| June 2001 |
Page 1
|
Summer Convention Expands, Returns to Shore
Newspaper managers concerned about surviving and prospering in the current rough economic
climate will not want to miss the new, expanded MDDC Summer Convention Sept. 6-8 at
Easton's Tidewater Inn. |
| Page 2 |
Circulation Keep Rising Gas Prices from
Impacting Newspaper Carriers
It's tough enough to watch our personal expenses rise with gasoline pries, let along
worrying about its impact on our carrier force. As independent contractors, carriers must
bear the brunt of many risks associated with running a business, but ultimately increased
distribution costs are going to fall on teh newspaper's shoulders. |
Anti-telemarketing
Drums Keep Beating
Legislation that would severely curtail newspapers' telemarketing efforts to obtain new
subscribers moved forward in Delaware recently while a similar bill was introduced in the
District of Columbia. Both bills would establish do-not-call lists prohibiting
telemarketers from calling any consumer who chooses to be on the lists. |
| Page 3 |
Estate Tax is Going Away.
. . Slowly
Congress passed the first major tax cut in two decades on May 27. The cuts include the
phase-out of the estate tax, a priority for newspapers, before elimination in 2010. |
Two UMD Students
Win $2000 MDDC Scholarships
Two MDDC journalism scholarships for $2000 each have been awarded to students at the
University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism. Amy Silva and Heather Lloyd,
both juniors, received the MDDC scholarships. |
Profile:
Jack Schwartz
Jack is an assistant attorney general and director
of health policy development in the Maryland Attorney General's Office. Formerly chief
counsel for opinion and advice, he has served as counsel to the Open Meetings Compliance
Board since it was formed and has written and lectured extensively on open meetings and
public information issues. Jack has been the lead presenter in the numerous public records
sessions that have been held across the state in the wake of last summer's public records
audit conducted by MDDC's FOI Subcommittee. Prior to joining the Attorney General's Office
in 1982, he held a senior staff position at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington,
D.C. |
| Page 4 |
Technology Should Newspapers Stop Giving it Away on the Web?
Call it "The Content Converstation." They're having it in almost every city and
town that has a newspaper with a Web site. |
| Page 5 |
Legal Information of Public Concern Weighs More Than
Privacy
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Bartnicki v. Vopper sets up a
value judgment in which the value of speech about any matter of public concern is most
likely to outweigh privacy interests inherent in the laws against wiretaps. |
| Page 6 |
Advertising Employment Advertising: How will
Newspapers Hang on?
The numbers are frightening: Down 40 percent; down 45 percent; down 30 percent. |
Ad
Spending Drops in First Quarter
Newspaper advertising expenditures for the first quarter of 2001 totaled $10.4 billion., a
decrease of 4.3 percent from 2000, according to preliminary estimates from the Newspaper
Association of America. It was the first such decline since the first quarter of 1992. |
| Page 7 |
Ways
to Keep Public Notices in Print
Across the country state legislators are making moves to get into the publishing business.
State government Web sites and portals are springing up all over the Internet, giving the
government opportunities to publish their own legal notices. |
Post
Stories to be Printed in Korean Daily
Readers of Joong-Ang Daily News Washington, a local Korean-language newspaper, will be
able to read a selection of Washington Post stories in their native language under an
agreement announced by the two companies on June 6. |
| Page 8 |
NNA
Offers New Health Insurance Option
Affinity Group Underwriters (AGU) and the National Newspaper Association (NNA) have teamed
up to provide a wide range of coverages to the Association's community newspaper members
to meet the challenge of obtaining health insurance. |
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