every day’s like christmas better newspaper contest at … · 2009-08-18 · the children of...

IN THIS ISSUE:RETURN TO TEACHING: PG 04 | Terry Clark plans to spend more time teaching

WEB TERMS 101: PG 08 | A glossary of common Web terms

STARTING A WEBSITE: PG 12 | A look at free content management systems

Official Publication of the Oklahoma Press AssociationVol. 80, No. 8 • Sixteen Pages • August 2009

Download The Oklahoma Publisher in PDF format at www.OkPress.com/the-oklahoma-publisher

By KEITH BURGIN, OPA Staff

If you’re looking to get a press release touting a product past Phil-

lip Reid and the staff at Weatherford Daily News, you’d better have sent some bacon-flavored vodka along with it.

’Cause that’s just the way they roll.

Three years ago, Reid, publisher of the Daily News, had had it up to his eyeballs with unpaid press releases – releases that came in the form of official-looking e-mail but were little more than thinly disguised advertisements.

His standard reply was a cut-and-paste that said something along the lines of “Hey, that sounds like a great product. Who can our sales department con-tact about placing an ad to promote it?”

The response was underwhelming. One in a hundred showed interest.

Perhaps the rest were shocked; outraged that the introduction of camouflage boxer-briefs with a built-in

night-light was not front page news for the residents of Weatherford.

So, on it went. The Daily News received three to four hundred e-mails per day. Mixed in amongst the actual business mail and the children of Nigerian royalty pleading to set up money transfers were the press releases.

Cut, paste, return… ad nauseam… until the day Reid decided to change the message.

“Please send samples for consideration in our publications,” the new reply said. It was a water-shed moment in the history of free stuff.

Reid was speaking their language; the language of public relations agencies – no budget for advertising, but we’ll send you free samples all day long.

Boxes and boxes of review products poured in the door. Every day was like Christmas, said Reid. Five pound boxes of M&M’s candies, coffee makers, snacks, greeting

cards, even a Dell laptop computer came in.

About 50 percent of the companies respond with products.

One day a bottle of Hpnotiq liqueur arrived, chilled by an enclosed ice pack and accompanied by a CD of spa music, a

fluffy robe and a pair of slippers. Spirits companies don’t seem to mind send-ing samples.

Reid keeps the liquor for himself. Staff take the other stuff home, try it out and report on the success-es or failures of the trials.

Every day’s like Christmas at Weatherford Daily News

A rule change was made in the 2009 Better News-paper Contest to encourage more participation in the annual contest, which is open to current OPA Business and Sustaining members in good standing.

This year, OPA business members competing in divisions 1-7 will be determined after all entries have been submitted to OPA. Entries will be divided as equally as possible into three daily and four weekly divisions determined by circulation.

The recommendation was made by last year’s OPA Awards Committee and approved by the OPA Board of Directors to “level the playing field.” In last year’s contest, one division had over 20 competitors while another had only five. Without the change, the com-mittee would probably need to review the divisions every year.

Semi-, Twin and Tri-Weekly newspapers, which are not affected by the rule change, will continue to com-pete in Division 8. Sustaining membership newspapers will compete in Division 9.

Also changed in the rules this year is the point sys-tem. Events 1-3 will be awarded 120 points for first place; 90 points for second; 70 for third and 50 for fourth. Events 4-12 will receive 100 points for first; 70 for second; 50 for third and 30 for fourth. The change was made to give more weight to first place.

All entries must be postmarked by Monday, Sept. 28, 2009.

The same deadline of Sept. 28 applies for the annual Web Site Contest, Print Quality Contest and Outdoor Writer of the Year. Although these contests are not part of the Better Newspaper Contest, mem-bers can submit entries with the newspaper contest and write one check for all entries.

Rules for all four contests are available on the OPA Web site at www.OkPress.com /contests—awards.

For more information, contact Lisa Potts or Jen-nifer Gilliland at (405) 499-0020 or 1-888-815-2672 (toll-free in Oklahoma).

SEPTEMBER 28 DEADLINE FOR BETTER NEWSPAPER CONTESTSame deadline applies for Web, Print Quality

and Outdoor Writer of the Year contests

When Weatherford Daily News Publisher Phillip Reid began asking for samples of products promoted in press releases, gifts began arriving daily. Daily News Managing Editor Emily Sims shows off some of the recent items the newspaper has received.

Continued on Page 2

2THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHER, August 2009

Voices of community newspapersFrom everyday life to life changing events, Oklahoma newspapers keep readers informed about what’s happening in their community. Following are samples of what’s appearing in Oklahoma newspapers.

THESE DAYS THE TERM “HERO” gets thrown around for describing people doing ordinary actions. On Sunday afternoon we had the unique perspective to watch the biggest heroic actions we can ever recall seeing. After responding to cover what we initially heard was a woman being shot, we found ourselves covering the tragic deaths of two Seminole County Deputy Sheriff officers. Marvin Williams, Chase Whitebird and the entire law enforcement and emergency response teams are the real heroes in our books. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families.

Stu Phillips, EditorialThe Seminole Producer, 7-28-2009

OKLAHOMANS JUST MIGHT be voting between two women for the governorship in 2010. It appears that Lieutenant Governor Jari Askins is a strong candidate for the Democrat

nomination and Congresswoman Mary Fallin seems headed towards the Republican nomination. To this point, Oklahoma has not had a woman governor, but things very well might change.

Larry R. Wade, EditorialElk City Daily News, 7-09-2009

I REALLY DON’T KNOW what is going on at the commission table in Yale. Actually it looks like more is going on behind the scenes than at the actual table. Decisions seem to already be made before the meeting; but other times people look as if they are blindsided by the actions or inaction of commissioners. There were a couple issues at the last special meeting that really got my blood pumping.

Suzy Oberholtz, EditorialFor the Record (Yale), 7-02-2009

BY GLORIA TROTTER, Publisher of The Countywide & SunBY GLORIA TROOTTER, Publisher of The Countywide & Sun

CatseyeOPA PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

The dog days of summer are definitely over. Sorry, Mr. Black and Miss Patches – that’s what they call those slow summer days

when your brain tends to shut down whether you’re on vacation or not. You guys wouldn’t understand, because every day is like that for cats, right?

The beginning of a new school year always cranks it up at our newspaper and brings us out of the summer stupor, but I got a big head start as the new fiscal year for OPA/OPS began July 1. Well, it was actually much later in the month before things started heating up. The board of directors held its first meeting of the new year on July 23, with Rod Serfoss actually bowing and scraping to me as I picked up the gavel for the first time. That was the end of the fun, though; the rest was five solid hours of hard work on your behalf.

Without a doubt the highlight of the board meeting was the report submitted by the advertising staff on their series of meetings with advertising agencies. Our ad gurus, Sarah Barrow, Steve Barrymore and Cindy Shea, are already attacking some of the obvi-ous problems. You’ll be hearing more about what they found in the coming months, but let me hit a few of the high spots:

• AGENCIES ARE VERY POSITIVE about smaller community newspapers, although they are concerned about circulation loss with larger papers. They believe smaller papers have more intense readership because of strong local news coverage and less media competi-tion. They also believe smaller papers reach more of the younger readers than do the major metros.

• AGENCIES WANT MORE RESEARCH — readership, market coverage, demographics, circulation trends, etc. They use these numbers in presentation to their clients, so the more data we provide, the more likely they are to sell us.

• AGENCIES SAY PLACING ONLINE ADS THROUGH OPS would benefit them greatly. They would include online ads as part of their media campaigns and would buy them through OPS. But again, they want accurate, consistent Web statistics. They are concerned that newspapers don’t always understand terminology.

There’s a lot more in the agency report, such as concern about rate disparity between OPS and individual newspapers, but that’s a whole other subject and one we’re going to ignore. Marketing Committee members Rusty Ferguson, Phillip Reid, Sherry Lankford and Delanna Nutter volunteered to flesh out the message for a campaign we want to wage to reaffirm the value of newspapers to advertisers and readers.

The OPS staff already developed a glossary of terms related to Web advertising so we’ll all understand what is being asked. You can look it over on page 8 in this issue. It’s also on the OPA Website at OkPress.com/web-resources.

If you’re still looking at that Web advertising form OPS sent out weeks ago because you don’t know how to fill it out, the glossary may help. I sent my form in only a few days ago because we had no clue what an appropriate “cpm rate” would be and weren’t even sure which Web statistic was the “impressions” they wanted. Sarah helped me with that, and would be glad to help you.

So far, only about 40 newspapers have returned those forms, probably because of the same confusion I had. That’s about half of the member newspapers that have full Web-sites and therefore could theoretically accept OPS online ads. Clearly, we need the rest of you onboard to give the sales staff the tools they need. Most of all, we need the 130 or so members without full Websites to seriously look at getting out there. It’s critical to our future.

I’m running out of space, so let me finish up by saying I’m really energized by the first four committee meetings of the year. Attendance was great, enthusiasm was the order of the day and spirited debate kept everyone on their toes. Best of all, about 15 committee members were brand-new to the process, giving us fresh insights and outlooks.

Committee work is the basis of our organization. Major change starts there, and many improvements result from questions and suggestions. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of you who volunteered for committees this year. Your contribution to our organization cannot be overstated. Thank you.

