News-media roundup: E&P publisher says people with good ideas about preserving journalism need to work together

Mike Blinder cites Benjamin Franklin's 1754 political cartoon.

Editor & Publisher Publisher Mike Blinder has an Independence-themed editorial suggesting that people who are trying to sustain local journalism need to learn the lesson of the American colonies and unite their efforts: "In the past 24 months, we have reported on over 10 separate national, non-profit associations that seek dollars from members and funders, all with good ideas but not working in concert. And within the same time period, we have reported on five separate initiatives to define what truth in journalism is and how we can help reassure our readers that they are getting only accurate and truthful information in an unbiased, even-handed, and impartial manner. Plus, as third-party data moves in new directions with a radical change in the programmatic world, how are we poised to sell our aggregated, critical inventory at its highest value? And meanwhile, we keep losing so many battles on state and national levels when it comes to advocating for necessary legislation to help us maintain a competitive business model. So why is our industry so hard to unite while others seem to have no trouble working together to advance their common interests?"

Lee Enterprises has sold three newspapers south of St. Louis to Greg Hoskins’ Better Newspapers: the Park Hills Daily Journal, the Fredericktown Democrat News and the Farmington Press and Advantage. Hoskins said he would return local autonomy to each paper and build a printing plant in Park Hills. Hoskins' company, based in Mascoutah, Ill., has 39 publications in Illinois and Missouri, six radio stations and a printing plant in Altamont, Ill.

Map shows the three towns involved. To enlarge, click on it.

Natalie Perkins (right), editor and publisher of the Deer Creek Pilot in Rolling Fork, Miss., receives the President's Award from Mississippi Press Association President Stephanie Patton at the group's recent convention. Perkins, who also serves as assistant manager of the Sharkey County Emergency Management Agency, was feted for her work following an EF-4 tornado that devastated the community. The Pilot kept publishing on schedule.

The Hickman County Times of Centerville, Tenn., ran a photo of the county mayor and U.S. Sen Marsha Blackburn after she came to town, but told readers that didn't cover the meeting she held with "a dozen or so local leaders" because "Her spokesman invited the editor of this newspaper to attend on the condition that all comments in the session would be of the record. The editor declined to attend, and declined to meet with the senator after the closed meeting." Blackburn closed her last meeting in the county, too, the weekly reports.