As a newspaper woman, Lafromboise remained dedicated to her husband’s vision. “Local, local, local,” daughter Jenifer described her parents’

focus. Born and raised in a small town, Lafromboise instinctively understood the dynamics and needs of small communities. “She knew how important newspapers were,” Jenifer said. “How a newspaper could link people together, how people relied on their newspaper for information about their community.” As Lafromboise grew older, and the business of news changed, she encouraged her employees to embrace technology and take chances. “If someone had a new, quirky idea, she’d say: try that, go with that,” Jenifer recalled. Even if the idea didn’t pan out — as with Lewis County Buzz, the Chronicle’s nowdefunct social networking site — Lafromboise valued the gumption of creative risks. “She was proud of the fact that we tried. We put ourselves out there, opened up different doors,” her daughter said. Lafromboise knew that to survive, the Chronicle must stay relevant. “As a 70-plus-old woman,

Herald loses ‘downtown man’ Jarboe at 61 Daily Herald, Everett

n many ways, Tim Jarboe was a model of consistency. He loved his wife of 41 years, his three grown daughters, Ford Mustangs and his job selling ads for the Herald. He also was partial to his mustache, which he grew as a high school senior in 1969 and never got around to shaving off. For business people in south Snohomish County and downtown Everett, Jarboe was a frequent visitor or friendly voice on the other end of the telephone line for more than 43 years. “He has been the downtown man,” Herald advertising director Ken Clements said. “They knew him as the face of the Everett Herald.” Jarboe, 61, died Dec. 30 from complications of larynx cancer. Jarboe had just turned 18 when he was hired as a newspaper messenger to run advertisements to businesses to

be proofed. From there, he moved into sales. “He loved his job,” his wife, Deborah Tim Jarboe Jarboe, said. “He loved the people he worked with and working for his clients. He was more into service than into selling.” Jarboe worked in the advertising department with Larry Hanson, who went on to become publisher of the Herald from 1984 to 2001. Both grew up in Snohomish County and spent their entire careers working for their hometown paper. “I appreciated so much his energy and his personality,” Hanson said. “He just had great customer service skills.” For all the challenges inher-

ent in the competitive world of ad sales, Jarboe never showed signs of stress, Hanson said. Nor did he lose hope when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2011. “I never met a man who was so positive,” Clements said. Jarboe met his future wife while performing the Thornton Wilder play, “Our Town,” in a junior English class at Mountlake Terrace High School. As seniors, they had more classes together. Jarboe was smitten with Deborah and impressed that she drove a green convertible Ford Mustang. He later got a Mustang of his own. They celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in 2011 and traveled to Paris and London. Jarboe spent eight years as a Kamiak High School band booster, helping raise money for his daughters’ and other students’ trips near and far, including performances at a

Macy’s Day Parade, Disney World and one of President Bill Clinton’s inaugurations. “He was right there with them wherever they went,” Deborah Jarboe said. His wife is thankful that he lived to see the October wedding of their middle daughter, Kimberley. By then, his voice box had been surgically removed, but he was determined to deliver a toast. Using an iPhone app, he wrote and rewrote the words that the computer voice delivered. Chemotherapy left him bald. At the wedding, Jarboe wore a black hat with “Father of the bride” embroidered in white letters as he proudly walked her down the aisle. Jarboe is survived by his wife, daughters Jennifer and Christine Jarboe, and Kimberley McDowell, along with her husband, Brent.

it was hard for her to wrap her mind around websites and social media,” Jenifer said. “She didn’t always know how we would do it, but she knew we needed to do it.” Jenifer Lafromboise, 43, will assume ownership of the paper. She took over as chairman of the board when her mother retired from the role in early 2012. The new owner of the Chronicle and the Chronicle Print Division, the Reflector in Battle Ground, the Nisqually Valley News in Yelm, Southwest Washington Family magazine and Sign Pro says she does not anticipate any drastic changes. “I believe that the best way to honor both my mother and father is to keep on moving forward with the pride and determination that they both encompassed,” Jenifer said. “I have faith in the people who work for us; we want to evolve with the times and do what we need to do to deliver a quality product for our community.”

