E&P Reports with Mike Blinder

Overstory Media Group (OMG) is a startup media group that operates newsletter-based local media outlets and currently manages ten local brands in British Columbia, Canada. Recently they announced plans to hire 250 new journalists and launch 50 new outlets within the next 24-months.

The growth is financed by Canadian tech entrepreneur Andrew Wilkinson who partnered with a local digital journalist Farhan Mohamed to manage OMG.

OMG will provide salaries, benefits, and legal support for the journalists they hire and rely exclusively on local advertising as their primary revenue stream and hopes to add an audience revenue model in the future.

In this episode of "E&P Reports," Publisher Mike Blinder goes one-on-one with Canadian digital news disruptor Observer Media Group's CEO and Co-Founder Farhan Mohamed about their business model, editorial focus and plans for expansion across North America.

Related Links:

Overstory Media Group (OMG)

OMG's flagship platform: Capital Daily

Editor & Publisher's July 2021 article about OMG Media

Greg Little has been a journalist since his first efforts at a small newspaper while he attended junior high school. His career has spanned five decades, winning a number of awards for reporting that helped an Indian reservation in Montana stop violent crime to stopping illegal dumping of sewage sludge in Tennessee. He has worked for large companies and family owners and spent time teaching journalism. Today he currently lives in Mariposa, California, with his wife, Nicole where they own the Mariposa Gazette, the oldest continually published weekly newspaper in the state of California.

Greg recently published a book called "-30- Why Small-Town American Print Journalism is Anything But Dead," a book he describes as an "outline on how the road of journalism can sometimes be bumpy. But along the way, the business of small-town journalism can also be rewarding." The book also speaks to why local journalism is so important in America and why it must survive. Little gives real-world advice to up and coming journalists on how they can pursue a rewarding career that can make a big difference in the communities they serve.

In this episode of "E&P Reports," Publisher Mike Blinder speaks with Greg Little about why he wrote the book, his opinions on the future of community journalism, and what advice he would give any budding journalist who wishes to enter the industry.

Related Links:

"-30- Why Small-Town American Print Journalism is Anything But Dead" on Amazon.com: https://amzn.to/3xv5CG6

Mariposa (CA) Gazette: https://www.mariposagazette.com

On June 16, 2021, U.S. Representatives Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Arizona, and Dan Newhouse, R-Washington, introduced H.R. 3940, the Local Journalism Sustainability Act (LJSA) for the 117th Congress, a bipartisan bill that seeks to help local newspapers sustain financial viability through a series of three tax credits:

• A local newspaper subscription credit that incentives Americans to subscribe
• A local newspaper journalist compensation credit that provides publications the ability to hire
• A local newspaper and local media advertising credit that provides small businesses financial flexibility to spend on advertising in local newspapers and media

Five weeks later three senators, Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, and Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, introduced the bill to the U.S. Senate as co-sponsors. Today the bill has wide bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate.

In this episode of "E&P Reports," publisher Mike Blinder discusses LJSA with Alan Fisco, president of America's Newspapers, Dean Ridings, CEO of America's Newspapers, and Francis Wick, CEO of Wick Communications. They consider why the next few weeks are critical for all news publishers to lobby their local representatives to support the bill.

Access more infomration about the LJSA at: http://www.Newspapers.org/ljsa

In January 2021, the Google News Initiative, in partnership with the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN), the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP), and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), kicked off the GNI Ad Transformation Lab: A six month program to help Black and Latino news publishers in the U.S. and Canada advance their advertising strategies and grow digital revenue. Twenty-eight different organizations participated in the program. Over the six-month period, each publisher received coaching to address their organization's path for business growth, including improving digital publishing tools and advertising capabilities and developing new digital skill sets. Participating publishers were advised on better methods for digital content distribution, better optimization tactics, how to maximize their digital advertising and programmatic capabilities, and most importantly, how to act on these improvements to attract more advertisers and generate incremental revenue streams.

