The Washington Newspaper, April 2022

TWN

THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER

New regions, prices for Impact ads

April 2022

Pages 4&5

Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association

Big periodical rate hike coming in July The U.S. Postal Service announced recently it will hike periodicals postage rates an average of 8.5% on July 10, 2022, disappointing publishers who expected passage of the Postal Service Reform Act to moderate the price increases.

Postmaster General Louis

Florida public notice law riddled with ambiguities

Newspapers have long feared passage of the first state law authorizing the government to post all or most public notices on government websites in lieu of newspapers.

That day happened last month when the Florida House and Senate both voted largely along party lines to approve House Bill 7049.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is widely expected to sign the bill when it reaches his desk. The bill takes effect on Jan. 1, 2023.

Offering some hope are ambiguous sections of the bill and the reluctance of governments to test the waters of a new system.

HB-7049 requires agencies based primarily in counties with fewer than 160,000 residents (that’s 36 of Florida’s 67 counties) to determine at a public hearing if the area has broadband access sufficient not to “unreasonably restrict public access” to notices posted on county See NOTICE, Page 3

DeJoy this week said the price increases from the USPS Board of Governors would use the full measure of price increase available from the Postal Regulatory Commission. He said the reason for the big increases was USPS’ continued need for cash to update its vehicle

fleet, prepare networks for more packages and make up for losses in earlier years. A small moderation of .3% that USPS recognized from the reform bill was offset by rising inflation, postal officials said.

“Our industry that worked for more than a decade to help USPS have received very bad

news this week,” National Newspaper Association Chair Brett Wesner, president of Wesner Publications, Cordell, Oklahoma, said. “It is hard to find good news in a pricing release like this, but there are some small bright spots. One is that USPS is finally recognizing the value of our use

of flats trays for newspaper containers by passing along a 3.7% increase instead of the nearly 11% for mailing sacks.

Increases are never welcomed, but recognition that we are doing a lot to be more efficient is some small relief.”

Ironically, the price inSee RATES, Page 2

Nominations being sought for WNPA’s Bradley award

Luke Whittaker of the Chinook Observer earned a third place award for this photo of a blueberry picker in last year’s Better Newspaper Contest.

BNC now open for entries; gala awards dinner set for October

The 2022 WNPA Better Newspaper Contest is now open for entries.

Rules and contest categories are available on wnpa.com. Just click on the BNC tile on the home page.

The resutls of the contest will be announced this year at

our first in-person convention in two years.

The convention is set for Oct. 7-9, with the awards ceremony and dinner on Oct. 8.

This is the first year our convention has been held on a Saturday. We hope to see all you there this fall.

Nominations are being sought for the Dixie Lee Bradley award. Bradley tirelessly served the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and its members for 45 years.

The award in her name recognizes newspaper staff members who work behind the scenes. The selection criteria includes a demonstrated record over a considerable time period of consistent quality work in production, circulation, or front office support. Positions, such as photographer and advertising sales, are not included due to ample opportunities for these professionals to be recognized in the annual Better Newspaper Contest.

To nominate someone, send us a short essay describing why your nominee should win to Fred Obee at fredobee@wnpa. Deadline for submission is July 1, 2022.

RATES: Post Office to FROM THE PRESIDENT hike periodical rates But rules allow more sampling Continued from Page 1 crease was announced on the day President Biden was to sign the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, which took more than $50 billion of debt off the USPS balance sheet.

“The Board of Governors has discretion in how much increase it passes along,” Wesner said. “We recognize USPS is facing inflation problems, including fuel costs, but it also has not only the relief from PSRA but also $10 billion in CARES Act money.

“Right now USPS has a much stronger cash flow than many in the industry. The governors could have recognized this situation in such a perilous economy.

Unhappily, they did not.

Now we look forward to a recalibration of the

plans to increase rates again in January. Hopefully, the USPS’ new plans for improving operations will begin to show up by then.”

Wesner announced NNA has requested a change in how newspaper mail is handled in processing, which he hopes will be reflected in 2023 price increases.

In other postal news, Biden did sign the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, which creates a new opportunity for newspapers to use mail sampling to reach nonsubscribers with promotional copies.

It lifts the existing cap on the number of nonsubscriber copies newspapers can mail at the lowest commercial rate from 10% of a newspaper’s paid within-county distribution to 50%.

