Pat Lee

Pat Lee

Name: Pat Lee

Newspaper: Delmarva Group

Position: Advertising Director

Years in Business: 8 years in the Newspaper Industry; 12 years in Publishing as an Advertising Copywriter for Simon & Schuster

Job Description: As Advertising Director, I strive to increase advertising revenue in all products through employee coaching & consulting, and by creating advertising programs. I work to increase efficiencies and productivity and to build and strengthen community ties.

What I like best about my job is helping others: helping sales people to become better at what they do and helping customers to reach their goals.

Most memorable moment with INI: My first Management brainstorming session where I got to meet Joe Smyth, John Wolfe and Tom Byrd for the first time.

Hobbies/Interests: Skiing,cycling, kickboxing and reading. More than anything or anyone else, I absolutely adore my daughter.

Fun Fact (about myself): I earned a brown belt in Thai kickboxing - as the only girl between two brothers, learning how to fight was essential to my survival!!!

New Group Director of Advertising

Mike Mall

Independent Newspapers, Inc. has hired Mike Mall as its new Director of Advertising for its community newspaper group in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Mike was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland where he lived for several years before moving to Harford County, Maryland with his wife Theresa, daughter Alex and son Brandon.

He comes to Independent Newspapers, Inc. with 20 years of newspaper experience. In 1987, Mike started his career as a Classified Telephone Sales Rep with the Baltimore Sun. In his 13 years with the Sun, Mike also served as Classified Manager, Territory Sales Rep and Major Accounts Senior Executive.

He then moved on to take over the Major Accounts Director position for Patuxent Publishing Company, a Chicago Tribune-owned weekly newspaper serving over 350,000 homes in and around the Baltimore, Maryland area. During his tenure at Patuxent, Mike also became heavily involved with Suburban Newspapers of America, a non-profit trade association representing over 2,000 suburban and community newspapers.

With SNA, Mike was on the Advertising Committee, Marketing Committee and eventually was seated on their Board of Directors. Mike left Patuxent in early 2005 to become Suburban Newspapers of America’s Advertising and Membership Relations Director. Although he really enjoyed his time with SNA, Mike missed the “day to day” involvement of being with a newspaper which brought him in the direction of Independent Newspapers, Inc.

Mike’s education includes the Loyola College of Maryland, School of Supervisory Leadership as well as American Press Institute’s Executive Development Program. He is also a 4th Degree Knight and Past Grand Knight in the Knights of Columbus.

With Independent Newspapers, Mike will be responsible for coaching the classified and display advertising staffs and overseeing the day-to-day operations and growth of the advertising department, as well as the group’s online advertising.

Purpose and a cause embraced can turn customers into raving fans

The book Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force by Ben McDonnell and Jackie Huba has been added to the Company Library as a highly recommended item. It can be ordered from the INI Toolbox on the network at initoolbox.com/library.htm

This book describes the ways a company and its employees can attract raving fans to their cause, who will spread the word about its products and services beyond the realm of traditional marketing. The secrets lie in how the company energizes its work force and its customers with a cause that can be easily embraced. The list of companies profiled includes Southwest Airlines, IBM, Build-A-Bear Workshop, and the Dallas Mavericks. The other lesson in the book: One person can influence thousands.

An excellent summary of the book by John Wolfe appears on the network at initoolbox.com/summaries/evangelists.htm

Is your newspaper "boring"?

“Is your newspaper boring as hell?” That's the question posed way back in 1994 by my old pen-pal Garrett Ray in his longtime "Editor's Notebook" column in Publishers' Auxiliary.

Garrett, who also taught journalism at the Colorado State University at Fort Collins, had a way of enticing editors to ask themselves the right questions. In this case, he had posed the "boring" question as part of his research on community papers in Great Britain. And, unfortunately, he got some of the same answers then that he would get from too many U.S. editors in 2007.

One editor who had spent much of his career on larger daily papers complained that his own community weekly is full of "the same meetings of the same organizations...for 100 years." Garrett described this particular editor as sounding "tired of life and work in his small, traditional community".

I'd go farther: This editor ought to go back to the big city papers from which he came....his attitude is elitist and he can't be doing a very inspired job of serving his community.

Did it ever occur to him that if people have been attending the same meetings for generations, there may be something important taking place at those meetings? Maybe if he bothered to figure out how an organization had managed to survive in a small town for 100 years, he'd learn something interesting. And if he put it in the paper, his paper would be less boring.

There aren't any boring communities. But there are plenty of boring newspapers. And every one of them is produced by a boring editor.

