November 17, 2023

Industry news

More than half of U.S. counties have no access or very limited access to local news

The loss of local newspapers accelerated in 2023 to an average of 2.5 per week, leaving more than 200 counties as “news deserts” and meaning that more than half of all U.S. counties now have limited access to reliable local news and information, researchers at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University have found.

Register free for our November webinars

Appropriate and Legally Compliant Business Practices that Support Attracting and Maintaining Inclusive Suppliers and Workforces - Nov. 29

Recent news reports covering the Supreme Court’s last term and new litigation involving employers’ diversity initiatives in supplier chains and workforce hiring and retention have raised concerns about what is appropriate today. Join us for this important webinar describing the rules to apply to your own businesses’ diversity and/or inclusion practices applicable to your applicants and employees as well as your supplier contracts.

Presented by Annette Tyman, partner, Seyfarth Shaw, Chicago

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Making 'Best Of' a Year-Round Revenue and Audience Machine - Nov. 30

Your "Best of Ballot" is the top revenue and audience initiative of the year. Don't miss out by only focusing on your "Best Of" for two months out of the year. Join Julie Foley, senior customer success manager at Second Street, to learn how "Best of Ballots" should be a continued celebration that drives success all year long.

Presented by Julie Foley, senior customer success manager at Second Street

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People news

Todd Benz named TH Media/Woodward Community Media director of sales

Mike Fortman, associate publisher of TH Media, Dubuque, Iowa, has announced that Todd Benz has been named TH Media/Woodward Community Media director of sales.

5 Kitsap News Group newspapers get new general manager

Pili Linares is the new general manager for the five newspapers in the Kitsap News Group. She takes over for publisher Terry Ward, who recently purchased his own small newspaper group.

Meet the new editor of three Gannett newspapers

Tess Ware is the new editor of The Aberdeen (South Dakota) American News, The Watertown (South Dakota) Public Opinion and The St. Cloud Times in Minnesota.

Terry Taylor, trailblazing Associated Press sports editor, dies at age 71

Terry R. Taylor, who in two trailblazing decades as the first female sports editor of The Associated Press transformed the news agency’s emphasis into multilayered coverage of rigorous reporting, entertaining enterprise and edgy analysis, has died. She was 71.

What we're reading ...

The Washington Post publishes photos from mass shootings and draws mixed reaction

A Washington Post story that broke an unwritten media rule by publishing viscerally bloody images from the scenes of several mass shootings drew sharply diverging reactions Thursday.

Fred Guttenberg, the father of a 14-year-old girl killed by a high school shooter in Parkland, Florida, five years ago, called the graphic photos “unnecessary” and “traumatic to those of us who have been impacted by gun violence.”

Brett Cross, the uncle and guardian of a 10-year-old boy killed by a gunman who invaded his Uvalde, Texas, elementary school last year, wrote on social media that the images were “disturbing and truly shocking” but that he hoped seeing the true impact of gun violence would stop the public from “turning a blind eye to the reality.”

America's Newspapers calendar

Nov. 29 Webinar: Appropriate and Legally Compliant Business Practices that Support Attracting and Maintaining Inclusive Suppliers and Workforces

Nov. 30 Webinar: Making 'Best Of' a Year-Round Audience and Revenue Machine

April 14-16, 2024 - News Industry Mega-Conference, Phoenix, Arizona

October 18-19, 2024 - Family and Independent Owners Meeting, Charleston, South Carolina

October 20-22, 2024 - Senior Leadership Conference, Charleston, South Carolina

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Keep up with the latest news, schedule of upcoming events and other information specifically for the newspaper industry. Learn more about America’s Newspapers at www.newspapers.org. And connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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