March Anniversaries

3/1 , 1 YRS , Jessica Eisenbrey , Delaware State News
3/1 , 12 YRS , Rita Maier , Delaware State News
3/1 , 15 YRS , Danielle Musser , Corporate
3/4 , 26 YRS , Judith McMillan , Sussex Post
3/6 , 42 YRS , Sharon Harvey , Delaware State News
3/6 , 21 YRS , Janet Levy , Delaware State News
3/7 , 12 YRS , Yolibet Garelick , Valley Newspaper Printing
3/10 , 3 YRS , Diane Timmons , Okeechobee News
3/12 , 7 YRS , Franklin Powell , Okeechobee News
3/18 , 25 YRS , Andrew Walter , Delaware State News
3/22 , 5 YRS , Jena Connor , Corporate
3/23 , 4 YRS , Christopher Keesser , Delaware Printing Company
3/25 , 1 YRS , Benny Rivera , Valley Newspaper Printing
3/26 , 4 YRS , Jeremy Carr , Sun City Independent
3/29 , 7 YRS , Melissa Agee , Clewiston News

March Birthdays

3/2 , James Hoesch , Corporate
3/4 , Cynthia Paquette , Delaware State News
3/6 , Michele Clark , Delaware Printing Company
3/6 , Jacqueline Schad , Apache Junction Independent
3/7 , Andrew Walter , Delaware State News
3/8 , Julie Maurer , Sun City Independent
3/9 , Patrick Spence , Delaware Printing Company
3/10 , Janet Levy , Delaware State News
3/11 , Katie Erickson , Sun City Independent
3/11 , Varon Krieger-Krusemark , Valley Newspaper Printing
3/14 , Catherine Hall , Delaware State News
3/16 , Christopher Flood , Delaware State News
3/17 , Erik Decker , Delaware Printing Company
3/17 , Laura Riffle , Sun City Independent
3/21 , John Salvate , Valley Newspaper Printing
3/24 , Dale Conyers , Caloosa Belle
3/24 , Danielle Musser , Corporate
3/28 , Toni Ayers , Corporate

Updating Personal Information

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Your Reactions To A Possible New Name For INI?

By Joe Smyth

CEO

Independent Newspapers, Inc.

joesmyth@newszap.com

We’ve talked for years about the possibility of changing our corporate name to something other than “Independent Newspapers, Inc.”

We haven’t felt very urgent about it because we feel that our product branding --- the names of our individual products --- is much more important. Promoting the individual products will continue to take priority over promoting the corporate name.

Still, the corporate name is important to our own people and for recruiting new employees. And Independent Newspapers, Inc. no longer fits us very well since we now have online products and services, special sections, other print products and printing operations in addition to newspapers.

We’re still independent --- and dedicated to staying independent --- so that part of our name is fitting and worth retaining. We would also prefer to retain “INI”, since it is a popular “shortcut” for our full name.

Our board of directors is considering changing the “Newspapers” in our name to “Newsmedia”, so the new name would be “Independent Newsmedia Inc.” At the same time, we could add a new positioning line under the name, so our corporate identity might look something like this:

Independent Newsmedia Inc.

Printing/Publications/Websites

Please email me at joesmyth@aol.com to let me know if you think we’re on the right track and whether you like the proposed new corporate name and slogan. And be sure to let me know if you have alternative suggestions. Thanks!

(Joe Smyth is the board chair & CEO of Independent Newspapers, Inc. He can be reached at JoeSmyth@aol.com)

2011 Guide to Hendry County

By Jose Jesus Zaragoza

South Lake Publisher

We are not in the magazine business, but we decided that if we were going to revamp our guide book design, we were going against the big guns, at least aesthetically. We use the very same tools that everyone else uses, so why not shoot for brighter, more colorful and attention-grabbing pages chock full of information that newcomers to our area would like to read?  It was agreed.

Our work started later in the year in 2010, with I believe our first meeting on the project happening in August. The determination was that the Clewiston News and the Caloosa Belle were going to work on a guide book that would bridge the gap between the cities of Clewiston and LaBelle.

In this age of dwindling revenue and hurting economies, smaller rural areas like ours have a harder time making an impression state-wide, let alone on a federal level. By combining their resources -- by speaking as a unified voice -- more can get done. The goal was to demonstrate to everyone just how well the two cities in our county can work together, and why, if a reader of the publication happens upon it, that person should seriously consider moving their family to Hendry County.

Rather than propose our vision for what Hendry County stands for, we solicited the help of experts in our towns, who supplied us with write-ups on the major pillars of our community: history, recreation, education, medical, business and government.

Everyone from the museum director, to the superintendent of schools, to the area’s economic development director, pitched in and for a few weeks made me feel as though my staff had grown by a handful. I worked closely with each until their messages were clear, concise, and convincing. Not a single one of them wanted to let me down, they later told me.

