TWN0612 - The Washington Newspaper June 2012

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THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER Vol. 97, No 6 June 2012

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

WNPA announces new stars in lead roles J

ana Stoner, president of the board of trustees of Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, is pleased to announce two new publishers have assumed leadership roles in WNPA. Josh Johnson, publisher of the Liberty Lake Splash, will fill the position on the board vacated by Donna Etchey, who resigned April 26.

Kasia Pierzga, editor and publisher of the Whidbey Examiner in Coupeville, succeeds Etchey as chair of the Membership & Bylaws Committee.

Etchey’s three-year term ends with the Sept. 27,

Josh Kasia Jana Donna Johnson Pierzga Stoner Etchey 2012 board meeting.

Since October she has served as chair of the Membership & Bylaws Committee.

Etchey has been publisher of the North Kitsap Herald in Poulsbo, her hometown news-

paper, since 2006. In February 2012 she was named publisher of the Bainbridge Island Review.

“The board has appreciated all of Donna’s work for WNPA, and we understand the demands of serving as publisher of a

second newspaper are taking more of her time,” said Stoner.

Johnson purchased the Liberty Lake Splash, his hometown newspaper, in 2004.

It was approved as a regular member of WNPA the following year.

For the Splash’s 10th anniversary, in September 2009, Johnson redesigned the weekly into its current square-tab format with a magazine style cover.

In January he launched the Current, a monthly publication for the greater Spokane Valley.

Prior to purchasing the Splash Johnson was opinion page editor of the Benton

A-AN-NNND STAY OUT!

County (Ark.) Daily Record.

He holds a journalism degree from John Brown University in Arkansas.

Pierzga’s background includes serving as assistant editor of the Port Townsend Leader, and as a reporter at the Skagit Valley Herald in Mount Vernon and the WhidbeyNews Times in Oak Harbor.

She purchased the Coupeville Examiner from founding publisher May Kay Doody in late 2006 and changed the name to Whidbey Examiner in early 2007.

The newspaper was founded in 1994 and has been a WNPA member since 1997.

NNA, NAA protest deal by post office for Valassis

Proposed discounts endanger health of mail marketplace

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Damian Mulinix/Chinook Observer, Long Beach

‘Osprey vs. Crow’ won first place for Damian Mulinix and the Chinook Observer (Long Beach) in the Color Pictorial category of the 2011 Washington Better Newspaper Contest among Circulation Groups III and IV combined.

Washington papers earn best in SPJ Seattle, Longview, Sequim take home first-place awards

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ay 19 at a banquet held at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel, the Western Washington Pro Chapter of Society of Professional Journalists announced winners in its annual Northwest Excellence in Journalism contest.

First place winners for General Excellence were the Seattle Times, the Statesman Journal of Boise, and the Daily News of Longview for large, medium and smallcirculation dailies, respectively, and the Sequim Gazette for nondaily newspapers.

Tracy Record, founder, editor and publisher of the West Seattle Blog, received the June A. Almquist Award for distinguished service to the craft and values of journalism.

Record launched the West Seattle Blog in 2005.

Her career includes 21 years in TV news production and management in Colorado, Las Vegas, San Diego and Seattle as well as two years in radio.

Before she started working full-time on the West Seattle Blog, she spent eight years with KOMO and six with KCPQ. Almquist, a columnist and assistant managing editor for the Seattle Times, successfully championed reporting

of contemporary women’s issues over the high-society news typically covered on the women’s page during her era. She died in 2000.

Tracy Taylor and Mark Wright of KING 5 TV announced the awards, given to print, broadcast and online journalists for work produced or published in 2011. Journalists in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska were eligible to participate.

he National Newspaper Association said in late May it would oppose a proposal by the U.S. Postal Service to give advertising aggregator Valassis Direct Mail Inc., postage discounts that are not available to newspapers’ Standard Mail shoppers in competition for advertising supplements.

NNA President Reed Anfinson said NNA is watching with growing concern the actions being taken

by USPS to insert itself increasingly into the local advertising marketplace. The proposed Valassis deal adds to an earlier program called Every Door Direct Mail, which calls for postmasters to solicit newspaper advertisers to send out ad mail directly from the post office rather than advertising in news media, which weakens local news organizations’ ability to serve readers.

In a statement issued by the NNA board of directors, NNA said: “The Postal Service at its historic root was founded by our nation’s leaders to bind the nation and support the crucial role newspapers play in democracy—of keeping citizens informed.

It risks its compact of trust with American businesses and citizens when it begins playing favorites among its customers.

Local advertising markets

See DEAL, page 2

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Pierce Council slips past toothless open meetings act

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he Washington state open public meetings act is one of my favorite laws. It might even be in my top five.

But in many ways, it’s a pretty lousy statute. Sure, it talks a good game: “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know,” it begins.

