The Washington Newspaper, October 2020

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THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER

Tourism for 2021?

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Page 4

October 2020

Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association

WNPA’s 133rd annual meeting goes virtual Oct. 9

Newspaper, broadcast associations oppose new court rule

FROM THE BNC

Community service, Turnbull, Bradley awards to be announced Get the champagne on ice, have your noise maker ready and have a bowl of snacks on hand -- WNPA’s virtual annual meeting and Better Newspaper Contest awards ceremony go live Oct. 9.

The annual meeting starts at 11 a.m. In addition to a brief report on WNPA, we will elect new officers and present the Community Service, Dixie Lee Bradley and Miles Turnbull Master/Editor Publisher awards.

And at 6 p.m. that day, the Better Newspaper Contest awards ceremony goes live on YouTube.

We will miss all the in-person interactions of the annual

conference, but the upside is that everyone can attend the awards ceremony, regardless of work schedules, or worries about travel or hotel and convention expenses. The ceremony will remain live on YouTube for future viewing.

Web links for all the activities will be sent out beginning Monday, Oct. 5.

The Foundation auction is live now, and people can bid on a number of great items, from overnight stays in Blaine and Coeur d’Alene, and to goodies from Thurston County and the Methow Valley.

To start bidding, click on the home page tile at wnpa. com.

Proposal seals drug court docs

This photo by Steve Mitchell of the Methow Valley News is among the entries in this year’s Better Newspaper Contest.

Membership to vote on a new slate of officers The Washington Newspaper Publishers Association will elect a new slate of officers at the Oct. 9 annual meeting.

The meeting is an all virtual affair this year, and web links and call-in information will go out Monday, Oct. 5.

If approved by the membership, Caralyn Bess of the Columbia Basin Herald will accept the gavel as the new president, Steve Powell, Bainbridge Island Review, becomes 1st Vice President and Michelle Nedved, Newport Miner, steps into the 2nd

Vice President role.

Stepping on to the board this year as a trustee is Donna Etchey, Port Townsend Leader. She previously served on the board when she was employed with Sound Publishing.

Returning board members are: Scott Hunter, Grand Coulee Star; Teresa Myers, Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle; Eric La Fontaine, Woodinville Weekly; Pili Linares, Sound Publishing; and Roger Harnack, Cheney Free Press.

Bess

Powell

Nedved

Patrick Grubb remains on the board as Past President and also moves over the board of the WNPA Foundation.

Print and broadcast news organizations are protesting a proposed court rule that would create a whole new category of secrecy in court records.

The proposal, made by the District and Municipal Courts Judges’ Association, would deny public access to virtually all assessment and compliance reports used by drug, diversion and other therapeutic courts.

Opposing the rule change are Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington, the Washington State Broadcasters Association and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

“The proposed rule is unconstitutional and ill-advised,” argued Eric Stahl, an attorney for Davis, Wright, Tremaine, representing the media organizations. “It impermissibly reverses the presumption that court records are open. It would impose blanket secrecy on an entire category of court records – records that bear directly on the courts’ decision-making process.”

The Washington State Supreme Court has the final say See COURT, Page 3

Resources online to help ad sales

The Newspaper Association Managers’ Relevance Project has released new resources to assist newspapers in aiding businesses of all sorts during the pandemic.

“Our goal is to keep expanding this new resource,” said Steve Nixon, NAM president. “We appreciate our associations’ support of The Relevance Project and the timely collaborations to strengthen community newspapers.”

The initial phase of the Relevance Project Revenue Resource has 18 sales promotions: • Three are sales fliers that ad reps can send to local businesses to show the local newspaper is eager to help with reopenings under the banner of All Together Now. The materials are perfect conversation starters to secure appointments and explore solutions.

• The remaining 15 pieces in the new resource

are eye-opening statements about the power of newspapers to motivate consumers to buy from newspaper advertisers in categories ranging from grocers to home services to educators to eyewear and to others who use display ads, coupons or circulars.

