TWN
THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER
State library gets digitization grant Page 3
September 2018
Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
Task force eyes rules on records for Legislature A legislative task force convened this week to examine the state’s Public Records Act as it applies to the state Legislature. The task force was formed after legislators in the last session approved a hastily written bill without giving the public a chance to comment. Tens of thousands of Washingtonians protested, swamping the governor’s office with letters, emails and phone calls. Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed the bill after Legislators agreed to start over and involve the public. The task force had its first meeting Sept. 5. The committee includes representatives from Washington state-based media, open government advocates,
and the public, as well as a bipartisan, bicameral group of legislators. The task force, moderated by the William D. Ruckelshaus Center, is co-chaired by Rep. Larry Springer (D-Kirkland) and Sen. Curtis King (R-Yakima). Task force members are: • Ray Rivera, deputy managing editor for investigations and enterprise at The Seattle Times. Rivera has worked as editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican, and as a reporter at The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Seattle Times. • Diana Kramer, director of student publications at the University of Washington and publisher of UW’s The Daily newspaper. See RECORDS, Page 4
Panel nixes tariffs on Canadian newsprint
BEE EXAM
This photo by Julia Hart of the Daily Sun News is among the entries in this year’s Better Newspaper Contest photo division.
WNPA officers proposed on convention slate New leadership will be elected at the 131st annual convention of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. The conference is set for Oct. 11-13 at the Red Lion Hotel in Yakima. Officers to be approved Grubb Wagar by the membership include President Michael Wager, First Vice President Patrick Lafromboise Communications; Grubb, The Northern Light; and
Second Vice President Eric LaFontaine, Sound Publishing. Three new members are nominated to Trustee LaFontaine positions on the WNPA board. They are: Steve Powell,
Marysville Globe; Michele Nedved, Newport Miner; and Teresa Myers, Omak Okanogan County Chronicle. The convention also includes workshops, the chance to confer with your peers and the Friday night, Better Newspaper Contest gala awards dinner. Bill Ostendorf, President & Founder of Creative Circle See WNPA, Page 4
The United States International Trade Commission on Aug. 29 overturned a Trump administration decision to impose tariffs on Canadian newsprint, saying that American paper producers are not harmed by newsprint imports. The unanimous decision by the five-member body eliminates tariffs that have been in effect since January, handing a win to small and medium-size newspapers, which have struggled to absorb the cost of higher newsprint and have made cuts, including layoffs, as a result. The Commerce Department imposed tariffs as high as 20 percent on newsprint from Canada after North Pacific Paper Company, a paper mill in Washington State, filed a complaint alleging that subsidies the Canadian government provides to its manufacturers put American paper companies at a disadvantage. The commission, which is an American government agency that reviews unfair trade practices, said in a statement that it “determined that a U.S. industry is not materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason of imports of uncoated groundwood paper from Canada.”
See TARIFFS, Page 3
FROM THE PRESIDENT
With your help, we can dream big for bright future By Sandy Stokes As we close in on convention time, which marks the start of another year for the WNPA, there will be a changing of the guard on your association Stokes board. At the convention next month, you’ll be asked to vote on a new slate of officers, starting with the nominees for incoming President Michael Wager, First Vice President Patrick Grubb and Second Vice President Eric LaFontaine. We will also nominate three new members of our governing board:
Steve Powell, Michele Nedved, and Teresa Myers. The three veteran publishers are being proposed to fill vacancies on the board. Past president Don Nelson and I plan to move over to the separate non-profit WNPA Foundation board next year. We plan to work hard to energize the Foundation and help the association offer more services to our member papers as well as provide great stories for them out of our Olympia News Bureau. We’ve been letting our imaginations run a little wild as we dream big for the future of our Foundation, but for now we are focusing on growing contributions and expanding the Olympia Bureau operations. We’re not sure
what form all of this will take in the future, but we have started talking about ways our organization could evolve and remain relevant in the years to come. This year we plan to have a team of highly skilled, freshly minted reporters from the University of Washington covering the Legislature as journalism interns. Once again, with help from a few WNPA editors and our UW partners, I will guide the work of the interns. Last legislative session, our reporters explained to their sources that reporting for the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association was “like a wire service” for news outlets all over the state. During the 60-day session our reporters
