Newspaper PR: Special inserts can have early deadlines

From time to time, I receive questions about effectively sending items to newspapers. (I worked several years as an editor for a northern California newspaper. I also served as volunteer publicist for weekly church listings and a Toastmasters club.)

One recent question concerned special publications like a weekly Arts & Entertainment tabloid, produced by a newspaper publisher and inserted into the regular newspaper. My questioner was concerned because a listing he’d submitted was not published by the newspaper.

Steve Buttry, my journalism mentor, dies at 62

Steve Buttry

My condolences to the family of Steve Buttry, who died Feb. 19 of pancreatic cancer at age 62. I met Steve when I worked in the newsroom of a California newspaper; his employer, Digital First Media (DFM), provided management services for the newspaper’s parent company.

Our newsroom was transitioning to a multi-platform publishing strategy that placed an emphasis on “digital first,” and Steve came to our newsroom during a tour of member newspapers to share resources and strategies, and also to bring back with him any challenges we might face at our stage of implementing.

La Voz, un periódico en español y inglés

Ediciones recientes de La Voz

(En español / In Spanish)
Junto con leyendo libros para niños, estoy leyendo La Voz / The Voice. Es un revista escrito en español y inglés, publicado en el norte de California. Puedo leer el periódico en la computadora, o puedo imprimirla en papel. En California, La Voz está disponible en muchos lugares físicos. Las historias en español y inglés están lado a lado en la página. Espero leer esta revista bilingüe para mejorar mi comprensión del español.

(In English / En inglés)
Along with reading books for children, I am reading La Voz / The Voice. It is a magazine written in Spanish and English, published in northern California. I can read the newspaper on a computer, or I can print it out on paper. In California, La Voz is available in many physical locations. Stories in Spanish and English are side-by-side on the page. I hope by reading this bilingual magazine, to improve my understanding of Spanish.

Good PR verifies deadlines and procedures

A few months ago, I volunteered to submit “Religion Briefs” each week for my church to the local newspaper. Doing so made sense, because it compliments my work as professional Web Content Editor — of updating the upcoming Sunday service on the church’s website.

Digital archives: Free or subscription-based?

Digitized newspaper delivery and archiving. Image created with BitStrips

“Google News Archive” provided free digital access to more than a century’s worth of newspapers in the Milwaukee area. At “Urban Milwaukee,” Michail Takach asks why listings for local newspapers suddenly disappeared. The answer concerns privatized digitization through a subscription-model database, and should make compelling reading for anyone interested in how the shift from print to digital publishing impacts historical archiving.

‘Students Engage with Journalism’ on Slideshare

Book list: Students Engage with Journalism from Cynthia M. Parkhill

Originally written as a blog post on June 2, 2014, this book list has been formatted for insertion into a binder for easy use during reader’s advisory. It highlights four upper-elementary level books about students engaging with journalism.

Read-alikes: Students engage with journalism

Student journalism is a rich subject to explore for themes that include the ethics of reporting and the responsibility of a news publisher to the community it serves. This booklist features several books written for upper-elementary reading audiences. While the youthful protagonists come from varying backgrounds, they all engage with the power and responsibility of news media.

‘The Last Newspaper Boy in America’

David family males have delivered the newspaper in Steele, Penn. for as long as the town has existed, with each boy taking over the route when he turns 12 years old.

On the eve of his 12th birthday, Wil David receives unwelcome news: the Cooper County Caller will end newspaper delivery to Steele.

Author Sue Corbett brings the perspective of a former youth carrier to her story of a town trying to survive hard times. Interwoven with Wil’s crusade to save the newspaper route is an effort by Steele residents to attract new business to the town’s closed hairpin factory.

Combine this with shady dealings at the county fair and Corbett’s novel is an exciting one. The title of each chapter cleverly mimics the newspaper headline-writing style.

Corbett, a journalist, accurately portrays the changing media landscape. When Wil researches articles online, the results are limited by paywalls.

And librarians may appreciate the library’s acknowledged role in bridging the digital divide: Wil conducts online research and checks his email on library computers.

