Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/121236
April 11, 2013 Page 3 HSPA leadership works to keep up the good fight A s I take a moment to stop and look up from a daily schedule of controlled chaos in the media business, I realize my tenure as president of the HSPA board of directors ends this month. Time sure flies when you���re having fun! It seems like just yesterday when my very capable predecessor, Tim Timmons, passed me the ceremonial gavel last April. It���s been an honor to serve this organization, and I plan to continue serving in a lesser role for the foreseeable future. I have to be honest. I���ve been a bit over-committed recently with my board work. As a result, I���m never totally satisfied with the amount of time I���m able to devote to all my endeavors. However, I���m pleased with what has transpired here at HSPA this past year, and I���ve enjoyed the extra quality time I���ve been able to spend with Executive Director and General Counsel Steve Key and the entire staff. This is truly a great organization that works hard on behalf of member newspapers. There are plenty of challenges for newspapers, and a lot of hard work lies ahead if we���re to not just survive but thrive. As I run the day-to-day business of IBJ Media, it���s comforting to know that helpful guidance from HSPA is just a phone call away. Key���s lobbying effort on behalf of our industry is worth far more than the dues any of us pay. And you get so much more than that with your membership. I ask for your continued financial support of HSPA, and please keep in touch and let us know how we can serve you better. News Biz By Greg Morris Preserving public notice As this is my last column as president, I want to take one more opportunity to ask for your vigilance on the topic of public notice. The future of public notice in newspapers continues to be at the top of my priority list. This year���s legislative attack is just the beginning of a protracted fight that will need your full attention and response. Since my March column in The Publisher was devoted entirely to this topic, I won���t rehash everything here. But please, don���t let your guard down on this one. Madam president Now it���s my distinct honor to tell you about your incoming president of the board of HSPA. Robyn McCloskey is senior vice president of CNHI and head of the group���s Midwest division. She���s also the regional publisher of the Kokomo Tribune and PharosTribune (Logansport). In addition to the papers in Kokomo and Logansport, Robyn���s responsibilities include overseeing the Times Sentinel (Zionsville), Lebanon Reporter, and Commercial News (Danville, Ill.). McCloskey is a 23-year veteran of the newspaper industry and joined CNHI as an advertising telemarketer for the Pharos-Tribune in 1990. She became a regional advertising director under Thompson Newspapers in 1995. In 2001, under CNHI���s ownership, Robyn was named publisher of the Pharos-Tribune. Her position expanded to include Kokomo in 2008. Last year, she was promoted to her current position with CNHI. In her role as vice president of HSPA in the past year, one of Robyn���s most significant contributions was to chair HSPA���s Annual Meetings and Government Conference committee. She revamped the program, and the result was an impressive agenda that attracted significantly larger attendance versus recent years. We received more positive comments from attendees regarding this year���s conference than in recent memory. That���s who Robyn is. While she juggles her day job, which is really five or more full-time jobs rolled into one, she also finds time to excel at any task she decides to take on. And I know she will approach her role as president of the HSPA board in the same way. Heck, I don���t mind admitting it ��� you all are getting a huge upgrade in Robyn McCloskey as your new HSPA president! Thanks for your service, Robyn. As the late Leslie Nielsen said in the movie ���Airplane!��� ��� ���Good luck. We���re all counting on you.��� That���s it for now. Thanks for your past support, and I wish everyone good health and much success in the future. Greg Morris, HSPA board of directors president, is presi���� dent of IBJ Media and publisher of Indianapolis Business Journal. Legal interns keep track of bills H SPA���s legislative interns for this session of the Indiana General Assembly bring a range of legal interests to the work of lobbying Chelsea Israel for state newspapers. Chelsea Israel and Kyle Wood share a 40-hour workweek to maintain HSPA���s Kyle Wood legislative bill database and keep tabs on legislation that could affect public access to information and the Indiana newspaper industry. They help HSPA Executive Director and General Counsel Steve Key with sorting, prioritizing and tracking hundreds of bills. ���They serve as extra eyes and ears so that HSPA can cover multiple legislative committee meetings or action on the House and Senate floor,��� Key said. Wood is in his final semester at the Indiana University School of Law ��� Indianapolis. Israel graduated from IUPUI���s law school last year. Israel, 25, is back as an HSPA legal intern after working for the association in 2012. She has several pet interests in the legal sphere: real estate, domestic violence and the First Amendment. The latter initially brought her to HSPA. ���Most of my undergrad experience was in media,��� she said. ���I just think it���s a neglected area of law so it���s of interest to me.