The participating publications of the GNI Ad Transformation Lab include: Afro-American Newspapers, Al Día en América, Blavity News, The Cincinnati Herald, The Dallas Examiner, El Latino, The Houston Defender, Houston Forward Times, Impacto Latino, La Mega Media Cleveland, La Noticia, La Opinion, The Los Angeles Sentinel, Michigan Chronicle, The Mississippi Link, Noti Bomba, Post News Group, Our Weekly Los Angeles Newspaper, The Philadelphia Tribune, Precinct Reporter, Prensa Arizona, QCity Metro, The Sacramento Observer, The Seattle Medium, Texas Metro News, The Tri-State Defender, Vida Newspaper and Westchester Hispano.

On June 22, 2021, E&P Publisher Mike Blinder hosted a panel discussion about the GNI Ad Transformation Lab at the Association of Alternative Newsmedia annual conference: 2021 BostAAN at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. This Episode of "E&P Reports" is a recording of that live panel discussion about the program's work to help Black and Latino news publishers advance their advertising strategies and grow digital revenue.

Panelists include:

John Heaston, Publisher, Pioneer Publishing, Vice President of AAN, and a board alternate of the National Association of Hispanic Publications.

Todd Stauffer, Publisher , Jackson (MS) Free Press and Digital Specialist for the AAN GNI Ad Transformation Lab.

Alvaro Gurdián, VP of Operations, La Noticia, Vice President of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Hispanic Publications. Treasurer of Local Independent Online News (LION).

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis President/ CEO, National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA): The Black Press of America. Board member of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO).

Dana Peck Director of Digital Solutions, AFRO American Newspaper.

Brian Taylor VP Publishing, Mega Media, Inc.

If you have been involved in any form of production and operations over the past three decades, odds are you have spoken with the Southern Lithoplate's (SLP) Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Steve Mattingly. Mattingly joined SLP in 1989 and helped this small, privately-held North Carolina lithoplate manufacturer become one of the leading consumables suppliers to North American printers and one of the top five largest manufacturers in the world. During those 30-plus years, Mattingly has been a voice for the operations sector as a board member of the international newspaper group as well as a frequent speaker at many industry conferences. In this episode of "E&P Reports," Publisher Mike Blinder goes one-on-one with Mattingly to gain his insight into the future of the still vital production / operations sector of the news publishing business. Topics include how the industry consolidation will affect bottom lines and what the future is for print as a profitable platform for news content.

Hearst Connecticut Media Group (HCMG) has made a big investment in a new online platform offering statewide news called: CTinsider.com. The new site provides a mix of original content and articles selected from across all 24 HCMG sites, offering hard news, features, sports and opinion columns. The articles CTinsider.com are chosen by a central editorial team working with editors from each site who also suggest what content should go statewide.

The new site will likely augment the growing reader revenue being achieved by the entire group which now boasts more than 1,000 percent growth in its digital subscriptions since September 2019. Print and digital subscriptions have also increased by 18 percent during the same time period.

In this episode of "E & P Reports," Publisher Mike Blinder chats with Group Publisher & President, Hearst Connecticut Media Group, Mike DeLuca along with VP of Content &, Editor-in-Chief Wendy Metcalfe about the new website along with what it took to realize such strong print and digital subscription growth.

Related Links: CTinsider.com

Recent Article Posted "Policing the Police Investigation" CT Post premium version: https://www.ctpost.com/projects/2021/police-misconduct/

CTinsider.com posts on same article: https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/CT-s-secretive-police-disciplinary-system-16266189.php

https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/Four-key-takeaways-from-Hearst-CT-s-16273587.php

Ryan Dohrn is a well-known industry sales coach who has traveled far and wide helping media companies of all sizes perform better (and he writes our monthly Ad Sales Life column). On his website, it states, "Ryan actively sells print, digital, broadcast, event sponsorships, exhibit space, and radio." On his Twitter account, his description reads: Ryan Dohrn is a "motivational speaker, 28-year sales and marketing strategist." And on the top of his LinkedIn page, there are just six words: "Sales Strategist – Keynote Speaker – Emmy Winner." There is no question that when you watch Dohrn speak, there is always a true transference of positive energy emitting from him

In this episode of "E&P Reports" publisher Mike Blinder chats with Dohrn about how ad sellers should adapt to a post-pandemic world. Dohrn offers actionable advice on how we can find, recruit, and keep sales talent. What are our best target business categories to prospect? How do we interact properly in a new Zoom world and use it to your advantage with potential and existing advertisers? There's a lot of usable content packed into this "E&P Reports" where two industry sales veterans take a deep dive into the best practices to adopt in ad sales strategies.