Officers: Steve Powell, President; Michelle Nedved, First Vice President; Donna Etchey, Second Vice President; Trustees: Roger Harnack, Heather Hernandez, Teresa Myers, Rudi Alcott, Sean Flaherty and Matt Winters and Bob Richardson.

THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER is the offical publication of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. It is published monthly by WNPA, PO Box 389, Port Townsend, WA 98368.

Fred Obee: Executive Director: 360-344-2938 Email: fredobee@wnpa.com Janay Collins, Member Services Director: 360-344-2938. Email: ads@wnpa.com

2 The Washington Newspaper April 2022

Hiring is a game of mix & match; see where good applicants can fit

By Steve Powell I owe WNPA executive director Fred Obee a big thank you.

After my last column about struggling to find a sports reporter and my marathon weekend, he contacted me to run an item in The Washington Newspaper, or TWN, the WNPA monthly paper. He obviously wanted to help me out.

Well, he helped Powell me more than he could have imagined.

You see, he could not find our Help Wanted ad for a sports reporter anywhere. So I checked on it.

Come to find out, the ad never ran. We lost an employee in Human Resources at that time so it was never posted. I was wondering why I didn’t get many applications. I thought it was for the same reason many of you have been having trouble filling positions.

However, once we ran the ad, I had much better luck - 20 applications, most from the Indeed postings. The apps came from as close as Seattle and Tacoma to as far away at New York and New Jersey and Georgia, North Carolina and Florida. The middle states also were well represented with Minnesota, Kansas and Oklahoma.

But I didn’t really want to uproot someone to come this far for basically an entry-level job. Luckily my top candidates are seniors at schools

in Arizona and California and much closer in Tacoma and Seattle.

I had some seasoned sports folks apply. But I had to wonder why they would accept the starting pay.

Red flags.

One local one I was high on actually wanted $10 more an hour.

He said he still was interested in the job. Again, red flags.

A month or so ago a guy turned down the job due to the money. My three finalists didn’t care. They love the profession. We all know how to relate to that.

I have to say looking at those applications that the future of journalism is not nearly as bleak as I once thought it was. I’ve hired dozens of people in my almost 40 year career, and I’ve never had to make a tougher choice.

The three finalists are all exceptional, graduating in May from Arizona State, Southern Cal and Occidental College in California.

They all had great clips: Wheelchair football league; donkey racing; women breaking the barrier in auto racing; returning to the fields after COVID; and a runner who helps an orphanage in Mexico. Another candidate had stories on new track technology; the end of a football program after 126 years; and a young runner who died. The third had a feature on Maya Washington, daughter of former pro football great Gene; a feature on Lynn Swann; and one on the Pac 12 season ending due to COVID.

I share that with you all because there are some great candidates out there. All we have to do is switch them to news, because they obviously have a nose for news and some creative ideas for stories. Why they want to only use that gift for sports is beyond me.

In fact, the guy who was second on my list, I’m going to try to talk him into a news job if he really wants to come to this area like he said he does.

Plus, they all have other skills, too. The one we hope to hire has all kinds of knowledge about social media platforms. I know nothing about that and told him we can talk to my boss because if we can get more online readership that sure sounds like a good thing to me.

The final factor was I had all three interview me and write a short story about a scenario where I was coaching Duke and got a technical foul with 5 seconds to go, and we end up losing the game. It’s a great way to check their interview skills and also see what kind of story they can put together in 30 minutes.

So again Fred, thank you. And if any of you would like to try to talk some sports guy into changing over to news, I’ve got some great contacts for you. It can be done. I did it years ago and am glad I did.

Sports are a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.

Steve Powell is the editor of the Bainbridge Island Review and this year’s WNPA president.

Listserv a good way to touch base with your peers WNPA members wanting to ask peers a question can use a listserv provided by WNPA. To use the service, simply email your question to wnpapublisher@ listeron.com and your email will go out to pub-

lishers at WNPA member papers.

The service can be used to ask questions about any aspect of newspaper operations, from ad sales, to mail problems, to circulation and news, employee

relations or carrier policies. Are you wondering what others are doing? Ask your peers in WNPA. If you don’t think you are on the listserv and you want to be, just go to https://app.listeron.

com/wnpapublisher@ listeron.com and signup.

