The interviews will be on-site whenever possible and will be conducted by MDDC President Carol D. Melamed, another member of the Association’s Board of Directors or Executive Director Jim Donahue.

"MDDC has made great strides the past few years in upgrading the range and quality of services it is providing to newspapers in Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia," said Melamed, who noted that such progress has been driven largely by the involvement of the organization’s 18-member Board of Directors.

"Now it is time to take the Association to the next level, a level marked by broader member involvement and more responsive professional development programs," said Melamed, who initiated the survey project.

Earlier this year the board revamped the Association’s committee structure to better reflect current realities and needs of the newspaper business. Several veteran newspaper executives were appointed as new chairs for many of the committees.

This membership survey proposes to build on that success and attract many other experts from member newspapers to serve on the various committees.