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THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER August 2020
Tourism for 2021? Use Impact ads! Page 4
Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
WNPA going virtual for the rest of 2020 Meeting, Better Newspaper Contest & Foundation auction all online
There will be no meeting of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association this year -- at least not in person. The WNPA Board of Directors at its summer meeting decided that even a brief dinner meeting probably will not be possible, given restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. There will, however, be a virtual Better Newspaper Contest awards presentation, so
you can start planning to have mini-parties with noise makers and your favorite libation. The virtual awards will go public at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9. WNPA will send out a link to the presentation well ahead of the event. The Foundation auction, similarly, will be an online affair. We are currently collecting auction items. People donating an item will be responsible for shipping it out to the winner, so
Journalism Sustainability Act considered in House In the past five months, Congress has responded to the coronavirus public health crisis with several emergency relief measures, including the stimulus checks sent to individuals and households, payroll protections to small businesses, expanded unemployment payments, fee waivers for borrowing against 401(K) plans and more. Now, Congress will get the opportunity to pass a relief measure that protects your access to trustworthy local news, helps grow local businesses through ads placed in local news media — and rewards you for subscribing to a newspaper like this one. The Local Journalism Sustainability Act, introduced on July 16, is a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by U.S. Repre-
sentatives Ann Kirkpatrick, a Democrat from Arizona, and Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Washington state. In brief, the legislation provides tax credits for subscribing to a local newspaper, payroll credit for paying journalists who provide local news, and credit for advertising in local newspapers and local media. This act responds to the insidious way the pandemic has deeply damaged American communities. It forced the shuttering of many local businesses that stopped advertising in their local paper. Newspapers, which have seen their revenues plummet, responded by laying off the people who bring the news or dropping the days they publish. That threatens the access to vital See ACT, Page 2
we highly encourage the use of gift certificates to make this all pretty simple and afforable. WNPA bylaws require us to have a business meeting each year in October. That also will be a virtual GoToMeeting event. The business meeting will be at 11 a.m. Oct. 9 and will feature a brief report on WNPA’s activities and finances, and the election of officers for the coming year. Everyone is welcome to listen and lend
support to the new slate of officers. WNPA’s Pinnacle Award, which recognizes the top sales person in our Impact Ad program, is cancelled for this year, the board decided. WNPA sales people mainly use the Impact Ad program to advertise regionally for community events, fairs and festivals. As most of those have been cancelled for the year, Impact Ads for events have similarly
been affected. Better Newspaper Contest certificates will be emailed to the newspaper where the entry was logged and plaques and trophies will be shipped out to winners. If you are a winner, you will be notified Sept. 9, so stay tuned for that announcement. The 2021 convention will be Oct. 9 in Bellingham. It will be on a Saturday for the first time in many years.
FROM THE BNC
This photo of a lima bean spitting contest by Jacob Ford of the Daily Record in Ellensburg is among the entries in this year’s Better Newspaper Contest. A list of winners will go out on Sept. 9.