The Indiana Publisher

April 14, 2016 Page 7 News in brief Send promotions, announcements, staff changes and other corporate news to mtuley@hspa.com. Gannett acquisition granted Postal seminar set for May 11 The Bloomington Postal Customer Council will host its 2016 Spring Mailing Seminar on Wednesday, May 11. The event will take place from 8 a.m. to noon at the Indiana University Alumni Center, 1000 E. 17th St., Bloomington. Topics will include: • International mail. • USPS Small Business Tool. • USPS Postal Inspec tion Service. • Business Reply Mail. • USPS update on local and national information. The cost is $20 per per- son. To register or for more information, contact John Butcher, Bloomington Postal Customer Council industry co-chair, at jbutcher@heraldt.com or (812) 331-4228. Circulation training on April 28 Employees of HSPA member newspapers can receive a discounted rate at a circulation workshop in Ohio. The Ohio Newspaper Association will host training for circulation managers April 28 from 9 a.m. to noon. The presentation will be at Ohio University's Pickerington Center. Michael Zinser, president of The Zinser Law Firm, will lead the sessions. The day includes a catered lunch. The cost is $49 for Ohio Newspaper Association members and $75 for non- members, but ONA will give HSPA members the $49 rate. To register, visit www. ohionews.org and go to the "Events" tab. Zinser has extensive background in indepen- dent contractor and labor relations issues particular to newspapers. He will address the following top- ics and more: • Written agreements. • Contracting process. • Mistakes to avoid in contract administration. • National Labor Relations Board joint employer decision. • U.S. Department of Labor's new memo on independent contractor status under the Federal Wage and Hour Law. Zinser will discuss fac- tors of independent con- tractor status in the con- text of how the issues are addressed in administra- tive hearings at the state and federal levels. For more information, visit www.ohionews.org. Senate debate to be televised The Indiana Debate Commission will conduct a televised Republican primary debate between U.S. Senate candidates Marlin Stutzman and Todd Young on April 18. The one-hour debate will be broadcast from a studio at public televi- sion station WFYI in Indianapolis beginning at 7 p.m. EDT. A live feed of the telecast will be made available to television sta- tions statewide. Voters have the oppor- tunity to submit questions that will be considered for the debate at www. indianadebatecommission. com. The moderator will be Elizabeth Bennion, a pro- fessor of political science at Indiana University South Bend. Bennion hosts the weekly televi- sion show "Politically Speaking" on WNIT. Stutzman has been the U.S. representa- tive for Indiana's 3rd Congressional District since 2010. Young has served in the U.S. House since 2011 as represen- tative of Indiana's 9th Congressional District. They are vying for the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, also a Republican. Gannett Co. has official- ly acquired Journal Media Group, including its 15 daily newspapers and affiliated digital assets. Prior to the move, the U.S. Department of Justice closed its inves- tigation of Gannett's proposed acquisition and granted early termina- tion of the waiting period under antitrust law. Gannett now oper- ates USA Today and 107 dailies in 34 states and Guam, in addition to Newsquest in the U.K., with its 150 local digital and print news brands. Its five Indiana name- plates include The India- napolis Star and Journal & Courier (Lafayette) Journal Media Group included print and digi- tal publishing operations serving 14 U.S. markets in nine states, including the Evansville Courier & Press in Indiana. Readers take note when newspapers focus on quality T he past few weeks have been a blur. I remember driving along a beach in Florida, using a snow shovel for the first time during a blizzard in Minnesota, eating pizza with old friends in Iowa, and standing in front of audiences in two difference cities in New York. As blurry as the weeks seem, there are several moments that were memorable from a newspaper perspective. At one newspaper in Florida, the plan changed from leading classes to gathering the entire staff together for several hours of brainstorming, changing the editorial and design workflow in the process. While at the offices of Coastal Breeze News in Marco Island, Florida, I had the chance to meet Gary Elliot. Gary has been everything from president of the Chamber of Commerce to board member of the island's realtors' association. As we visited, Gary took the opportunity to share why Coastal Breeze News is so popular in a town with three newspapers. "People want local news," Gary told me. "The big daily doesn't carry local news like the Breeze. People who live here pick up this paper, see the faces of the writers and say, 'I know him' or 'I know her.' It makes a real