Food often gets an instant review right there in the office.

If the product is appropriate for the Daily News’ stories in Home Improve-ment, Outdoor Living, Senior Living, etc., it might get a mention but they never print the entire press release. If the product is mentioned, the Daily News e-mails a copy of the paper to the marketing company.

“I wrote a lovely story about how to make a peartini,” said Reid, who added that he was sold on Grey Goose La Poire as soon as he tried it.

The latest product Reid tested was a scratch remover called “Applesauce” designed specifically to polish the screens of iPods and iPhones. It didn’t work at all.

So, the Daily News contacted four competing companies and reviewed the samples that came in until one worked.

Applesauce asked for their sample back. It’s the only time Reid can remember any-one asking for a return. He believes that

they may have wanted to check the bottle or the mixture.

If all of this seems like madness, Reid’s method is his message.

“Public relations agencies need to understand that we are not the free medi-um,” said Reid.

“We’ve had so much fun with this idea,” said Reid, “but we want to get the point across that we’re not free.”

Whether it’s hotel rooms, DVDs, din-ing or the aforementioned bacon-flavored vodka, the Daily News would rather review it than run a free press release any day.

Reid would like to see other papers try it.

“We’ve had so much fun with this idea,” said Reid. “Now it’s time to share our secret.”

He hopes others will join in, enjoy the products and let the PR agencies know that they shouldn’t expect free publicity with-out some sort of consideration.

If you’re concerned about looking odd to your friends, save the fluffy robe and slippers for casual Fridays.

Continued from Page 1

Christmas at Weatherford Daily News


ISSN 1526-811X

Official Publication of the

OKLAHOMA PRESS ASSOCIATION

3601 N. Lincoln Blvd.Oklahoma City, OK 73105-5499

(405) 499-0020 • Fax (405) 499-0048Toll-Free in Oklahoma: (888) 815-2672

Web: www.OkPress.comE-mail: [email protected]

PUBLISHERMark Thomas

[email protected]

EDITORJennifer Gilliland

[email protected]

OPA OFFICERSGloria Trotter, PresidentThe Countywide & Sun

Rod Serfoss, Vice PresidentClinton Daily News

Joe Worley, TreasurerTulsa World

Mark Thomas, Executive Vice PresidentOklahoma City

OPA DIRECTORSSteve Booher, Past President

Cherokee Messenger & RepublicanRusty Ferguson,

The Cleveland AmericanJeff Shultz, Garvin County News-StarJeff Mayo, Sequoyah County Times

Jeff Funk, Enid News & EagleRobby Trammell, The Oklahoman

Dayva Spitzer, Sayre Record &Beckham County Democrat

SUBSCRIBE TO THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHER

$12 PER YEAR

THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHER (USPS 406-920) is published monthly for $12 per year by the Oklahoma Press Association, 3601 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105-5499. Periodicals postage paid at Oklahoma City, OK.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHER, 3601 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105-5499.

Broken Arrow resident files open records request Broken Arrow Public Schools’ legal

expenditures went from $8,500 one year to more than $200,000 the next.

Chris Tharp, a member of Broken Arrow Parents for Truth, wants to find out why and said that BAPS is violating Okla-homa’s Open Records Act by not turning over billing records.

Tharp and the Broken Arrow citizens group made an initial request for the records in September 2008. After what Tharp said were repeated refusals by the Board of Education, he hired an attorney to file an open records act request.

On June 11, 2009, Marvin Laws, an attorney with Hayes, Magrini & Gate-wood, requested billing records detailing fees paid by BAPS to the firm of Rosen-stein, Fist and Ringold.

Rosenstein, Fist and Ringold claimed that the records are a matter of attorney-client privilege and refused to relinquish them.

“I don’t really think the public is enti-tled to know exactly what we spend our legal bills on,” said Maryanne Flippo, a Board of Education member.

“I mean, I’m elected to represent the

public. This is not a democracy. This is a republic,” she said. “That means that I’m elected and you guys trust me to make decisions and because you all don’t have the time to go into and research every-thing. That’s what I’m elected to do, to research and study all this stuff.”

BAPS has since hired another law firm, Crowe & Dunlevey, to advise them as to whether to turn over the records.

In turn, Tharp’s attorneys have now asked for an accounting of what is being spent with Crowe & Dunlevey in addition to the original record request.

Mistake on agenda delays commissioners meetingA scheduling snafu delayed a Muskogee

County Board of Commissioners meeting for two days and forced it to meet two days later.

The meeting was scheduled for Mon-day, July 20, but the posted notice mistak-enly read July 27.

The Oklahoma Open Meeting Act requires that agendas be posted 24 hours in advance of any regularly scheduled meet-ing, excluding weekends and holidays. The incorrect agenda was posted on the Thursday prior to the scheduled meeting.

County Clerk Karen Anderson tried to

correct the mistake by calling an emergen-cy meeting for July 20. However, District Attorney Larry Moore told the board that the meeting could not be held.

Moore said that the Open Meeting Act only allows the board to hold an emer-gency meeting if the county would suffer immediate financial loss.

Anderson told Moore that the financial emergency was that the county would lose interest on deposits and pay late fees to vendors if purchase orders were not approved at the Monday meeting.

Moore disagreed, and said that a regular

meeting could be scheduled and properly posted for Wednesday, July 22, without any financial loss.

Moore said Anderson does have the right to call an emergency meeting, but only if the board has adjourned for the month and “the best interests of the county demand it.”

If an emergency meeting is warranted, the clerk must give five days notice by either posting it in three public places or publishing it in the newspaper, said Moore.

APME selects Oklahoman as finalist for annual award

The Oklahoman was one of three finalists selected for the Associated Press Managing Editors Association’s (APME) third annual Innovator of the Year Award.

The Oklahoman was selected for its staffwide commitment to video. Other finalists were the News-Press of Fort Myers, Fla., and The News Journal of Wilmington, Del.

The awards will be presented dur-ing the group’s annual conference, Oct. 28-30, in St. Louis. APME, an asso-ciation of editors at AP’s 1,500 member newspapers in the U.S. and newspapers served by the Canadian Press in Can-ada, recognizes journalism excellence with annual awards in five categories. www.nationalmediasales.com

EDWARD M. ANDERSONP.O. Box 2001

BRANSON, MO 65616(417) 336-3457

[email protected]

Newspaper Brokers

Appraisers

ConsultantsTHOMAS C. BOLITHO

P.O. BOX 849ADA, OK 74821(580) 421-9600

[email protected]

We have many years experience in the community newspaper market

PETER GILL RESIGNED as managing editor of OKC Friday on July 31 after accepting a creative and design position with Coaches Aid, a community-based high school Website.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! This past month, the Marietta Monitor turned 113, and The Express-Star in Chickasha celebrated its 117th year.

NEWS BRIEFS


OPA CALENDAR OF EVENTSComplete Listing of Events at

www.OkPress.com

SEPT. 25-26, NORMANAPME NEWSTRAIN - THE BUSY EDITOR’S GUIDE TO JOURNALISM

Become a more effective editor with two days

of training in editing and management skills

for online news. This national program is a

two-track workshop offering (a) hands-on

classes to boost editors’ skills at using social

media and shooting and editing web video;

and (b) the best new ideas for setting and

maintaining standards, planning multimedia

content, ethical decision-making and more.

On Friday, Sept. 25, Bob Dotson of NBC’s

Today Show will present “Survival Kit for

Professional Storytellers: How To Compete

with Cell Phones and Web Sites.” Registration

is only $50 to attend one or both days at

OU’s Gaylord College of Journalism & Mass

Communication in Norman. Visit www.okpress.

com/newstrain for more info.

VARIOUS DATESOPEN MEETING/OPEN RECORDS SEMINARS AROUND THE STATE

Attorney General Drew Edmondson, OPA,

ONF and FOI Oklahoma invite the public

to attend these regional seminars about

Oklahoma’s Open Meeting and Records acts.

The seminars are designed to inform elected

or appointed officials about their responsibility

under the acts. All seminars are held from 1 to

4 p.m. and are free to attend. Venue locations

and other information are available at

www.okpress.com/seminars.

ALTUS, THURS., AUG. 20

TECUMSEH, MON., AUG. 31

TULSA, TUES., SEPT. 1

ELK CITY, THURS., SEPT. 10

POTEAU, TUES., SEPT. 15

OKLAHOMA CITY, THURS., SEPT. 17

PONCA CITY, TUES., SEPT. 29

DUNCAN, THURS., OCT. 1

For more information on upcoming events, visit the Web

site as noted in the calendar, go to the OPA Web site at

www.OkPress.com or contact Member Services

Director Lisa Potts at (405) 499-0026,

1-888-815-2672 or [email protected].

After 19 years as the chair of the Mass Communications Department at the Uni-versity of Central Oklahoma, Dr. Terry Clark stepped down on July 31.

“It’s time,” said Clark. “I’m getting tired of the paperwork… and the chance to spend more time on teaching, working with students and bolstering the state press and the department is welcome.”

Clark has routinely scored between a 3.7 and 4.0 on a 4.0 scale in student evalu-ations.

“I think learning should be fun, and the most important things you learn in college are not in textbooks,” he said. “I believe passion in teaching and teaching passion is the key to success.”

