Community Newspapers: Learn How Main Street America Responds to Local News and Advertising    [Print This Page] Time: 9:00-10:15 a.m. Date: Thursday, Sept. 11 Place: Fisher Auditorium, 87 Gannett Hall What value(s) do community newspapers offer citizens in self-governance of their local democratic institutions? How valuable are community newspapers in serving the local retail economic engines that sustain local communities? What opportunities exist for local community newspapers to continue as the primary source of community information, and how can community newspapers monetize those opportunities? These, and related issues below, will be examined and explored in this important research session using consistent survey data collected by the National Newspaper Association and The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute in 2005, 2007 and 2008. Reader interaction with local newspapers in small communities Reading interaction with advertising in local newspapers Perceived role of local newspapers in serving local democracy Evaluation of various editorial content of local newspapers Evaluation of attributes of "good journalism" in local newspapers Factors that influence reading of local newspapers Discussion Leaders: Michael Abernathy President Landmark Community Newspapers Michael Abernathy is president of Landmark Community Newspapers, Inc. (LCNI), which has 56 paid community newspapers in 13 states ranging from a 2,000 circulation weekly in Trimble County, Ky., to a 30,000 plus circulation daily in Citrus County, Fla. The company also publishes a number of free newspapers and a group of fan-based college sports publications. He has been president of LCNI since 2001 and was executive vice president before moving into his current position. Abernathy has been in the newspaper business with Landmark Communications, Inc. for more than 25 years beginning his career as an advertising account executive for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va. He has held numerous positions including general manager of the Targeted Publishing division, post press production manager and publisher of Style Weekly, an alternative news weekly in Richmond, Va. Dave Berry Vice President Community Publishers Dave Berry is vice president and a shareholder of Community Publishers, Inc. (CPI) and publisher of its Neighbor Newspaper division's eight southwest Missouri newspapers. Included among those is the Bolivar Herald-Free Press, where he has been based for 31 years, having started as editor in 1977. Berry eventually worked in and managed all departments before becoming publisher of it and two others. He was executive vice president of Sterling Media Limited, publisher of its three newspapers and general manager of its printing company when it was sold to CPI in 1999. The printing company has grown into what is now Nowata Printing Co. with commercial printing sites in three states. The company has Neighbor Newspapers in Harrison and Jasper, Ark., and 14 publications in and around Tulsa, Okla. There is an Internet division with Web sites for each newspaper and stand-alone Web directory units in Tulsa, Northwest Arkansas and Little Rock. Berry is past president of the Missouri Press Association and the Missouri Press Service. He still serves on the latter board and is in the last days of a term as Region 7 director of the National Newspaper Association. Kenneth Fleming Associate Director of Research Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute Director, Center for Advanced Social Research Kenneth Fleming, PhD '05, obtained a doctoral degree in mass communication and journalism and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Missouri. His research interests include the relationship between social capital and mass media, health communication, political communication and research methodology. He has extensive experience in social science survey research including research design, survey instrument development, sampling, data collection and complex data analysis. Fleming has actively been involved in directing research for media trade organizations such as the Associated Press Managing Editors and the National Conference of Editorial Writers to study the future of journalism. He has presented and published scholarly papers at various conferences and in many academic journals. Ralph Gage Director of Special Projects The World Company Ralph Gage is director of special projects for The World Company in Lawrence, Kan. He also is corporate secretary for WorldWest LLC, which operates papers in Colorado and Arizona, and is manager of Orbiter LLC, which operates Free State Communications, LLC (KTKA-TV, Topeka.) His responsibilities involve him in all facets of the company's diverse operations, from commercial printing, publishing daily and weekly newspapers, to cable and broadband, to the Internet, and television. Gage's current emphasis is news. He formerly was chief operating officer of the company. Gage speaks frequently about the company's involvement in convergence and multimedia. He has written about the company's convergence efforts for Nieman Reports (Winter 2006) and presented about those efforts in 2007 at "Transforming News Organizations for the Digital Future," hosted by the Knight New Media Center, University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and the University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism. He is a