 |
|
|
Your connection to industry & member news | Sept. 8, 2022
|
SCPA to host Family-Owned Newspaper Retreat Oct. 6-7 in Sumter
Registration is now open for the South Carolina Family-Owned Newspaper Retreat, to be held Oct. 6-7 at the Hyatt Place in downtown Sumter. This meeting is a time for key leaders and owners of the Palmetto State’s family-owned newspapers to come together to connect, share and learn from each other, as well as discuss the unique business issues that family-run newspapers face. The programming and robust discussions will re-energize you and help you plan for your newspaper’s future.
Topics are up to the group but may include business challenges and solutions, succession planning, training/leadership development opportunities, responding to economic challenges, rising print costs, postal issues, staffing, audience engagement and monetization, growing ad revenue and creating new revenue streams, innovation, public notice and more.
The deadline to register is Tuesday, Sept. 27. The registration fee for all sessions, lunch and the reception is $145. Separate tickets are required for the group dinner at Hamptons ($95) and an optional golf outing at the Quixote Club ($125). Because of space limitations, attendance will be capped at 22 SCPA members.
SCPA has secured a discounted rate of $129 per night at the Hyatt Place Sumter/Downtown. To book your room, enter group code G-SCPA online or call (803) 774-8100. You must book by Sept. 23 to get SCPA’s discounted rate of $129 per night.
Thanks to the SCPA Foundation Smoak Fund for sponsoring this event!
| |
 | UofSC student Stephen Pastis interned this summer at The State.
|
| Deadline to apply for SCPA Foundation internships & scholarship is Dec. 9The S.C. Press Association Foundation's internship and scholarship programs have a new deadline of Dec. 9.
The internship program provides a meaningful, hands-on training experience for students interested in news reporting, copy editing, photojournalism, advertising or visual communications.
Two or more interns are placed each summer at daily and weekly SCPA member newspapers. Each paid internship is eight weeks long. Internships are open to student journalists who attend a four-year college in South Carolina or who reside in South Carolina and attend a four-year college elsewhere. Rising juniors and seniors, and recent college graduates are eligible to apply.
The Foundation also awards one scholarship each year to an S.C. college student interested in pursuing a newspaper career. The Mundy Scholarship, worth $1,000 per academic year, is named for the Foundation's first president, the late Frank R. Mundy of the Greenwood Index-Journal.
| |
|
| "Toll road" by Robert Ariail
| |
If you can't get enough of award-winning Camden cartoonist Robert Ariail, enjoy his new strip featured every week in the Charleston City Paper, which has granted us ongoing permission to republish it. Called "Lowcountry," the weekly feature, which is available for syndication in South Carolina newspapers, focuses on politics, human nature, the environment and public policy. More: Contact publisher Andy Brack.
| |
What does a good prospect look like? Advice from sales leaders
Most of us on the sales and business side of things have developed a pretty good sales game, but at closer examination that game is often built on existing business and developing relationships. In fact, many local media organizations don’t even have a systematic strategy, or expectations, around prospecting — nor do they have goals, accountability, or compensation plans related to lead generation and prospecting. And while there’s nothing wrong with relationship-building (see “reducing attrition”), it’s hard to continue to thrive without fresh pipelines.
The sales leaders at this session addressed measuring activities developed solely to drive prospects and leads. Shannon Kinney, founder of Dream Local Digital, kicked off the discussion by bringing it back to the basics of prospecting, noting that a lack of understanding of “blocking and tackling” of prospecting is what she often sees missing from her clients’ skill sets out in the field.
“So, what we start with is a simple question: ‘What does a good prospect look like?’” Kinney said. “People often don’t realize a good prospect is not everyone up and down the street. Digital just doesn’t work that way.”
Kinney went on to say that in digital, optimal prospects (those most likely to need your services) can be identified with a little bit of research:
- Does that business have a website that is not mobile friendly?
- Do they show up well in search?
- Do they have no social media or low engagement on social media?
- Do they have an online marketing strategy?
- Are competitors outpacing them in any of these areas?
By Brooke Warner, Local Media Association | Read more
| |
Apply for environmental justice reporting grant
The National Press Foundation and the National Press Club Journalism Institute will jointly award up to $75,000 in grants to journalists who plan to cover environmental justice.
Grants ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 will be awarded to support journalism in any medium that centers on environmental justice and environmental racism in the United States. This could include coverage of the disproportionate harms to disadvantaged communities from pollution, the effects of climate change, or other relevant topics.
Applications are open now and will be accepted until Oct. 2.
| |
 |
By Jim Pumarlo, Newspaper Consultant
|
| Keep eye out for 11th-hour election volleys
Election Day is only weeks away. The hyper partisanship of races at all levels – from local to state to federal – demands that editors pay extra attention to press releases and letters to the editor. The editing and delete buttons on your keyboard are likely to get an extra workout.
Navigating exchanges among candidates, as well as their supporters and detractors, is always a delicate and often exhausting task as editors strive for fairness and consistency in election reports.
The stakes are ramped up even higher in the final weeks as candidates and their camps seek to level charges at the last possible moment in press releases and letters to augment – or maybe even replace – advertising campaigns.
Newsrooms should have the discussion and be prepared. Set the ground rules if you have not already done so, and publicize the guidelines. Read more
| |
 |
By Aly Colón, Knight Professor of Media Ethics, Washington and Lee University
|
| How reporter-editor teams make news more ethical
Editors and reporters work as a team.
The reporter seeks to uncover the truth, gather evidence, and connect the dots. She stitches the information together; Sometimes it comes out looking like a quilt, or a patchwork, or a vast array of squares loosely connected.
The editor seeks to discern the pattern in the reporter’s writing. They both want to create work that most accurately and seamlessly connects the pieces into a compelling, representative story.
Along the way, they may discuss anonymous sources, potential conflicts of interest, and how to minimize harm to the people they cover. There are other ethical considerations, too.
Here are some ethical questions that can help guide fairness in storytelling for a diverse world. Read more
| |
|
|
|