Juneteenth is widely considered the final "nail in the coffin" of slavery in the U.S. The New York Times reported that the first written reference of the term occurred in the Galveston (Texas) Daily News. Owned by Southern Newspapers, the masthead proudly states it is the oldest newspaper in Texas, published since 1842. Even the original announcement of General Granger's words freeing the slaves was recorded on the pages of the Daily News.

Daily News publisher Leonard Woolsey states that their company has been "pushing lawmakers, editorializing, and promoting Juneteenth's accent for as long as anyone can recall." They even published a special 150-year magazine a few years back and have worked with local community members, as well staff members, to lend their voices to help move the important day to the national spotlight.

In this episode of "E&P Reports," publisher Mike Blinder chats with Woolsey and the Daily News' editor Michael Smith about what it was like to report locally in a city that quickly gained worldwide prominence. How is the paper integrating into the community? And what steps will they take to continue to provide a voice for all Galveston residents?

Related links:

Galveston Daily News: https://www.galvnews.com

Galveston News "Juneteenth Magazine:" https://resources.galvnews.com/sections/juneteenth150/#page=8

According to Google, the word "unpublish" is defined as a verb that means "to make content that has previously been published online unavailable to the public. As in 'The magazine first amended and then unpublished the article."

Years ago, publishers did not face problems of information permanence when a daily printed product was quickly discarded the next day. But more and more news publishers today are receiving requests from individuals to remove, obscure or significantly alter once-accurate information published about them in the past. In some cases, these requests are happening many years after a story was initially published online.

A recent survey also suggests that more than 80 percent of North American news publishers believe all news organizations should follow a set of standard guidelines about what information can and cannot be removed from their archives. But are such standards being compiled?

Exploring this issue is Deborah Dwyer, PHD candidate UNC Chapel Hill Hussman School of Journalism and Media who is working on a current initiative to create a single repository of newsroom unpublishing policies. Her latest project is a Website: unpublishingthenews.com, described as "a place on the web where news leaders and advocates can hash out the conundrum of "unpublishing" (in its broader context)." Here any editor or journalism can find a blog centering on the issue, along with resources that provides a growing list of policies and best practices, research, codes of ethics and more.

In this segment of "E&P Reports," publisher Mike Blinder speaks with Dwyer about her research and work on compiling best practices of "unpublishing" the news. Also appearing is one of the initiative's advisors Kathy English, chair of the Canadian Journalism Foundation.

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What do two millennial media execs from New York City do when they move to Texas? They buy a small market weekly newspaper and transform it into the center of the community. And how do they do this? By purchasing and renovating a building to house not only the newspaper's office but a restaurant/ bar/ coffee shop and banquet center called The Sentinel.

In this segment of "E&P Reports" Publisher Mike Blinder interviews Max Kabat the co-founder of a New York City-based brand consultancy firm, who along with his Emmy Award-winning, documentary filmmaker wife, Maisie Crow, purchased The Big Bend Sentinel, a weekly newspaper in Marfa, Texas. After purchasing the newspaper just two years ago, they are funding a vibrant newsroom and building their audience up with out-of-the-box thinking that not only creates revenue but connects their publication with the community.

Watch This Episode on YouTube:https://youtu.be/xz3AZ5hSCwU

Related links: Big Bend Sentinel: https://bigbendsentinel.com The Sentinel (Restaurant/ Bar) Website: https://www.thesentinelmarfa.com