Multi-media ad campaigns can win $250

number of press associations are working with the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the Missouri School of Journalism and LocalMediaInsider to reward excellence in multi-media advertising campaigns created for merchants by local media groups. RJI and LocalMediaInsider are giving away a $250 cash award each month through April to a sales rep from around the country who submits the best multimedia advertising campaign. It just takes a few minutes to enter using this link: http:// tinyurl.com/cswyoq8 Enter as many campaigns as you want to during the contest period. Contact Alisa Cromer at RJI for more details: cromera@ rjionline.org

Pioneer announces name change

ioneer Newspapers, Inc. announced Jan. 4 that it has changed its name to Pioneer News Group Co. The change reflects the company’s successful evolution in expanding its news and advertising products to digital platforms and the full nature of its services. While publishing newspapers in print remains the company’s foundation, an increasing emphasis on providing local information through a variety of digital formats including mobile and e-reader devices along with different websites is a rapidly growing part of the business. “We have become much more than a print-oriented newspaper company,” said Marnie Roozen, chairman of Pioneer’s board of directors.

“Producing newspapers in print continues to be an important part of our focus, combined with meeting reader expectations for our services to be available in a growing array of digital products. “Our new name allows us to more fully convey the scope and nature of our expanding business to help us best serve the communities we are in with empowering local news and advertising information.” “Paid print circulation remains strong and when coupled with growing online subscriptions, our total audience has never been higher,” said Mike Gugliotto, president and CEO of Pioneer News Group. “We are also helping businesses connect with more customers through a growing menu of online advertising

options, including a wide collection of social media services. Between print and online, we are connecting with more readers and advertisers than ever.” Pioneer Newspapers, Inc. was formed in 1974 by James G. Scripps, who was followed by his daughter, Susan Wood, as chairman. Marnie Roozen, Susan’s daughter, succeeded her as chairman last year. The Scripps family has a long history in newspapers, starting with E.W. Scripps in Cleveland in 1878. Pioneer News Group Co. owns and operates 23 print and online daily and weekly newspapers in Washington, Montana, Idaho, Utah and Oregon.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Jan. 11

WNPA Board Meeting, Olympia

Feb. or March Legislative Day April 25

WNPA Board Meeting, Bellevue

May

Better Newspaper Contest Entries due

July 18

WNPA Board Meeting, Leavenworth

Oct. 3

WNPA Board Meeting, Olympia

Oct. 3-5

126th Annual Convention, Olympia

JANUARY 2013

TWN

EXCELLENCE IN THE FACE OF FIRE

Stephen McFadden/Ritzville-Adams County Journal

With this wall of fire, Stephen McFadden won second place for the Ritzville-Adams County Journal in the Spot News category, Circulation Groups I & II Combined, of the 2012 Washington Better Newspaper Contest.

A new, coin-operated news rack installed by Columbia Basin Herald sells its annual publication, Grant County Magazine.

Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake

Old mixes with new to sell niche products

In the Columbia Basin Herald’s auction fundraiser, readers who call in bids on items advertised in the newspaper buy gifts and services donated by local businesses and also support worthy causes.

Herald auction helps two ways Proceeds fund trip for students to D.C. and NIE program

benefit auction sponsored by the Columbia Basin Herald in Moses Lake raised more than $2,000 to be split between students taking a spring-break trip to Washington, D.C., and the Herald’s Newspapers in Education program. Jenna Erickson, the Herald’s NIE coordinator, led the effort. Fifty auction items, 15 solicited by Erickson and 35 by the students, were auctioned by phone in two hours using the

newspaper’s circulation line. Callers referenced items described in a double-truck ad published twice prior to the Dec. 17 auction (shown above). Some of the callers are Christmas shopping, circulation director Tom Hinde reported. “People are looking for gifts in December, and if you can use one of ours and do good at the same time, that is ideal,” Hinde said. The week-long guided trip, Students Stride to D.C., is for sixth- to ninth-grade students attending local schools. Each student must raise $2,000 to take the trip, and the parents of a student who is a

newspaper carrier approached Hinde about the auction. Previous Herald auctions have benefited the local tactical response team, which had received a donated armored vehicle but needed funding for paint and minor repairs, and other local organizations. The Herald also raises funds for the NIE program with an annual golf tournament and through the sale of rack card space to political and other advertisers. If you have questions, contact Hinde, 509-765-8882. ext. 137 or thinde@columbiabasinherald. com.

