The Indiana Publisher

July 10, 2014 Page 7 News in brief Send promotions, announcements, staff changes and other corporate news to mtuley@hspa.com. Editor moves to nonprofit work Employee remains after 50 years IUPUI journalism merges A longtime Seymour editor has left the news- paper industry. Dan Davis, who spent 26 years working at The Tribune assumed the role of president and chief executive officer of the Community Foundation of Jackson County on July 7. The 53-year-old Sey- mour resident replaces C.W. "Bud" Walther, who retired after 14 years. Davis is a native of Indian apolis and grad- uated from Indiana Univer sity Purdue Univer - sity Indianapolis in 1983. His career has been with community-focused newspapers, and he has won numerous awards for his work. He is a past president of the Indiana Associated Press Managing Editors Board of Directors and has served on boards and had involvement in many local and statewide nonprofit organizations, including Leadership Jackson County and Jackson County Sertoma Club. Davis was the editor of The Tribune for more than 15 years, leading the newspaper to be recognized as one of the top in the state by the Hoosier State Press Association. Ginny Leap recently marked more than 50 years of work for the newspaper in Vevay. She started June 1, 1964, two days after graduating from high school. Leap out-lasted many editors and has helped with three office moves. She was around for the newspaper's first ownership change in 55 years, when Vevay Media Group assumed ownership this year. When she started working at Vevay News- papers Inc., Leap typed on a teletype machine in the newspaper office. Then the tapes were put in a bag and transported to The Madison Courier, where they were fed into the intertype machine which read the tapes, all part of the process necessary for printing on the letter press used at the time. Today, Leap types on a computer and electronically transmits the documents, where they're laid out on a page and electronically sent to The Courier, where the paper is printed on an offset press. Leap is known for her ability to remember phone numbers in her head. Newspaper staffers often have no need to look up a number. And if they need an answer to question, she usually knows who a good source would be. Though she's not ready to retire, Leap will reduce her hours to four days a week starting this month. "After 50 years I think I can cut back a little," she said. – Vevay Media Group The journalism program at Indiana University- Purdue University Indian- apolis merged with the campus' School of Liberal Arts. The program officially became known as the IU Department of Journalism and Public Relations at IUPUI starting July 1. As part of the change, the Indianapolis location of the Indiana University School of Journalism shifted management from IU Bloomington to the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. The move comes as the IU School of Journalism at Bloomington merged July 1 with that cam pus' Department of Telecom- munications and Depart- ment of Communication and Culture to form The Media School. The IUPUI journalism program's name change – to include public relations – is a decision based on the evolving nature of the profession, said Jonas Bjork, the first chairman of the IUPUI department "While journalists and public relations profes- sionals are, in many places, treated as adver- saries, many of the theories and practices we teach journalists and public relations pro fes- sionals are, in fact, com- plementary," Bjork said. Ginny Leap Dan Davis T he newspaper industry has transformed in a way that we could not have imagined just a decade ago. Across the globe, there is a renewed energy to innovate, strategize and meet growing opportunities and challenges. That was the theme of the World Newspapers Congress, which I had the pleasure of speaking earlier this month, and it rings very true for our industry in America. We are already halfway through 2014. From the cre- ative solutions and trends I am seeing, we are in an excel- lent position to further evolve and thrive for the rest of this year and far beyond. Newspapers continue to command a huge audience and remain the most trusted source of news and informa- tion. While that will not change, there has been a key shift in the way information is delivered and audience is engaged. The World Editors Forum revealed their Top 10 Trends in 2014 report, and it is intriguing to explore the way those trends will impact our business. The importance and influ- ence of data and analytics on every part of our industry cannot be underestimated. It is only going to grow. Much has been made of recent ventures in data- focused journalism, such as statistics and data-driven predictions that will figure more and more heavily in mainstream journalism. Publishers and journalists across the country are now relying on hard metrics to assess the readership and engagement of a given story, and the more we do so, the more successful we will be as we understand what inter- ests drive our unique audi- ences and tailor our offerings accordingly. As I've noted before, data plays a critical role in our increasingly personalized world. The days of a one-size-fits- all solution to news are end- ing, and newspapers are in a strong position to capitalize. We have enormous amounts of data at our disposal to deliver a customized news experience. The opportunity lies in analyzing and leveraging that data to create and strengthen our products for consumers and advertisers. As we do this, we will see advertisers follow. The adver- tising landscape has likewise changed dramatically, as con- sumers now choose whether or not they view ads and insist on relevant, personal- ized material. Advertisers are looking for precisely targeted audiences, and newspapers' data on user engagement and experiences will enable them to deliver exactly that. Another trend that will significantly shape our indus- try is thinking about mobile strategy first, instead of it being tacked on as an after- thought. Video products have become critical storytelling vehicles for newspapers, with the pos- sibility that our quick, agile videos – perfect for mobile platforms – can challenge tra- ditional broadcasting. Our focus in video over the next few months should focus on refining individual for- mulas for creating successful videos and integrating them even better with our other content offerings. The ways in which journal- ists report the news may be changing but the essence of a free press is not, despite being challenged on multiple fronts around the world. We have seen journalists in Venezuela and Hungary threatened with violence or had information suppressed in the past couple of months. Here in the United States, New York Times reporter James Risen could face stiff fines or jail time for not sharing confidential sources, which shows why we need a federal shield law for report- ers to be able to cover our government without fear of prosecution. Newspapers are at the forefront of researching and planning for the explosion of wearable tech, develop- ing and refining the types of journalism that will be most successful. The ubiquity of social media, push notifications and short-form stories for apps has created a distinct, on-the- go audience that will look for even more immediately avail- able, "snackable" content with the influence of wearables. However, as Reuters' Digital News Report points out, that will create greater audience segmentation as younger generations use smartphones and tablets to constantly consume news, while more traditional offer- ings remain the product of choice for other generations. Newspapers are tasked with balancing and integrat- ing strategies across each platform and generation to effectively reach every audi- ence. Indeed, one of the big- gest mistakes leaders in any industry could make today is eschewing one platform for another, trendier medium without considering how they complement each other. As we prepare for the sec- ond half of 2014, it is encour- aging to look at the amount of growth, innovation and new investment we have seen in the first half. I'm eagerly anticipating where our industry will be in 12 months. With the wealth of talent and energy at our disposal, I have confidence that these trends forecast a very bright year. Caroline Little is president and chief executive officer for the Newspaper Association of America. Guest Voice Caroline Little Trends of 2014 point to our industry's future

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