What is a community? It's people. People with hopes and fears. People who love and hate. People who struggle, fail and succeed. People who see a half empty glass and others who see the same glass half full. People who are learning and growing and others who are shrinking and dying. People working together to make their communities a better place to live and work, not always successfully. Boring? No way. Only a masterfully boring editor could make it so.

Another editor told Garrett Ray that "a paper full of photo line-ups is boring". Perhaps to that editor, but not to the people in the photos or to their family or friends. And not if the photographer uses imaginative poses and/or causes the people in the picture to show some personality.

This same editor also argues against "boring stories about the council and courts". But the council and courts deal with issues that really matter to the citizens of any community. Boring? No way. Only a masterfully boring reporter could make it so.

Garrett himself declared "the challenge...is how to capture the interest of growing numbers of mobile newcomers. They don't know the names in the paper; they don't work in town; they aren't joining local clubs and may never do so..." He admitted he doesn't have the answer.

Unfortunately, the answer too many boring editors arrive at is exactly the opposite of what they should do. They stop covering the "boring" news of the community. They try to "entertain" their readers instead of informing them. They ban the line-up photos of local residents doing things in the community and start substituting "artsy" and "action" pictures like the ones in the big city dailies.

In doing so, they become weak imitators of television entertainment. (Guess what: television is better at entertaining than we are; and entertainment isn’t our purpose!) And they become weak imitators of the big city generic newspapers. (Guess what: big newspapers and magazines are better at the generic stuff than we are.)

And they ignore what is the real strength of the community newspaper: coverage of local events and what local people think about the issues that are important to them.

The boring editors pass up the great opportunity to do something television and big papers can't do: make a real connection to people. Most community papers have followed the lead of the big dailies in homogenizing the opinion pages. They emphasize the newspaper's own editorials (most of which are truly boring!). They screen out offbeat opinions (somebody powerful may be offended). They insist that letters be signed (which in many small towns is the surest way to stifle a vigorous exchange). And they insist that opinions be written (banning the emails and online postings which for many of today's busy citizens is their primary and most comfortable way of communicating).

How to interest the mobile newcomers Garrett Ray worried about, who haven't yet sunk roots in the community, and who won't know the names in the paper?

How about starting by putting their names in the paper, telling why they moved to the community and what sort of life they hope to live there? And by telling them about what organizations are active in town and how they can become involved? And by telling them the problems the community is struggling with, and the progress it is making? And by inviting their involvement in a vigorous community forum taking place in every issue on the opinion page?

Will it win over every potential reader? No. Our society is in a narcissistic phase. There are alarming numbers of people who care only about themselves, and who are willing to delegate their needs to professional politicians and bureaucrats. Such people are unlikely to spend much time reading a newspaper that focuses on community issues. They are too busy seeking self-gratification.

But there are still lots of people out there who care, and a disproportionate number of them are found in small communities. Community newspapers must make it easy for people to get involved in their communities. We need to seek out those who are and publicize their efforts. We need to give people the information they need to participate fully in their community. We need to provide a forum for thoughtful discussion by citizens who care about public issues.

A free society cannot survive without citizens who care. They have to care enough to stay informed and get involved. At a time when the number of such citizens may be declining, newspapers must not abandon them.

Our society doesn't need more supplies of entertainment. It doesn't need more providers of self-indulgence. What we need is more sense of community. More caring. More understanding. More participation.

Our community newspapers and newszap.com community websites are ideally suited to serve those needs. Nobody can do it as well. And it's an exciting challenge. Newspapers that tackle the challenge are exciting, never boring.

(Joe Smyth is the CEO of Independent. This is an adaptation and update of an earlier column by Joe that first appeared in Press Lines in 1994. He’d like to hear whether you think it is still relevant. He can be reached by email at JoeSmyth@aol.com.)

Okeechobee News

The Okeechobee News is Okeechobee County's longest continuing business. The paper -- which over the years has also been called the Okeechobee Call and the Okeechobee Mirror -- first published in 1915. Like many newspapers in small Florida towns, the Okeechobee News helped the settlers organize their community into an incorporated city. Later the newspaper helped area residents form their own county, breaking off territory from a larger county.

The newspaper started as a weekly, evolving over the years to twice a week and then three times a week publication. In 1992, the Okeechobee News became the county's first local daily newspaper.

While the daily newspaper carried state and national news from the Associated Press, the goal of the editorial staff is to keep the news content as local as possible. Most of the front page is made up of local stories and photos.