Autism: Letters help shape perceptions in media

At TheInvisibleStrings.com, M. Kelter offers perceptive analysis of autism coverage in the media, arguing that a wider range of stories are conveyed through the “new media” of blogs and social posts, but are limited to fragmented audiences.

Paper.li: Auto-curating can’t mimic editor’s touch

At ALA Think Tank, an open Facebook group, a member asked about the pros and cons of using Paper.li, a “custom newspaper” publishing site, to keep abreast of professional news.

I shared my perspective as someone who advocates the continuing importance of the information professional — the journalist and the librarian. (From the Grumpy Cat meme, blog readers can glean an insight into whether I believe Paper.li has earned the name of “newspaper.”)

League bowling: Lexie Firth bowls first games for ‘Killer Bees’

My husband Jonathan Donihue and I had an opportunity to bowl last night with the Lake County Record-Bee “Killer Bees.”

Our departure from Lake County, Calif. is only a few weeks away and I treasure these last occasions to bowl with my team. The two seasons that I bowled with the “Killer Bees” marked the first time in my life that I competed on an athletic team.

Lexie Firth and Nathan DeHart rounded out last night’s quartet as we bowled against D&K Carpet Cleaning. Firth’s average and handicap are yet to be determined, which will influence the wins and losses. I think they will be close games.

For my personal scores, I bowled 99 during my first game. My second game was low and during the third game I bowled an 87. My average remains at 80.

Twitter archives now available

Cynthia has debuted her radio segment on Steve and Catherine Elias's show, 10:15 a.m. each Wednesday at 88.1 FM.
— Cynthia Parkhill (@CynthiaParkhill) January 28, 2009

At the Buttry Diary, Steve Buttry recommends, “For the fun (or embarrassment) of reviewing your first tweet and other early tweets or to find tweets from your early coverage of a story that’s back in the news, you should acquire and check out your Twitter archive.” Buttry is digital transformation editor for Digital First Media.

Friday cat blogging: Doctor writes about his 19-year-old cat

Honestly, I didn't plan that cats would be so prominent among the pages I built today for Saturday's Lake County Record-Bee. Now online and also appearing on tomorrow's health page, here is Dr. Matthew McQuaid honoring his venerable 19-year-old cat Eve. The column is a sweetly loving tribute and deserves to be read, whether online or in print.

Beat my bowling average all three games

During league bowling last night at Lakeside Family Fun and Event Center, our opponent, the Wilde B's, won all three games and won pin count. Congratulations, ladies.

Nathan DeHart, Jonathan Donihue and I bowled for the "Killer Bees."

Last night was a good night for me; I beat my average of 79 during all three games: with scores of 86, 78 and 109. One of the ladies on the Wilde B's commented that my average will now go up.

Newspapers are archived at libraries, Part 2

In her response to the first part of my post on obsolete technology for LIBT 115, a  classmate highlights the importance of “Library 2.0.”

She points out that many people use libraries to access daily news; “most probably don’t realize the staff training, selection, maintenance, access issues, and high costs related to providing digital periodicals.”

Her comments seem an ideal starting point for the second part of my post, which concerns digital content.

As I see it, here are some issues related to digital curation. First is a question of ownership. Does the library physically own its collection or does it negotiate access for its patrons the way it does with a database subscribership?

If the latter, are multiple publishers’ offerings grouped in a single point of access? Or must the library negotiate individually with each digital publisher?

Do the publishers distribute their digital content across systems that are proprietary? Or can a common reading device access multiple publications? In addition to maintaining digital items in their collections, will libraries make available the reading devices too?

As news publishers continue their shift away from print newspapers toward multi-platform digital content, libraries will need to address new ways to preserve history for future generations.

Newspapers are archived at libraries, Part 1

For our lesson and discussion this week in LIBT 115, Technology in the workplace, our instructor has asked each student to name one old or obsolete piece of audiovisual equipment, electronic technology, or computer hardware. “Maybe many of you still touch this equipment in your day to day work activities.”

The “audiovisual equipment” that I touch in my day-to-day activities, is a daily newspaper. The pulp-printed newspaper is increasingly near-obsolete as publishing companies shift to a greater emphasis on digital.

