'PRINT' Act introduced to protect publishers, printers from tariffs 5/14/18

Monday, in an effort to protect printers and publishers from unwarranted tariffs, Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Angus King (I-ME) introduced S. 2385, the "Protecting Rational Incentives in Newsprint Trade Act of 2018," or "PRINT Act." Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Doug Jones (D-AL), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) joined as original co-sponsors.

The PRINT Act would suspend new tariffs currently being imposed on imported uncoated groundwood paper from Canada, which is the primary source of newsprint and other paper used by domestic newspapers, book publishers and commercial printers. Simultaneously, the legislation would require the Department of Commerce to review the economic health of the printing and publishing industries. Newspapers and printers across the United States have told Congress that the new import tariffs – as high as 32 percent – would jeopardize the viability of the industry and threaten to decimate the U.S. paper industry's customer base.

SNPA President Patrick Dorsey, publisher of the Herald-Tribune Media Group in Sarasota, Fla., and regional vice president Coastal Group, GateHouse Media, said: "We appreciate the leadership of Senator Collins and Senator King and the other co-sponsors of the bill for stepping up to protect American jobs and stop these damaging tariffs. They fully understand this action was caused by one outlier mill owned by a hedge fund and is not supported by the broader domestic newspaper producing industry. These unfair job-killing import taxes are already taking a toll across the country as newspapers have had to eliminate jobs and take other significant cost saving measures to maintain viable businesses. This is putting many community newspapers in jeopardy and further reducing their ability to keep our citizens informed on what is going on in their cities and towns. Ultimately, this is damaging to our representative democracy. The PRINT Act is a positive step in reversing these damaging impacts."

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Gannett to acquire digital marketing software company WordStream 5/14/18

Gannett Co., Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire WordStream, Inc., a provider of cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions for local and regional businesses and agencies to optimize their digital marketing services campaigns.

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Terry Kroeger: We're in this together, thick and thin. We invite you to #JoinOurStory 5/8/18

This column by Publisher and CEO Terry Kroeger was published May 5 in the Omaha World-Herald

Dear Readers,

I want to tell you a story. Don't worry. I'll keep it short.

This story is about you and us and how we're in it together, thick and thin. It's the story about our local newspaper and our community. We have been here for you in some form since 1865 – even before Nebraska was a state.

It's a story that at its most basic level is one of freedom. The stories we tell keep us all free by holding leaders accountable, by informing our community about what matters, and recording Omaha's history. Our stories also entertain, enlighten and inspire, forming the fabric of our community.

We can tell this story best because our storytellers – our employees – are part of the community, too. We are your friends and neighbors.

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Profit maximization through robotics automation 5/8/18

By Jane Nicholes, SNPA Correspondent

Rohit Rathore wants to take automation in the newspaper industry to a new level by incorporating robotics and artificial intelligence into largely repetitive business functions.

This cutting-edge technology is rapidly emerging as a game changer in financial and insurance industries and offers significant benefits to the media industry as well, Rathore said. He said that if it is applied diligently, the result would be dramatic cost savings ranging from 40 to 80 percent for newspapers and the opportunity to reduce or eliminate outsourcing, especially outsourcing overseas.

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Kingsport paper cuts expenses with ProImage's ink saving software 5/7/18

ProImage recently installed its ink-saving solution "OnColor ECO SaaS" at the Kingsport (Tenn.) Times News. The newspaper's goal was to reduce ink cost and improve color reproduction quality.

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Can you lend a hand with SNPA contests? 5/7/18

SNPA is seeking volunteers to help judge three SNPA contests.

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Salary survey questionnaires are due by Friday 5/1/18

Questionnaires for this year's SNPA Salary Survey are due by Friday. This survey provides good benchmarking data – all at no cost – but your participation is key! Every daily newspaper is encouraged to share data for this study.

Whether you publish a large-circulation paper with all of the positions included in this questionnaire ... or publish a small-circulation daily with a handful of positions: Please share your data for those positions that your newspaper staffs.

Download the survey questionnaire (Excel file)

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Advance Local to utilize Arc platform for its many sites 4/30/18

Advance Local has signed an agreement with Arc Publishing, The Washington Post's fast-growing platform-as-a-service business, under which Arc will power technology for Advance's many sites, including NJ.com, NOLA.com, AL.com and Cleveland.com, among others.

Built by The Washington Post, Arc technology handles complex publishing and audience needs across video, web, apps, subscriptions and ad monetization, providing a competitive advantage enhanced by a set of sophisticated machine learning and AI-powered tools.

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There's just over a week to submit your Photo Contest entries 4/27/18

Win cash prizes and earn recognition for your photojournalism skills in SNPA's 2018 Photo/Video Contest.

The contest includes four categories: Spot news photos, Sports photos, Feature photos and Videos.

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Comintelli and Newscycle announce partnership agreement 4/24/18

NEWSCYCLE Solutions, developer of the industry-leading NewsEdge content syndication platform, has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Comintelli, a Swedish software company that provides enterprise solutions for competitive intelligence, market insights and knowledge management.

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