produced 92 solid stories for our member newspapers to pick up. We lucked out last year in having a talented photographer in our bureau as well. Several publishers lauded their work for keeping readers on top of important developments in our state Legislature. And having free access to well-reported and well-sourced stories about the Legislature’s deliberations is something most WNPA members welcome and appreciate. If you have thoughts about how we could tailor the coverage to be of more use to you, let us know. Our next crop of young reporters will be selected later this fall. In the meantime, we’ll
be asking members to support our efforts by bringing silent auction items to the annual convention, which this year is Oct. 11-13 at the Red Lion in Yakima. Almost anything can be donated. Last year an old typewriter went on the auction block and lots of newspapers brought gift baskets filled with goodies from their communities. And as we move ahead in coming years we’ll be scouting for ways to secure grants and funding from big donors, too. As some of you may recall, a few years back, WNPA had something of a management crisis after our long-time staff members moved on. What followed was a complete restructuring of the organization and an intense scrubbing of
Final call for nominations Officers: Sandy Stokes, President; Michael Wagar, First Vice President; Don Nelson, Past President. Trustees: Tom Mullen, Patrick Grubb, Colette Weeks, Eric LaFontaine, Caralyn Bess, Roger Harnack and Scott Hunter. 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. Staff 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 September 2018
This is the final call for nominations to the WNPA board, as required by the bylaws of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. Previously, the association voted to install Donna Etchey of Sound Publishing as second vice president, but she stepped down from the board earlier this year and Eric LaFontaine of Sound Publishing was appointed to the role, pending a vote of the membership at the fall convention. Patrick Grubb of the Northern Light in Blaine, moved up to the first vice president position. The bylaws say a nominating committee, composed of the three most recent presidents who are still active as regular members, shall each year nominate a candidate for the office of Second Vice-President, which is the first
position in what is intended to be a ladder to the presidency. That is the process WNPA followed in selecting LaFontaine. Other candidates, for any of the elected positions, may be nominated by board members or by submission of the candidate’s name by at least 10 regular members. Regular members then elect Trustees and Officers at the association business meeting during the annual Fall convention. The bylaws ask that a final call for nominations be published in the Association’s bulletin prior to the annual Fall convention. This is that final call. Members having an interest in nominating board members or officers should contact WNPA Executive Director Fred Obee at fredobee@wnpa.com or by calling 360-344-2938.
our financial records. I’m happy to report all of that is behind us now. Your organization is operating in the black, applying professional standards to our bookkeeping and accounting, and we have reserves invested to assure our financial stability. So, as we head into a new year starting with the convention next month, developments this year give us a chance to focus our energies on taking our 131-year-old organization into the future. It will be interesting to see how far we can go. Sandy Stokes is the Bureau Chief of the Olympia News Bureau, former owner of the La Conner Weekly News and this year’s WNPA president.
Bylaws update on convention agenda Updates to the bylaws of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association will be up for a vote at the business meeting of the association Oct. 12 at the Red Lion Hotel in Yakima at the start of the annual convention. The changes mainly reflect WNPA’s current way of conducting business, but one of the more significant changes is allowing freelance writers, graphic artists, cartoonists, columnists, photographers and others who regularly contribute to the community press to join the association as Affiliate members. The proposed changes to the bylaws are available at wnpa.com. Use the drop down menu under For Members to access the Documents folder and click on Proposed Bylaws. Questions can be directed to Fred Obee at WNPA.
Digitization grant awarded With a new $280,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant, the Office of Secretary of State Kim Wyman will break fresh ground in its nationally-recognized project of digitizing historic newspapers. The grant, will enable the Washington State Library’s Washington Digital Newspaper Project to add 100,000 pages of culturally and historically significant newspapers from Asian-American, AfricanAmerican, and World War II-era publications to its free public archives. The grant is the fourth National Endowment for the Humanities award for the Digital Newspaper Project. Under the State
Tariffs: Decision expected to give some relief to newspapers Continued from Page 1
The Washington State Library gets new grant for historic newspaper digitization. Library’s participation in “I’m truly gratethe National Digital News- ful to the National paper Program, more than Endowment for the 300,000 pages of historic Humanities, both for Washington newspapers their recognition of our have been added to the achievements in digitiz13 million newspaper ing historic newspapers pages publicly accessible and for their decision to at Chronicling America fund our latest project,” website at the Library of said State Librarian Congress. Cindy Aden.