Yet the only way “the people” can insist that public bodies do their business in public is to file lawsuits. And even if a suit is ultimately successful, the remedies are meager. At best, a court can order that any actions taken in an illegal meeting are nullified. The body can simply conduct a do-over in public.

Fines are allowed. But they can’t exceed $100 and, even then, aren’t permitted if the official acted in good faith, which is usually covered if they

Officers: President: Jana Stoner, Northern Kittitas County Tribune, Cle Elum l First Vice President: Bill Forhan, NCW Media, Leavenworth l Second Vice President: Keven Graves, Nisqually Valley News, Yelm l Past President: Paul Archipley, Edmonds Beacon, Mukilteo Beacon 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 Lori Maxim, Sound Publishing 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

followed the advice of a government lawyer. In the 41 years since the law was adopted, no one has been fined.

Peter There are Callaghan exemptions The News that allow Tribune secret sesTacoma sions. But, in general, the exceptions are there to protect the public, not the officials.

One example is when litigation is involved. If an actual or threatened lawsuit is being discussed, it can happen in secret if “… public discussion of the litigation or legal risks is likely to result in an adverse legal or financial consequence to the agency.”

But this “potential litigation” exemption is too often used too easily, such as last month when the Pierce County Council

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) 6343838. 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.

is not always necessary.”

The state Supreme Court has ruled that “a governing body is not required to determine beforehand whether disclosure of the discussion with legal counsel would likely have adverse consequences. It is sufficient if the agency, from an objective standard, should know that the discussion is not benign and will likely result in adverse consequences.”

OK, but it seems unlikely that county lawyers were able to do much more than conduct a tutorial on case law or suggest ways to phrase the charter amendment based on that law.

Neither entails information that would advantage a decent bond attorney or place the county treasury at some future risk.

Toby Nixon is a former state legislator and current member of the Kirkland City Council. He’s also president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government. Nixon said he doesn’t think the Pierce

Council met the three requirements of the exemption.

There is no current or threatened litigation about this matter, he wrote via email.

The potential for litigation “is just too speculative to create a reasonable belief that litigation may be commenced.

“And … how is public discussion of the potential litigation threat likely to result in an adverse consequence for the agency?”

No one is going to sue the Pierce County Council.

If this situation is covered by the exemption, it is hard to come up with a scenario that isn’t covered. We are, after all, a litigious society.

Yet such a generous interpretation of the open meetings law hardly meets another standard created by the Supreme Court: “In accord with the mandate that the act be construed liberally, its exceptions must be narrowly construed.”

Reprinted with permission.

The Web can’t replace ‘shoe leather’ O

n NPR’s “Morning Edition” April 18, Daily Beast and Newsweek Editor Tina Brown talked about the contributions of journalists to global culture.

Among several books she’s read on the topic, Brown talked about Wall Street Journal columnist L. Gordon Crovitz’s Before ‘Watergate’ Could be Googled.

Crovitz writes about an appearance by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein at the annual meeting of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

According to Brown, Woodward said that he was shocked by how otherwise savvy journalism students thought that technology would have changed everything about the Watergate reporting — that the Internet, Google and Twitter would have major roles in breaking the story.

DEAL

Officers: President: W. Stacey Cowles, The Spokesman-Review 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

wanted to discuss a proposed amendment to the county charter that would require that all tax increases be submitted to voters for approval.

How did the members get from a tax-related charter amendment to potential litigation? County taxes are sometimes used to repay bonds sold to fund improvements.

Therefore, should the charter amendment be put on the ballot, and should it pass, and should the county sell bonds in the future, and should some tax dedicated to bond repayment be put to a vote, and should some future bond holder not like it, that bond holder might sue.

Isn’t the potential for litigation here a bit too speculative to cover a secret meeting?

“The ‘potential litigation’ provision for closed meetings is very broad and could cover many issues,” said state open government ombudsman Tim Ford. “We live in a very litigious culture. Speculation

Students, Woodward said, made comments like, “’Oh, you would just use the Internet’ and the details of the scanKeven dal would be Graves there,” accord- Editor and ing to Brown. Publisher Nisqually Valley The News, Yelm students, Woodward said, “imagined that, somehow the Internet was a magic lantern that lit up events.”

The students, Brown said on “Morning Edition,” were trained to believe that going online and finding alreadydiscovered facts is akin to investigative journalism.

Woodward’s response, Brown said, is that nothing replaces “shoe leather” re-

porting, and that Watergate could not have been broken by typing “Watergate break-in” into Google.

It’s almost as if young journalists today really do think everything can be found online,” she said.

“There is no actual replacement for that human contact,” she said.” “The unexpected dropped remark, the piece of character witness, in a sense, that you have by listening and seeing and feeling the presence of a person that can inform the best journalism.

I found the NPR discussion compelling, and it spoke to a subject on my mind for years.

The Internet is a modern-day Wild West. Websites continually pop up and gadflies of all sorts are creating forums to vent their personal views. Unfortunately, those views are sometimes wrapped up in faux journalism.

