Convention Report: Introduction

First Published: May 2008

A Capital Convention

NAA Chairwoman Susan Clark-Johnson summed up the current economic climate by declaring, “It’s a hellish time for the business of newspapering.”

The soft attendance at the combined meetings of NEXPO®, the NAA Annual Convention and the American Society of Newspaper Editors Convention, held April 12-16 at the Washington, D.C., Convention Center, underscored that point. But amid the considerable talk about difficult economic realities, there was optimism for the future.

“I see the work that’s being done by very innovative people every day to transition this industry,” Clark-Johnson, chair of Gannett Co.’s U.S. Community Publishing in McLean, Va., said in her speech to attendees. “I see that it’s working. I also see the endless opportunity open to us.”

Clark-Johnson cited the latest Scarborough Research data that show 77 percent of adults read a newspaper in print or online each week. Additionally, research from Google Inc. (www.google.com), released during the Capital Conference, found that print newspaper ads often drive online traffic, influence buying decisions and generate consumer trust (see story, p. 34).

While newspapers have expanded their reach from print to online, Clark-Johnson, who is retiring this month after a 40-year newspaper career, urged publishers to “move faster, more aggressively.”

Later, Gary B. Pruitt, Clark-Johnson’s successor as NAA chairman, echoed her call to action. Pruitt, chairman, president and chief executive officer of The McClatchy Co. in Sacramento, found inspiration from some of his favorite philosophers, The Rolling Stones, who declared, “You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need.”

We hope you get what you need in the ensuing reports on the 2008 Convention and NEXPO.

—Rebecca Ross Albers, PRESSTIME Editor, Photos by Ringo H.W. Chu

Fighting for the First Amendment

By Mark Toner | Photo By Ringo H.W. Chu

“The First belongs to all of us...the Googlers, the Gawkers...and if you don’t like it, get out of my Facebook.”

Maybe that manifesto lacks the timeless eloquence of the First Amendment, but the statement—cited at a panel as an example of a viral marketing approach to promoting free speech—hints at what could be a very good year for efforts to bring awareness of Americans’ most fundamental rights into the digital age.

During the Capital Conference, members of the American Society of Newspaper Editors unveiled initiatives to bring more government openness to the Web and win over a public whose opinions of the First Amendment could be charitably described as conflicted.

Through a partnership with the Online News Association, ASNE will work to have more government records digitized and develop tools to make them accessible via media sites, said Timothy Franklin, editor of The Sun in Baltimore. Making media sites the gateways to such Freedom of Information Act fodder as restaurant inspections, crime statistics, public school test scores and bridge safety records could help draw online traffic, but “our readers will be the ultimate winners,” he said.

Meanwhile, with polls continuing to show limited public understanding of First Amendment and media rights, media associations, entertainers and legal organizations have joined forces to create the Liberty Tree Initiative. Named after the historic tree in Boston Common where pre-Revolutionary protesters burned effigies, the initiative is working with Weber Shandwick, a global public relations firm, to create a branding campaign to bolster support for First Amendment rights.

“In the marketplace of ideas, sometimes you have to market,” explained USA Today Editor Ken Paulson. “The right message, planted the right way, will grow support all over this land.”

Both initiatives come after a dramatic shift in how media companies defend those rights, said Paul Boyle, NAA senior vice president of public policy. Following Bush administration admonitions urging government agencies to err on the side of secrecy on freedom of information requests, the media “went from defense to offense on the First Amendment,” he said.

The Sunshine in Government Initiative, sponsored by NAA, ASNE, The Associated Press and several other media organizations, succeeded in getting a key FOIA reform bill through Congress. President Bush signed it without fanfare on New Year’s Eve.

But the battle is far from ended, with a Bush Administration proposal to place the government’s newly created FOI ombudsman under Justice Department purview and a proposed federal shield law stalled in the Senate. Toni Locy, a former USA Today reporter who faces fines of as much as $5,000 a day unless she discloses sources for her coverage of the government’s investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks, was singled out for applause. Her case is being appealed.

The lack of a national shield law should concern everyone in this room,” said Patrick A. Yack, co-chairman of ASNE’s Freedom of Information Committee.