• All of the categories show that at least 6 out of 10 readers are motivated to act after reviewing a newspaper advertising.

Each statement also lists the Top 3 Actions taken by readers.

The overall Newspaper Ads Work campaign is the result of The Relevance Project’s enterprising partnership with Metro Creative Graphics and the Coda Ventures research firm, two major vendors of the newspaper industry.

To learn more and to access the resources, go to relevanceprojectnet. wordpress.com/revenueresource-2020.

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Bid often on the Foundation’s auction & help raise money for internships

By Patrick Grubb This summer our company had the good fortune to have two students from Western Washington University’s school of journalism apply for internships.

We normally pay our internships in normal years but 2020 has not been business as usual Grubb as we all know.

Why did we take on two interns?

They came pre-paid, thanks to the WNPA Foundation and thus they were affordable in a time when we have been extra cautious about expenses. These two students, Kyra Planetz and Ian Haupt, are exceptional in all ways. Talented, smart, hardworking, creative and ready to go the extra mile, not only were they a pleasure to work with, the content they produced was a credit to the newspaper and our community.

WNPA executive director Fred Obee has been sending out notices regarding the WNPA Foundation auction. This auction is what funds these internships and I encourage everyone to not only to donate items but to also bid on them. In our case, we asked two customers, the Silver Reef Casino and the Resort at Semiahmoo, to offer lodging and other benefits in return for advertising. No cash outlay on our part which means we’ll have more money to spend on the auction.

What about you? Can you do the same? Because the more money we raise, the more students can benefit through paid internships that are a boon to our members and our industry.

The auction remains open until 9 p.m. on October 9 so you need to move fast if you haven’t done so already. You can connect to the auction at wnpa.com.

This is my last column as WNPA president and I sure hope the next president doesn’t need

as many reminders from Fred to submit the damned things that I did. What with people moving on and leaving the board before their terms were up, I had an abbreviated run-up to becoming president.

I admit I was apprehensive about it, not helped by my wife leaving a copy of The Peter Principle where I was sure to find it once she heard the news.

If my experience has shown me one thing, it is this: Our association is incredibly fortunate in having Fred Obee and Janay Collins working for it. Much of the work that these two do is behind the scenes but it is critical to the success of our association and, by extension, our member newspapers.

When you are asked to join the board, do it. If you become president, welcome it. It will be a worthwhile and enjoyable experience.

Just get your columns in on time.

Patrick Grubb is the Publisher of The Northern Light in Blaine and this year’s WNPA President.

Cartoons, ads promote Newspaper Week

Officers: Patrick Grubb, President; Caralyn Bess, First Vice President; Steve Powell, Second Vice President.

Trustees: Roger Harnack, Scott Hunter, Teresa Myers, Pili Linares, Eric LaFontaine and Michelle Nedved.

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 October 2020

National Newspaper Week is Oct. 4-10.

This 80th annual National Newspaper Week is a recognition of the service of newspapers and their employees across North America and is sponsored by Newspaper Association Managers.

Content kits are available online at nationalnewspaperweek.com.

Resources include promotional ads, editorials and editorial cartoons.

Plan to celebrate the week by downloading materials and devoting as many column inches as possible to reinforce the importance of a newspaper to your community.

Since the principle is timeless, the materials, new and archived, remain on the website and accessible year-round as a continuing resource.

COURT: Supreme Court to consider drug court rule Continued from Page 1 in court rule making. Stahl made his comments in a memorandum to the court.

The proposed rule would permit presumptive sealing in all cases, without the specific findings that currentliy are required by case law.

If enacted, the proposed rule would deprive the press and public of the ability to evaluate therapeutic courts’ operations and decision-making, Stahl said, and would insulate this branch of the judiciary from accountability for its actions.