I think we’re seeing the excitement over the Internet and its possibilities settle down.

The reality of what is reliable and not reliable news is becoming more apparent day by day.

The notion that modern-day journalism students had— that Watergate could be exposed today by Googling and Tweeting—is disconcerting.

The Internet is a resource, sure, but it cannot replace a human source. Twitter and Facebook can be conduits, but they are not unto themselves reliable places to gather information.

A good reporter doesn’t gather their facts from the Internet.

They pick up the phone, meet face-to-face with sources and make human contact.

There is no “magic lantern” for doing the work of reporting.

Reprinted with permission. Graves is the second vice president of WNPA.

NNA has said in the past that NSAs can be inherently discriminatory when used in competitive markets that involve small businesses because they favor a single large mailer. In the end, NNA believes, the NSAs that disrupt competition will drive away a sustainable mail volume.

The proposal is being considered by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

The National Newspaper Association (NAA) also blasted the proposal.

“Since the days of Ben Franklin – the first U.S. postmaster general as well as a newspaper publisher – there have been strong ties between the U.S. Postal Service and America’s newspapers,” said Caroline H. Little, NAA president and CEO. “But newspaper publishers are shocked by the specifics of this special deal for the country’s largest directmail company. The proposal

to provide steep discounts to a major newspaper competitor is a dagger aimed at the financial health of newspapers ... such an attack on a major source of newspaper revenues threatens critical resources that our newspaper members invest back into their communities through their production of quality news and information,” Little added.

NAA’s filing detailed how the proposed Valassis NSA violates the statutory and regulatory requirements under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. It specifically listed several points, including that the NSA: • Would cause unreasonable harm to the marketplace by granting Valassis unprecedented rebates and other terms that would enable and subsidize a direct attack on local newspaper advertising throughout the nation; • Would result in a net

financial loss to the Postal Service by driving substantial volumes of newspaper mailings out of the mail system to lower-cost delivery services; • Is tailored so narrowly as effectively to be unavailable to any mailer other than Valassis; and • Would confer an unreasonable rate discrimination in favor of Valassis – granting this one national mailer rebates as high as 36 percent, and a rate advantage up to 72 percent lower compared with rates paid by other mailers in the system, such as local newspaper companies.

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are fully competitive—with newspapers, the Internet, radio, TV, billboards and even door-hanger advertising.

“The Postal Service holds a monopoly in the mail so it can serve the public, not so it can disrupt and damage this fiercely competitive market. If it treats all fairly and does its job well, the mail will grow via private business initiative.”

The Valassis proposal consists of a contract between that advertising company and USPS to increase its mail volume by a million pieces by starting new marriage mail packages in its existing markets in the coming year in exchange for steep 20 percent - 32 percent discounts.

The contract is a Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA), a tool USPS has used in the past to establish favorable pricing agreements with package shippers and some other types of mailers, mostly First Class.

FOURNIER Media Services, Inc.

Brokerage — Consulting Appraisals JOHN L. FOURNIER, JR. P.O. Box 750 Prosser, WA 99350 Voice 206/409-9216 Fax 509/786-1779

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WNPA Historical Files

Dressed for January temperatures, newspaper men and women gathered on the University of Washington campus in January 1927 for the 15th annual Newspaper Institute, a cooperative venture between the association and the UW.

‘Smokers,’ donuts and cider: Early meetings of the Institute Joint effort with UW held several consecutive years

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hough the annual meetings of WNPA have long been held in the fall, WNPA has several historical photographs of large numbers of publishers that clearly were taken in winter.

These represent the longrunning Newspaper Institute, first held in 1913 on the University of Washington campus and continuing until 1979, according to a historical summary printed in October 1987 TWN. A joint effort by the Washington Press Association and the UW Journalism Department, the institute covered many phases of journalism, from advertising, circulation and business to

editorial department issues.

Though no additional information is available about the 1913 institute, at the 1915 institute, it was reported the 1914 meeting drew “91 newspapermen, 44 of them country editors.”

Among stories about the 25th anniversary institute, held in January 1937, were two paragraphs about the formation of the institute written

by Fred Ornes and printed in the Mount Vernon Argus in January 1937 and reprinted the following month in TWN. “We have a pleasant recollection of the birth of this annual meeting. The time and place was July 1912, and Mount Vernon. At the suggestion of A.W. Smith, assistant to Merle Thorpe, organizer and first director of the University of Washington School of Journalism, the association voted to inau-

gurate a winter session.

“A joint program committee was accordingly appointed, half from the association, which we named, and the other half from the university faculty, which was named by Thorpe.

We are not certain; but it is our impression that this was the first newspaper institute in the country. Washington is still going strong and many other

states also conduct institutes.”

Traditionally, the institute opened with a “smoker” on campus, where cigars and cigarettes were in plentiful supply alongside cider and donuts provided by the University Commercial Club.

Often the University president would speak, and UW performing arts groups would provide light entertainment.

