Sands shares online advice in Portland

Fifteen newspaper staffers learned from a 10-year online veteran about online content and revenue at the March 21 PNNA Training Conference in Portland. Ken Sands, online publisher for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, shared six-plus hours of strategies, organizational messages and opinions. " Ken let everyone of us know how limitless the web design of our papers can be if we are unafraid of tapping into the resources and trying new things," one attendee commented later. Sands will take part in this week's April 5-7 NewsTrain program presented by the Associated Press Managing Editors at Portland State University. Cost is $35 per person. Details at www.newstrain.org.

Tacoma NIE conference just a month away

NIE representatives from 12 PNNA-member newspapers have registered thus far for "Sound to Summit," the jointly sponsored CNIE/PNNA NIE Conference to be held May 3-5 at The News Tribune in Tacoma. Don't miss out; conference registration is only $75 and covers the program and meals. Among the conference sessions will be one on "Fundraising Made Easy," conducted by Kathleen Olson, executive director of the Point Defiance Zoo Society, the fundraising arm for the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. Other sessions will include presentations by Jim Abbott, vice president of the NAA Foundation; Diane Rusnack, publishers representative from the Audit Bureau of Circulations; and David Zeeck, incoming president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and executive editor of The News Tribune. You will also be able to visit with our conference sponsors: Hot Topics, Parade magazine, Hollister Kids, Breakfast Serials, Kid Scoop and Pigskin Geography. You will not want to miss the opening reception on Wednesday, May 3 in the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium – refreshments and socializing with the 'sharks' – nor the dinner on Thursday, May 4 at The Tacoma Art Museum, hosted by The News Tribune. Conference registration and details can be found at www.pnna.com. Questions? Contact conference coordinator Jim Henderson at The News Tribune, (253) 597-8791.

More online training coming up in September

Tracks for introductory and intermediate content producers will be offered at the Society for News Design's New Media Quick Course coming up Sept. 30-Oct. 1 at Gonzaga University in Spokane. The introductory track covers basics of multimedia storytelling, including how to pick a project, set up your team and develop an effective workflow. Students will also get hands-on instruction in Macromedia Flash, the standard for multimedia storytelling. Intermediate students with Flash experience will learn how to add the power of interactivity to their presentations. Instruction in variables, conditionals and dynamic text field manipulation will help add a whole new dimension to digital work. Each two-day Quick Course, co-hosted by The Wenatchee World and Gonzaga University, is $400 per person. SND members get discounted rates, as do college students and faculty. Details at www.snd.org. Questions? Contact Vanessa McVay, news editor at The Wenatchee World and SND's region 7 director, at (509) 663-5161.

Mark your calendars: PNNA Meeting Nov. 8-10

Planning is under way for the 86th Annual PNNA Meeting to be held Nov. 8-10 at The Benson in Portland. Look for details in upcoming bulletins as the date draws near.

Hearst: Arbitration keeps it from selling P-I

An April 1 story in The Seattle Times reported that the Hearst Corp. said it agreed to submit its long-running legal dispute with The Seattle Times to binding arbitration to avoid putting the Seattle Post-Intelligencer up for sale immediately. A Hearst spokesman said that "without the arbitration deal, Hearst would have been required to put the P-I on the market in response to two recent notices from The Times that it intended to trigger an escape clause in the newspapers' joint operating agreement (JOA)." That would have meant that the JOA would have been terminated, or the P-I closed, or both, within 18 months. Under the 23-year-old JOA, The Times and P-I maintain separate news and editorial operations, but The Times handles circulation, advertising, production and other business functions for both. The Times gets 60%, and the Hearst P-I takes 40%. The Times said the expense of producing the smaller P-I threatens both The Times' profitability and its continued control by the Seattle-based Blethen family. The Times said it lost money three years in a row – 2000, 2001 and 2002. Hearst said the P-I can't survive outside the JOA and went to court to block The Times' exercise of its escape clause. A judge, who must approve the arbitration agreement, is set to hear the matter Friday.

Oregonian sues for documents over wiretapping

The Oregonian, Portland, filed a motion in late March in U.S. District Court in Oregon to unseal documents in a pending case that alleges that the Bush administration illegally intercepted international phone conversations between the co-director of an Islamic charity and two lawyers in the United States.

