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TWN

THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER June 2018

Nominations sought for Turnbull, Bradley awards Page 5

Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association

O’Connor, Ward now top execs for Sound Publishing

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

Gloria Fletcher leaves Sound for job with Berkshire Hathaway Josh O’Connor, publisher of The Daily Herald, has been appointed President/ Publisher of Sound O’Connor Publishing. He replaces Gloria Fletcher who left the company last month to become publisher of the Tulsa World and vice-president of the South Newspaper Group of Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway Media Group. O’Connor is now responsible for Sound Publishing

operations statewide. However, he also will continue to be publisher of The Daily Herald. He is in Ward charge of the “continuing success of the media company” ensuring that its publications, including new digital products, are “healthy and robust” and deliver relevant local news to the communities they serve, O’Connor said.

See SOUND Page 3

Black acquires Alaska papers, sells Ohio daily David Black, chairman and owner of Black Press, LTD of Victoria, British Columbia, the parent company of Washington’s Sound Publishing, announced last month it has agreed to acquire the daily newspapers in Juneau and Kenai, Alaska from New Media Investment Group. Simultaneously, Black announced that his company has

agreed to the sale of the Akron (OH) Beacon Journal to New Media Investment Group. No terms of the transactions were announced. Rick O’Connor, president and CEO of Black Press said, “We have provided stewardship of the Beacon Journal for the past 11 years and are extremely proud of

See ALASKA Page 3

Nicholas Johnson of the Mukilteo Beacon won a first place award in the General News Photo Category in the 2017 WNPA Better Newspaper Contest for this photo of a celebration of life for a young girl killed in a car crash.

Newspapers hit hard by newsprint tariffs Newspapers across the country are coping with escalating newsprint prices since the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed tariffs on Canadian imports of the uncoated groundwood paper used for newsprint. Besides asking newspaper advertisers and readers to pay more, publishers nationwide are laying off workers and shrinking the size of their papers. The duties vary from company to company but range as high as 32 percent, according

to the News Media Alliance, an advocacy group in Arlington, Va. The tariffs resulted from a complaint by a U.S. paper manufacturer, North Pacific Paper Co. of Longview, Wash., which said government subsidies give Canadian producers an unfair price advantage over domestic mills. Canada has about 25 groundwood producers while only five are operating in the U.S. In January, the Commerce Department imposed a tariff of 6.2 percent on Canadian news-

print and raised it by 22 percent in March after an investigation found a producer in British Columbia was underselling groundwood. The International Trade Commission will hold a hearing on the tariffs in July and the Commerce Department later this summer will decide whether to make them permanent. Since the tariffs were imposed, U.S. newspapers have experienced newsprint price in-

See TARIFF Page 2


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