“That is bad policy because, as this court has recognized, ‘Justice must be conducted openly to

foster the public’ s understanding and trust in our judicial system and to give judges the check of public scrutiny,’” Stahl said.

Proponents of the amendment say that limiting public access to the records would encourage defendants to cooperate more honestly with assessments of needs, risks, mental health and chemical dependency and treatments.

But Stahl argued, potential privacy and treatment concerns are not sufficient by themselves to require complete suppression of assessment reports.

“Indeed, this court has held that the presumption of openness, and the other constitutional requirements

protecting access to court records apply with equal force in proceedings involving private health and other sensitive matters,” Stahl said.

Under the proposed rule, the records would remain available to virtually every participant in the therapeutic court system – including judges, probation counselors, defendants, and prosecutors, but the press and public could not access these critical court records without seeking the court’s permission.

Access to court records is governed by the same constitutional test that applies to court proceedings, Stahl wrote. Under that test, “openness is pre-

sumed,” and public access to judicial records may be denied only on a specific showing of a need for secrecy under the particular facts of the case and there must be an opportunity for objections to be heard to weigh the public’s interest in access. If records are withheld from the public, under current law, any sealing should be no more restrictive than necessary.

These procedures are “a strict, well-defined standard” intended to assure careful, case-bycase analysis of a closure motion. Prior precedents “clearly call for a trial court to resist a closure motion except under the most unusual circumstanc-

es,” Stahl argued.

“Rather than requiring a case-by-case assessment, it treats these records in blanket fashion, declaring them as off-limits to anyone other than court insiders,” Stahl wrote.

If adopted, the rule would significantly infringe the public’s ability to review, evaluate and understand decisions reached by therapeutic courts. That too violates the state constitution, Stahl said, which mandates that the public must – absent any overriding interest – be afforded the ability to witness the complete judicial proceeding, including all records the court has considered in making any ruling.

The hearings of the therapeutic courts all must be open to the public to provide public scrutiny, to foster trust and to hold public officials accountable. All of these reasons for openness also apply with equal force to the court records underlying a therapeutic court’s decisions.

“Absent compelling circumstances justifying sealing based on individual circumstances,” Stahl wrote, “public access must be presumed.”

The state Supreme Court sets the rules for other courts in the state.

After collecting comment, they will issue a decision on this change some time next year.

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 October 2020 3

Look to WNPA Impact Ads for 2021 tourism Selling statewide or regional 2x2 or 2x4 Impact Ads is a big part of what helps fund your Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, and it’s a great option for advertisers seeking broader reach for their messages.

It also is a perfect match for hotel-motel tax funds distributed annually by cities and counties to local non-profit groups. If you have not already, you should ask your city and county governments (each has separate funds) for a report on where the hotelmotel tax money is going.

In most cases, the non-profit organizations that receive this money are supposed to spend it in outside markets that will draw people to your town.

Although most events are limited right now, at some point we will get back to community gatherings. If anything, people will be itching to get out next spring and summer and these ad dollars are often planned a year ahead of time. It’s not too early to check on plans for 2021.

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

statewide.

Here’s how it works: • You sell the ad to a local non-profit organization to bolster tourism.

• 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 sales person gets their regular commission on the sale.

• 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 cost to the client affordable by asking all member newspapers to publish the ads sold by other newspapers without cost.

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,

The map above shows the regions for Impact Ads. Sell the whole state, or choose a region.

4 The Washington Newspaper October 2020

but there is no guarantee of this.

The ads are small – just two columns wide by either two or four inches tall. One column by four or eight inches are also OK. They

need to be produced in two different widths, to accommodate different column widths.

So talk with local chambers or festival organizers or others who receive hotel-

motel tax money from local governments, and let’s start planning our comeback.

The WNPA 2x2 ad program is an important arrow in your sales quiver and a great way for advertisers in

your area to reach a broader audience at a very affordable price. Questions? Call Member Services Director Janay Collins at 360-3442938 or email ads@wnpa. com.

