As part of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's All Access webinar series for subscribers, subscribers will have the chance to virtually get to know Managing Editor Eliza Gaines during a virtual talk on April 20. more

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, yesterday came out strongly in favor of including local news as critical American infrastructure in need of support — highlighting the role of local broadcasters and newspapers as a trusted source of news and information during the pandemic. more

More than 2,500 local newspapers have signed onto a letter from the National Newspaper Association to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra asking to join the agency’s public education campaign to promote the COVID-19 vaccines. The “We Can Do This” campaign was announced by HHS on April 1 as part of the Biden Administration’s quest to encourage vaccinations across America. more

Mark Walker, a veteran newspaper executive, has been promoted from general manager to publisher of three eastern Kentucky newspapers, effective immediately. more

The Associated Press and the Walton Family Foundation have announced the creation of a new reporting team that will cover water issues in the U.S. This collaboration will allow the news agency to produce additional comprehensive, all-formats journalism around water use, rights, quality and safety, as well as food production, dams, flooding and natural habits. more

WEHCO Media has announced that John Montuori, with his 18-year track record of success in growing advertising revenue for local media, has joined the company as director of new business development. more

Honor the graduating students in your community — and drive new advertising dollars — with an easy, compelling special section. View some great ideas for generating easy revenue with a Virtual Graduation special section and roll out a graduation page that your community will come back to for years to come. more

When executed well, subscriptions businesses provide the opportunity to build meaningful and ongoing relationships with audiences that result in significant uplift in engagement, loyalty and revenue. Pugpig has teamed up with a collective of industry experts to share with you an approach to build a world-class subscription business, brought to life through a series of free video and live masterclasses and exclusive roundtable events featuring news media leading practitioners.   more

Whether considered a possible threat to national security or the elitist cousin to the billion-dollar podcast industry, newer social media sites like TikTok and Clubhouse continue creating a buzz. Many publishers remain uncertain if the value of these platforms matches the work required to develop content or cultivate digital strategies to integrate them into established social media practices. Here are four ways publishers can leverage emergent social media to their advantage. more

Similar to mask mandates, COVID-19 passports — a means to prove one’s vaccination status — are becoming a political lightning rod in the United States. Where states like New York have viewed such passports as a viable tool for promoting safe in-person interactions, others, like Florida and Texas, have viewed them as an affront to privacy and individual liberties. For multi-state employers considering a passport solution, these developments command attention. more

Subscription yield management, which includes pricing strategy as well as tactics related to audience revenue growth, is a field of analysis that has very high ROI for publishers. Here’s why. more

Publishers recognize obituaries as the powerful, legacy content that continues to draw in digital traffic and maintain reader engagement. In fact, the obituary section on InForum.com, North Dakota’s largest news site, continually outperformed reporters’ stories, ranking in the Top 10 of viewed pieces of content during 2020. more

PAGE Cooperative, a not-for-profit Cooperative owned by its publishing and commercial printing members, has launched a three-step solution to provide its members with an easier path to access all of their benefits and immediately improve their bottom line. Interested in a confidential review to see how much you could save by buying through PAGE? more

Late last spring, The Albuquerque Journal in New Mexico implemented interactive voice response (IVR) messaging on its website. The paper also started deflecting inbound IVR customer service calls made from cell phones to messaging. Of the callers offered messaging, 10% chose the messaging option for faster service.  Containment averages 60%. more

Over a year in a pandemic, showing gratitude and support for those who make a difference in our communities and lives has never been more important. Find valuable recognition content and ideas to secure sponsors and advertisers — and strengthen community connections — for upcoming events in May. more

Twice annually, in April and October, Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover announce and implement adjustments to their programs that can impact card acceptance requirements and rates. Like many businesses, the card brands held off implementing adverse changes in 2020.  However, this month, both Visa and American Express are rolling out their planned updates.  These updates include increases to interchange rates that will directly impact your card processing fees.  MasterCard and Discover have postponed their updates until April 2022, which is good news. more

The past year has been a time of uncertainty and change for many marketing and media professionals. While agencies altered their planning processes and publishers found new ways to reach audiences, the role of audits in providing media assurance has remained constant. The Alliance for Audited Media recently interviewed top marketers and media buyers to better understand how and why they value audited media today. Here are some highlights from these conversations including tips on how publishers can leverage audits to stand out in a competitive marketplace. more

Tradition meets start-up: ppi Media has created a new spin-off, ppi n3xt, specializing in digitization services for small and medium-sized enterprises. more

ppi Media offers a NEW fully automated solution for scalable social media marketing that allows social media campaigns with small budgets to finally be efficient for a large number of different target groups. more

He was known just as the town’s youth soccer manager, but he wanted everyone to know he was an attorney with an historic law firm. So when the publisher of The Ravena News-Herald in Ravena, New York, offered this “secret” attorney an opportunity to sponsor Kid Scoop, Attorney Carlo A. C. deOliveira jumped at the chance. more