By the ninth annual session in 1921, the event lasted six days. Enrollment of 454 people included 259 newspaper workers representing 70 dailies and 114 weeklies.

Trade journals were admitted as a group to membership in Washington Press Association that year, and planned to hold their meetings at the same time and place as the statewide association. Of the 86 trade publications in the state, 45 attended the institute.

The following year the meet-

ing was divided into three sections, Jan. 23-24 for trade publications, Jan. 25-26 for daily newspapers, and Jan. 2728 for weekly newspapers.

The 13th institute, held in February 1925, scaled back to a three-day event for 140 people representing 56 weeklies, 14 dailies, 11 trade journals, four British Columbia weeklies, an Oregon weekly, an Oregon daily, and 13 former newspaper men.

Two years later, dailies and weeklies gathered together at the smoker and for dinners, but dailies met separately for their own sessions.

The daily newspaper publishers had begun to think of their problems as differing from smaller-circulation newspapers. Their peers in other states had begun to hold separate meetings too.

It was in 1927 that publishers See STAR, page 6

OPEN ACCESS & LEGAL ISSUES

Technology outstrips public records law Snohomish

Recent case reveals challenges posed by tech changes The Herald, Everett

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recent Herald story about at-work campaign activity involving an aide to Aaron Reardon wasn’t just about the slow-motion scandal unfolding around the Snohomish County executive.

The report also offered an example of the challenges that new communication technologies are creating for people who are paid to conduct the public’s business and keep reliable records.

Key to the story were county phone bills detailing roughly 25,000 calls and text messages involving Reardon executive analyst Kevin Hulten.

The county released the 2011 bills in response to a public records request — and despite Hulten’s objection that access would invade his privacy.

As part of reporting on an ongoing Washington State Patrol investigation, we’ve been examining government phone bills for Reardon and others on his staff. Until The Herald sought bills for Hulten’s government phones, county officials were unaware that he had arranged for calls to his county cellphone to be routed to his personal iPhone.

The Reardon staffer also uses the device for two personal cellphone numbers as well as Web-based voice messaging. Every call and text, personal and otherwise, wound up being listed in the county’s bills, although we are told that didn’t cost the public extra.

The Herald contacted Tim Ford, the state Attorney General’s open-government ombudsman. That led to the discovery that Hulten had sought a legal opinion on whether the records should be public — something that came as news to the county’s own attorneys.

The call to Ford also confirmed what we suspected: that the growing use of increasingly sophisticated cellphones and other devices is creating fresh challenges for how government records are created, stored and retrieved.

“It is being talked about quite a bit,” Ford said. “It is kind of cutting-edge stuff.

It is challenging from both a technical perspective and a legal perspective.”

When the state records laws were first adopted in the 1970s, public documents were pieces of paper kept in file cabinets and desk drawers. Now, much of what government watchdogs want to see likely is kept in electronic form and tucked away on computer servers.

Text messages and emails sent using government cellphones and computers are presumed to be about the public’s business. The same can be true when privately owned computers and phones are employed by

public officials to engage in government-related communication. One need look no further than Monroe for a case that makes that clear.

Governments face new levels of difficulty observing records laws when information is created, transmitted and stored using systems that are outside their direct control, Ford said.

But new technology is no license to ignore the law.

“Our society has replaced the typewriter with ‘texts’ and ‘tweets.’ The technology dictating how people communicate has changed,” James W. Beck, an attorney for the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, wrote in a brief filed for a 2010 Shoreline public records case. “ ... Nevertheless, the application of law must remain the same to these electronic documents as it would to a typewritten letter drafted many years ago.”

awaits return of the blotter Online crime map more timely, not comprehensive Snohomish County Tribune

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ince the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office took over police services for the city, there has been no Snohomish police blotter in the Tribune.

The contracted police department won’t be providing media incident reports to the Tribune, but it will provide a self-generated police blotter online in the form of a crime map that will be available to the public in a couple of months. The information available online will be filtered by the sheriff’s office, Police Chief John Flood said.

See BLOTTER, page 6

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Newsletter keeps Herald in touch with its readers

Everett paper’s aim to keep customers satisfied for life The Herald, Everett

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ast November, the Herald’s circulation department launched its “Subscriber for Life” program.

While that may sound like an expensive subscription option, it’s not—it’s a way of doing

business. “It’s about establishing relationships,” circulation director Jorge Rivera said.

Newspaper circulation has been in decline throughout the country in recent years. One of the reasons, Rivera said, may be that newspapers have failed to create and maintain a rapport with their subscribers. While the news faithfully shows upon the front porch each morning, the only contact most readers have with their local paper is when the bill comes due.

The “Subscriber for Life” program is designed to change that.

“If we talk to them more often—but not annoyingly often—we should be able to maintain a relationship,” Rivera said.