2 from PNNA papers named Poynter Ethics Fellows

Heidi de Laubenfels, assistant managing editor for visuals and technology for The Seattle Times, and Dean Miller, managing editor of the Post-Register in Idaho Falls, were named to the 2006 class of Poynter Ethics Fellows – a group of 16 print and broadcast professionals with strong credentials and a commitment to ethical journalism. This class of fellows will meet at The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. for one week in March, and for another session during 2007 to explore, advise and write about key issues before the journalism world. In between the meetings, they will work with Poynter faculty and other fellows on projects, bolster their own knowledge, help keep Poynter grounded in the needs of the industry and share what they've learned with other journalists. Some of their work will be showcased on Poynter Online

API picks Oregonian for innovation program

The Oregonian, Portland, was one of six newspaper companies selected by the American Press Institute's " Newspaper Next" project to participate in its Disruptive Innovation Advisory Program. Each newspaper receives individualized guidance to maximize the potential of its innovative idea. Newspaper Next is a yearlong $2.25 million project to discover future business models for the newspaper industry. The Oregonian is working with a newsroom team on strategies to increase readership in a fast-growing suburban area.

Seattle Times, Oregonian win Headliner Awards

The Seattle Times and The Oregonian, Portland, were winners in the 2006 National Headliner Awards contest. The Seattle Times won third-place honors in the News Series (circulation over 75,000) category for "Suspicion in the Ranks" by Ray Rivera and the second-place prize for Health/Medical Science Writing by Sandi Doughton. The Oregonian took first-place awards for Editorial Writing for "Oregon's Forgotten Hospital" by Rick Attig and Doug Bates and for Informational Graphics by Steve Cowden.

2 PNNA papers honored by Scripps Howard

The Post-Register, Idaho Falls, and The Seattle Times, were honored with Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Awards. The Idaho Falls' investigation into sexual predators in the Boy Scouts won the Edwards Willis Scripps Award for Distinguished Service to the 1st Amendment. Two reporters from The Seattle Times – Luke Timmerman and David Heath – exposed that doctors were being paid to leak confidential information by Wall Street firms wanting to get an investment edge. The work won the William Brewster Styles Award for Business/Economic Reporting.

Former Salt Lake Tribune publisher inducted into Utah Press Hall of Fame

Jerry O'Brien, who was publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune for a decade, was named in late March to the Utah Press Association's Newspaper Hall of Fame. O'Brien began his newspaper career as a reporter for The Spokesman-Review while a student in Spokane. He went on to become a reporter and editor with The Associated Press and was a writer for Sports Illustrated magazine. He joined The Tribune in 1963 and became publisher in 1983 until his death in 1994.

2 inducted into university newspaper hall of fame

Two veteran Utah journalists were inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Daily Utah Chronicle, the University of Utah's student newspaper at the end of March. They are former Salt Lake newsman Ernie Ford and Suzanne Dean, editor and publisher of the Sanpete Messenger. Ford was editor-in-chief of the university newspaper and mentor to scores of students as the faculty adviser. He was assistant city editor of TheSalt Lake Tribune, managing editor of KSL-TV, assistant news director of KDFW-TV in Dallas and director of the national Society of Professional Journalists. As president of the local SPJ chapter, Ford led the early fight for Utah's Open Meetings Law and later testified before Congress in support of the national Freedom of Information Act. Dean, who is also the central Utah correspondent for The Deseret Morning News, was an urban affairs and business writer for that newspaper in the 1970s. She was editor of the student newspaper.

Salt Lake reader advocate seeks reader trust

Connie Coyne, reader advocate for The Salt Lake Tribune, began introducing one staffer each month to readers in an effort to engender trust by increasing transparency. She started with Dave Noyce, a 22-year vet of the Tribune newsroom, in her March 25 column.