We coupled this information with all-original photography. This is an area where we take great pride in producing good work. My employees are among the most passionate photographers, despite not having any previous professional experience taking photographs. I joined them and gave myself a crash course in photography as well, learning everything there is to know about the technical aspects of taking a picture. From the magazine cover to the tiniest of insets, we made sure we had high-quality images to complement the rest of our pages. Jenny Woods braved wild pigs and alligators, while Juan Lopez jumped out of an airplane. That's dedication!

The thing that brought everything together, however, was the design. We are used to seeing our share of special sections looking almost like newspapers themselves. If we were to do this right, we thought; why not let our imagination run wild? For months we studied other publications, never limiting ourselves simply to other special sections around the area, or to other newspapers, but to publications from around the world (my staff’s favorite publications are actually from Germany) and we followed them intently. My editorial staff has been with me for just a few months, new hires from last year, but we learned InDesign inside and out and are very proud of our work.

Throughout the process, my ad team communicated the progress of our work, as well as our intent, with the community, and saw an amazing response on the ad side that we frankly were surprised with. Our leaders loved the idea and embraced it. The guide book ended up being a profitable one for us, but beyond this has set the stage for bigger and better next year.

Both of our offices did a tremendous job on this project, and I can’t wait to see what improvements to an already solid product we will come up with for 2012.

Two New Non-profit Members Elected at INI Annual Meeting

Two new members of INI’s non-profit holding company were elected at the company’s recent annual meeting.

Richard Gottlieb was elected to a three-year term that will end at the company’s 2014 annual meeting. Mr. Gottlieb is the former CEO of Lee Enterprises who was credited with focusing Lee on three key priorities: Growing revenues, stronger local journalism and building powerful local online services. Under his leadership, Lee grew to 24 daily newspapers and more than 100 other publications, along with associated online sites, from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest. He is a former chair of the Newspaper Association of America and director of The Associated Press. Earlier in his career was known as a community-minded publisher in both Madison and Racine. "I believe in giving back," he has said. "I've given back to the communities where I served as general manager and publisher. I feel good about giving back to our customers and our industry.”

Gary Edens was elected to a five-year term that will end at the company’s 2016 annual meeting. He owns The Hanover Companies, Inc. in Phoenix. From 1984 to 1993, he was chair and CEO of Edens Broadcasting, which owned radio stations in San Diego, Phoenix, Richmond, Newport News and Tampa. Prior to that he was radio group executive for Harte-Hanks, which owned radio, tv stations, newspapers and shoppers. Mr. Edens has a strong interest in media and especially the future of newspapers.

Mr. Edens and Mr. Gottlieb replace author, editor and journalist Bill Bishop, whose five-year term expired; and Billy Crews, the former Chairman & CEO of Journal Publishing Company, Inc. and publisher of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, who resigned early due to an occupation change.

The Members serve staggered 5-year terms and no Member can serve consecutive terms, so at least one Member is replaced each year. The three holdover non-profit Members are civic volunteer Jim Binns; Jody Brannon, the national director of the Carnegie-Knight News21 journalism initiative at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University; and civic volunteer and former public administrator Jerry Oliver.

Independent is a normal tax-paying company that is owned by a unique non-profit holding company. There are no stockholders, and all after-tax profits are reinvested in the company. The non-profit members pledge not to benefit personally from their involvement. They don’t have responsibility for running the company, but they elect the directors who bear that responsibility.

Reelected as directors were Richard Bricker, a business consultant; Pete Eyerly, former publisher of the daily Press Enterprise in Bloomsburg, Pa.; Darcy Olsen, president and CEO of the Goldwater Institute; and INI Chair and CEO Joe Smyth, who created the non-profit holding company in 1991.

“We lost two terrific non-profit members in Bill Bishop and Billy Crews, but we were fortunate to be able to attract two immensely qualified replacements in Dick Gottlieb and Gary Edens”, Mr. Smyth said.

Delaware State News Publishes Kent County Profile

The Delaware State News and Kent Economic Partnership unveiled its 2011 Kent County Profile magazine Tuesday morning at Delaware State University after business leaders discussed promising news in county economic development efforts.

Shown with the cover, from left, are Downtown Dover Partnership president Gregg Moore; Delaware Economic Development Office director Alan Levin; Kent Economic Partnership chairman Dennis Klima; Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce president Judy Diogo and Delaware State University president Dr. Harry L. Williams.

Delaware State News Publisher Ed Dulin facilitated the “unveiling” breakfast, held at Delaware State University. Several Dover-area business leaders offered upbeat perspectives on the local economy.

This year’s glossy magazine, used as an economic development tool, features an Evergreen jumbo cargo jet at Dover Air Force Base. Evergreen and other airline companies would benefit from proposed expansion of the Civil Air Terminal.

Community Appreciates Local Sports Being Published

Sports writer Bill Mitchell received the following note in the Milford office:


Dear Mr. Mitchell,

I wanted to take this opportunity to Thank You for publishing our pictures and results in the paper for our 2010 BMX seasons. The kids are eagerly waiting for our 2011 season to begin! They loved seeing the pictures of themselves and their friends published.

Thanks again,
Debbie Brockmeyer and everyone at First State BMX