he Columbia Basin Herald has had good results from two new approaches its taken to marketing niche publications. On columbiabasinherald. com, staff members built a bookshelf-style newsstand and, using in-house software, add e-Edition versions of new special sections and magazines as they are published. “The traffic for the niche products has been amazing,” publisher Harlan Beagley reports. See the shelf at http:// www.columbiabasinherald. com/bookshelf/ For the Grant County Magazine, an industrial, pro-

agricultural glossy publication that’s an annual, Beagley placed a coin-operated news rack outside the post office. Special graphics from a vehicle-design company advertise the magazines, which cost $2 apiece. “People come to town to look at moving here or siting a business, and they go to the post office and get one of every publication they can get their hands on,” Beagley said. “They’ve been selling like hotcakes.” Beagely suggested the idea would work well for progress editions or any other publication with a 12-month shelf life.

... And now the not-so-good news

n the downside at the Columbia Basin Herald, Beagley ordered insignia logos for all company trucks after unknown thieves stole an old unmarked truck from the newspaper’s parking lot over the weekend of Dec. 1. The truck was found the fol-

lowing Monday on the railroad tracks, out of gas and with a door that had been sprung. No one has been identified as responsible for the theft, but local law enforcement speculated the truck may have been used to haul scrap metal or by joyriding kids.

TWN

JANUARY 2013

CAREER MOVES n Kathleen Coleman, director of digital business operations and new product development at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, was promoted to director of sales and marketing, effective Jan. 1. Coleman joined the newspaper in 1997 as lifestyles editor and, since 2007, has been director of digital business operations. Most recently, she has managed the launch of various niche products for print and online users, including KissTheBrideNW. com, DownToEarthNW.com and Live Well, a project of the marketing and editorial departments. Coleman succeeds Daniel M. Johnson. Johnson accepted the position of vice president of business development at CirTech, where he will work to increase revenue, develop new products and services and promote the CirTech brand. The company, established in 1987, provides contact and marketing solutions for the newspaper industry. n Cecilia Garza has joined the reporting staff at the Bainbridge Island Review. Garza is recent graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. A Texas native, she completed a three-month internship at YES! Magazine on Bainbridge Island this summer and decided to stay in the Northwest. During college she was a staff reporter at the city newspaper, the Columbia Missourian. She has also worked on the editorial staff of a news website, Global Journalist, which covers free-press issues around the world. n The staff at the CamasWashougal Post-Record bade farewell last month to Florence

Hutson, who worked as an advertising sales representative and commercial printing account representative at the newspaper for 25 years. Her 40-year career also included working in printing houses and at newspapers in Battle Ground and in Roseburg and Portland, Ore. Shelly Atwell, classified sales representative and circulation manager, succeeds Hutson. A 10-year employee, Atwell will continue in circulation. Bobbi Foster, a 20-year employee and the newspaper’s page designer, is handling classifieds. n Ross Coyle is new on the reporting staff at the Sequim Gazette. His background includes six months at the Newport (Ore.) News-Times and several years at the Oregon Commentator magazine, published by students at the University of Oregon. Coyle studied journalism at UO and grew up in California’s Bay Area. n Ken Graham, founder of the Blue Mountain News of Dayton, is the new editor of the Times in Waitsburg. Most recently, he has been a part-time reporter for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, covering Prescott, Waitsburg, Dayton, Starbuck, Pomeroy and Columbia and Garfield counties. Graham published the News from January 2007 to January 2012. For the six previous years, he had worked as an online instructor of economics for the University of Phoenix. He continued in that role while publishing the newspaper. Graham earned degrees in economics and business administration at the University of Washington. Concurrent with Graham’s hiring, Times reporter Morgan Smith was promoted to assistant editor.

Press Forward We applaud the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association’s commitment to advocating for community newspapers, freedom of the press and open government. We are honored to continue serving as a resource in these valuable efforts.