The News Media Alliance has launched the final ad of the second phase of its Campaign to Support Real News. The new ad puts an exclamation point on the storyline it began in October 2017 with a strong statement: "We Are Real News," and unlike other news "publishers," our high-quality investigative journalists are committed to reporting the truth.

In a column published yesterday, Clint Shelton, publisher of The Decatur (Ala.) Daily, announced that the paper is changing the print frequency of the paper to five days a week – because of changing reader habits and a new tariff being levied against newsprint.

Beginning March 5, the print edition of The Decatur (Ala.) Daily will be delivered daily except Saturday and Monday. The monthly subscription rate, unchanged since 2015, will not change.

The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., has announced that it will outsource much of its newsroom print page design to an outside vendor.

The Pilot previously said it was considering taking this action as a way to save money in an era where newspapers are seeking to grow online while fighting a decline in print revenue.

In mid-January, the U.S. Department of Commerce slapped a tariff on Canadian newsprint, which is used by around 75 percent of U.S. publishers and is particularly prevalent in the Northeast. Even though the duty may yet be reversed, American newspapers – already struggling to go to print in an era of rapidly declining circulation – have to pay it in the meantime. Many publishers fear it'll add upward of 10 percent to their print costs, and could even result in job losses.

Lee Enterprises, Incorporated has sold its newspaper and digital media operations in Maysville, Ky., to Champion Media LLC, including The Ledger Independent and maysville-online.com, according to Randy Cope of Cribb, Greene & Cope who represented Lee Enterprises in the sale.

Paxton Media Group has purchased The Daily Herald of Roanoke Rapids, N.C., from Wick Communications.

Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, N.M., represented Wick Communications in the transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Tony Baker has announced that his family has entered into a definitive agreement to sell substantially all of the assets of RG Media Company to GateHouse Media, a subsidiary of New Media Investment Group Inc. RG Media Company publishes the 46,000-circulation Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard.

Are you telling the positive story of the importance of your newspaper in your local community? Then share it with your peers!

All of us recognize the need to market our brands as the most trusted source of local news and information. Many of you are doing it well – others aren't doing it at all. So let's learn from each other.

SNPA wants to help you access the best of the best when it comes to local marketing campaigns and what our members are doing to fight this battle.

Patrick Dorsey, regional vice president for the Coastal Group of GateHouse Media, and publisher of the Herald-Tribune Media Group in Sarasota, Fla., has been named president of SNPA, effective immediately.

He was appointed by the SNPA Executive Committee to succeed Les Simpson, who stepped down after leaving the Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News. Simpson plans to stay in Amarillo and work outside the newspaper industry.

Beginning in April, 24 bestselling authors will write original 800-word essays for local newspaper readers via a new column, "The Writer's Notebook." Every other week a different author will explore everyday life – familiar joys and sorrows, hassles and triumphs – exclusively for newspapers with average daily print circulations of less than 100,000.