The key component of the program is a newsletter sent to subscribers via email. The newsletter calls attention to upcoming news stories, to coupons in the paper and to special deals offered by the Herald’s advertisers. The newslet-

Journal debuts new magazine

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ournal Media Group in Lynnwood has launched Journal magazine as the successor to the newspapers it previously published for communities in south Snohomish County and north Seattle neighborhoods.

Theresa Poalucci is publisher of the glossy magazine, which debuted in April.

Co-editors are Elizabeth Griffin and Katherine Luck.

HISTORY

ON THE WEB

Journal magazine: www. myjournalmagazine.com “As a community newspaper with 39 years of publication history, we have always specialized in magazine style content. So we’ve transformed as of this month to a glossy magazine, “ the co-editors wrote in the inaugural issue.

“Our focus is still on the neighborhoods where you live, work and play.”

The magazine features a monthly theme, starting with “Green” in April and “Family Ties” in May. Mill Creek, Lynnwood, Edmonds, and Seattle neighborhoods including Northgate and Ballard are among the Journal’s former newspaper titles.

from page 3

of the smaller dailies — outside of Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane — voted to affiliate with the Washington Press Association. These included the Longview Daily News, Yakima Morning Herald, Olympia Evening Recorder, Hoquiam Daily Washingtonian, and Walla Walla Daily Bulletin.

Ten years later, the 25th anniversary meeting coincided with some of the state’s worst weather on record. Throughout the three-day meeting, a blanket of snow covered the state — a first-time coincidence that dampened attendance.

During World War II, institute plans varied from year to year.

The 1942 institute was effectively canceled by an announcement that it would be merged with the summer meeting. The following year a bare-bones event “sans everything except work” was held on campus. A day and a half of working sessions were offered without group meals, and publishers stayed in sororities and fraternities because hotels were filled by servicemen.

The 1944 institute offered working sessions and group meals, including dinner with the UW president and the governor, who spoke

about post-war plans. Outof-town publishers were encouraged to share hotel rooms and reserve ahead.

But in 1945, just when plans for a February institute were virtually completed, the Office of Defense Transportation asked that organizations cancel any meetings that would draw more than 50 people. WNPA complied.

Not surprisingly, strong attendance marked the 33rd annual institute, back on schedule in January 1946.

In 1950, the smoker was left behind in favor of attending the Washington State Press Club’s awards dinner, held in April; working sessions focused on the editorial side of the business.

In 1952 the calendar change held and the smoker returned. Both were carried forward for a nearly decade.

With only 23 newspapers represented, the 1961 institute may reflect the gradual decline in the number of Washington weeklies from a high of 287 in 1910 to 171 in 1960.

The institute was replaced with Communications Week in June 1962, when, as part of the Seattle Century 21 Exposition, organizers invited national

news luminaries including Bernard Kilgore, publisher of the Wall Street Journal; Jack Bell of the Associated Press; and Pulitzer prize winner Ed Guthman, then director of information for the Department of Justice.

For several years, workshops continued in a limited way.

But in 1967, after requests from publishers at WNPA district meetings, the institute was revived completely.

The event drew 125 publishers, editors and educators to the campus and was declared a success.

The institute continued until 1979. when UW and WNPA postponed it until October, and proposed a Publishers Seminar, “Presenting the Community Newspapers,” in its place.

Smaller-scale offerings cosponsored by WNPA by UW or by Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington or the National Newspaper Association continued, but full-scale Newspaper Institutes seem to have ended in the 1970s.

Through the annual convention, regional meetings and, more recently, teleconferences and webinars, WNPA continues to provide educational opportunities for members.

ter is sent out once month.

While not all Herald subscribers receive the newsletter—some have not provided or do not have email addresses—the results have been “very positive,” Rivera said. Roughly 25 percent of the readers who receive the newsletter are opening it and 40 percent of those are reading through the information.

“In email marketing, that is a very good rate,” he said.

The hope is that the 40

percent find the information useful, thereby strengthening their bond with the Herald and increasing the likelihood they will continue to choose to continue the relationship.

“At the end of a typical subscription cycle,” Rivera said, “they will say ‘The Herald gave me more than the news and ads.”

The payoff for the newspaper, of course, is a satisfied subscriber who sticks around for years.

Perhaps even for a lifetime.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS June 8

BNC Tourism Special Section entries due

June 28 WNPA Board Meeting, Bellingham Sept. 27

WNPA Board Meeting, Yakima

Sept. 27-29 125th Annual Convention, Yakima Details, registration at wnpa.com/events

BNC 2012 FACTS www.wnpa.com /awards

TOURISM DEADLINE DATE

June 8 For Tourism Special Sections entries published June 1, 2011 -May 31, 2012. Upload to www.betterbnc.com

REGULAR CONTEST PARTICIPATION

PARTICIPATING NEWSPAPERS: 78 GENERAL EXCELLENCE ENTRIES: 48 ADVERTISING ENTRIES: 435 SPECIAL SECTION ENTRIES: 154 EDITORIAL ENTRIES: 1,228 PHOTOGRAPHY ENTRIES: 365 WEB ENTRIES: 34 TOTAL ENTRIES: 2,265

AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENT LETTERS Mailed by Aug. 10

PRESENTATION: Sept. 28

BNC Awards Dinner, Red Lion Hotel Yakima Center

CONVENTION DATES SEPT. 27-29, 2012 Red Lion Hotel Yakima Center

CONVENTION DETAILS

wnpa.com/events Questions to Mae Waldron (mwaldron@wnpa.com) or call (206) 634-3838 ext. 2.

