Brendan Riley, who covered the Nevada Legislature for 19 sessions, has been added to the Nevada Press Association convention schedule to talk about writing his just-published book, “Lower Georgia Street — California’s Forgotten Barbary Coast.” He’ll speak at the Press Center, 102 N. Curry St. in Carson City, starting at …
Read More »‘If someone has a selling personality, we can teach them the rest’
By Kevin Slimp “We need to find ways to give our staff the tools they need to get the job done. Training is necessary if we are going to have successful ad reps, editors and writers.” While attending the Tennessee Press Association Convention recently, Jack Fishman, Morristown, said those words …
Read More »Closed-government roundup
In Las Vegas, the Convention and Visitors Authority approved a raise and bonus for its president, amounting to about $648,000 a year, prompting the Las Vegas Review-Journal to ask how the precise figures and amounts were arrived at by a subcommittee, since there was no discussion at the meeting. The …
Read More »How to respond to critical readers
By Al Cross Last month I shared the story of a community newspaper editor who showed an effective way to respond to concerns of readers, often not politely expressed, that his newspaper was liberally biased. Brian Hunt of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin is an experienced editor, but an intern at …
Read More »This time, privacy outweighs right to know
By Jim Pumarlo Public records are the foundation for reporting a range of stories important to your readers. Police reports reveal a string of continuing break-ins in a neighborhood. Minutes from a school board committee reveal discussions and eventual recommendation to close an elementary school. Letters sent from a state …
Read More »Rest in peace, Jake Highton
I knew Jake Highton mostly by reputation, and what a reputation it was. The retired journalism professor died Monday at his home of a heart attack, according to this obituary in the Reno Gazette-Journal. He would try most years to attend the Nevada Press Association convention. We’ll find a moment …
Read More »Unquotable politicians
Many politicians, I think you would agree, have a knack for public speaking — or at least have attended enough Toastmasters meetings to be able to deliver a passable speech. There are some, of course, who simply have nothing to say. And there are plenty, especially nowadays, who rely on …
Read More »Use strong design tricks to get read
There’s more to holding the attention of your readers than writing a well-crafted, exceptional story. Today’s younger readers generally have a shorter attention span and are easily distracted. They often lose interest in even the best-written story after just one or two paragraphs. Even the finest reporting needs to be …
Read More »Creating an online poll
by Kevin Slimp While meeting with publishers one-on-one at conventions, the conversations run the gamut of running a newspaper or newspaper group. Over the weekend, while at a newspaper association convention in Oregon, publishers arrived at our scheduled meetings with questions about structuring groups, designing pages and increasing revenue, among …
Read More »Just one more phone call
by Jim Stasiowski A recent enjoyable email exchange with a reporter I once supervised included this from him: “OK, maybe we don’t miss the inevitable entreaties to ‘make just one more phone call,’ but we do miss most everything else you brought to the newsroom.” I do especially value the …
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