Details of the commission’s findings will be published by Oct. 8, the statement said. The decision will allow Canadian paper providers to stop paying tariffs that had already caused widespread damage in the struggling newspaper industry. Dozens of regional newspapers across the country have cut staff, reduced the numbers of days they printed and, in some cases, closed entirely, unable to contend with the increased costs. Andrew Johnson, the president of the National Newspaper Association, a group of about 2,300
community newspapers, cheered the decision and said he was thankful that “the commissioners did the right thing.” “This is a great day for newspapers,” Mr. Johnson said. “It sends a loud message.” But “there is a lot of damage that has been done,” added Mr. Johnson, who is also the owner and publisher of three weekly newspapers in Wisconsin. “It is our hope that some progress will be made toward restoring the page counts and news coverage among the weekly newspapers,” he said. “Once those costs start going down at the printing
level, I think you’ll see the weekly newspapers adding their pages back.” Norpac was the only manufacturer to file a complaint. The rest of the industry has blamed the declining print newspaper business, rather than Canada, for its struggles. The situation thrust Norpac and its owner, the private equity firm One Rock Capital Partners, into the spotlight as newspapers complained that their costs were surging as a result of the tariffs. This is a portion of the story that ran in the New York Times Aug. 29, 2018.
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.
DWT.COM Anchorage | Bellevue | Los Angeles | New York | Portland San Francisco | Seattle | Shanghai | Washington, D.C.
The Washington Newspaper September 2018 3
Seattle Times critical of Shea’s place on records task force By the Seattle Times Editorial Board Someone who calls the press “dirty, godless, hateful people” is not someone you would expect to be tasked with helping bridge a divide between lawmakers and the news media. Yet that is the role currently assigned to state Rep. Matt Shea, the House Republican caucus chair who disparaged media members using those alarming terms at a gunrights rally over the weekend. Shea, R-Spokane Valley, is one of eight lawmakers appointed to a task force designed to resolve an impasse over which records the Legislature must disclose to the public. But Shea’s weekend comments, which also suggested members of the news media were guilty of “defending tyranny,” demonstrate that he is not the right person to try to reach common ground with the press on this critical issue. House Republican leaders should choose another member of their caucus to serve
on the public-records task force, which is expected to hold its first meeting Sept. 5. Legislators agreed to form the task force after Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed their February attempt to exempt themselves from the state’s Public Records Act. That speedy vote proved deeply unpopular among Washington citizens, prompting more than 20,000 people to email and call Inslee’s office to ask that he block the legislation. Had it become law, Senate Bill 6617 would have allowed state lawmakers to conceal more records than nearly every government official in the state. It also would have closed off all of lawmakers’ past records, a clear attempt to evade a January trial-court ruling that found legislators had been illegally withholding public documents. That case was brought by a coalition of 10 news organizations, including The Associated Press and The Seattle Times. The Legislature is now appealing the ruling. Even before Shea’s ugly
comments, the makeup of the Legislature’s public-records task force hardly inspired confidence. While 21 of the Legislature’s 147 members voted against Senate Bill 6617, not a single one of those legislators was chosen to be part of the work group. Removing Shea from the task force offers an opportunity to change that. House Republican leaders must show that they plan to begin the public-records discussion with an open mind and respect for everyone at the table. That means choosing someone other than Shea to represent them on the task force — ideally, someone who opposed the Legislature’s misguided secrecy effort in the first place. The Seattle Times editorial board members are editorial page editor Kate Riley, Frank A. Blethen, Donna Gordon Blankinship, Brier Dudley, Mark Higgins, Melissa Santos, and William K. Blethen (emeritus).
RECORDS: Task force charged with defining rules for Legislature Continued from Page 1
She has worked for various publishing companies, and served as executive director of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. • Andy Hobbs, publisher at the Federal Way Mirror. Before that, he served as the Mirror’s editor, and as a reporter at the Puyallup Herald and The Olympian. • Toby Nixon, president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government. He has served on numerous open government work groups. Nixon is a Kirkland City Council member, and served as a state representative. • David Ammons, vice chair of the state Public Disclosure Commission. Before that, he was communications director for the Washington Secretary of State’s office. Ammons also served as a reporter, columnist, editor and Olympia bureau chief for The Associated Press. • Candice Bock, director of government relations at the Association of Washington Cities. She has worked in municipal government as a city
manager and administrative services director overseeing public records management. • Marty Lovinger, an attorney who has served as a prosecutor, public defender, assistant city attorney, and as staff to the Washington State Senate. • Legislators include cochairs Springer and King; Sens. Randi Becker (R-Eatonville), Kevin Van De Wege (D-Sequim), and Sam Hunt, (D-Olympia); and Reps. Joan McBride (D-Kirkland), Mike Volz (R-Spokane), and Matt Shea (R-Spokane Valley). The Task Force will hold up to four meetings in Olympia. The Task Force meetings will be scheduled and conducted in accordance with the requirements of both the Senate and the House, and are subject to approval by the Senate Facilities & Operations Committee and the House Executive Rules Committee. Staff support for the Task Force will be provided by Senate Committee Services and the House Office of Program Research.