Clark earned his degree from UCO in 1966 and began teaching in Iowa at the age of 22.

He earned his Masters in Journalism from the University of Iowa in 1969 and then earned a doctorate in Mass Communi-cations and Higher Education at Oklahoma State University.

He once owned and was publisher of the Waurika News-Democrat, worked at The Duncan Banner and as a part-time copy editor at The Daily Oklahoman.

When Clark took the job as chair of the UCO journalism department in 1990, he was only the fifth full-time faculty member in a department with 200-300 students.

Today the Mass Communications Department has more than 800 students, 22 full-time faculty members, 25 part-time faculty members and nine staff members.

As a result of the merger of the Broad-cast and Journalism programs that occurred in 2004, Mass Communications is now the largest department at UCO.

Clark saw the need for the merger, which took five years to implement, nine years ago.

“We knew that all of our students needed … cross-platform training,” he said. “They need to be able to do more than just write a print story. It was for the good of the students and reflected industry trends.”

Clark is modest about his role in the merger and gives credit to UCO President Roger Webb as well as the Mass Commu-nications faculty.

“I think it’s definitely one of the accom-plishments…that I helped bring about for the good of our students and department,” Clark said.

Clark still writes for various publica-tions, including The Oklahoma Publisher, and his feature stories have appeared in Oklahoma Today and Persimmon Hill.

In 2006, the Liberal Arts College rec-ognized the work Clark has done as chair by voting for him to receive the Life-time Achievement award. He is especially proud of this award because it was a vote of his peers and it was the first one given in the college of Liberal Arts.

Clark has returned to teaching and developing the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.

Dr. Roz Miller, a communications pro-fessor, has taken over as chair of the Mass Communication Department. Dr. David Nelson, a broadcasting professor, serves as assistant chair.

Clark’s journey leads back to classroom

DR. TERRY CLARK

The Drumright Gusher has hired Nicci Cude as a general reporter. Cude spent the last 14 years in Yale, but grew up in Cushing and Drumright. In 2000, she worked for the Yale News.

“I loved working for a small news-paper,” said Cude. “And I’m glad to be doing it again in Drumright, especially for a respected hometown newspaper.”

Drumright Gusher adds reporter NEWSPAPER & PUBLICATION BINDINGBefore you have your next issue bound, give us a call. We offer exceptional quality, competitive pricing and fast turnaround times. With three generations of experi-ence, we have the knowledge and skill to get your job done. Other services include Bible binding and restoration, embossing and much more.

ACE BOOKBINDING CO.

E-mail: [email protected] • www.AceBookBinding.com

825 N. Classen Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73106(405) 525-8888 or Toll-Free at 1-800-525-8896

Lindel Hutson, The Associated Press’ bureau chief for Oklahoma, retired July 27 after a 37-year career with the news service.

Hutson was named Oklahoma bureau chief in 1989 after serving as AP’s news editor in Indianapolis. He joined AP in Little Rock, Ark., in 1972 and in 1978

transferred to AP’s national editing desk in New York.

Hutson was inducted into the Okla-homa Journalism Hall of Fame in 2008. He has been a leading advocate for First Amendment issues in Oklahoma, both as a founder of FOI/Oklahoma and as an active

participant in the annual Oklahoma First Amendment Congress.

He started his newspaper career in 1966 at the Jonesboro Sun while a student at Arkansas State University.

After two years as a military journalist in the Army, he worked for the Texarkana Gazette before joining AP.

Lindel Hutson retires as AP Oklahoma bureau chief


The Ethics and Excellence in Journal-ism Foundation of Oklahoma City recently distributed $1.8 million in grants to 18 journalism organizations nationwide.

The grant included $40,000 for the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation’s internship program, which places college journalism students in the newsrooms of Oklahoma’s community newspapers.

The late Edith Kinney Gaylord founded the organization dedicated to journalistic ethics, skills and opportunities.

Other organizations receiving grants are:

• THE CHALLENGE FUND FOR JOURNALISM VI, a grant program sponsored by the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the McCormick Tribune Foundation, $400,000. The program aids organiza-tions working in youth media, ethnic media and investigative reporting.

• THE OKLAHOMA MUSEUM OF HISTORY, $300,000 for staff support and increased computer capacity. The grant is to assist with conversion of Oklahoma’s historic

newspapers to digital files for online access.

• BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY, Waltham, Mass., $150,000 for The Innocence Project, an investigative reporting center, and for Ethics & Justice Investigative Journal-ism Fellowships, which promotes well-documented investigative reporting in the public interest.

• iFOCOS, a media think tank in Reston, Va., $150,000 for operating support and for “Pitch It,” a competition to identify promising early-stage innovative media projects.

• GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, Washington, D.C., $134,000 for the 2009-10 series of the Kalb Report, four forums that will be held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

• INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE AND JOURNALISM FOR IMMIGRATION IN THE HEARTLAND, $100,000 for a project that includes a four-day conference at the University of Oklahoma, funding for in-depth report-ing projects, and building an online network of journalists and immigration experts.

• THE WASHINGTON CENTER FOR POLITICS AND JOURNALISM, $100,000 to support the Politics and Journalism Semester, a twice-yearly program that brings col-lege journalists to Washington, D.C., to learn about politics while they intern in major news bureaus.

• STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER, Arlington, Va., $87,000 for the Attorney Advocate program and for technology to place The Law of the Student Press online for widespread public access.

• UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY, $60,000 for a multimedia training pro-gram for professional journalists.

• PUNDIT PRODUCTIONS, Washington, D.C., $50,000 to support Capitol News Connection, which provides localized and interactive reporting from Con-gress.

• YOUTH NEWS SERVICE LOS ANGELES BUREAU, $50,000 to support LA Youth, an independent newspaper written by and for teens.

• REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, $45,000 for a Freedom

of Information Fellowship, an Open Courts Compendium and an Internet Legal Handbook.

• AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, $40,000 for “J-Lab,” which offers interactive jour-nalism training, and “Newspaper in a Box,” which teaches how to launch a multimedia community news site.

• NORTH AMERICAN STREET NEWSPA-PER ASSOCIATION, Washington, D.C., $30,000. The organization supports newspapers geared to poor, homeless and socially excluded communities.

• WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY, Salem, Ore., $30,000 for the International Debate Education Association’s Debatepedia, an encyclopedia of debate arguments.

• INDEPENDENT ARTS & MEDIA, $25,000 for Newsdesk.org’s “News You Might Have Missed,” tracking national and global issues from a local and regional viewpoint.

• FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OKLAHOMA, $15,000 for First Amendment Confer-ence speaker expenses and honorari-um.

Oklahoma journalism foundation awards $1.8 million in grants

Several changes are planned for the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame as it enters its 40th year, and Dr. Terry Clark welcomes your advice.

Clark, professor of journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma, said relo-cating the Hall of Fame display to a promi-nent area in the Nigh University Center was a top priority for the year.

“President Roger Webb’s vision for the Journalism Hall of Fame is to boost its visibility and influence in the state. We will have a permanent presence to boost its prestige, ” Clark said.

Webb appointed Clark director of the

Hall of Fame last year, with the move and other changes in mind. Clark will be spending half time working on the Hall, in addition to teaching.

“I want to increase the visibility and stature of the hall around the state, to better honor the members, and to strengthen the influence of our journalists, through pub-licity and other projects,” Clark said.

The Hall of Fame will have offices and a meeting room in the university, as well as the display. Clark intends to begin compil-ing video interviews with members of the hall of fame as an oral history for viewing in the meeting room.

He also hopes to put together a book on the first 40 years of the Hall of Fame, founded in 1971 by former UCO journal-ism chairman Dr. Ray Tassin. It would include photos and citations of all mem-bers.

Another possibility is a speaker’s bureau, where Clark would come to civic groups around the state to speak about the local press and members of the hall of fame. An improved Website will also be implemented.

Clark asks OPA members with ideas to

improve the Hall to contact him at [email protected].

He’s already met with interior design and design faculty at UCO, and senior level students will be working with him this fall on preparing a design for the new facilities.

He added that nominations can now be made for next year’s induction in early April, with a deadline of Dec. 1. For more information, contact Clark, or Sherry Sump, who will work half-time as the administrative assistant to the hall at (405) 974-5121.

LEGAL ADVICEis just one of the benefits of being a member of the Oklahoma Press Association’s Legal Services Plan. Remove the worry of needing professional advice by enrolling today. For more information contact:

OKLAHOMA PRESS ASSOCIATION’S

LEGAL SERVICES PLAN

1-888-815-2672 or 405-499-0020

Suggestions for improvements to Journalism Hall of Fame sought

The Oklahoman and The Claremore Daily Progress both placed in the National Newspaper Association’s 2009 Best of Newspaper In Education contest.

Awards will be presented on Sept. 26, 2009, during NNA’s 123rd Annual Con-vention in Mobile, Ala.

The Oklahoman received notice of a General Excellence Award, which will be

announced at the awards ceremony. The Oklahoman also received second place in the Best Ideas category, daily division, and second place in the Educational Support category.

The Claremore Daily Progress placed third for Best Ideas, Daily Division.

For more information about the NNA convention, visit nna.org.