Newsroom

News Editor Eric Kopp has been with INI for 18 years. Eric started as a reporter, primarily covering the sports and cops beats.

"I enjoy the challenge of digging out that hard-to-get information for stories," said Eric. "I also enjoy the adrenalin rush that comes when all the information finally falls together on an important story.'

News Editor Eric Kopp

The news operates with a small staff with only three full time reporters: Pete Gawda, Lorna Jablonski and Chauna Aguilar. The paper relies on community submissions for much of the inside pages content, encouraging submissions of school news, business news, church news, club news and other community news.

Chauna Aguilar

Pete Gawda has been with the Okeechobee News for five years. His beats have included county government and environmental news. “I like the variety of assignments that come with a smaller newspaper. The variety allows you to learn a little bit about a variety of topics. Each day is different and I do not have to spend all my time behind a desk,” said Pete.

Pete Gawda

Lorna Jablonski has been with the paper for four years. She started out as a sports reporter and now also covers general assignments. Lorna also often helps out as a computer technician when other staffers have problems the office computers.

“Working in the newspaper business has proven to be the most rewarding, enjoyable job I’ve had, and I’ve been working for over 35 years. I wish I had gotten into reporting a lot sooner,” said Lorna.

“By being a reporter, I have had the opportunity to do things I would never have been able to in any other type of business from being allowed to go into restricted areas following the hurricanes we had, being hoisted onto a roof on a fork lift to take pics. of roof damage, riding with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers on night stakeouts, handling fire fighting equipment, and being taken right into massive brush fires for pictures. I also got to sit and play with six baby Florida panthers. I also got into the cage of their 400 plus pound daddy,” said Lorna.

“I’ve met interesting and some very strange people, have made a great deal of friends and learned a lot about fishing, the environment, law enforcement and everything in between.
My ability with a camera has improved to the extent that I recently received recognition for my work by the International Society of Photographers.”

The newest reporter, Chauna Aguilar, joined INI in August 2006. She previously worked for the Okeechobee County School Board. Her beats include city government.

Chauna said she enjoys newspaper work.

“I like the fact that no day is ever the same,” she said. “There is always a different issue to deal with and different people to work with throughout the community.”

While Eric and the reporters are out gathering news, the copy desk is manned by Linda Cannon and Helen Chason, who handle processing and budgeting the copy and photos to send to the pagination center in Delaware, as well as proofing the finished pages.

Helen Chason

Linda Cannon

Linda has been with the Okeechobee News for five years.

“Working in the newspaper business allows me the opportunity to work with computers and numerous software programs, which I enjoy,” said Linda. “There is never a dull moment in the newspaper business. News is different every day and the work is challenging,” she added.

Helen has been with the paper one year.

“I enjoy seeing the paper being built from the first draft to the final copy,” said Helen. “There is never a dull moment, being constantly busy, working together with everyone on a local level within the newsroom and staff within the advertising and pagination departments.

Pictured above, Victoria Hannon, a former intern, is working as a summer temporary staffer in the newsroom.

Circulation

Janet Madray heads up the Circulation Department, overseeing circulation of all of the INI Florida newspapers. In addition, to Janet, the Circulation Department includes Jessica Dorrance, Melissa Harden, Tammy Howard and Doug Powell.

The Circulation Department makes sure the Okeechobee News home delivery customers have their papers by 6 a.m. – in time to read over breakfast. They also handle the store and rack sales, making sure the newspapers are available throughout the community.

Circulation manager Janet Madray has been with INI for 14 years. She negotiates contracts for delivery of all Florida publications. Her job includes making sure all Florida Publications are distributed in the most efficient manor as possible, promoting all publications via lettered racks placed in high traffic areas, promoting news tube delivery to all subscribers, which in turn helps promote our products, making sure that when someone drives through our publication’s areas they know what newspaper they want to read and advertise in.

“Every day is a new day, a new product.” she said, adding that she enjoys working and growing as part of a strong team that is always ready to accept a new challenge.

“We keep our publications in the eye of the public,” said Janet.Tammy Howard has been in the circulation department for one year. Tammy is a night driver, picking up the newspapers from the printing plant.

She said the best part of the job is “the people/”Doug Powell ahs been with the circulation department for three years. His duties include collecting for newspaper sales, maintaining routes and single copy outlets, rack repair and trouble shooting any circulation problems.

He said he enjoys all the “hands on, being out and about and finding solutions to problems.”