WNPA: Convention features workshops, awards dinner Continued from Page 1
Media Solutions, leads off the conference with a keynote address titled “Print isn’t dead! (and what you can do to keep it that way).” Ostendorf says there is plenty we can do to grow, save and improve print now. And newspapers would be crazy not to invest in print, the source of much of their digital content, subscriber commitments and advertising revenue. Ostendorf will also lead a workshop called “The New Newsroom.” Ostendorf says it will pay to take a fresh look at your paper’s content, and adopt new approaches to stories, photos, headlines and captions. “When applied during our redesigns, the result typically is higher newsstand sales, increased readership
scores and higher user satisfaction. Are you ready to really rethink your content?” Ostendorf asks. Jim Elsberry, President of Elsberry Consulting, has held management positions with newspapers in five different states. He worked for Boone Newspapers as Associate Publisher and Advertising Director of the Natchez Democrat. He was a Vice President and group manager for Southern Newspapers based out of Houston and was the publisher of the Greeley, Colorado, Tribune and Regional Manager for the Northern Colorado Communications Group for nine years. Jim will present a couple of workshops: Anatomy of a sales conversation,
4 The Washington Newspaper September 2018
the perfect training for the new account executive or the seasoned person who’d like a good review of the fundamentals of an effective sales call; and Managing, Coaching, Training, which will focus on the keys to practical management. This workshop will be great for anyone responsible for managing even one person. Doug Schust, COO of Hagadone Digital, will present a workshop guaranteed to open doors to digital sales, and unveil a program specifically geared to WNPA members. This isn’t about selling banner ads on your website. Attend and you will get the tools you need to start making real money in the digital realm. We’ll also welcome Shawn Gust, Chief Photographer for the Yakima
Herald-Republic, who will talk about his approach to news photography. We won’t have Saturday morning workshops this year, but following breakfast and a raffle drawing, we will present a breakfast program with John Marling of Pulse Research. He will send you home thinking about the “Five things community newspapers can and must do right now to increase readership and revenue!” To register go to wnpa.com. Scroll down to the home page convention tile and follow the prompts to register. A complete convention brochure is also available for download at wnpa.com. We’re looking forward to seeing you in Yakima!
Zaitz to lead Salem news website Les Zaitz, the editor and publisher of the Malheur Enterprise in Vale, Ore., and the keynote speaker at last year’s WNPA annual convention, is creating an online news organization for Salem, Ore. He wasn’t open to the idea at first, but decided to go for it after repeated urging from Salem investor Larry Tokarski. “On Sept. 17, the Salem Reporter will go live with Zaitz as CEO and editor and three full-time reporters who will cover ‘local government, schools, business, nonprofits and state government,” according to a press release, Kristen Hare reports for the Poynter Institute.
It’s not surprising Tokarski pursued Zaitz so doggedly: Zaitz brings 45 years of reporting to the table along with a slew of awards for his work at The Oregonian and the Enterprise, including the 2018 Tom and Pat Gish Award and a 2017 Investigative Reporters & Editors Award. He will remain publisher of the Enterprise. Zaitz says the Reporter will have a paywall and, along with an investment of an undisclosed amount from Tokarski, and will be funded by subscriptions. A subscription is $10 per month and $100 per year, and though the Reporter will accept advertising, he doesn’t think ads will bring
in much revenue. About 400,000 people live in the publication’s market, and Zaitz is hoping enough will subscribe to make it sustainable, Hare reports. Zaitz says he intends to focus on credibility and quality content, instead of clicks. Though the area already has other media, including Gannett Co.’s daily Statesman Journal, the Salem Weekly, and the Salem Business Journal, Zaitz said he’s not going to base coverage on holes left by other news outlets. “I’m pretending there’s no other media there, let’s put it that way,” he told Hare. “Otherwise, you handcuff yourself.”