Seattle Times reporter, ex-Microsoft worker win James Beard honors

Writer’s series about kids and nutrition earns recognition The Seattle Times

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eattle Times reporter Maureen O’Hagan won a James Beard Foundation Award for “Feeling the Weight: The Emotional Battle to Control Kids’ Diet.”

O’Hagan’s series of sto-

ries, which won in the health and well-being category, ran in June 2011 in Pacific Northwest magazine.

The Beard Awards, announced May 4, are presented each spring in New York City.

“Childhood obesity is an important topic — and a sensitive one,” O’Hagan said. “We’re so honored that families struggling with weight issues shared their stories with us, and with our readers, in such a heartfelt

way. Their candor is what made this project such a success.”

The stories detailed how children are bombarded with messages promoting sugary and starchy foods, even in schools, and steps they could take to battle obesity.

“It’s gratifying to see Maureen’s work receive this prestigious recognition. This was important journalism that gave families in our community new tools to talk about food and

health,” said Dave Boardman, Seattle Times executive editor.

The stories were produced under a grant by the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism, which is administered by the California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships through the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.

Also honored was former

Microsoft chief technology officer Nathan Myhrvold, who won two awards.

The awards are the highest honor for food and beverage professionals working in North America.

The Beard Foundation is named for the late James Beard, a Portland, Ore.-born chef and food writer, considered one of the aficionados of American cooking.

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Friends, colleagues mark Wallie Funk’s 90th birthday Anacortes sponsors tribute to former co-publisher, editor

Funk, WNPA share long history

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Whidbey News-Times, Oak Harbor

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ow appropriate that retired newspaperman Wallie Funk was asked to share the stage April 29 when friends and family gathered to help him celebrate his 90th birthday.

Funk, co-publisher and editor of the Whidbey NewsTimes (Oak Harbor) and South Whidbey Record (Langley) for three decades, was a powerful force as reporter, columnist and editorial writer. But he was beloved for his photography — from naval aviators and Dutch dancers to rock stars and U.S. presidents.

Hundreds of Funk’s photos were on display at his birthday celebration, sharing the spotlight as he was honored by the community of Anacortes Sunday, April 29. Funk also had a successful tenure as publisher of the Anacortes American.

Sons Mark and Carl, both Oak Harbor High School graduates, were on hand with families for the tribute to their father. Another Oak Harbor grad on hand was Jayne Mardesich, daughter of Funk’s publishing partner, the late John Webber.

Funk, who retired to his hometown of Anacortes shortly after selling his Whidbey newspapers, finally shelved the Nikon camera that was his constant companion during his newspaper years. That did not mean, however, that he was finished making an impact in Oak Harbor and Anacortes.

Also among those in the birthday celebration crowd were former Oak Harbor Mayor Al Koetje and Island County Museum Director Rick Costellano. Funk donated part of his photo collection to the Coupeville museum, and he continues to make regular visits to Whidbey Island.

Whidbey News-Times, Oak Harbor

Wallie Funk shakes hands with Fred Obee of the Port Townsend Leader during the celebration of his 90th birthday. Hundreds of people attended the birthday celebration, sponsored by the community of Anacortes.

Following a biographical presentation by history book co-author Theresa Trebon, Funk the “community activist and philanthropist” was acknowledged for contributions to area museums, theaters and schools, including the 2011-12 raising of $101,000 for a scholarship fund for the Northwest Career & Technical Academy Marine Technology Center.

For his part, Funk extended thanks to those in attendance at the birthday celebration, and he gave reporters what they wanted when he enthusiastically concluded: “I can’t tell you how honored I feel. I’ve had one hell of a good life!”

Editor’s Note: Anacortes resident Steve Berentson, former co-publisher/editor of the Skagit Argus, wrote this story for the News-Times.

allie Funk is a past president of WNPA (1972, Spokane) and a donor to the WNPA Foundation.

Among the retired publishers in the crowd were Tom Coad, publisher of the former Edmonds Review, Frank and Pat Garred of the Port Townsend Leader, Larry and Roz Duthie of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin and the Journal of the San Juan Islands in Friday Harbor.