Melissa Anne Harden has been with the newspaper circulation department for 11 months. Her duties include night driving, collecting, counting money from stores and racks, creating running lists for routes and driving any down routes. Before working for the newspaper, she was employed by Leland Dyals Land Surveying.

“There is never a time when there is nothing to do, which makes the workday go by faster,” she said. “The people are easy to work with and everyone works together to solve a problem instead of pointing fingers at someone who caused the problem.”

Jessica Lynn Dorrance joined the Okeechobee News team four months ago. Her duties include distributing new racks, night driving, collecting stores and racks, counting money, updating route lists, driving and showing down routes, and starting new store accounts. Before being hired by INI, she worked in cosmetology and the restaurant business. She said her job is enjoyable because of the difference in day to day operations. There is no repetition, she said.

Okeechobee daily’s circulation team includes (left to right) Janet Madray. Jessica Dorrance, Melissa Harden, Tammy Howard, Joe Edenfield, Doug Powell.

Advertising

The Advertising Department is headed up by INI Florida Ad Director Judy Kasten, who has been with the company for 27 years. Judy trains, coaches and supports outside Ad Consultants and Ad Services team leaders, major accounts and provides overall ads sales leadership for the INI Florida Group.

“I enjoy being part of an ever evolving industry that is so important to our communities,” said Judy. “Watching our advertisers’ businesses grow through the help of results-producing ads in our papers; working with a great group of intensely committed team members based in various locations, pulling together to produce quality newspapers each and every day, no matter what.”

Judy Kasten

The ad department includes Kristina Schwartz, Ryan Hughes, Michelle Chandler, Kay Sheedy, Lisa Clements, Joy Parrish and Diana Whitehall.

Kristina Schwartz has been with the Okeechobee news for five months. She previously worked for Big Lake Media.

“Working in graphics and building the advertisements has given me the chance to be creative, which is my passion,” she said.

Ryan Hughes is the Okeechobee Ad Services Graphics Coordinator. His job includes coordinating the efforts of the Florida Graphics Team, providing advertisers with effective single ads and ad campaigns and attracting new customers with our consistent level quality combined with creativity, and being a major contributor to our sales growth and the production of fine newspapers that serve both our readers and advertisers well. Other duties include dummy approval and the layout, design and pagination of special sections throughout the year.

Ryan has been with the paper one year as graphics coordinator, but this was not his first experience with the newspaper. As a teenager Ryan worked in what was then the composition department.

What does he like best about the newspaper business? “I’d have to say the pace and variety of the work are the things that most excite me about working for a newspaper,” he said. “The work is so varied and moves quickly enough that nothing becomes mundane or stagnant. There is always something fresh and new to work on!”

Michelle Chandler works single ads and ad campaigns. Other duties include dummy approval and the layout, design and pagination of special sections throughout the year.

Michelle was an ad consultant for the Okeechobee News for four years and has been working in graphics for one year.

She said she enjoys “having the ability to work ‘one on one’ with an advertiser and to have the ability to produce professional ad designs that get results needed to promote their business efficiently and effectively.

“To be a part of a Newspaper Business that brings not only readership into our community but to have the ability to communicate and bring both the reader and the advertiser together all in one publication,” she said.

Left to right, Michelle Chandler, Ryan Hughes and Kristina Schwartz

Kay Sheedy is also in Ad Services. Besides handling a number of Okeechobee accounts,she is responsible for all Okeechobee real estate accounts and coordinating sales in the Lake Okeechobee Real Estate Magazine and Hendry Glades Real Estate Magazine. She is also responsible for accounts in Martin and St. Lucie Counties.

Kay has been with the Okeechobee News for ten years.

“I love working with my accounts, helping them to develop advertising campaigns that produce results for them and help grow their businesses,” she said.

Lisa Clements, in Ad Services, maintains current accounts as well as contract renewals. She has worked for INI a total of four years.

“I enjoy keeping up with current events,” she said. “I love working with the public. Advertising sales is and has been my favorite occupation of all my employments.”

Joy Parrish handles major accounts and national advertising for the Okeechobee News as well as for all of the INI Florida weekly newspapers. Joy has been with the Okeechobee News for 29 years.

“Each day I have an opportunity to meet new people from all over the U. S. which makes my job very interesting,” said Joy. “Everyday is different; new clients, new procedures, new problems. I also enjoy the “newspaper family” that I work with, I am very lucky to work with a great group of people.”