State papers win NNA Newspapers In Education awards


Looking to reach new advertisers?

You can easily expand your reach using self-service advertising.Advertisers can place print ads 24/7, directly from your website—you get guaranteed payment and press-ready ads.

Go online for a free SpeedyAd demo and you could

win a Flip Mino™ camcorder!www.multiadspeedyad.com/flip

Questions? 800.245.9278, ext. 5324

On July 20, 2009, The Edmond Sun made a request to the City of Edmond for copies of any excessive force complaints against Edmond police officers for a peri-od of three years.

The Sun got part of what it wanted. According to the records received

under Oklahoma’s Open Records Act, six complaints of excessive force were lodged against the Edmond Police Department between November 2005 and November 2008.

Of the six complaints, reports for only three were included in the city’s response. The other three, said City Attorney Steve Murdock, are part of the city attorney’s

litigation file and may be kept confidential under a section of the Open Records Act.

The litigation Murdock refers to is an August 2008 lawsuit filed by Edmond resident Gary Mayfield alleging assault and battery by an Edmond police officer in 2007.

Mayfield’s attorney wants to include another excessive force complaint in the lawsuit – that of Richard Watson, Jr., who was arrested on charges of public intoxi-cation and possession of drug parapherna-lia on April 10, 2008.

Watson claims that an Edmond police officer treated him with excessive force while in the Edmond jail.

Edmond police investigated the inci-

dent and found no fault with the officer’s conduct. However, an Edmond police ser-geant claims that the video of the incident tells another story.

The Sun requested both the jailhouse video of the Watson incident and the dash-cam video of the Mayfield arrest. Both were withheld.

In each case where requests for records or video were refused, Murdock cited on-going litigation and the Open Records Act protection as reasons.

Regarding the videos, Murdock said that he was required to seek permission from the litigants through their attorneys before releasing them.

The section of the Oklahoma Open

Records Act that Murdock refers to involves litigation files and investigatory files of the state attorney general, dis-trict judges or city attorneys, said Mark Thomas, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Press Association.

Thomas said that the language says that city attorneys “may” keep the infor-mation confidential, not “shall” keep it confidential.

Thomas also questioned the necessity of asking someone’s permission before releasing a public record like the videos.

Thomas said the city is withholding the information by choice.

“The video and the records could clear it up for everybody,” Thomas said.

City denies The Edmond Sun’s request for police

Have a

Need aWEBSITE?CAN YOU SEND

AN E-MAIL?THEN YOU CAN UPDATE YOUR OWN

WEBSITE WITH TRIAD EGB SOFTWARE,IN A MATTER OF SECONDS

For More InformationCall Steve 405-249-7249

or Erin 405-517-3668

TAKE BACK

CONTROL

OF YOUR

NEWSPAPER’SWEBSITE!


KEN FLEMING, who directed production operations at the Tulsa World for nearly three decades, died Aug. 11, 2009, at his home in Florida. He was 75.

Fleming twice oversaw the installation of new presses at the World — first in the mid-1970s and again in the late 1990s.

A native of San Antonio, Fleming worked for newspapers in San Antonio, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Little Rock and operated his own press-erecting business before coming to Tulsa in 1970.

He initially served as production super-visor of Newspaper Printing Corp., an entity owned by the World and The Tulsa Tribune to carry out most non-newsroom functions of the two newspapers.

Fleming became NPC general busi-ness manager in 1971, vice president in 1974 and chief operating officer in 1976. He also was an officer of Magic Empire Express, a World subsidiary.

After the Tribune closed and NPC was dissolved in 1992, Fleming became presi-dent of World Publishing. He served as a mentor to Robert E. Lorton III during the 1990s and retired in 1999 with the title vice chairman and chief operating officer.

He was also part-owner of Oklahoma Offset, a printing company he started with Robert Lorton in the mid-1980s, until his retirement. Fleming moved to Florida after his retirement.

He is survived by his wife, Gail Flem-ing of North Palm Beach, Fla.; a brother, Gene Fleming, and his wife, Lynn, of Fredericksburg, Texas; son Randy Flem-ing of Coweta; daughter Susan Major and her husband, Richard, of Bixby; son Ben Fleming and his wife, Kelly, of Hobe Sound, Fla.; and nine grandchildren.

ART MOORE, former publisher of The Barnsdall Times for 42 years, died on July 21, 2009, at the age of 101.

Arthur Laurence ‘Art’ Moore was born April 20, 1908, in Bronson, Kan., to Lau-rence and Nellie May Moore and gradu-ated from Bronson High School in 1926.

Moore attended the Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kan., and worked for the Blue Mound Newspaper from 1926 to 1929. He married his wife Christine in 1929. A year later, they moved from Blue Mound, Kan., to Cushing, Okla.

In 1930, the Moores purchased the Barnsdall Times and moved to Barnsdall. Moore owned and operated the Barnsdall Times until his retirement in 1972. In the

1950s, Moore’s brother became a partner in the newspaper.

Moore also owned part of a furniture store in Bartlesville.

After retiring, Moore worked in his woodshop and garden. He was preceeded in death by his wife, Christine. Moore remarried in 1998 and he and his wife, Gerda, lived in Barnsdall.

He is survived by his wife, Gerda; daughters Patricia Louise Mace and hus-band Robert of Broken Arrow, Marilyn Jean Wilson of Tulsa, Dorothy Jane Moore of Carlsbad, Calif., and Dianne Marie Fisher and husband Woodson of Tulsa; seven grandsons; two granddaughters; and several great-grandchildren.

KENNETH R. MURNAN, 64, died July 11, 2009, at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa.

Murnan was owner and publisher of the Nowata County People.

Murnan was born May 27, 1945, in Pur-cell. He graduated in 1967 from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration.

He enjoyed photography, reading, col-lecting baseball cards and his grandsons.

He is survived by his wife, Sandra Kay Murnan, of Delaware, Okla.; son Shawn and his wife Candy of The Woodlands, Texas; daughter Brandi Vowell and her husband Tony of Independence, Texas; and four grandchildren.

RAY SHAW, a former Associated Press newsman and chairman of American City Business Journals, died July 19, 2009, at his home in Charlotte, N.C., from complications following a bee sting. He was 75.

Shaw worked for the AP in the 1950s in Oklahoma City, Louisville, Ky., and New York. He became president and chief oper-ating officer of Dow Jones & Co. before buying control of American City Business Journals in 1989. He sold ACBJ in 1995 to Advance Publications but remained as chairman.

Shaw grew up in El Reno, Okla., where he started his journalism career on the local newspaper. He attended the Uni-versity of Oklahoma and worked for The Daily Oklahoman and the Associated Press in Oklahoma City while in school.

Shaw is survived by his wife, Kay; sons Whitney and Kirk; daughter Beth; and seven grandchildren.

DEATHSBy MICHAEL MINNIS, OPA ATTORNEY

A recent Ninth Circuit opinion threw some light on the emerging liability of Website providers.

The court affirmed a judgment for Yahoo on a tort claim, but reversed a judgment for Yahoo on a contract claim.

In this case, an ex-boyfriend began posting his former girl-friend’s profile on a Yahoo Website and urged people to call the ex-girlfriend for sex.

The ex-girlfriend asked Yahoo to remove the offensive pro-file. When Yahoo did not remove the material after promising to

do so, the former girlfriend sued. When the suit was dismissed by the district court, she appealed. The Ninth Circuit panel discussed the impact of Section 230 of the Communica-

tions Decency Act [47 U.S.C. § 230] on the plaintiff’s claims. The panel noted that Section 230 has two separate provisions. The first [230(c)(1)] protects a provider or user of an interactive computer ser-

vice from liability when the action is based on defendant acting as a “publisher.” “Courts must ask whether the duty that the plaintiff alleges the defendant vio-

lated derives from the Defendant’s status or conduct as a ‘publisher or speaker’. If it does, Section 230(c)(1) precludes liability.”

The word “publisher” is broadly construed. “A publisher reviews materials submitted for publication perhaps edits it for

style or technical fluency, and then decides whether to publish it . . . Removing content is something publishers do, and to impose liability on the basis of such conduct necessarily involves treating the liable party as a publisher of the content it failed to remove.”

The court said that a breach of contract claim is premised – not on the status of whether or not the defendant is a “publisher” – but on whether or not the defendant breached a promise.

Thus, Section 230 does not preclude a contract action where the status of the defendant as a “publisher” is irrelevant.

The lesson is that Website providers should not make promises it does not keep.

Section 230 protects tort, not contract liability

Carolyn Estes recently received the “Heart of the Community” award from the Oklahoma Bankers Association.

Estes, who is advertising director at the Oologah Lake Leader, received the award at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Aug. 12.

The OBA honors individuals that exem-plify the true meaning of volunteerism and have gone above and beyond in donating their time and resources to the benefit of others.

Estes was nominated for the award by Lakeside State Bank.

Carolyn Estes receives award from OBA


Technology that is unfamiliar uses terms that are just as unfamiliar. Oklahoma Press Service assembled this glossary of terms that you might run into while working with your Website – and with the Okla-homa Press Service’s new Web advertising program.

AD ROTATION – The “swapping” of one ad for another within a particular space. For example, an ad for Apple comput-ers might display one time you load the page and an ad for HP printers might display the next time. This is usually tracked and controlled by the ad server.

