The Indiana Publisher

March 17, 2016 Page 7 News in brief Send promotions, announcements, staff changes and other corporate news to mtuley@hspa.com. ME for digital joins Elkhart Truth Chicago paper changes paywall Warsaw newspaper sold Ryan Jeltema joined The Elkhart Truth as assistant managing editor for digital. He is working to fine-tune online reporting and social media outreach. Mark Maley, managing editor of The Truth, said the newspaper is fortu- nate to have attracted a journalist with a diverse background. "Not only is Ryan at the top of his game on the dig- ital side of things, but he has a strong understand- ing of the nuts and bolts of journalism as well," Maley said. Most recently, Jeltema worked for news website MLive.com in Michigan. Prior to that, he reported on government, schools and more for the Greenville Daily News in Greenville, Mich., eventu- ally moving into a news editor role as well as working as a paid on-call firefighter. Two days before Jeltema started reporting in Greenville, the community was dealt a heavy eco- nomic blow. An Electrolux refrigerator factory that was the linchpin of the area's economy was leav- ing, and the first round of layoffs put hundreds of people out of work. "It was a huge transi- tion time for the commu- nity," he said. "Everything depended on that factory." His first job was at the Ionia Sentinel-Standard in Ionia, Mich., where he was hired after gradu- ating with a bachelor's degree from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids in 2003. Jeltema said he learned all aspects of the news business in his two years at the Sentinel-Standard. Since it was a small news- room, he spent time doing photography, video, writ- ing and even designing pages. At The Truth, Jeltema's goal is to make content easier for readers to con- sume, especially on mobile devices, he said. – The Elkhart Truth Chicago Tribune moved from a premium content strategy to a metered paywall, in an effort to increase digital subscrip- tions. The paywall gives non- subscribers access to up to 10 articles per month on chicagotribune.com before being asked to subscribe. Previously, users would see a small blue "+" sign on some stories, indicat- ing they would have to register and subscribe in order to read the story. Other stories were free. Now, nonsubscribers can sample any story before deciding to subscribe. It's a trend for publica- tions to move from a strict paywall to a metered paywall. The New York Times and Newsweek also changed paywalls recent- ly, reflecting the challenge of collecting revenue from online content. Ownership of the War- saw Times-Union will stay in the family. Lane Williams Hartle, chairwoman of parent company Reub Williams & Sons Inc., announced an agreement to sell the paper to shareholder Chandler M. Williams and new co-owner Erin L. Williams. The Warsaw Times- Union is a 9,000-circula- tion daily that has served Warsaw and Kosciusko County for more than 160 years. The company announced in January that it had engaged Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to explore a possible sale of the compa- ny. Hartle said the owners were impressed with the number of parties that expressed an interest in the Times-Union and with the quality of the propos- als they received. After thorough review, the company decided the proposal submitted by Chandler Williams and Erin Williams was the strongest. The sharehold- ers are pleased to see ownership of the Times- Union remain in the Williams family. The Williams family has owned the newspaper since 1854, when General Reub Williams founded The Northern Indianian, which later evolved into the Warsaw Daily Times. In the 1940s, the Williams family pur- chased the other daily newspaper in town, the Warsaw Union. The two newspapers were then merged into the Times- Union. Ryan Jeltema Newspaper survey results hit close to home I t sounds like the beginning of a bad joke: "What do you get when you gather 760 newspaper executives and ask them how things are going at their papers?" That's just what I did in late January, and a few of their answers came as a surprise to me. Continuing a practice begun in late 2014, I contacted newspaper publishers, CEOs, owners and other top management throughout the U.S. and Canada to get information about the state of their newspapers. After a week, I received just shy of 800 responses. I suspect that number will increase even more by the time I finish summarizing all the information. It's an arduous task, compiling and going through this much data. In the time it took to write those first two paragraphs, three more publishers responded. By the time I finish writing this column, a few more will arrive. Truth is, after about 300 responses, it is clear what the results are going to be. Answers don't change much after that. So with nearly 800 responses, it's safe to say we have a good idea what is happening in the industry in March 2016. Interestingly, this particular survey had the best response of any I've conducted. Papers of all sizes and types are represented in statistically reliable numbers. There are plenty of metro dailies, as well as tiny weeklies, and everything in between. Even a few monthly and online-only publications took part. The most responses came from the Midwest and Southeast United States, in nearly identical numbers, which is usually the case. Very few responses came from Eastern Canada, which is also normal. It's also interesting that newspapers in the Midwest and Southeast U.S. appear to be the healthiest, which may (or may not) be an indication of why there are more papers in those areas. One of the most interesting aspects of conducting these surveys is the ability to break the numbers up in a variety of ways. For instance, I can tell you how advertising sales at metro papers on the West Coast compare to those at independently owned weekly papers in Texas. It's fascinating to speak at a newspaper association convention and share how their papers compare to newspapers in other areas. It's even more interesting to see how different types of papers in the same area are doing, based on their size, ownership and other variables. I knew that newspapers were doing well overall. I just didn't know how well. As with other places I've visited recently, publishers I spoke with at the Michigan Press Association convention recently shared that they were having good years and their numbers are steady or growing. I visited with owners of paid-circulation papers, free papers, community papers, collegiate newspapers, daily papers and weeklies. I spoke with several publishers who had started new papers that are doing quite well. It was inspiring to hear their stories. I had planned to deliver an overview of this survey, so you could see for yourself how papers are doing in North America. However, I was struck by the results of one question and would like to spend the rest of this column sharing those responses with you. The question: "Compared to three years ago, how would you describe the overall health of your primary publication(s)?" I grouped the various responses by newspaper type. The groups included: • Independent newspapers, locally owned and operated. • Part of a small group (five or fewer papers). • Part of a mid-size group (six to 20 papers), but act much like an independent paper with most of the work done locally. • Part of a mid-size group, with much of their work directed or done at a central location. • Part of a large regional group (20 or more papers in one geographical region). • Part of a large national group, covering more than one geographical area of the country. About 26 percent of newspapers affiliated with large national groups, and 21 percent of those in large regional groups indicated better health than three years ago. The number that indicated better health than three years ago increased in newspapers with more local control: • 26 percent: Large national group • 21 percent: Large regional group • 33 percent: Mid-size group with central control • 36 percent: Mid-size group with local control • 40 percent: Independent, not part of a group. With almost 800 responses so far, it seems that newspapers locally owned and operated are almost twice as likely to have experienced improved health over the past three years compared to large regional groups. It seems, as the control of the newspaper gets closer to home, so do improvements in its health. These findings are still preliminary, and there will be plenty of surprises awaiting me as I dig through the numbers over the next few weeks. One thing is clear: Newspapers are doing better than they were a few years ago, and most are reporting they feel good about the future. We seem to have turned a corner and attitudes and numbers indicated a solid future ahead. So much to report. So little space. Kevin Slimp works as a newspaper industry trainer, speaker, writer and consultant. Health seems to depends on ownership model News Guru Kevin Slimp L I K E H O O S I E R S TAT E P R E S S A S S O C I AT I O N O N FA C E B O O K F O R I N D U S T R Y N E W S , D E A D L I N E S A N D OT H E R U P D AT E S

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