Also applauding Funk’s 90th were Kasia Pierzga, publisher of the Whidbey Examiner in Coupeville; Leighton Wood, Stedem Wood and Heather Hernandez of Skagit Valley Publishing, Mount Vernon; Fred Obee of the Leader; and Bill Will and Mae Waldron of WNPA. Craig Dennis was visiting family in Raymond from his home in Utah, and made the trip to Anacortes to visit Funk on May 1. After Funk and Webber sold their Whidbey Island newspapers to Black Press, Dennis served as publisher of the Whidbey-News Times.

ABOVE LEFT: WNPA Honorary Life Member Tom Coad, retired publisher of the Edmonds Review, praised Funk’s participation in WNPA and his newspapers’ communities. ABOVE RIGHT: Birthday cake in hand, Wallie Funk delighted in Theresa Trebon’s presentation of a photo-illustrated story of his life. Trebon, of Continuum History and Research, Sedro-Woolley, worked for three years in the early 2000s to organize Funk’s extensive photography collection so it could be donated to local organizations.

CAREER MOVES n Lauren Salcedo is the new sports and news reporter for the Marysville Globe and Arlington Times. Beginning at age 15 she studied journalism at Everett Community College in the Running Start program, and later transferred to the University of Washington.

Salcedo left her reporting position at the Port Townsend Leader so she could live closer to her family in Arlington. New at the Leader are Megan Claflin and Tristan Heigler, both graduates of Western Washington University. Claflin served for two years as managing editor of the Ferndale Record before joining the Leader. She also edited the Spanish language paper, El Periodico, in Ferndale. Heigler was an online producer and reporter for the Daily News in Longview from late 2010 until his position was eliminated by budget cuts early this year. n John Dzaran, interactive media director at the News Tribune in Tacoma and the Olympian, has been promoted

to vice president of advertising for the two newspapers. He has served on an interim basis since January when the previous advertising vice president, Steve Gall, left the newspapers. Dzaran’s background includes a variety of sales and management positions at America Online, iVillage, the Los Angeles Daily News and the Ventura County (Calif.)Star. n Tawnya Richards has joined the Waitsburg Times as office administrator. She brings experience an office manager and supervisor in small businesses and hospitals. Richards moved to Waitsburg five years ago so her two children could have relationships with her parents, Wayne and Gail Pelley, who are 17-year Waitsburg residents. n Craig Howard is the new editor of the weekly Liberty Lake Splash and its sister monthly, the Current, serving the Spokane Valley. For the past 10 years he worked at the Spokane Valley News Herald, most recently as news editor.

Howard has covered Liberty

Lake since 2002. A journalism graduate of the University of Oregon, he also held positions at weekly newspapers in Goldendale and Houston, Texas. Howard is a regular contributor to Northwest Runner magazine and news editor of the Latter-day Sentinel, a weekly online LDS newspaper.

He succeeds publisher Josh Johnson, who will focus more of his energy on managing the business while continuing to contribute articles and columns to the two newspapers. n Former Olympian publisher John Winn Miller and current Spokesman-Review publisher Stacey Cowles have joined The Associated Press board. They are among six new members of the 19-member board, and will serve three-year terms. Miller became publisher of the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire after he left the Olympian. Gary Pruitt, CEO of McClatchy Co., the Olympian’s parent company, will begin serving as AP’s chief executive in July.

n Melissa Linquist has joined the Wahkiakum County Eagle as a staff reporter, covering community meetings and writing feature articles. A student teacher at Wendt Elementary School in Cathlamet, she will complete a master’s degree this month. She holds a bachelor’s in English from Western Oregon University. n The Columbia Basin Herald in Moses Lake promoted Lynne Lynch to managing editor. Most recently the Herald’s business reporter, Lynch joined the staff as education and health reporter in 2003. The Herald hired Carol Schweizer to cover education, health and arts and entertainment. Her background includes 19 years as a general assignment reporter for the Quad City Herald in Brewster. For the past two years, Schweizer covered the south county beat and worked in advertising sales at the OmakOkanogan County Chronicle. n Jeff Bond, editor of the Queen Anne and Magnolia News for 15 months, has left Pacific Publishing to accept a

position as an editor of Alaska Airlines magazine. He has been a writer and editor for Seattle magazines and newspapers for more than 20 years.

News publisher Mike Dillon is serving as interim editor. n Rich Peterson, former publisher of the Port Orchard Independent, is the new director of business development for the Port of Bremerton.

As director, he will managed the port properties in the Olympic View Industrial and Business Parks along with the Bremerton National Airport. n Sharon Salyer, a reporter at the Herald in Everett, has been named a Public Health Champion in the media category of awards presented by the Washington State Public Health Association. Snohomish Health District nominated Salyer, citing the effectiveness of her “work and words” raising public awareness of the recent whooping cough epidemic.

Salyer has been a reporter at the Herald for 27 years.

6

JUNE 2012

TWN

UW students get a lesson from the best

WNPA award winner provides them inside look at community journalism

By ALEXIS KRELL

W

arren Kagarise knew two things about Issaquah when he moved there from Florida: one, that an acquaintance lived there, and two, that it was the home of the band Modest Mouse.