AD SERVER – A computer server spe-cifically set up to deliver online ads to Websites. These ads might be text ads, banner ads, graphical pop-up ads, etc. Normally, ad servers will control through their system the frequency, rotation and run of these ads and log related statis-tics. If someone not affiliated with you or your agency owns the ad server, it might be referred to as a “third-party ad server.”

AD SPACE – Area on your Website avail-able for ad placement.

ANIMATED GIF – A .gif image that contains information that allows it to display in a Web browser as different frames in a sequence.

BANNER AD – Also known as an interac-tive banner or simply a banner. This is a display advertisement placed in a Website. These ads are generally linked to the advertiser’s Website or to another point with more information about the product or service.

CAMPAIGN, AD CAMPAIGN, FAMILY – The length, impressions, clicks, etc., that a client has purchased for their ad. This is the allotted inventory that the advertiser has signed up for. The ad server tracks this and changes the dis-play ad when a campaign has expired.

CLICK THROUGH – Also referred to as a click. It’s the process of clicking an ad through to the advertiser’s destination.

CLICK THROUGH RATE (CTR) – Mea-sured by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions and is

usually displayed in percentage. For example: if you have 10,000 impres-sions and 100 clicks, you would have a 1% CTR.

CONVERSION – The point at which the banner ad produces the result it was intended to. This could be an online sale, it could be a filled out form, a signed petition, etc. The “click though” is converted to a desired action.

CPM – Cost Per Thousand. (See Pay Per Impression)

CRAWLER, BOT, SPIDER – A program that automatically moves from link to link on the Web, indexing (cataloging) content as it goes. Search engines use these to find the resources they link to. If you pull up a piece of information on Google, a spider found it for you first.

FLASH – Adobe’s rich media format. Com-monly used for movies, video and ani-mated ads on the Web.

IAB – The Interactive Advertising Bureau is a group of media and technology companies. The IAB, at iab.net, offers education, marketing strategies, news, and helps create standards for the inter-active marketing industry.

FRAME RATE – The number of frames per second show in video or a Flash movie. Generally, the more frames per second, the smoother the movement of the video.

IMPRESSION – Each time a banner ad is displayed in a Web browser, it creates an impression, which is stored by the ad server’s tracking software.

INVENTORY – Number of available impres-sions on your Website for ad display. Can also be broken down into impres-sions available for a particular area or section of your Website.

INVOCATION CODE – In order to display an ad from an ad server, your Website needs to request it. An invocation code is a little piece of code written to do just that. It will be placed in your Website in the exact location you would like the ad to be displayed. When your visitor loads the page, the invocation code will

request your ad from the server, and the server will respond by displaying it.

LEADERBOARD – A thin, wide display ad that measures 728 X 90 pixels. Stan-dard IAB size and one of three sizes OKPress Web Advertising sells.

MEDIUM RECTANGLE – A display ad that measures 300 X 250 pixels. Standard IAB size and one of three OKPress Web Advertising sells.

NON-QUALIFYING PAGE IMPRESSIONS – Pages that failed to load properly or were loaded by automatic programs such as bots, crawlers and search indexers.

OFF-SITE MEASUREMENT – The practice of sending server statistics to an out-side agency for analysis and reporting. Google Analytics is a good example of off-site measurement.

ON-SITE MEASUREMENT – Analysis and reporting of server statistics using soft-ware that you have in-house or on your server.

PAGE VIEWS – The point at which a user views a page. Measured by tracking software.

PAY PER IMPRESSION – Measured in CPM or Cost Per Mille (thousand) impressions. For example, if you charge $10.00 per thousand impressions, and your site generates 10,000 impressions for that particular ad, your campaign would make $100.00.

PAY PER LEAD – This model pays for every sales lead generated by the dis-play of an ad. Most commonly, it pays upon user completion of an online form, perhaps with the user’s contact informa-tion.

PAY PER SALE – This model pays for every sale that is made based upon the display of an ad.

REMNANTS – Remnant ads are adver-tisements purchased in bulk from an agency, often millions of impressions at a time, for a reduced price. Remnant ads are rotated into ad space by the server for pennies per click and normally

will not produce much revenue unless you run a high traffic Website.

SERVER / CLIENT – A server is a com-puter with software designed to answer requests for files made by another soft-ware program known as a “client”. In the case of Websites, your Web browser (Safari, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explor-er, etc.) would be an example of a client. Your e-mail program would also be a client. Servers can talk to one another as well. In fact, the World Wide Web is nothing more than millions of servers connected and talking to one another over the Internet.

SKYSCRAPER – A common term for a tall, thin banner ad. Measured in pix-els, OKPress Web Advertising sells the 160 X 600 IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) size.

TRAFFIC – Files accessed or visitors to your Website. This can be tracked through the use of special software that records the actions of the Website.

URL – Universal Resource Locator is simply a Web address. An example would be http://www.okpress.com.

UNIQUE VISITORS – The measurement of a user or browser that has been served content, ads or documents from the Website. A unique visitor is often identi-fied by tracking software.

WEB BROWSER – Software program that requests, displays and caches files or documents downloaded from the World Wide Web. A Web page is a document that might be displayed in a Web brows-er, commonly called just a “browser.” Examples of common browsers include Safari, Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer.

WEBSITE – A collection of Web pages meant to display as a unit through the use of links. Good Websites accomplish this through a consistent, easy-to-find “navigation” system made up of labeled links to pages.

Download this page at:OKPress.com/web-resources

Take time to familiarize yourself with common Web terms


A mutton buster goes down at the Deon Bumpers Memorial Rodeo in Stigler.Photo by MARHYA PRICE, Stigler News-Sentinel, Published June 4, 2009

Three sets of baby screech owl eyes peer down from a walnut tree in northwest Oklahoma City. The photographer counted seven screech owls in the tree who were taking refuge from harassing blue jays while being raised.

Photo by PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, The Oklahoman, Published June 20, 2009

JUNE 2009 DAILY WINNER:

PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND

The Oklahoman

JUNE 2009 WEEKLY WINNER:

MARHYA PRICEStigler News-Sentinel

VIEW ALL WINNING PHOTOS AT WWW.OKPRESS.COM

THE OGE PHOTO CONTEST


HANNAH RIEGERHannah, a junior at the University of Oklahoma, completed her summer internship at The Purcell Register.

When I think back on my summer of 2009, I will fondly remem-

ber the many experiences I had working at The Purcell Regis-ter, and the valuable informa-tion I gained that will help me in my career in journalism.

I learned so much about the nature and value of com-munity journalism from the

Montgomery family – from the amazing people I worked with (and colorful characters who often dropped by the local newspaper!), to the interesting stories I covered, to the afternoons of cutting and waxing the paper onto the paste-up boards, to the mailing of the weekly paper so many people anxiously awaited. There was actually a line outside of the newspaper’s office of people waiting for a copy!

I was really pleased to experience the switch to InDesign for layout, and the efficiency this will bring to the paper. The opportunity to learn InDesign will be extremely valuable to me in the future.

My dad, being a journalist himself, made a bet with me the first day I started my internship. He bet me that my first assignment would be to write a story about myself joining the staff at The Purcell Register. Needless to say, I owed him a lunch of his choice!

I learned my way around Purcell thanks to Publisher John D. Montgomery, who gave me the grand tour my first day. Although I made a few wrong turns after that on my way to interviews, I finally found my way around. Purcell not only has the friendliest people, but it also has some of the most amazing local cuisine. The people of Purcell are extremely proud of their commu-nity, and care deeply about the city and its residents.

After completing so many journalism classes at OU and working for The Oklahoma Daily, it was so nice to get out of the OU journalism bubble and experience professional journalism in a smaller community setting. The Purcell Register provides local coverage of news, sports and community events that simply is not available anywhere else. It reemphasized to me the importance of journalism to our society, and increased my desire to pursue journalism as a career.

Who knows where the winds will blow my career in the future, but right now I am so grateful for the oppor-tunity given to me by the Oklahoma Newspaper Founda-tion, and The Purcell Register and the citizens of Purcell for letting me into their lives for the last eight weeks.

Thanks for the memories!

CARA BAILEYCara, a senior at the University of Oklahoma, interned with the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise.

Deadlines. They are synonymous with the news-paper industry. I didn’t realize how important it is for every page, every story and every edit to

be made on time. I’ve always met my deadlines, but I’ve never seen the editing and page making deadlines for a real newspaper until my internship with The Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise this summer.

At my previous internship, I had month long deadlines. Dur-ing my University of Oklahoma journalism classes, I knew about my deadlines months

in advance. Even in my classes that required a story a week, I never saw the whole newspaper process. I simply thought of a story idea, proposed the idea, conducted interviews, wrote the story, edited it and turned the story in.

Through my internship at The Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, I learned that page designers put together every newspaper in three hours.

Discussing the story with the page editors was also something I’ve never had to do before. That’s why the newspaper process was a community effort. Making sure everyone had enough page room for the story and mak-ing sure everyone knew about the story ahead of time was necessary.