What does this mean for libraries? There are two ways that libraries provide news for their patrons. The first way is by physically storing papers or microfilm. The access to these resources allows patrons an opportunity to browse community history.

The Lake County Library offers several titles in its historic newspaper collection for Lake County, Calif. The list of its holdings includes dates and notes to the files’ condition.

Through interlibrary loan, libraries can make spools of microfilmed newspapers available to readers outside the immediate area.

The second way is through subscription databases that archive journal and newspaper articles. The cardholder at a library that subscribes to a particular database can search and access articles in its archives. The Cuesta College Library subscribes to ProQuest, NewsBank, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Students enrolled in the school have access to these databases.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

CNPA Better Newspapers Contest judge

Had a lunch-time date with the California Newspaper Publishers Association: serving as an online judge for its Better Newspapers Contest.

Papers enters the competition and field members of their staff to serve as category judges. I logged in online and viewed entries in a photographic category.

Someone else will pick the actual winners, so it offered me a no-pressure chance to evaluate some remarkable photography.

Killer Bees ranked second in second half of bowling league

The Record-Bee "Killer Bees" are ranked second for the second half of Lake County Chamber of Commerce winter bowling league, based upon three weeks of compiled results.

Jeremy Walsh has a season high score of first in men's handicap series and I have a season high score of third for women's handicap game.

The Killer Bees bowled against Prather Brothers last night. We won two games and pin count with a handicap of 316 compared to Prather Brothers' 201.

Walsh, Jonathan Donihue, Shawn Garrison and I bowled for the Killer Bees. I scored 74, 100 and 83 with an average of 79. Last week's standings placed me in third for women's handicap game.

League bowling: Week and season high scores

Lake County Chamber of Commerce Bowling League continued Tuesday at Lakeside Family Fun and Event Center.

The Lake County Record-Bee "Killer Bees" bowled against our own average as our opponent for the evening forfeited the game. We met our goal by 19 pins with Shawn Garrison, Nathan DeHart and I bowling for the Killer Bees.

I beat my 79-pin average during the first two games, with scores of 90 and 101. As a team, our scores were low during the final game.

Last week's results placed the Killer Bees in third place for handicap game and second place for handicap series. Jeremy Walsh ranked second in men's scratch series, third in handicap game and first in handicap series.

I was ranked second in women's handicap game and handicap series behind Kelly Thorn, who bowled last season with the Killer Bees.

Among season high standings, Walsh is ranked first for men's handicap series and I remain in third place for women's handicap game.

Jonathan Donihue responds to question of bully registry

What do you think of Lake County Record-Bee letter writer Frank Carini's suggestions about punishment and deterrence of bullying? Should there be a "bully registry" that becomes part of a child's permanent record? I asked the question across social media and here is guest blogger Jonathan Donihue's response.

I recently saw the movie "Les Miserables." The movie and the play are both based on a book of the same name by Victor Hugo. Hugo was a Christian, a philosopher, and a passivist.

The main story line is of a man living in France at the time of the revolution. The government had become abusive and enforcement of the law had become extremely severe. If a person committed any crime, even petty theft, it followed them for life.

For "the protection of society" all law breakers were required to register themselves with the magistrate of any town they went to. If they stepped out of line at all, the were taken back to prison. And finding a job, especially in a recession, was virtually impossible for a registered criminal.

So their choices were three. They could break the law to live, they could go back to prison to be fed, or they could reform and die trying to please a society that hates them.

While I agree that bullying and violence are wrong, I think we cross a dangerous line when we start labeling people for life. I think the author should ask himself if his desire to punish both parent and child is motivated by a sincere desire to make a positive change in the world, or if instead its motivated by fear, anger, and a deep desire to lash out, to hurt, to take revenge on the perpetrator.

Our current system of dealing with crime isn't really any different than all the other systems of the past. It's a system of retribution: the inflicting of injury or punishment in return for harmful behavior. This could also be used as the definition of revenge.

I think we all need to ask ourselves if continuing the cycle of anger and violence, as we have always done in our legal systems, is really working. Is crime somehow less prevalent because of our system of retribution. If not, then why don't we start using our intelligence and our compassion to start making a permanent change in this world.