The latest news relating to the KR/McClatchy deal:

Ex-Philadelphia Inquirer editor Naughton joins firm bidding for newspapers
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Bidders for PNI hire high-profile advisers
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New group enters bidding for Inquirer, Daily News
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PR specialist says he and local backers won’t slant the news
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When KR Deal Goes Down: Independence Day or Bastille Day?
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Tough to make case for blaming media on Iraq
As conditions in Iraq continue to deteriorate, and as President Bush's popularity at home continues to wane, administration leaders and their conservative followers have been busy honing a provocative message:

It's the media's fault.

Their argument is that media coverage of the war, focusing on bad news while ignoring the good, is sapping the will of the American people. Maybe it's coincidence, but Bush's March 20 complaint -- "people resuming their normal lives will never be as dramatic as the footage of an IED explosion" -- is being increasingly echoed by his allies in the conservative punditocracy.

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Investigation into Study Commission election advertisements ‘not merited’
The state's Attorney General’s Office has concluded no Elections Code violations occurred last November in connection with an advertisement that appeared in The Express about the proposed creation of a Clinton County Government Study Commission.

The issue arose five months ago when voters headed to the polls to decide whether an 11-member commission should study Clinton County government.

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An A-plus school paper struggles to press on
The Roxborough High School student newspaper won a first-place journalism award in a statewide competition, even though it had the money to publish only one edition last school year.

With the paper's future in jeopardy, Cathy Rex, a veteran English teacher and faculty adviser for the Ridge Record, wrote a letter to the judges of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association contest, lamenting the school's predicament.

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Young journalists wanted
The Intelligencer is looking for young writers, photographers and graphic designers who want to see their work published.

The search will focus on high school students from Central and Upper Bucks and Eastern Montgomery counties, and the vehicle for their creativity will be a new weekly section to be produced by The Intelligencer. The section is in the planning stages and does not yet have a name. The young people chosen to work for it will name it.

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Calif. advertising chief Bruns takes helm at Daily American
Andy Bruns, a 41-year-old Hollister, Calif., resident with an extensive background in newspaper advertising, has been named the Daily American's new publisher. Bruns is vice president of advertising for the Mainstreet Media Group, a leading producer of community newspapers in California.

He replaces former Publisher Doug Caldwell, who left the newspaper March 27 to oversee Schurz Communications' newly acquired Michigan operations. The South Bend, Ind., company also owns the Daily American.

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Recognize your paper's 2006 Keystone Press Award winners
Send us digital versions of your winning entries to be included in the special edition Press Keystone tab! E-mail Erica Streisfeld at ericas@pa-news.org with: text for winning stories, JPGs for photos and PDFs for page designs/illustrations. Please make sure that JPGs and PDFs are press quality.

Celebrate your newspaper's winners by placing an ad in the Press Keystone tab:

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PNA Carrier Golf Outing
May 25, Penn National Golf Club, Fayetteville, Pa.
Tee time: 9:30 a.m., lunch included
Cost: $70 single, $265 foursome, $345 foursome & hole sponsor
Join your colleagues for an enjoyable day of golf and help support newspaper carriers. Hole sponsorship opportunities are also available.

For more information contact Tracy Metz at (717) 703-3003 or tracym@pa-news.org.

Denise Ott leaves PNA
Denise Ott, the PNA’s director of marketing and membership, has recently accepted a consultant position with Calabrese & Heuser, an association management company in Harrisburg. Denise's last day at PNA is today, April 13.

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State initiative: How to vote on Pa.’s new voting machines
The Department of State has launched an initiative to ensure voters are familiar with the new voting machines that will be in place on Election Day, May 16. From now through Election Day, Pennsylvania voters will have the opportunity to participate in a statewide weekly poll. Encourage your readers to vote today:

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From the Hotline:
What is the difference between the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") and the Right to Know Law?

PNA's General Counsel Teri Henning answers this question.

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Use this link to visit the Headlines & Deadlines page which groups and archives Teri Henning's weekly 'From the Hotline' columns. 

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The Craft of Business Writing Workshop
April 25, PNA headquarters
This free, one-day business journalism workshop is for journalists who wish to learn more about business coverage. The workshop, sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism and hosted by PNA, will cover critical areas such as how to better explain financial terms, use compelling narrative style, develop story ideas and write effective profiles of companies and executives. Presenters include Dick Weiss, former writing coach and assistant metropolitan editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Chris Roush, former business journalist with Business Week, Bloomsburg News and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who is currently a business journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Registration for this workshop must be done through API at www.businessjournalism.org. Deadline to register is April 18.

Credibility and Ethics for the Photographer
May 12, PNA headquarters
Cost: $75 for members, $100 for non-members
David Bralow, attorney for Tribune Publishing, will cover a variety of important issues pertaining to photojournalism and the law. In the morning you will hear tips on how to avoid legal problems and how to promote positive relationships to get the photos you need. The afternoon session will cover tips and suggestions on photography and design.

To register, e-mail teresas@pa-news.org or call Teresa Shaak at (717) 703-3012.

'Radical evolution' needed to curb circ woes
Moving newsrooms through this period of radical evolution in the information industry can't all be about the Web. In fact, we don't believe declining circulation is a given and we've helped many of our clients slow or reverse the downward spiral. The key is getting outside our own straightjacket.

So, making some of these kinds of changes to your newsroom and Web site will likely help your print product as well.

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On the coming rise in blog advertising
Some people think weblogs are the next big thing in media with the potential to revolutionize journalism. Others think blogs are just a bunch of baloney, under-edited tripe written by geeks with too much free time. No matter what your opinion, one thing is agreed upon: Blog advertising is beginnning to take off.

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Newspapers predicted to phase out, go online
Newspapers will become primarily online products at varying paces over the next decade, according to Ken Doctor, a lead analyst with Outsell Inc., a research and advisory firm that provides market analytics to the information industry. Doctor made this prediction during his discussion of the findings of a survey of major newspaper publishers by Outsell Inc., as well as an earlier survey of 2,800 news consumers, and a report containing Outsell's recommendations for the future.

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Newspapers need real innovation
It takes guts, imagination and a real investment to come up with something new. How many newspaper redesigns do we see that become instantly dated because the wheels of innovation stopped spinning once the new design 'launched?' True innovators don't stop reinventing.

Making papers work better, not just look better, is the real goal.

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