JOB BOARD

COMMUNITY EDITOR The Columbia Basin Herald in Moses Lake, Wash. is seeking a community editor.

Under direction of the managing editor, the community editor will help guide digital and print, carrying content through editing, web posting and page design. The successful applicant will be committed to accuracy and fairness and have a drive for creating engaging community journalism. Must be organized and able to juggle work on publications on different schedules. This responsible position requires a wide skill set, such as an experienced copy editor/ designer or reporter/editor may have.

Qualifications sought: Bachelor’s or associate degree in journalism or equivalent experience; strong writing, editing and proofreading skills; experience with website and social media posting; page design proficiency using InDesign.

Send your cover letter, resume and work samples to editor@columbiabasinherald.com.

COVID-19 LATINO OUTREACH Join the Wenatchee World to make a difference in getting critical COVID-19 news and information to the complex and varied Latino community in the Wenatchee Valley and North Central Washington.

Why this effort? COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting Latinos. About 80% of the recorded coronavirus infections in North Central Washington have been among Latinos, who represent about a third of the total population.

At the same time, traditional news sources are not reaching many Latinos with critical health information about COVID-19.

The position will explore innovative ways to distribute critical public health information and resources to the Latino community in North Central Washington in both English and Spanish.

We’re looking for bilingual candidates familiar with the Wenatchee Valley and Chelan and Douglas counties. Our mission is to make a difference by reaching Latino residents

hours a week; however, JOURNALIST we would entertain apSkagit Publishing plicants available as little seeks a journalist to fill a as 13-15 hours a week. position as reporter and Candidates must be able editorial assistant at the to dedicate the whole of Anacortes American. This Monday to editing and is a combination position, have some flexibility dur- with about half the time ing the rest of the week to dedicated to reporting flex up or down depending local news for the weekly on the production needs Anacortes American. The of the paper or its related other half will involve publications. editorial assistant duties What a week might that most typically look like: involve processing event • Monday is critical information, press releases REMOTE COPY EDITOR with a set schedule of 7 or and letters to the editor for The Inlander — the 8 hours (9 or 10 am to 5 several Skagit Publishing weekly paper of the Inland pm PST). products.

Northwest, headquartered • Tuesday could be an While this is an entry in Spokane, Wash. — is off day or, if available, level or early career posiseeking a part-time reinvolve editing 9 am-11 tion, it requires a bachmote copy editor. Quali- am. elor’s degree with some fied candidates will have • Wednesday could be formal journalism training an eagle eye for typos, an off day or, if available, and examples of previerrors, inconsistencies in 2 hours of editing in the ously published work. It formatting and AP style afternoon or evening. also requires basic visual and will be skilled at do• Thursday, ideally, journalism skills and page ing basic fact-checking on would involve 2-4 hours. layout experience using deadline. Ideal applicants • Friday, ideally, would InDesign. will have a background in involve 2-4 hours.

Please send cover letcopy editing for a profesPay: $14-$17/hour, ter, resume and clips to sional news outlet and/ DOE Colette Weeks, Director of or solid experience as a Apply: Send a résumé, Content, at cweeks@skagworking reporter. An edit- cover letter and your five itpublishing.com. Equal ing test is required. best work samples to Edi- Opportunity Employer.

The schedule includes tor Jacob Fries at jacobf@ some set times and some inlander.com. Put “copy REPORTER flexibility and candidates editor” in the subject The Columbia Basin would ideally work 18-20 line. No phone calls.

Herald seeks full-time 3.5” x 2.5” | Maximum Font Size:a 30 pt with articles, virtual panel discussions and editorial board conversations about COVID-19 and its health and social impacts.

This is a full-time, grantfunded position through the end of the year.

If you’re ready to make a difference in our community, please send a resume and cover letter to Managing Editor Russ Hemphill at hemphill@wenatcheeworld.com.

reporter. We publish a daily five days a week, plus a weekly, a monthly, a basket of slick magazines, plus three websites and social media.

