The Indiana Publisher

I n selecting its annual Distinguished Service Award winner, the Hoosier State Press Association Foundation looks at three criteria. Nominees should have made a signifi- cant impact on the newspaper industry in Indiana through service to the HSPA, have performed outstanding service to the newspaper industry in general, and have demonstrated service in the local commu- nity that reflects positively on its newspa- per. All three, judges agreed, pointed to Jack Pate, president of the Evansville Courier Co. and C&P Media, as the 2016 recipient. "For more than two decades, Jack has gone above and beyond in his dedication and leadership in improving the state of newspapers in Indiana through his involvement with the Indiana Classified Managers Association, Indiana Newspaper Advertising Executives Association, Hoo- sier State Press Association, and Hoosier State Press Association Foundation," said HSPA Executive Director Steve Key. Pate, who became publisher and presi- dent of the Evansville Courier Co. in 2004, after an earlier stint as the media company's director of advertising, joined the HSPA board of directors in 2005 and served as president from 2008-2011. He joined the HSPA Foundation board in 2011, and served as president from 2014- 15. "He's one of less than a handful of pub- lishers who has served as president of both HSPA and the HSPA Foundation," Key said. The stated goal of the HSPA and its foundation is "to foster public understand- ing of the role of a free press in society, to increase public literacy, to enhance the ability of Indiana newspapers to fully edu- cate and inform the public and to defend the principles of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution." It is involved in education of the legis- lature and provides legal advice to news- papers in Freedom of Information Act cases. Internally, it conducts seminars for newsrooms and advertising departments, and recognizes the best work by Indiana newspapers through annual contests. Brehm sells to Paxton HSPA imposes InfoNet user fee Two Indiana papers included in the deal P axton Media Group has purchased three news- papers in Indiana and Illinois – the Princeton Daily Clarion, the Mount Carmel Register and The Standard (Boonville) – from Brehm Communications, according to Randy Cope, Cribb, Greene & Cope, who represented Brehm in the transaction. Paxton Media, a family-owned company headquartered in Paducah, Ky., owns more than 30 daily newspapers and numer- ous weekly publications across the south and midwest. Brehm Communications is a family- owned newspaper group based in San Diego, California and owns newspapers in the mid- west and western United States. "We are gratified for the opportunity to assume stew- ardship of the papers," said David Paxton, president and chief executive officer of Paxton Media Group. Bill Brehm, Jr. said "We are very pleased that the Paxton group was the buyer for these newspapers. They should be very good stewards of these newspapers and the communi- ties they serve." The Princeton Daily Clarion was founded in 1846, and is Gibson County's oldest, con- tinuous business institution. It publishes five days a week. The Mount Carmel Register in Mt. Carmel, Ill., publishes three days a week, and The Standard in Booneville, is a weekly serving Boonville, Chandler, Elberfeld, Lynnville, Newburgh, Tennyson and all of Warrick County. The papers will join other surrounding Paxton publi- cations managed by Group Publisher Bob Morris. That group includes three other dai- lies – the Messenger-Inquirer in Owensboro, Ky., The Messenger in Madisonville, Ky., and the Vincennes Sun-Commercial in Vincennes – and three weekly publications. Paxton said, "This provides the financial security needed to ensure these newspapers con- tinue to serve their communities long into the future, and puts the papers in a better position to serve readers and advertisers." T he HSPA Board of Directors approved the imposition of a fee to participate in the popular content-sharing program – HSPAInfo.net. Through HSPAInfo.net, editors can share with their print readers stories pro- duced by other newspapers. The stories are available for immediate syndication. They can also transform those sto- ries with additional work by their newsroom staff. Editors also use the shared content as a springboard to create fresh new stories – consider it a brainstorming tool. HSPAInfo.net has grown to include participation from approximately 90 Indiana newspapers. "This program has been completely subsidized since its inception by the Hoosier State Press Association," said HSPA executive director and general counsel Steve Key. "The HSPA Board of Directors has decided to insti- tute a small fee for participat- ing newspapers to help defray - not cover - the cost to con- tinue this popular program." The fee will be $60 a year for up to two newspapers. That's either $5 a month for one newspaper or $2.5 a month if you publish two newspapers. For each additional news- paper in your operation up to six, HSPA will add $30 to the yearly fee: $90 for three newspapers $120 for four newspapers $150 for five newspapers $180 for six newspapers. The maximum yearly fee any newspaper group will pay is capped at $180. While imposing a fee, HSPA has improved the service. HSPAInfo.net's project part- ner, 1up!, developed the abil- ity to send a text file directly to your publication's FTP production servers. This com- plimentary service will facil- ity your ability to use stories from around the state in your newspaper. Please direct questions about changes to HSPA InfoNet to Key at either (317) 624-4427 or skey@hspa.com. Photo Recap: Memories from the two-day Annual Conference and awards. Page 6 Sales: This 2-step sales process gets to the heart of the matter. Page 4 Hey, can they do that? Steve Key an- swers your legal ques- tions. Page 5 Newspaper Week: What is the way to know your local community? Page 4 INSIDE Publisher The Indiana Volume 81, Issue 10 • October 13, 2016 Published on second Thursday monthly Courier & Press president wins statewide honor Staff Evansville Courier & Press HSPA & Foundation executive director and general counsel, Steve Key with Courier & Press president Jack Pate. Photo Credit: Hoosier State Press Association. I magine waking up in a world without newspapers. "Ha!" You say, "I haven't gotten a newspaper in years." But I'm not talking about just the paper delivered by carriers or the postal service. I'm talking about the news online, the links on social media, the email newsletter, the source cited in the television broadcast and the push notification on your phone. The word newspaper no longer reflects the media industry encompassed by the word. It's time to debunk the idea, "Newspa- pers Are Dying." The newspaper business has changed a lot. But, so what? Lots of industries go through ups-and-downs as technologies and customer preferences change. Name an industry – cars, air- lines, energy, retail, accounting, transpor- tation, construction – and the underlying economic drivers look a lot different than they did in the 1980s. That doesn't mean they are "dead" businesses. People want and need the underlying products and ser- vices and the industries adapt to be suc- cessful in the new world. We are living in the age of information. According to a University of Southern California study, Americans are absorbing five times more information a day than in 1986. And as the demand for quality news grows, storytelling evolves. I think that we Debunking the 'newspapers are dying' idea See Debunking, Page 2 By David Chavern News Media Alliance

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