Some TPA love, some questions for judges

 Got a third and two fourths at the most recent Texas Press Association Better Newspapers Contest.

And, while it's not that I think I should get firsts in everything, it's not the first time I've had questions for judges.

Column writing seems the most fraught category. Submit humor columns and not every judge may like your sense of humor. Submit serious ones, and who's to say a judge's POV isn't enough different, and deeply enough held, from yours as to undercut you? (One of my two column submissions this year was about Confederate monument removal. Al Cross liked it when he saw a copy. But, if a more conservative contest judge was in on the reviewing? I might have been screwed.)

As for notes on two of my three "places"?

A commenter on my feature stories said he didn't like one of them being placed at bottom right. Sir or madam, perhaps you didn't notice that I had two feature stories in the same issue, and the one at top left went there because it had a better photo. And, last I checked, this was the "feature story" category, not "page design."

On feature photography, a judge said "crop closer." Now, while my photos as submitted weren't airgap-tight, they weren't loose, and I had good reasons IMO to crop every one as I did. This isn't obit mugshots.

AND, I've won a few TPA awards. Never a first in feature writing, but I've won first in page design more than once, re the feature story judge's comments.

So, suggestions duly noted.

The Dallas Snooze slouching further? Dodging NYSE delisting?

Earlier this month, A.H. Belo said it was leaving the New York Stock Exchange for NASDAQ. Specifically, it's headed for NASDAQ's Capital Market. Why?

Reading between the lines, and learning more about that Capital Market is, I think it was in danger of being delisted.

NASDAQ Capital Market, per Investopedia:

The Nasdaq Capital Market is one of Nasdaq's U.S. market tiers containing early-stage companies that have relatively lower market capitalizations. Listing requirements for companies on the Nasdaq Capital Market are less stringent than for the two other Nasdaq market tiers, which focus on larger companies with higher market capitalization.

More on the Capital Market here further confirms this idea.

In short, Belo, a one-newspaper (Dallas Morning News, aka the Snooze) with adjuncts like Al Dia, and a digital marketing agency that must not be doing THAT well, doesn't have much money on tap. This is kind of like NASDAQ's "penny stocks" wing.

One thing that I'm kind of curious about: why didn't it go to the former AMEX instead? Is the bottom tier of NASDAQ even weaker?

Sidebar: I've long speculated about a full JOA between the Snooze and the Fort Worth StarleGram. Between this by Belo and McClatchy now under hedge fund ownership, that day is probably yet closer — if the two owners see that as the next best step.

RIP David Klement

Klement, a Pulitzer Prize winner with the Detroit Free Press, and for many years, editorial page editor of the Bradenton Herald, has passed away at 81.

As editor of the Muenster Enterprise, I appreciate getting to know David by phone and email, as well as through his book, over the past year. His thoughts and skills as a journalist, as well as his personal insights, were all appreciated.

My connection of sorts to Bill Hartman

I saw a week ago that the founder and owner of Hartman Newspapers had died.

I'm not really an "ear to the grapevine" person on Texas newspapers. I'm here in a job and if a non-Texas newspapers, or non-newspapers, position comes along that's better, sign me up!

Anyway, this goes back to 2009.

Suburban Dallas' Today Newspapers was not long for the world and I knew that.

The Fort Bend Herald (and Texas Coaster!) had an opening. Kind of a hybrid position. And, a "too much" position," to be honest.

It was hybrid between the newspaper and some planned new magazines AND hybrid within the newspaper.

The first half? In addition to doing semi-regular work for the then-daily Herald (six-day daily back then), the person/position was responsible for producing three quarterly magazines, one a month for each of three different upscale, presumably gated, communities on the west side of Fort Bend County. No writing involved, but editorial solicitations, copy editing and proofreading of submitted material, photo solicitation or shooting or assigning to the paper's staff photographer, and all the layout. And, that was hybrid with work for the newspaper.

The hybridization within the newspaper? Doing a couple of pages of copy editing/layout every day plus a news beat.

It was a newly-created position, and, IMO, a "too much" position. Look, COVID has dumped shit on all of us, but not by choice. And, this was long enough ago, even in the early part of the Great Recession, though I hadn't realized yet how bad it would get, that, I wasn't ready to volunteer for "too much."

In addition, if I recall correctly, the ME said it was salaried and one of Fred's beancounters said hourly. On a "too much" position that's helluva different. If salaried, they WILL beat you like a rented mule. If hourly, they'll not pay overtime but yell at you for not doing more.

Besides, it's greater Helltown.

Hard pass. I eventually came out all right but not great, like a cat with nine PTSD-ed lives.

Anyway, I did meet Bill himself, and being a big baseball fan, ogled his office memorabilia and shot the shit with that on him a bit.

I can't remember how much, if at all, we discussed Roger Clemens and roiding, given his having covered the Astros long ago as well as being a BBWAA voter but my general impression of Bill on that was that he was totally "old-school" and opposed him, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, etc. getting into the Hall.

Dear newspaper publishers: About those postal rate hikes

Per the poll at top right, let's dig in.

First, I know the periodicals mail rate hikes aren't likely to fully stand as is. But, they're likely to at least 50 percent stand. The old days are over. (Note that first-class mail, for the first ounce, faces approximately the same hike.)

So, per that poll, if this truly improves service on out-of-county delivery, will you accept it?

That said, in challenging the Postal Regulatory Commission, what will they actually do with that nearly 7 percent other than just cut a deficit?

Third, are you continuing to challenge Congress to end the pension prefunding requirement? (Actually bipartisan legislation could do just that, but Postmaster General Louis DeJoy facing a subpoena over campaign finance violations at a former private business of his could screw the pooch.) If not, why not?

Unfortunately, no amount of Googling will reveal the cost to mail newspapers as a percentage of a non-dailiy newspaper's overall expenses. 

I know from my own experience as an editor-publisher at two small papers, though, that mailing expenses are not THAT much of a newspaper's overall budget.

Once again, yes teevee folks, you're in trouble too

 I've said this myself, starting three years ago, on the ratings decline of local teevee news. Now, Dick Tofel of Pro Publica says that national teevee network news, which can be a big anchor for the second of the two local evening network news broadcasts, has been and continues to be in even bigger trouble. What I, via Pew, noted for local TV and Tofel for national, has one other commonality with each other and with newspapers: the younger the person, the more likely they've tuned you out.

Tofel offers some suggestions for them to avoid the print world's head-in-the-sands decades of mistakes. Whether they'll be adopted is anybody's guess.

And, as with papers, the reader/viewer decline has one other decline: ad dollars.

And, with that, plus, the possibility of bots taking your job, comes staff declines.