difference. That's why people love this newspaper, and that's why advertisers want their ads in this paper." The following week, I found myself in Des Moines, Iowa, speaking at one of my favorite conferences. We even had a full house for the early Saturday session. What seemed to interest attendees the most? Improving the quality of their papers. I didn't hear any talk of reducing staff sizes or cutting costs. This group seemed to know the secret: Improving quality. Quality of design. Quality of writing. Quality of service. Do you want to increase readers, advertisers and profitability? The first and most important step is improving quality. The journalists know that in Kasson, Minnesota – where they also get late-season snow storms. The year 2015 was the "year of blizzards" in my life, but I dodged the weather bullet in 2016 ... or so I thought. Kasson was my next stop after Des Moines, and I woke up to find my car buried under a mound of snow. We had almost cancelled the trip due to the approaching weather. We agreed at the last moment I would board the flight in Knoxville and head to Minnesota, arriving just before the storm. We spent three days running press tests, holding classes and discussing workflow. I love it when a staff wants to learn. The group in Kasson asked me to stay late each day so we could look at their individual workstations, find solutions to technical problems and discuss hardware upgrades and improvements. Imagine my thrill a week later, when I heard from one of my new Kasson friends. The printing quality of their newspaper had improved drastically. "The pictures are crisp, the dot gain is perfect and the color settings are right on target," my friend said. Borrowing an old line from Ford, quality really is job one. Reduce quality, and the result is fewer readers. Reduce readers, and the result is fewer advertisers. Reduce advertisers, and the result is fewer pages. Reduce pages, and the result is even fewer readers. It's a never-ending cycle. Finally, there was the Empire State. I made stops in New York to speak at two newspaper conferences. In Rochester, I spoke about my latest newspaper survey that indicates newspapers are holding steady. Afterwards, one publisher after another stopped me to tell me how the research mirrors what is happening at their own papers. The key, most everyone seems to agree, is improving, not cutting. A few days later, in Saratoga Springs, I led eight classes for editors, designers and others. Between each class, I found publishers waiting in the lobby, wanting to talk about where they should take their papers. Some were from tiny papers. Some owned large groups. In my travels, I was also able to meet with an industry executive from a major group in Europe and a newspaper industry leader in Canada. Both talked to me about the danger of ever-growing groups of national corporations buying papers and stripping them down. I am concerned the newspaper industry in Canada is already in great danger of collapsing under the pressure of corporate ownership. Fortunately, in the United States, there are far fewer newspapers owned by large corporations. Large national or regional groups own only 16 percent of papers here, compared to a much higher number in Canada. Want your newspaper to grow? Resist the short-term fixes, and look toward the long term. Quality is what matters. Content is what matters. Service is what matters. Cut those, and you can be sure you will cut readers. Kevin Slimp works as a newspaper industry trainer, speaker, writer and consultant. News Guru Kevin Slimp A Newspaper Association of America sur- vey indicated most newspapers would either have to replace full-time employees with part- time or convert exempt employees to hourly wages. This complicates scheduling – particu- larly for a newsroom where breaking stories aren't limited to an 8-to-5 schedule. The National Retail Federation reports the rule change would have an impact of $745 million on more than 2 million employees. This would affect the amount of advertising dollars available for those businesses, which would impact newspapers. The Newspaper Association of America also points out that the change doesn't take into account regional differences in the cost of liv- ing. It says the proposed salary threshold is nearly $10,000 higher than California's over- time law and nearly $15,000 higher than New York's. Indiana uses the federal threshold, so the proposal would increase that threshold by $26,780. In the past, the salary test threshold was set by the Department of Labor at between the 10th and 20th percentile of all current full-time exempt employees. The Newspaper Association of America says the current proposal would set the threshold at the 40th percentile. HSPA shared Newspaper Association of America talking points with Indiana publish- ers for consideration in writing editorials on the subject. Overtime Continued from Page 1

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