Editors! Reporters! check out WNPA’s new Podcast site Reporters and editors who want to improve their reporting can now log on to WNPA’s podcast site and listen to experts in the field tell how they approach their stories. Currently on the site are interviews with Les Zaitz, owner and Publisher of the Malheur Enterprise. Les and his staff are redefining how community papers approach reporting. Also, Eli Sanders, Pulitzer Prize winning writer for the Stranger in Seattle, talks interviewing and narrative writing techniques. To find the podcasts, go to wnpa.com and click on the podcast tile in the middle of the home page.
Madison & Andersen Awards Breakfast Friday, September 21, 2018 Washington Athletic Club 1325 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, WA
James Madison Award Winner The People of Washington State
James Andersen Award Winner Kenneth F. Bunting Award Winner Rachel La Corte & The Media Mike Fancher Special thanks to our sponsors:
7:30 AM - Registration 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM - Breakfast
Davis Wright Tremaine, Clark Raymond & Associates, ArchiveInABox, Klinedinst Attorneys, Witherspoon Kelley, Toby Nixon, Juli Bunting, Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, The Freedom Foundation, Columbia Bank, Cedar Grove, Sam Pace, The Seattle Times, Bill Crittenden, Allied Law Group, Cedar Grove, Garvey Schubert Barer, Mike Fancher
To register or for information www.washingtoncog.org | info@washingtoncog.org | (206) 782-0393 Published as a community service
5 The Washington Newspaper September 2018
WNPA JOB BOARD SPORTS REPORTER If you’re interested in covering high school teams that regularly compete for state titles and an NCAA Division II college that most recently sent a football team to the national semifinals, then the Daily Record in Ellensburg, Washington, has an opportunity for you. Our sports editor covers Central Washington University athletics, as well as high schools in Kittitas County. People who have held this position have moved to larger dailies throughout the region and nation. The successful applicant will have an interest in pursuing sports coverage on multiple social media platforms, as well videos and podcasts. Creative self-starters excel in this position. Photo skills are a plus. Ellensburg is ideally situated for people interested in outdoor activities, whether skiing, fly fishing or hiking. To apply, send a cover letter, work samples and resume to Michael Gallagher at mgallagher@ kvnews.com. The Daily Record is part of the Adams Publishing Group.
EDITOR Sound Publishing has an immediate opening for Editor of the Federal Way Mirror. This is not an entry-level position. Requires a hands-on leader with a minimum of three years newspaper experience including writing, editing, pagination, photography, and InDesign skills. Must understand how to lead, motivate, and mentor a small news staff. We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package including health insurance, paid time off
(vacation, sick, and holidays), and 401K with an employer match. If you are interested in joining the team at the Federal Way Mirror, email us your cover letter, resume, up to five of your best writing clips to: careers@soundpublishing. com. Please be sure to include ATTN: EDFWM in the subject line. Sound Publishing is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) and strongly supports diversity in the workplace. Check out our website to find out more about us! www. soundpublishing.com SPORTS/NEWS REPORTER The Lynden Tribune in Lynden, Washington, has an immediate opening for a full-time sports/news reporter. The successful applicant will be responsible for the coverage of prep sports in the sports-crazy area of north Whatcom County, including coverage of the area high schools. Applicant will work closely with other staff members, including freelancers. Some general news assignments are also associated with the position. The ideal candidate will be familiar with a variety of sports, work well with coaches and athletes, and show proficiency in InDesign, social media and photography. Send resume and 3-5 clips, including photos to mdlewis@lyndentribune.com. NEWS EDITOR The Daily Sun News, the 3-day-per week community newspaper for Sunnyside and the Lower Yakima Valley in Washington, is looking for the right reporter-editor to
6 The Washington Newspaper September 2018
continue building and branding news coverage both in print and digital media. The successful candidate will be skilled at reporting while managing a staff of three. Knowledge of design and social media will be an advantage. We are part of the Eagle Newspapers/Eagle
Media Northwest group. FT position, many excellent benefits including health care, dental, life insurance, vacation, 401(k), FSA. EOE. Send resumes to Andy McNab, Interim Publisher, Daily Sun News, amcnab@ dailysunnews.com. No phone calls, please.
PRESS PERSON Press person needed at a Tuesday through Saturday morning newspaper in Pendleton, Oregon. In addition to East Oregonian newspaper, our operation prints an array of weekly, bi-weekly and monthly publications. To join our team, you’ll need web press operation skills, an eye for
color, mechanical ability, be a good communicator and work well with others. Must be able to lift 50# and go up/down stairs on a regular basis. Wage DOE plus benefits. Send resume and letter of interest to EO Media Group., PO Box 2048, Salem, OR 97308-2048, or e-mail hr@eomediagroup. com.