Communication is important at any small to medium sized newspaper in order for it to be published on time. This is because knowledge about a time sensitive story and knowledge about how much room for the story makes the process more efficient. I experienced this during my internship by talking with the entertainment editor when it was necessary. I informed her about my stories before I wrote them and she helped me learn how to localize a story for the Bartlesville community.

I feel like this internship prepared me for a career in journalism through its hands-on writing experience and writing diversity. I covered an education meeting, a city council meeting and wrote many feature stories for dif-ferent audiences. I wrote stories for the teenage section, Xpress, and the women section, Real Women. I’ve learned how to gear my stories for any age group by writing for these sections.

I truly believe my experience at The Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise prepared me as a journalist. When I graduate this December at OU, I know I’ll be prepared to work at any small, medium or large newspaper through this internship experience.

KEVIN KERRKevin, a senior at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, interned with the Kingfisher Times & Free Press.

I’ve tried starting this article two or three times to no avail. This community and this paper has just been an experience that can’t be explained in only a few

words, but then again, only one word comes to mind when I think about my time here... awesome.

The community of Kingfisher has been more than I could have hoped for. The people are kind and generous without flinching and welcomed me as if I had been here for years. When I leave for a story, the person I interview typically already knows who I am, which makes doing my job much easier.

I’ll always have memories for my children, grand-children and so on and so on of my time in Kingfisher, including my accommodations, which Max Thomas graciously offered to me. It’s a cozy place with just the bare necessities, but with a few added extras such as the chickens with fresh eggs every day that share my build-ing. It was definitely an adventure, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

To the staff of the Kingfisher Times and Free Press, thank you. From day one I felt like I was a valued mem-ber of your team. I was put on stories my first week that I would have only dreamed of getting in a year’s time at other places. I was allowed insight into the amazing world of cut-and-paste pagination, and also got to experi-ence what it’s like to insert ads manually every Wednes-day morning.

The different personalities that make up this staff are what make it unique. It was as if I was working with an older, more experienced version of my Northwestern News staff back in Alva.

At this point in a farewell letter, the writer usually says there were good times and bad times. But really, the experience was all positive, almost no negative to speak of, except when I accidentally accused a lawyer of being charged with something. (Sorry again.) There was never really a heavy moment in the newsroom here, it was all lighthearted and fun. I loved it, every moment.

As I recall, I had only been here a week before I had my birthday, and, again, it was as if I had been a staff member for years. They knew me, gave me a card, made cupcakes for the newsroom... it was probably one of the best birthdays I’ve had.

I have to wrap this up, but to finish this out I just want to say thank you, a huge, county-wide thank you. The Kingfisher Times and Free Press is a county paper, and no matter where I went in the county for stories or for anything else, I was treated as an equal and as a respect-able reporter. Thank you to the county, to the community of Kingfisher, and especially to the staff of the Times and Free Press, with whom I worked with daily. I can only hope my next job will be even half as awesome as my experiences have been here with this publication.

How we spent our summer vacation – ONF interns


MARY GRAYMary, a senior at the University of Oklahoma, served her summer internship with the Sulphur Times-Democrat.

As my summer internship comes to its end, looking back over the last ten weeks I am reminded that my time at the Sulphur Times-Democrat has been

both an educational and pleasurable experience. I have gained valuable

experience as a reporter. This is experience that could not be gained in any classroom, and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to learn in such an enriching environment and friendly town.

My studies at the University of Oklahoma have taught me a range of different journalism techniques and skills, however,

working in an actual news room takes those techniques and skills and perfects them for real life experiences.

I have met many great people during my time in Sulphur, who have shown me public officials are not daunting entities, but rather everyday, approachable people that love their community.

Some of my best moments have been attending County Commissioners, City Council and School board meetings.

I believe covering these meetings has made me a better journalist. Before my internship I was extremely intimidated about reporting topics from these meetings, but now I feel extremely confident with my abilities.

My most memorable story from this summer was when I looked at private schools versus public schools in sports activities.

I enjoyed this article because it is clearly an issue in the community and I hope my article helped inform people on the problem.

I also enjoy sports; so learning about how high school athletics are ranked from school to school was very inter-esting.

This summer a big issue has been water in Sulphur. It was interesting to hear the various views on this subject and then have to present a fair and balanced story.

I think the water issue taught me how to fairly include dissenting views but also write a good story.

I just want to thank Jamie and Kathy John, and Jen-nifer Townsend at the Sulphur Times-Democrat for their encouragement and guidance this summer.

Also, I must thank everyone that has made me feel welcome during my time in Sulphur.

MEGAN FOSTERA senior at Oklahoma State University, Megan worked at The Paper in Pryor this summer.

When people would ask me where I was intern-ing, the conversation would always turn into a word play that rivaled Abbott and Costello’s

famous “Who’s on first” rou-tine.

Which paper? The Paper.Yes, but which paper?You get the idea.On my first week, I started

building them a new Web site, one they could be proud of and update themselves.

And while I was teach-ing them how to manage and

update their Web site, Paul Lewis taught me how cam-eras work, Terry Aylward helped me with my writing skills and Andy Gaddy explained the advertising side of newspapers, which made me glad I’m not studying advertising.

I got a chance to learn basic skills that I should have learned in school, like how the city negotiates a contract with its police department and fire department every year and how to read a legal address. Andy and Terry also helped me realize that newspapers are a business, not just a civil service.

While in school, it’s easy to lose sight of the need to make money so you can stay in business. In the real world, it’s a problem so real to many newspapers, some that have had to file for bankruptcy or, like Rocky Moun-tain News, shut their doors forever.

The most important thing I learned during this intern-ship was the need to appeal to their audience with their stories, not just give them what they believe the public wants. Students are able to idealize about being a journalist and informing the public, even when the public doesn’t want to know.

It’s possible to tell a story about the city council’s regular meeting and have all of your subscribers read it – you just have to learn to write for your subscribers.

Although I learned a lot during my internship, prob-ably my favorite thing was working with Terry, Andy and Paul. They managed to make the day-to-day operations that make up a weekly newspaper look easy.

share their newspaper experiences Thank Youto the Ethics and

Excellence in Journalism Foundation for funding the ONF Internship Program.

Thank you to the following individuals and organizations for

their recent donations to the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation:

BARTLESVILLE EXAMINER-ENTERPRISE in memory of Madona Crouch, Dave Story and Bob Evans

PONCA CITY NEWSin memory of Dave Story

PURCELL REGISTERin memory of Dave Story and Madona Crouch

ANADARKO DAILY NEWSHOBART DEMOCRAT-CHIEF

KINGFISHER TIMES & FREE PRESSSEQUOYAH COUNTY TIMES

WATONGA REPUBLICANOKLAHOMA ASSOCIATION

OF ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES

If you would like to make a donation, please send a check to:

OKLAHOMA NEWSPAPER FOUNDATION3601 N. LINCOLN BLVD.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73105


CALL LOUANN SORNSON AT 800.223.1600 FOR FURTHER INFO

WWW.METROCREATIVECONNECTION.COM

TWO NEW WAYS TO

MAKE MONEY WITH METRO ONLINE

TIMELYFEATURESMICROS ITESREADY-TO-DEPLOY-AND-SELL THEMEDSITES

ONL INE ADDES IGN TOOLMETROINTERACTIVEAD DESIGNER(MiAD)

Once more we plunge our hands into the murky waters of technology and hope against hope that nothing bites the heck out of us. This month, we’ll discuss two Content Management Systems (CMS) that may be appropriate engines for your news-paper Website.

CMS make it possible for those who have no experience in designing or build-ing Websites to update their content simply and easily using a Web browser such as Safari or Firefox.

Before we jump right in, let’s touch on the term “Open Source.” Open source soft-ware is software created by a community of programmers and other propeller-heads who share their work with one another in order to advance the project as a whole.

What this means to you is that the pro-grams we’ll discuss today are free to use.

Also, because the programming languages and databases are also open source, there are many commercial Web hosts out there that will host your site inexpensively.

Let’s get our hands wet.WordPress started as traditional blog

publishing software. The idea was to enable a user to post stories or rants to a Website through an administration page (admin) that you could access with a com-mon browser. Entries were kept in chrono-logical order and sorted by category, date, etc.

Ease of use and styling quickly made WordPress the darling of the blogging community. Today, WordPress is one of the most widely-used content publishing programs in the world.

The software has come a long way. It’s no longer pigeon-holed as blogging soft-ware. It’s more functional, versatile and powerful than ever.

The admin is clean, clear and acces-sible through one navigation bar. The new

“dashboard” puts most of the common tasks right in front of you, or one click away. Editing content is no more difficult that using any word processor.

In my research, I found a couple of themes for WordPress that give it that “newspaper” feel. I’ll list them on the OPA Website along with the Joomla! templates that do the same thing.

For a small, to medium-size newspaper on a short budget, WordPress may be a solution. It’s simple, elegant and func-tional.

Joomla! is more complicated, but ulti-mately more powerful and malleable. Joomla! is a full-fledged CMS with many of the bells and whistles you’ll find on sys-tems costing thousands of dollars.

The media manager allows you to cre-ate your own folders where you can upload and store images, Flash movies, PDFs, etc., for use in your pages. The system lets you build navigation, sections, categories and articles quickly.

