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Your connection to industry & member news | Dec. 19, 2024
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Happy Holidays from SCPA!This holiday season, we are grateful for your continued support and all you and your newspapers have done to serve your communities over the past year! SCPA and SCNN will be closed Dec. 24-25 and Jan. 1. There will be no eBulletin over the next two weeks because of the holidays, but we'll be back in your inbox on Jan. 9, 2025.
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Thanks to all who entered the 2024 Contest!We are hard at work getting contest entries ready for judging in Kentucky next month.
Initial reports show participation was very strong, with roughly 3,000 entries from 87 member organizations submitted in the News, Associate and Collegiate contests.
Winners will be announced for proofing in early February.
Awards will be presented at SCPA’s Annual Meeting & Awards on April 3-4, 2025, at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
In addition to the awards luncheon, this event will feature training and social functions, the spring Executive Committee Meeting and a roundtable breakfast for family-owned and independent newspaper leaders. A full schedule and registration will be announced in January.
Here's more info if you’d like to sponsor this great event!
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Richland 1 paid $2.6 million to mysterious landscaping company it was told to avoid
In 2011, Richland School District 1’s internal auditor warned officials about the district’s use of a landscaping company that had forfeited its corporate status due to tax delinquencies.
The auditor found that despite red flags “indicating possible solvency issues and potential fraud, waste and abuse,” Richland 1 had given the company nearly $2.3 million in no-bid business over a decade without a written contract or any administrative oversight.
Richland 1 officials responded to the internal auditor’s report by defending the district’s procurement practices and the company, whose work they said had been “excellent.”
More than 13 years later, Richland 1 continues to use Blooming & Grooming Landscaping Services, which hasn’t had a county business license in over a decade and owes the state thousands of dollars in unemployment taxes, an investigation by The State Media Co. found.
By Zak Koeske, The State | Read more
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Seneca Journal changing distribution method
For the last two years, The Journal has had difficulty filling its delivery staff.
“It has been virtually impossible to find people willing to work from 1:30 a.m. to 5 a.m. in this tough employment environment,” said Hal Welch, general manager of The Journal and chief operating officer of The Edwards Group, which owns The Journal.
After nearly three decades as an in-house printed daily newspaper, The Journal is forced to change its distribution method.
The newspaper will remain a daily publication — but starting in January, it will not be home-delivered every day.
“We will produce the same newspaper every day that we have been,” Welch said. “Only Wednesday and Saturday will be delivered in print moving forward using the United States Postal Service (USPS), and all five days will be available online.”
Starting Jan. 7, you will find Tuesday through Saturday papers online as an e-Edition — or on the normal website if you prefer — and receive the Wednesday and Saturday printed editions in your mailbox.
Welch pointed to carrier issues The Journal has fought for the last several years as the impetus for the switch.
"You, our subscribers, know the troubles with delivery we are having,” he said. “I don’t think any route was exempt from experiencing delays, some for extended periods of time.”
Welch said The Journal had hired and lost more than 60 carriers in the past 18 months alone, having to hire four to keep one and ultimately, that one would quit as well.
From The Journal | Read more
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Rural journalists can receive funding for computer-assisted reporting training
Journalists who work at smaller news organizations with a significant rural audience can apply for fellowships that cover much of the cost of attending an IRE training bootcamp for computer-assisted reporting. The goal of the fellowships is to help journalists at these organizations learn how to do important investigative stories that provide a public service for people in rural communities.
The deadline is Jan. 6 to apply for the March 24-28 bootcamp, which will be held at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism in Columbia, Mo. That bootcamp is meant for beginners in data-driven journalism or journalists with minimal data experience. Learn more and apply.
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McClatchy completes merger with accelerate360
McClatchy, a local news and information company, has announced the successful completion of its merger with accelerate360, a distribution, logistics and media company. The new company will operate under the McClatchy Media Company (MMC) moniker.
The new company combines McClatchy's essential local journalism, a360media’s engaging lifestyle and entertainment content, and accelerate360’s extensive retail distribution network. This merger establishes MMC as a dynamic digital publishing platform with high-quality, relevant content and an audience of 100 million unique visitors.
From McClatchy | Read more
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News delayed: How USPS policies are testing small publishers’ resilience
Reporting and delivering the news are the two primary functions of the news publishing process. Although the disruption to and contraction of the news industry has created challenges for the reporting part of the process, there is plenty of news to report, and the public has a voracious appetite for more of it. Satisfying that appetite with prompt delivery of print editions has also been challenging for publishers.
The era of paperboys and adult carriers has ended for most newspapers as current subscribers are spread throughout the coverage area, including many in surrounding counties. Often, a small, local newspaper is the only publication in a multi-county portion of its state. Consequently, more rely on the United States Postal Service (USPS) to deliver their physical newspapers.
The necessary interaction between a small, local business with limited resources and a giant, quasi-federal bureaucracy often causes time-consuming complexities and frustrations for publishers of small, local newspapers. Given the USPS’s significant financial and operational issues for almost two decades, Louis DeJoy, U.S. Postmaster General, focuses on financial stability and, in his words, “delivering the mail.” Increasing the postage rate five times for all mail classes (and an overall increase of 50 percent for periodicals) between January 2021 and January 2024 clearly indicated the USPS's precarious financial condition. Pushback from the public and the U.S. Congress caused the USPS to cancel another rate increase scheduled for early 2025.
By Bob Sillick for E&P Magazine | Read more
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By Brandon Roberts, managing editor and interim publisher, Summerville Communications
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| Confessions of a cat herder
In the world of weekly newspapers, the role of a managing editor is pivotal yet often misunderstood. Readers and community members might assume the job is as simple as deciding what goes on the front page or approving headlines. In reality, the position requires a delicate balance of creativity, leadership and business acumen. As the managing editor of two weekly publications, I want to pull back the curtain on this role – not for sympathy or accolades, but to offer an understanding of what goes into delivering a quality newspaper every week.
A managing editor is more than a journalist: a planner, coach, diplomat and sometimes a firefighter – extinguishing crises, from last-minute edits to technology glitches. From developing an editorial calendar to ensuring articles meet ethical standards, the job demands constant juggling of tasks. It’s about maintaining accuracy and clarity in content while ensuring the newspaper reflects the interests and concerns of the community it serves. Read more
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- Dec. 24-25 | Happy Holidays! SCPA & SCNN Closed
- Jan. 1, 2025 | Happy New Year! SCPA & SCNN Closed
- Feb. 28, 2025 | SCPA Collegiate Meeting & Awards | SCPA, Columbia
- April 3, 2025 | SCPA Executive Committee Meeting | SCPA, Columbia
- April 3-4, 2025 | SCPA Annual Meeting & Awards | Columbia
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