NewsBeat

2 NewsBeat December 2019 PA NY Mark your calendar Tuesday, January 7, 2020 NYPA Better Newspaper Contest Deadline Tuesday, January 28, 2020 FCPNY Graphic Awards Competition Deadline Thursday, March 26, 2020 NYPA/NYPS Boards of Directors Meetings NYPA Foundation Board of Directors Meeting The Gideon Putnam, Saratoga Springs, NY Friday & Saturday, March 27 & 28, 2020 NYPA Spring Conference and Tradeshow The Gideon Putnam, Saratoga Springs, NY Friday, June 12, 2020 NYPA/NYPS Board of Directors Meetings NYPA Foundation Board of Directors Meeting (Location to be determined) Thursday, September 24, 2020 NYPA/NYPS Boards of Directors Meetings NYPA Foundation Board of Directors Meeting The Otesaga, Cooperstown, NY Friday & Saturday, September 25 & 26, 2020 NYPA Fall Publishers' Conference The Otesaga, Cooperstown, NY Friday, November 20, 2020 NYPA/NYPS Board of Directors Meetings NYPA Foundation Board of Directors Meeting (Location to be determined) C L I P & S A V E NewsBeat A NEWSLETTER FOR NEW YORK'S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS Published by the New York Press Association 621 Columbia Street Ext., Suite 100, Cohoes, NY 12047 518.464.6483 • 518.464.6489 fax • www.nynewspapers.com Executive Editor — Michelle K. Rea Layout & Design — Rich Hotaling Looking back, looking forward, and saying Thank You! T is the season for the boards of directors and staff of NYPA, NYPS, the NYPA Foundation, and FCPNY, to reflect on 2019, to focus on our goals for 2020, and to thank New York's newspapers – publishers and staff – for being part of our organization. Some people truly go above and beyond, and NYPA and its subsidiary organizations benefit greatly from the time, effort and expertise from all who serve on the boards, work in the office, participate in conferences, contests, host interns, and just generally engage with the association. We appreciate who you are, all you do, and everything we have learned from you. 2019 had many noteworthy moments – the evolution of the Relevance Project which is preparing for the "Great Reveal" early in 2020 – a terrific conference and trade show in April (mark your calendars for March 27 & 28, 2020 in Saratoga) – another successful internship program (visit our website today for 2020 internship applications and promotion ads) – the launch and continued scaling of NYPS' public notice portal – an amazing fall publishers' conference and election of new officers and directors. Looking ahead to 2020, we're increasingly hearing a large and diverse group of organizations calling for the plight of local news to be the subject of a national conversation. The Relevance Project, one among many, is calling for a radical rethinking of our industry, the revitalization of which will require a concerted, coordinated effort from all involved with community newspapers. Today newspapers are rarely in competition with other newspapers. We're just used to assuming we are. We need to work together, challenging each other to help newspapers get their mojo back. The collective reach of more than 9600 newspapers throughout North America provides us with a huge share of voice to educate our citizens about the important role and unique value we alone deliver. Collectively, we have tremendous market power. Collectively, we can increase community engagement, transparency, and civic responsibility. Using our journalism as a tool we can affect profound positive changes in our communities. Let's not wait for someone else to fix journalism. Let's commit to real change – spend more time with influencers, ordinary citizens, and clients. Our journalism is the reason we have access to these people – we need to use our access to explain our value proposition. Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a healthy and prosperous New Year. ' By MICHELLE REA

• Cover