��� The Richwoood, Ky., native earned an undergraduate degree from DePauw University in 2009 with an English writing major and political science minor. Her work with HSPA has provided her with a different perspective on law, she said. ���It���s interesting to see those who are pushing things through,��� she said. Israel, who lives in Noblesville, recently took the bar exam and is waiting for the results. She hopes to land a job on the northside or greater Indy metro area. Wood, 26, calls Plymouth, Mass., home, though he was raised in Indiana until 1995. He came back to the Hoosier state to attend Indiana University and earned an English degree in 2007. After working for two years in Plymouth, he entered law school for one reason. ���So I can work in pro�� fessional baseball,��� Wood said. ���I would like to either work as an arbitration representative or in a front office on the management side, probably doing baseball operations.��� As the legislative session winds down, the interns stay busy helping to track amendments that could affect newspapers, Key said. ���It���s still all hands on deck,��� he said. News in brief Group names managing editor The Pilot News Group, based in Plymouth, has named Lois Tomas�� zewski as the new managing editor. Tomas�� zewski, 54, grew up in Lois Tomaszewski Chicago. She is a career journalist and previously worked at The News Dispatch (Michigan City) as a senior staff writer and afternoon news editor. Prior to that position, she was the senior staff writer for the Clay County Progress, a weekly in Hayesville, N.C. She is completing a management degree and has earned numerous awards from national, regional and state journalism associations. In addition to exper�� ience as a reporter and photographer, Tomaszewski also has extensive design experience and a strong foundation in community journalism. Tomaszewski lives in Portage and is planning to relocate to Marshall County. Her first day on the job was April 1. Saturday mail continues for now The U.S. Postal Service board indicated it still hopes to end Saturday mail delivery, though it backed down from the move this fiscal year. The Postal Service has stopped plans to end Saturday delivery this summer, citing the new budget that Congress recently passed. ���The board believes that Congress has left it with no choice but to delay this implementation at this time,��� the board said in a statement. Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe announced in February that the Postal Service planned to stop Saturday mail delivery ��� but not Saturday package delivery ��� in August. He said the move would save the agency $2 billion a year. The board has asked Congress to pass postal legislation soon, apparently to give it more leeway in delivery decisions. ���Delaying responsible changes to the Postal Service business model only increases the potential that the Postal Service may become a burden to the American taxpayer, which is avoidable,��� the board said. Press group offers NIE materials The North Carolina Press Foundation and Newspaper in Education offers 23 kid-friendly features for newspapers to publish in print and online at no cost. Newspapers can work with their public libraries to determine the most effective ways to use them. Many papers that use the features publish along with them schedules of local library events and information about library summer reading programs. Libraries may also distribute the features. Sandra Cook of the North Carolina Press Foundation and NIE wrote the features, and Crystal Willis, production manager for the Carteret County News-Times (Morehead City, N.C.), designed them. To view features listed by title, go to http:// ncpressfoundation.org/ summer-readingprogram-2013-2. Also available at no cost to newspapers are several series stories, available at http://ncpressfoundation. org/serial-stories. Hayes leads Post-Tribune efforts Diane Hayes is leading Sun-Times Media���s news efforts in northwest Indiana in her role as managing editor of the Post-Tribune. Reporters and photographers are now gathering news from the field, with Hayes and other editors based at the Sun-Times��� Chicago headquarters, according to the media group. ���We are having our reporters and photographers work remotely so they can cover news as it happens within their beats,��� Hayes said. ���They have iPads to write on and are getting smart phones to report and shoot and use social media to get our stories to as many readers on as many platforms as possible.��� The Post-Tribune���s Merrillville office closed March 27. The newspaper has been printed in Chicago since 2008. Send promotions, announcements, staff changes and other corporate news to mtuley@hspa.com.