The best resource in the community newspaper network are your peers in the newspaper industry. Reach out and communicate. It is the secret to success.

Florida: Ambiguities, litigation fears could lessen impact Continued from Page 1 websites. That may be difficult to do, especially since the public access standard is highly nebulous.

And it’s still unclear whether private-party notices — like foreclosure, fictitious name and probate notices — can be published on county websites.

“There is statutory language in the various substantive notice sections and in the staff analysis that indicates the newspaper notice must be used (for private-party notices),” Florida Press Association Executive Director Jim Fogler wrote to FPA members the day after the bill passed.

“There is other language

in the bill that suggests some of these notices may be placed on the county websites. We think the overall intent is that use of government websites is for government/agency notices only.”

That kind of ambiguity invites litigation. Will government agencies take the chance of providing notice of their public hearings on a government website, for instance, if they think it could potentially render any of the decisions they make vulnerable to a lawsuit?

“Government agencies may decide to return to the comfort of newspaper advertising the first time they run a government-website

notice and get sued or make a costly error,” Fogler predicted.

The risk of litigation will enhance another factor likely to limit the rush to county websites: Administrative inertia.

Government agencies move deliberatively under the best of circumstances and may not be inclined to quickly abandon a system of public notice that has served the state well for longer than any of its residents have been alive.

The final factor suggesting newspaper notice in Florida still has plenty of life left in it despite the passage of HB-7049 is FPA’s retention strategy.

The organization plans to

help its members understand that customer service is paramount and that they must now compete for every agency’s public notice business, including those based in the 30 counties that don’t need to hold public hearings before switching to government website notice.

Most observers agree the bill was intended by some Republican legislators as revenge for newspapers they believe have covered them unfairly.

That helps explain why the legislation is riddled with ambiguity. Those who backed it just wanted to lash out at perceived enemies and had no interest in doing the hard

work that would have been required to resolve uncertainties and promote government transparency.

But there are those in Florida who believe what’s important is that many big papers and others like them throughout the U.S. have cut so much staff they often don’t even have a publisher who can respond to complaints about coverage.

“Who does a public official talk to when they have an issue with the paper’s coverage and want to blow off some steam?”

Fogler asked. “It used to be the publisher. We’ve lost that important role in many of our local communities,” he said It’s not fair when leg-

islators use their power to take revenge, but shrinking staffs and a lack of accountability at some newspapers has played a role in other states that have considered legislation to move newspaper notice to government websites.

“When a legislator calls a newspaper and then doesn’t hear back from them for weeks, it’s going to infuriate them,” Fogler explained. “We’ve lost that community connection in way too many places — the person representing the newspaper to the local community doesn’t exist any longer at some papers and the decision to eliminate those positions continue to hurt us.”

WITH OVER 60 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE, WE KNOW JOURNALISM. From public records to protecting journalists, from defamation claims to business needs, large and small Washington publishers turn to us.

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The Washington Newspaper April 2022 3

Statewide ad network has been updated!

New ad prices, & state regions

Take note! Your WNPA co-op ad network has just two regions, Western and Eastern Washington, and ad pricing has been adjusted accordingly. Now it is simpler than ever to use the network to bring in new revenue!

Now that the pandemic is receding and public health directives are relaxing, people will be itching to get out and mingle and community events will once again take to the streets.

But after two years of relative inactivity, how will people know your town is open for business and welcoming tourists?

Online advertising is an option, but with ad blocking software and distrust growing over social media, it isn’t the solution it used to be. In this changing environment, trusted community newspapers across the state serving a highly educated, affluent and involved readership are a perfect place to get a message out.

Every ad salesperson knows it is wise to identify the entities in your community with fat ad budgets. At this moment in time, don’t overlook the folks with hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend – your local governments!

Every city and county in the state has a pool of money generated by local lodging taxes, and that money is supposed to reach beyond local markets and bring people to town.

If you have not already, you should ask your city and county governments (each has separate Continued on Page 5 4 The Washington Newspaper April 2022

Ad network: Continued from Page 4 funds) for a report on where the lodging tax money is going (usually chambers of commerce and local non-profits) and then propose a marketing plan that reaches out across the region.

WNPA ads are a perfect match for boosting community events because you can choose to advertise regionally or statewide.

Here’s how the WNPA program works: • You sell the ad to a local organization.