Our offices are in Moses Lake, the center of Washington.

Here in the Columbia Basin, the weather is mild and dry.

Our community is built around an 18 mile lake with 3,000 acres of sand dunes and plenty of trails for hiking and other outdoor activities.

The successful applicant will be a multitalented writer and photographer who is dedicated to excelling at local coverage, identifying and producing enterprise stories, and contributing to special sections. Must be organized and committed to accuracy and fairness.

This person reports to the managing editor.

This position requires a bachelor’s degree in journalism or equivalent experience.

Send your cover letter, resume and work samples to editor@columbiabasinherald.com.

Continued on Page 6

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The Washington Newspaper October 2020 5

JOB BOARD

Continued from Page 5 are a part of Hagadone, a family-owned company EDITOR with news organizations The Columbia Basin also in northern Idaho and Herald seeks an experiMontana. enced journalist to join our news team. Under EDITOR/EXECUTIVE direction of the managing editor, the local editor DIRECTOR Executive Director will help guide news & Editor, Senior News, coverage online and in our newspaper, published Thurston County Council on the Aging five days a week. We Salary range: $48,000 also publish a weekly, a – $65,000 depending on monthly and several anqualification and includes nual magazines. We are employee benefit packbased in Moses Lake, in the center of Washington, age.

Target start date: Feb. where the weather is dry 10, 2021 and outdoor recreation This is a unique opis abundant. Our region portunity to oversee the is noted for world-class general daily operations agriculture, but some of the Thurston-Mason well-known companies are also prominent in the Senior News and the Medical Equipment Bank. area.

Hours will vary depenThe successful applicant will be committed to dent on activity schedaccuracy and fairness and ules.

This position is rehave a drive for engaging sponsible for the managcommunity journalism. ing and editing functions Must be organized and of the Senior News, able to juggle work on including but not limited multiple publications on to content creation of the different schedules. We newspaper (including colare looking for a wide lecting submissions from skill set for this responsible position. It includes authors, writing, photography, layout, and design working closely with of the publication) and reporters, and it may infull oversight of editorial clude writing opportunicontent. This includes any ties and helping increase applicable website and/ audience engagement or social media updates. through social media.

Candidate must demonMaybe you are an experienced reporter with strate good written communication skills, includhands-on experience in ing impeccable spelling, page design and proofpunctuation, grammar, reading or websites and social media. Maybe you and attention to detail.

The Editor is responare a city editor or an sible for overseeing the experienced copy editor printing and distribution and designer who enjoys of the paper, all phases of being involved in the wider news operation. We production and recruitment and management want to talk with you.

Send your cover letter, of volunteer delivery resume and work samples drivers. This includes the to editor@columbiabasin- collection of subscription additions and list herald.com. changes, which are comThe Columbia Basin municated to a list service Herald is an equal opvendor for subscription portunity employer. We 6 The Washington Newspaper October 2020

maintenance, as well as working to increase the mailing list.

Duties will also include advertising sales, working with the bookkeeper to develop sound policies for prompt payment, submitting timely reports to both the bookkeeper and the board, and attending board meetings

of the Thurston County Council on the Aging (TCCA).

The Medical Equipment Bank (or MEB) is a service of the Thurston County Council on the Aging and is located in Lacey, WA. The Executive Director will be responsible for managing the MEB, which is run by

volunteers.

Job qualifications include: a Bachelor’s degree in communications or public relations or equivalent experience; Five years minimum experience in design for printing, writing, editing, layout and photography; proficient in Adobe In-Design, Photoshop, Illustrator, PDF conversion;

experience with advertising sales and billing.

To be considered, please submit a resume, references, and portfolio electronically to thurstonmasonseniornews@gmail. com or by mail: TCCoA Board, Re: Executive Director Position c/o Joyce Wilms, PO Box 7184, Olympia, WA 98504.