member of the board of the Newspaper Association of America's Research Federation. Steve Haynes President National Newspaper Association Steve Haynes, president of the National Newspaper Association, is editor and publisher of The Oberlin Herald and president of Nor'West Newspapers, which operates two daily and three weekly newspapers, a shopper and printing plant in northwest Kansas. For the past year, he also has been acting publisher of The Goodland Daily News, a 1,800-circulation, five-day daily on the Kansas-Colorado border. His staff has built up an Internet service with 800 subscribers and linked all their papers with a wide-area network to transmit pages and copy to their central plant, the first of its kind in the region. In his 30 years in the newspaper business, Haynes has been a circulation clerk, reporter, copy editor, systems specialist, advertising representative, editor and publisher. He and his wife Cynthia bought their first newspaper, The Mineral County Miner, in Creede, Colo., in 1980. When they left Colorado in 1993, they had seven weekly papers, a daily and a twice-weekly area-wide shopper. Haynes has been president of the Colorado and Kansas state newspaper associations. In 1992, he was named Newspaper Person of the Year in Colorado, with the award citing his work in the campaign to get an Open Meetings Law passed in the state. Haynes comes from a newspaper family: His grandfather, Lacy Haynes Sr., was Kansas editor of The Kansas City Star, and his great-uncle, W.A. White, was editor and publisher of The Emporia Gazette. Wally Lage Rust Communications Wally Lage, MA '71, has exerted broad influence on the newspaper industry through his work with Rust Communications, Winsor Newspapers and Publishers Associated to Gain Economy (PAGE), a purchasing cooperative that he became involved with shortly after its founding nearly 25 years ago. A military assignment lit Lage's lifelong passion for newspaper. He helped found the weekly Fort McClellan (Ala.) News while in Officer Candidate School. A local publisher printed and distributed the free newspaper in exchange for news space as a ratio of advertising volume. That creative approach became a model for many military installation newspapers. After the military, he earned his master's degree at the Missouri School of Journalism while rising through the ranks from sports editor to publisher of the Boonville Daily News. Lage used the newspaper for his graduate research project, testing his theory that circulation would grow significantly if the newspaper went to an entirely local format. The paper dropped its wire service and began focusing on local news, which included a telephone answering machine with the latest updates on local news. Circulation and profits shot up. The owner of the Boonville paper, Winsor Newspapers, then moved him around among its newspapers, and he served as a publisher of free publications in Peoria, Ill., Jefferson City and Columbia. He also founded a number of weekly newspapers and shoppers. In 1984, Lage joined Kentucky-based Paxton Media Group as vice president of newspaper operations and general manager of the daily Paducah Sun. Lage is serving his third term as president of PAGE, a not-for-profit cooperative for independent newspapers which has annual sales of more than $300 million for more than 500 newspapers in all 50 states. He joined Rust Communications in 1993 and has been involved in the acquisition or start-up of nearly 50 newspapers in eight states. He helped create a system in which nearly all Rust publishers have part ownership of their newspapers. Lage will be inducted into the Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame during its 2008 meeting, held in conjunction with the centennial/dedication events. Brian Steffens Executive Director National Newspaper Association Brian Steffens is executive director of the National Newspaper Association, representing nearly 3,000 community newspapers nationwide, and he serves as adjunct associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. A former senior vice president and editor of the Editor & Publisher Co., Steffens has held newsroom leadership positions at the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union, Orange County (Calif.) Register, St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, Miami Herald and Detroit News. He has been a guest lecturer at several universities including San Francisco State University, Ohio University, Miami University at Oxford, and Universidad Austral, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Steffens has worked with the American Press Institute, Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Society for Professional Journalists, the Kettering Foundation, and several other organizations and technology companies that have media interests. About the Futures Forum Top journalists, advertisers and thought leaders will lead numerous interactive sessions during the Sept. 11 Futures Forum, a day of cutting-edge discussions about the next century of journalism. Ethics, convergence and politics are just a few of the many hot topics that will be explored in this diverse program dedicated to challenging industry thinking and visualizing possibilities for the future. Sessions will be 75 minutes long and held concurrently with others on the schedule. Full schedules will be available during on-site check in during the Sept. 10-12 celebration. Close Window