Seattle P-I publisher in NAA diversity program

Kenneth Bunting, associate publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, is participating in the Newspaper Association of America's annual Breakthrough: James K. Batten Leadership Program. The program pairs 10 mid-level newspaper professionals of color with senior-level executives at other newspapers. The senior executives serve as mentors to their junior colleagues during the yearlong program, officering guidance and advice to help them develop their leadership skills and broaden their newspaper-industry leaders. Bunting is acting as mentor to Anne Vasquez, deputy business editor for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Senate committee OKs TV cameras in Supreme Court

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on March 30 approved by a 12-6 vote an amendment to legislation that would permit Supreme Court proceedings to be televised, "unless the Court decides by a vote of the majority of justices that allowing such coverage in a particular case would constitute a violation of the due process rights of one or more of the parties before the Court." An identical bill is in the House Judiciary Committee.

New NASA policy backs free discussion by scientists

According to a report in The New York Times, two months after NASA's top climate scientist complained that political operatives in the agency's press office were trying to censor his views on global warming, Administrator Michael D. Griffin issued a new communications policy on March that he called a "commitment to openness." The policy, which details the role of those who release information to the public directly or through the news media, ensures that NASA scientists and engineers are free to discuss their work in public and state their opinions, Griffin said.

FEC says online campaign ads subject to rules

The Federal Election Commission at the end of March left unregulated almost all political activity on the Internet, except for paid political advertisements. Campaigns buying online ads have to use money raised under the limits of current federal campaign law. But the commission exempted bloggers and other activists using the Web to allow them to praise or criticize politicians, just as newspapers can, without restrictions of the campaign finance laws.

Congressman held liable for leaking tape

In a decision seemingly at odds with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Bartnicki v. Vopper, the District of Columbia Circuit Court upheld a finding of liability by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) for leaking to The New York Times an audiotape of a 1996 telephone call in which Rep. Jon Roener (R-Ohio) participated. McDermott was ordered to pay damages of more than $700,000. The judges reasoned that McDermott knew the tape had been made from an illegally intercepted conversation.

Studies reveal newspapers find hope in websites

The Washington Post reports this morning that two studies say newspapers can find hope for the future in their websites. A report by the Newspaper Association of America says that newspapers continue to attract huge increases in their online readership, particularly among younger, affluent audiences. And preliminary results from a Scarborough Research study found that younger people are interested in news, just not the print version.

NYTimes.com offers streaming ads on home page

The New York Times announced the redesign of its website on April 3. Besides a sharp new look, increased use of original video and more, users can create "My Times" pages as their homepages – a service much like that offered by news aggregators Google News and Yahoo News. For advertisers, the redesign offers opportunities to reach a more engaged audience. The new features encourage readers to spend more time on the site. The redesign also gives advertisers the ability to stream video ads on the homepage, section fronts and select article pages, as well as a larger and more dynamic ad position on the homepage.

Google launches local ads on online maps

Google has officially launched a map-based advertising feature that allows businesses to place photos and logos inside balloons that mark on Google Maps where the merchants are located, CNET reports. Barnes & Noble and Ralph Lauren have purchased keywords and have tested the new Local Business Ads system.

Online videos growing in popularity

Nearly one in four web users (24%) watch online video at least once a week and nearly half (46%) do so at least once a month, according to a study by the Online Publishers Association. Some 69%of respondents said they have viewed video online at least once; 5% said they watch video daily. Also, 66% said they have viewed an online video ad, and as a result 31% of them visited the advertiser's website

People:

Manny named ME for Idaho Statesman

Bill Manny, who served as Boise editor and metro editor of The Idaho Statesman since 2000, was named managing editor of the Boise newspaper in mid-March. Manny, 47, replaced Cherrill Crosby, who resigned to take a job at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix. Manny was a reporter, editorial page editor and city editor at The Mail Tribune in Medford, Ore., before joining The Statesman.

In Memoriam:

Traynor Hansen, 79

Traynor Hansen, a two-finger typist who rose from copy boy to news editor in 40 years at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, died March 16. He was 79. Hansen, who helped guide the P-I's news copy desk through the initial years of the Joint Operating Agreement with The Seattle Times, started work at the newspaper when he attended the University of Washington. Born and raised in the Everett area, Hansen served as a reporter and copy editor, then news editor. He retired in 1989. Hansen is survived by his wife of 59 years, Astrid, and six of their seven children – sons, David, Traynor Jr. and Peter; daughters, Amy Keith, Teresa Shemaria and Leinnea Blake – 19 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Elizabeth Anderson.

CALL TO READERS : Send stories to the editor Nancy Brands Ward.

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