• You charge your client for the full cost of the ad and send an insertion order to WNPA. WNPA then invoices you for half the cost of the ad, splitting the revenue on the ad sale. The advertising salesperson gets their regular commission on the sale and $50 direct from WNPA. • WNPA uses our share of the money to provide your legal hotline, professional services, Legislative Day, the Better Newspaper Contest and the annual convention.

• We keep the price to the client affordable by asking all member newspapers to publish the ads sold by other newspapers for free. The ads are small – just two columns wide by either two or four inches tall. One column by four or eight inches is also OK. They need to be produced in two different widths, to accommodate different column widths.

Potential customers include festivals, fairs, resorts, real estate offices, state agencies, statewide or regional political candidates – anyone who desires a cost effective regional or statewide campaign.

Because member newspapers publish these ads for free, we can only promise that they will run as black and white ads.

If you include a color version, many papers will use it instead, but there is no guarantee of this.

Need more information? Contact Janay at WNPA by emailing ads@wnpa.com or by calling 360-344-2938.

5 The Washington Newspaper April 2022

JOB BOARD

MULTIPLE PRESS JOBS Come work with one of the largest coldset web printers in the five-state region! Sound Publishing is expanding print operations and is hiring at our Lakewood, WA facility.

We have open positions in commercial print sales, non-CDL truck driver, pre-press lead technician, press maintenance technician, press operator, post press general worker and administrative coordinator.

See a complete list of our current openings, job descriptions and how to apply at www.soundpublishing.com/currentopenings.

Join our team! We offer paid holidays, sick and vacation leave; health insurance; and 401K with Employer match.

Sound Publishing, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) and strongly supports diversity in the workplace.

office or administration experience, proficient in database and spreadsheet software programs and excellent customer service and communication skills.

We offer a competitive hourly wage and benefits package including paid time off (vacation, sick, and holidays), and 401k with employer match.

If you’re interested in joining our team, please email your cover letter and resume, including salary requirements to: careers@soundpublishing.com and be sure to include ATTN: BIRADMIN in the subject line.

We offer a benefits package including health insurance, paid sick and vacation, and 401k with employer match.

If you meet the above-noted qualifications and are seeking an opportunity to be part of an award-winning media company, we’d love to meet you! Please email your cover letter including salary requirements and resume to careers@ soundpublishing.com and be sure to include: ATTN:KITSAPMMSC in the subject line.

level position. It requires time off (vacation, sick, a hands-on leader with a and holidays), and 401K minimum of three years with an employer match. newspaper experience If you are interested including writing, editing, in joining the team at the pagination, photography, Port Orchard IndepenInDesign skills, editing dent and Central Kitsap and monitoring social Reporter, email us your media including Twitter, cover letter, resume, and FaceBook, etc. up to 5 samples of your The successful work to: careers@soundcandidate will have a publishing.com. Please be demonstrated interest in sure to note: ATTN: EDlocal political and cultural POI in the subject line. affairs, possess excellent writing and verbal EDITOR skills, and can provide The award-winning representative clips from Omak-Okanogan County one or more professional Chronicle is seeking a publications. top-notch managing ediMARKETING SPECIALIST The editor will edit tor to lead the newsroom Are you creative, reporters’ copy and in the largest community detail oriented, outgoing, submitted materials for newspaper in beautiful MULTI-MEDIA SALES proactive, & can work content and style, manage North-Central WashingSound Publishing, independently, but also an opinion page, manage ton. Our newspaper covInc. is looking for selfpart of a team? social media, will lead, ers a vast area featuring motivated, results-driven Let’s meet! motivate, and mentor a several small towns, picpeople interested in a The Port Townsend small news staff and be turesque mountain ranges, multi-media sales career Leader is looking for a visible in the community. beautiful lakes and fertile who can share the many Marketing Specialist to The editor must posvalleys not far from the benefits of newspaper, develop new advertising, sess a reliable, insured, Canadian border. online, and niche product as well as retain and grow motor vehicle and a valid The successful candiadvertising with new acexisting key accounts. We Washington State driver’s date will lead a team of counts and current clients. provide the culture, tools license. journalists dedicated to The position is reand environment for you We offer a competiproviding the best coversponsible for print and to succeed by offering tive compensation and age of people, places and OFFICE MANAGER digital advertising sales creative advertising solu- benefits package includevents in Okanogan and Are you ready for an tions for local businesses. ing health insurance, paid Ferry counties, from the exciting career with your to an eclectic and exciting group of clients in the We offer a competicommunity newspaper? tive compensation and Sound Publishing Inc. Kitsap County area.