Diana Whitehall, ad managers, concentrates on outside sales. As the “rainmaker” she sells cost -effective advertising campaigns to new clients so they may increase their sales and profits and therefore contribute to the success of Independent Newspapers, Inc.

Diana has been with the newspaper for two years.

“I enjoy working one on one with new business owners and by serving my clients well,” she said. “I help build their businesses and their advertising budgets and gain their referrals to other businesses that can benefit from my services.”

Okeechobee News Sales Staff includes (seated, left to right) Lisa Clements, Kay Sheedy, (standing) Diana Whitehall and Joy Parrish.

Front desk

At the front desk are Connie Hawse, Janetta Thiboult and Jean McNeeley. Their duties include customer service, billing, data entry, filing and answering phones.

Connie Hawse, Janetta Thiboult, Jean McNeeley, and Angie Bridges

Connie has been the Okeechobee News since November 2007. She said she enjoys the word because “I am more involved with the community.

“I enjoy working with the public. My team players are all great. I love my job,” she said.

Janetta started work with INI in March 2007. She previously worked for Century 21 Real Estate.

Janetta said her favorite part of the newspaper business is working with the public.

“I love helping people,” she said.

Jean has been with the newspaper for two years. She said she enjoys having the opportunity to meet people in the community and to represent the newspaper.

Angie Bridges does order entry for advertising and coordinates the front office.

She has been with INI for eight years, and said she likes the work because it is always different.

“There is always something going on and every day is different,” she said.

Central Copy desk

Also finding office space in the Okeechobee News building are Katrina Elsken, Executive Editor for INI Florida, and the “central copy desk” which includes MaryAnn Morris, Dee Hamilton and Shawn Hays.

As executive editor, Katrina coaches and supervises the editors in the INI Florida group. She also writes a weekly column and tackles occasional writing and photography assignments, and supervises the central copy desk.

INI Florida Executive Editor Katrina Elsken (standing) heads up the editorial side of INI Florida, and supervises the copy desk. MaryAnn Morris (seated) divides her time between the copy desk, story assignments and helping out where needed.

Dee Hamilton is the only staffer who works full-time on the central copy desk. She handles incoming emails and press releases for the four weekly newspapers currently handled through the copy desk. Through email and phone calls, Dee develops news sources in the communities the papers serve, encouraging them to submit photos and stories and post their news online at newszap.com.

The newest addition to the copy desk is Shawn Hays who started June 12. Shawn works part-time, afternoons and evenings, helping with copy editing and retrieving copy from press release sites. He also gathers the arrest report data for The Sun from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department web site. Shawn’s full time job is with the Okeechobee County School System. He teaches Spanish at Okeechobee High School.

Dee Hamilton stays busy on the copy desk editing copy for the Glades County Democrat, the Clewiston News, The Sun and the Immokalee Bulletin. Shawn Hays, recently joined the copy desk staff as a part-time employee. Shawn is a teacher at Okeechobee High School.

MaryAnn Morris works part time on the copy desk and the rest of the time tackles “other duties as assigned.” Those duties vary widely from week to week. MaryAnn might be found covering a city council meeting in Frostproof, taking notes at a murder trial in Okeechobee or taking photos at a festival in Glades County. She writes two weekly features – the history series and the new agriculture series. These features run in the Okeechobee News every week and are often also picked up by the weeklies. MaryAnn also helps with in-depth and investigative stories, such as the Watershed series which ran in all of the INI Florida papers in 2006.

MaryAnn has been with INI almost three years.

“It is one of the most fulfilling jobs I have ever had,” she said. “What I have always admired most about the newspaper business is that I have a part in providing accurate, unbiased information to the community.”

In style with TuesTips

By Candace Hoffmann
Copy editor, Arizona Division

In an effort to help our newspapers maintain a consistent look and style, I have began sending out style tips every Tuesday to our News Editors. TuesTips are snapshot reminders of AP style tips, INI style, INI Newsroom Guidelines, and Arizona media law.

Recent TuesTips have included reminders about watching our ABS (abbreviate avenue, boulevard, and street when writing full addresses), avoiding making copy alphabet soup with overuse of acronyms, a recap of "Think like a reader" and a brief overview of libel law and what constitutes public and private figures.

Some news editors have written to say they find the reminders helpful and look forward to them each week. Joey Airdo, the Anthem/Deer Valley news editor, has a white board in his office window where he displays a TuesTip of the week, chosen from the current e-mail.

Our TuesTips are also forwarded to the Valley's News Services Team, again as part of the effort to make our paper conform to a consistent editorial style and look throughout.