Joomla! is modular, meaning that it’s comprised of individual elements that are laid out separately. You can easily switch that poll question from the right column to the left column or anywhere else with a few clicks of the mouse.

Once again, this is free software. But templates and additional modules, such as one that allows purchase of subscriptions, are not always free.

I’ve found that most professional tem-plates cost around $50 to $70. If you’re paying more than that, there has to be a justification.

Inserting banner ads in Joomla! is a breeze. The built-in banner system even keeps track of impressions and clicks for

you, and will start and stop a campaign based upon your settings.

There are better banner ad systems available for Joomla!, but the built-in one will get you started.

Joomla! takes a little learning, but it’s not rocket surgery. If you can run Micro-soft Word and answer your e-mail, you should have no problem picking this sys-tem right up.

Here’s the downside of running your own CMS and using open source software. Unless you pay someone for it, there’s no hands-on support. Most issues are minor and require just a bit of reading. Some are not so teensy and may warrant calling a pro.

To be sure, there are plenty of CMS services out there ready to accept your business. Some of them are quite reason-able and friendly and the good ones will answer your questions readily.

The decision is yours as to whether you want to take the reins and install your own CMS for your newspaper or call a service and pay the monthly fees. There are posi-tives and negatives to both.

I’ve put a list of “newspaper” tem-plates for each CMS at OkPress.com/web-resources along with links so you can view them. I’m not endorsing one over the other, simply giving you a chance to look.

The task of setting up a Website for your newspaper might seem intimidat-ing, but it’s really not. Keep your goals in mind, become comfortable with your part in maintaining the site and accept the fact that regardless of which way you go, it’s an investment – money, time or sanity.

Now dry off your hands and get that finger looked at. That’s a nasty bite.

That InterWeb Thingby KEITH BURGIN, OPA STAFF

Choosing free content management software


plugged IN

Many of us have preached for years that a really good PDF is nothing more than a good EPS converted by Adobe Acrobat Distiller.

If you’re having problems with your PDFs falling apart at the printer, try this workflow to creating them.

Install Distiller on a central machine in the building, even a server, that has all fonts on it.

Create a new folder at a shared point, making sure every-one has the proper path and access to that folder.

Open DISTILLER, select SETTINGS > WATCHED FOLDERS. Click ADD FOLDER, browse to the folder you just created and select OPEN. This creates an IN and OUT folder within that original folder.

No matter which page layout program

you’re using, if you output your page as EPS (selecting CMYK or grayscale) to the IN folder, Distiller will convert the file to PDF and save it in the OUT folder.

This is a simple way to make sure you have a good PDF every time. You can even have Distiller delete the EPS.

This process eliminates different set-tings on each machine and produces a consistent PDF every time. You will have to standardize your EPS files, though.

The most important thing is to choose your color set-tings. If your document is black and white, the settings are easy – just choose grayscale. If the document

is color, be sure the CMYK color settings in OUTPUT > INK MANAGER are set for ALL SPOTS TO PROCESS.

Leave the color unchanged. Distiller is not altering your color photos in any way.

It’s up to you to convert your images to CMYK in Photoshop. You probably already know what your pressman wants in the PDF settings. When in doubt, though, start with the press quality PDF settings, set the font embedding to warn and continue.

Setting up multiple accounts on one computer might seem complicated, but it’s really not – and it’s a great way to get more use out of one work station. It’s also a good idea in terms of security.

Let’s say you hire a student or intern for the summer and you’re either not completely sure of their computer skills or are afraid of the whole social network-ing world these youngsters seem to live in. One way to keep control is to create an account just for them, and limit access to non-work functions.

At the end of the summer, or whenever that person leaves, you simply delete that person’s account and the original user account is left intact.

This also works out well if there’s more than one work shift sharing a com-puter. For instance, you can set up an account strictly for doing accounting and have it password protected. Now others could use that computer without exposing your sensitive files.

To set up users on a Mac, click the blue apple in the upper left corner of the

screen and select SYSTEM PREFERENCES. Click on ACCOUNTS for the account con-trol window.

To add an account, click the ‘+’ symbol on the left side below the list of accounts. The system will ask for a login name and password. Don’t forget to set per-missions here. Give administrator rights to those who need full access; limit access to others as you see fit.

It’s a good idea to keep a file of the logins and passwords you assign so they’re available to you later. Keep the file somewhere safe.

The administrator account you use to set all this up also needs a password; go ahead and edit or add one. To edit a pass-word, select your account from the list, and click CHANGE PASSWORD.

Now select LOGIN OPTIONS at the bot-tom of the account list. Make sure the machine is set to ask a for login each time it boots up. Be sure you know the password you used before you restart the machine.

We’ll use Vista as an example of set-

ting up a Windows machine. Click START > CONTROL PANEL > USER ACCOUNTS, then select MANAGE ANOTHER ACCOUNT

in the window that appears. In the next window, click CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT.

The system will ask for a new user name and whether the user is an administrator. Most commonly you create a standard user, which allows them to use the software but limits the changes they can

make to the system. This is also the time to add parental controls, if necessary.

When creating a password, it’s a good idea to use upper and lower case letters and a number or two – and maybe even a symbol. Don’t forget to write it down and keep it in a safe place. Windows machines will ask you to login every time you start if you have more than one account.

Each user account has its own pref-erences and settings, internet favorites, e-mail settings and such, but users share the programs installed. Be sure to put fonts in a central location that all users have access to.

Creating multiple accounts is a great way to get the most out of one machine, and just makes good sense.

OPA COMPUTER CONSULTANT WILMA MELOT’S COLUMN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE OKLAHOMA ADVERTISING NETWORK (OAN). FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE OAN PROGRAM, CONTACT OKLAHOMA PRESS SERVICE AT (405) 499-0020.

computer notesfrom the road

by WILMA MELOT

InDesign SnippetAn unnecessary step in the workflow

of mid-size newspapers is the process of creating PDFs of in-house ads.

An alternative to that might be to cre-ate ads or story packages in InDesign, then export them as snippets.

Think of snippets as a library item without the library. They can be reused again and again. As long as you stan-dardize fonts throughout your paper, it works pretty well.

The process is simple:First, embed the art you’ve placed

in your ad and group the whole thing. Select it with the black pointer and click FILE > EXPORT. Choose INDESIGN SNIP-PETS as the export format.

The layout person can use the “place” command to drop it in the document and edit it, if necessary.

You can even place more than one snippet at a time. Simply drop them from the loaded cursor and you can quickly come close to finishing a page. Snippets can even be dragged from the desktop into InDesign.

InDesign CS4 gives you a small pre-view of what’s in the snippet when you select it.

Master PagesMaster Pages in Quark and InDesign

allow you to create multiple ready-made layouts. If you’d like to build one tem-plate for all your newspaper pages, this is the way to do it.

It works best if you turn off “facing pages.” In the pages palette menu, insert a new master page and give that page its unique settings, such as for the Sports page. Then create another for the Liv-ing page, etc. Set up a some with 4- or 6-columns and maybe one with just a folio at the top.

Put a left and right folio at the top of each page. Whoever builds pages can set the numbers up.

Master pages can have the sports header or any standing art already placed when you use it to make a new page.

One copy of Acrobat Distiller can create perfect PDFs for all

How to set up multiple users on one computer


You gotta find a lead.That’s what I’m struggling with as I try

to figure out how to begin a column about writing columns.

When Michelle Charles of the Perkins Journal spoke up at a recent OPA educa-tion committee meeting, wondering where she could get some guidance on columns, I started thinking about that distinctive form of journalism that I love.

Personal columns are also a powerful form of journalism that is disappearing from newspapers just when they need them the most. Columns attract more read-ers and build reader loyalty more than most other kinds of journalism and they give newspapers individual personality in these days of cookie-cutter corporate media.

TV has nothing to compare, and while Internet blogs are the natural descendents of columns, most blogs don’t grab the audiences waiting to read your comments in a column.

I fondly remember when The Oklaho-man had Sunday columns by RGM, “The Smoking Room,” and Ray Parr, “Parr for the Course.” They were the highlights of the Sunday paper. These days, I look for-ward to Maureen Dowd in the New York Times, but there’s nothing like that for Oklahoma readers.

I believe that papers without personal columns are ignoring one of their greatest inherent strengths. Oklahoma newspapers need more of them. Using OPA’s OPEN, I counted only seven papers with the traditional front-page columns – Apache News, Beaver Herald-Democrat, Heald-ton Herald, Marietta Monitor, Moore-land Leader, Oklahoma City Friday and Tishomingo Johnston County Capital-Democrat. I know many other papers have them inside, but we need more. Look at the wildly popular sports columns in the big dailies.

So what are the rules for column writ-ing? Good news. There are none.

But there are some common-sense guidelines that can make the job a little easier.

Columns fall into three basic categories

– single topics, a series of unrelated short items separated by the writer’s initials, bullets or some typographical device, and a combination.

I think the series of shorts is the easier, because you accumulate stuff during the week that you want to comment on, or your readers ask you to put in there. They can be observations, announcements of community events, humorous items, etc. Remember the old “Seen” and “Heard” items that used to appear on the front pages of weeklies? That’s still not a bad idea because it gets names of readers in the paper, and it’d fit well in a short item column.