Chosen last year as the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association News Writer of the Year for his work at the Issaquah Press, it’s safe to say he’s familiarized himself with the area since then.

He shared his experiences with UW journalism students in May as part of a residency program offered by the WNPA Foundation. It sends industry professionals to visit students at Washington’s colleges and universities. Issaquah Press publisher Debbie Berto also visited UW students.

The program exposes aspiring journalists to a part of the field they otherwise might not encounter, said Randy Beam, coordinator of the UW journalism program.

“I think students who go to school in big cities sometimes

BLOTTER

don’t know how big the community newspaper industry is,” Beam said.

He said the UW specifically requested to be Warren paired with the Issaquah Kagarise Press. He felt that, as a local community newspaper recognized for its reporting, it was a “good fit.”

Kagarise spoke with UW News Lab students – some of whom write for the Issaquah Press during the class – about the demanding schedule of a community reporter. “It’s always a balancing act every week,” Kagarise said.

He said his New Year’s resolution for 2012 is to “take back” his weekends.

Student Rose Marie Gai said Kagarise’s message about trying to take weekends off was “very positive.” She said she’s been thinking about the time commitment of journalism recently, and was inspired

from page 3

When the crime map is up and running, the Tribune hopes to bring back the Snohomish blotter.

“We like to have the blotter, so we can keep an eye on where the burglaries are,” a block watch captain said in a voicemail to the Tribune.

The now-disbanded Snohomish Police Department had a city employee who produced and sent all incident reports to the Tribune. The Tribune would then pick which reports to publish each week in the police blotter. That employee lost her job when the city signed the five-year contract with the sheriff’s office for police services.

The online crime map will contain crimes the sheriff’s office chooses to release to the public.

The crime reports likely will include burglaries, vehicle prowls, theft — “things that are kind of quality of life issues to the community,” Flood said.

The department is open to suggestions from the community on what crimes to publish, but that doesn’t mean all suggestions will be published, he said.

The department-filtered blotter will be available through www.crimemapping.com.

A sample map of the city of Normandy Park is available now as an example, Flood said.

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information published within a couple of hours, Flood said.

(The traditional blotter was about two weeks behind.)

Users will be able to customize the data.

“You’ll be able to go online and look at crimes and what time frames you want to see.

A day’s worth or a couple months’ worth of activity, you can define that yourself, that’s completely dependent on the user,” Flood said. “We’ll be putting information into that system. We just need to decide what types of crimes that we want to put on the map.”

It is unknown at this time if the Tribune will get access to a traditional blotter under the sheriff’s contract.

to hear that he works with his editor to manage his hours.

“You find ways to walk away from it, and that’s tough,” Kagarise said. “Find a way to de-stress in the job, and then find a way to get away from it.”

He also recommended that students broaden their skill sets to include basic design, photo and video experience.

“You want to be as versatile as possible,” Kagarise said.

As the manager of social media for the Issaquah Press, Kagarise said this also applies to online trends in journalism.

“Know the basics of social media, but know how to make them work for you,” he advised.

Kagarise said competiissaquahpress.com tion to break news keeps Warren Kagarise (left), winner of WNPA’s Writer of the Year reporters on their toes, award for the Issaquah Press (above), met with University but cautioned students of Washington students to to give them an inside look at that the race to be No. 1 community journalism. has a downside as well.

“It’s bad, because somemeeting stories,” Kagarise said.

“Let people know that you’re times you’re rushing things But despite the long hours and interested,” Kagarise said. to print or to the web before constant balancing, Kagarise “Be enthusiastic, have some you’re ready,” he said. confessed that “sometimes, fun with it and be friendly.”

He said community journalists have to balance daily stories you just want to do a story.”

Editor’s Note: Alexis He stressed that maintainwith enterprise pieces, finding Krell is a student in the ing connections within a a few minutes here and there to University of Washington community is a core piece of work on longer-term pieces.

Department of Communication “As far as dues paying, you’re reporting, and encouraged stugoing to have to write council News Laboratory. dents to build those bridges.

Register for free RCFP legal webinar Secret Courts,” the second of two free webinars hosted by Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is set for June 5 at 10 a.m. (Pacific).

It will focus on court secrecy issues and access to trial information and proceedings. Information will be culled from numerous resources on the Reporters Committee website, including the Digital Journalist’s Legal Guide and the First Amendment Handbook. A grant from The Harnisch Foundation allows RCFP to offer this event free of charge.

“Journalists increas-

ON THE WEB

and, unfortunately, many of them don’t know what to do when this happens, “ said Reporters Committee Executive Director Lucy A. Dalglish.

Both webinars are presented

by Reporters Committee and will be recorded and archived on the Reporters Committee website at a later date.

Register for ‘Secret Courts’ webinar: www4.gotomeeting.com/ register/311471007 ingly have been shut out, put out or taken out in the course of covering news events

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