3.5” x 2.5” | Maximum Font Size: 30 pt Successful candidates benefits package includis looking for someone will be engaging and ing health insurance, to oversee the Kitsap paid time off (vacation, News Group’s Bainbridge goal-oriented, with good organizational skills, and sick, and holidays), and Island office. will have the ability to 401k (with an employer The office manager grow and maintain strong match). will answer incoming business relationships Interested? Conphone calls and walk-in through consultative sales tact Donna Etchey at inquiries, order office and excellent customer (360)385-2900, email supplies, process clasTyler W Whitworth, service. Professional admin@ptleader.com, or sified advertising, assist Financial Advisor sales experience necesby mail to 226 Adams and support the leadersary; media experience St., Port Townsend, WA ship team, advertising 640 Lincoln Ave is a definite asset but not 98368 sales consultants and Tenino, WA 98589 mandatory. editorial staff, handle 360-264-5004 A valid driver’s EDITOR petty cash for the office, license, clean driving Sound Publishing has make deposits and assist record, and adequate an immediate opening for with local circulation Editor of the Port Orchard issues. This position is 40 liability insurance on the vehicle you use for Independent and Central hours per week, Monday company business is also Kitsap Reporter. through Friday. ed wardjon es .com required.

This is not an entryRequirements: prior

Cascade Mountains to the Columbia River. Can you write compelling stories, shoot photos and paginate? Do you have the skills to lead a traditional print newsroom as well as enhancing the news product with multi-media innovation - - digital tools, web content, social media?

Effective communication and strong leadership skills are necessary, as well as enthusiasm, creativity and organizational skills.

This opportunity affords a full-time position with generous benefits after a 60-day new hire period. Benefits include health care, paid holidays, sick, vacation and personal days, as well as 401(k) and Flexible Spending (FSA).

Send resume, cover letter, and writing samples and professional references to: tmyers@ omakchronicle.com with “Managing Editor” in the subject line. If you prefer to mail the information, do so to The Chronicle Continued on Page 7

Complimentary investment review.

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The Washington Newspaper April 2022 6

Continued from Page 6 Attn: Teresa Myers, PO Box 553, Omak, WA 98841. No phone calls please.

What happens to your archives when newspapers consolidate?

Sometimes the selling publisher will retain ownership, sometimes the archives are passed on to the new owners. In either case, it is important that all parties agree and understand what is going to happen with the bound, loose or microfilm archives.

Historical stakeholders will continue your stewardship!

There’s no downside to scanning your newspaper's archive but there is a singular hurdle so daunting that most publishers simply cannot foresee any way to overcome it – cost. Luckily, there are organizations determined to help. ArchiveInABox works with historical societies and museums who can provide funding to digitize and index small-town newspapers, while publisher retains all ownership and rights.

ArchiveInABox can help you: Carry on Stewardship Mission Maintain Ownership of Copyrights Digitize Archives for Community Access

ArchiveInABox.com 7 The Washington Newspaper April 2022

SPORTS REPORTER The Columbia Basin Herald seeks a full-time Sports Reporter. We publish five days a week, plus a monthly tab and annual magazines.

Our offices are in Moses Lake, in the center of Washington. Here in the Columbia Basin, the weather is mild and dry and outdoor recreation is in every direction. More importantly, the Herald will advocate for your success and provide a wide variety of opportunities to follow your passion for sports journalism excellence.

The successful applicant will be a talented writer and photographer dedicated to excelling at daily local coverage of sports in the Columbia Basin. The sports reporter will be able to cover a wide variety of sports at the high school and college level. Football, basketball, baseball, wrestling and more are popular among our readers.

Must be committed to accuracy and fairness, must be organized and able to follow instructions. This person reports to the managing editor.

Qualifications include: a bachelor’s degree in journalism or equivalent experience, proficiency with grammar and AP style, strong photography skills, able to work nights and weekends and must have reliable transportation and a valid driver’s license To apply, send your cover letter, resume and work samples to brichardson@columbiabasinherald.com.