Another version of this that would work would be to go through your exchange papers and find brief items in other towns of interest to your readers. I did this once, calling it “Around the Area,” always giv-ing credit to the other papers. This would still work today because we’re not getting much statewide news coverage, with wire service and metro cutbacks.

The more difficult column is one that you have to write on a regular basis, meet-

ing a deadline when you can’t think of anything to write.

Before I tried to start a column, I’d just make a list of topics you want to write about, but I strongly urge you to have a local angle and mention local people. Frankly, we have all the political columns and talking heads on that stuff we need – unless it is a state issue that affects your readers.

I remember my late partner, Don Morri-son at the Waurika News-Democrat, was a great column writer, but he was so enraged at Nixon that his column “Key Notes” degenerated into a weekly gripe session that nobody enjoyed reading. It’s OK to be negative and criticize, but riding a hobby horse digs a deep rut.

When you get right down to it, a single-subject column is usually a feature story, or the equivalent of a short speech. It can be serious or off the cuff, but the tone is usually conversational.

Get their attention, tell the story and wrap it up with a ribbon.

So the structure is almost the same: have an attention grabbing lead. Then a sentence or two we call the nut graph –

what the column is really about. Then a few paragraphs for the rest of the story. Finally, wrap it up with a bow – a short sentence or two that perhaps leads back to the beginning. A clincher.

Here’s an example from Ray Lokey’s most recent “Foot Prints” at Tishomingo:

“Number 388“Marjorie Cody is a statistic this week.“Last Friday morning she was a liv-

ing, breathing mother and grandmother riding in a car on her way back home to Tishomingo with her daughter and grand-daughter.

“No more.“According to….”By the way, we need more publishers’

voices like this in our newspapers. We’re hungry for community, for commitment, for real people these days. It builds reader loyalty.

Many of our columns come inside, on editorial pages. Barb Walters at The Hen-nessey Clipper writes the usually light-hearted “Couldn’t help but notice.” Here’s one of her leads:

“It was stupid hot.“It was the hottest day in July. You

could have fired off a cannon in the middle of main street — or any street — and you wouldn’t have hit a soul.”

Her conclusion: “Is it stupid hot in here, or is it just me?”

Here’s Steve Booher at the Cherokee Messenger & Republican, writing under “From this corner”:

“I make no apologies. It’s personal. I have an illegal alien in the family. He’s sitting in a Tulsa detention center right now….”

His conclusion: “Empathy is needed.”See how both of these writers grab

your attention, and wrap it up tightly at the end?

The biggest chore for such columns is that you have to do as much or more reporting than with a story. It’s not just opinion. My students think movie review columns are fun…but that’s because they’re all opinion and no work, and there-fore boring.

The biggest challenge of the single topic column is that the writer is so busy with everything else that the column gets pushed to the last minute. Then you’re rushed to churn out something, and you’re running on guilt. I know of no cure for

Clark’s CritiqueBY TERRY CLARK, Journalism Professor,

University of Central [email protected]

How to write a newspaper column

Two of the OPA’s newest members – Elk Citian and The North Central Reporter – provide readers with solid news and eye-catching layout.

Continued on Page 15


ADMINISTRATION

MARK THOMAS, Executive Vice President

[email protected] • (405) 499-0033

ROBERT WALLAR, Accounting Manager


STEVE BARRYMORE, Chief Sales Officer


SCOTT WILKERSON, Front Office/Building Mgr.


MEMBER SERVICES

LISA POTTS, Member Services Director


ADVERTISING

SARAH BARROW, Ad Director


CINDY SHEA, Media Manager


KATHY NASH, OCAN/2by2 Coordinator


LANDON COBB, Account Executive


MELISSA TORRES, Advertising Assistant


CREATIVE SERVICES

JENNIFER GILLILAND, Creative Services Director


KEITH BURGIN, Editorial Assistant


COMPUTER ADVICE

WILMA MELOT, Computer Consultant


POSTAL ADVICE

BILL NEWELL, Postal Consultant


OPEN (DIGITAL CLIPPING)

LOUISE GARVIN, OPEN Manager


JOSH COLEMAN, Digital Clipping Account Exec.


GENERAL INQUIRIES(405) 499-0020 • Fax (405) 499-0048

Toll-Free in Oklahoma: 1-888-815-2672

OPA STAFF DIRECTORY

that. But so much of our journalism is routine, a column is a chance to reward yourself, and worth the pain. Let’s face it, we all like bylines.

When you run out of longer stuff to write and just have a few notes, you can write a “cleaning out the notebook” col-umn of several short items.

Now some general points:Choose a name of the column that

fits you and your readers such as: “And That’s Wright,” Apache News. “This, That and the Other,” by Hodge Podge at the Mooreland Leader. “little h,” Healdton Herald. “Around Love County,” Marietta Monitor. “One Chipper’s Point of View,”

Beaver Herald-Democrat. “Oklahoma’s Beautiful People.” Friday.

No, you don’t have to have a name for the column. Many just slap a headline on it, with the writer’s picture.

Use short words, sentences and para-graphs.

Poke fun at yourself.People like nostalgia.People want some good news, want to

smile.Remember, you’re having a conversa-

tion with your readers.Have fun, write from the heart, or don’t

do it.No rules. Just write.Which means you can write a column

about anything… like this one, about writ-ing columns.

CLARK’S CRITIQUE: It was my privilege to judge the ONG Column and Editorial contest this month.

The good news…lots of good columns.Bad news…only four editorials! Maybe

I need to preach about the need for edito-rials. The editorial voice is the soul of a newspaper.

You have an advantage no other medi-um has, and to neglect it when you’re scrambling for readers makes no sense. Especially when you can win cash for them in a monthly contest.

Continued from Page 14CLARK’S CRITIQUE

NewsTrain workshop to focus on online journalism

It’s not too soon to start thinking about your Statement of Ownership filing on Oct. 1, 2009.

You may want to start collecting any information you need to help complete the form.

You will also need to look into the future for any planned issues that may be missed during the period of Oct. 1, 2009 to Sept. 30, 2010.

These should be included in your fre-quency of publication.

ELECTRONIC SUBSCRIPTIONSThere is some activity in trying to

resolve the issue of whether to count or not count subscribers of electronic periodicals

facsimiles as a part of a publisher’s paid circulation.

One method being considered is to include electronic subscriptions on the Statement of Ownership.

Discussions on how to audit these types of subscribers are ongoing.

I advise you to continue to monitor progress on this through the National Newspaper Association’s “Pub Aux” and your own Oklahoma Press Association’s “Oklahoma Publisher”.

FIVE DAY DELIVERY?Will we have five-day a week delivery

or will we have six-day a week delivery? This question is being tossed around in

Congress and among anyone impacted by the Postal Service’s actions.

In order to save money and to adjust to dwindling mail volume, the USPS is look-

ing for ways to meet this situation. A major cost to the USPS is that of employees and their benefits.

To date, the USPS has made major cuts in employment and yet they continue to loose millions every day.

One of the biggest items on the table is to eliminate one day of delivery. Tues-day was considered as a day to eliminate, although almost all businesses are open on Tuesday and receive mail. Saturday is being looked at strongly.

Preventing the Postal Service from dropping any delivery day is a Congres-sional decision.

Elimination of one day could be imme-diate if Congress agrees. However, Tonda Rush, NNA Director/Public Policy, thinks the earliest date would be Oct. 1, 2010.

I will keep you advised as information is received.

Start gathering information for Statement of OwnershipPostal Notes

by BILL NEWELL, OPA POSTAL CONSULTANT

Make plans to attend the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME) work-shop, NewsTrain – The Busy Editor’s Guide to Journalism, on Sept. 25 and 26.

The NewsTrain is two days of train-ing in editing and management skills for online news.

Hands-on classes boost editors’ skills at shooting and editing brief Web video and using social media to distribute con-tent. Plus, you’ll hear new ideas for set-ting and maintaining standards, planning

multimedia content, ethical decision-making and more.

Two tracks of instruction are available both days. Track 1 is hands-on training; Track 2 is topical training.

The seminar will be held at the Uni-versity of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism & Mass Communication, 395 W. Lindsey St., Norman, Okla.

Bob Dotson, news correspondent for NBC’s Today Show, will present “A Sur-vival Kit for Professional Storytellers: How to Compete with Cell Phones and

Websites” from 1 to 2 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25.

The cost is only $50 per person and includes lunch. Participants may attend one or both days for one price. Prepay-ment by credit card or check is required to hold your spot.

For more information, contact OPA Member Services Director Lisa Potts at (405) 499-0026 or e-mail [email protected]. Complete workshop infor-mation is available on the OPA Website at OkPress.com/newstrain.


CONGRATULATIONS TO THE JUNE 2009 CONTEST WINNERS

Thank you for continued support of “Share The Warmth”Read the Winning Columns and Editorials on the OPA Web site: www.OkPress.com (Under Contests)

Enter and Win a $100 Check from ONG!

Judge for the June 2009 Contest wasDr. Terry Clark, Journalism Professor,

University of Central Oklahoma

1. Each month, send a tear sheet or photocopy of your best column and/or editorial to ONG Contest, c/o OPA, 3601 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105-5499.

2. Include the author’s name, name of publication, date of publication and category entered (column or editorial).

3. Only ONE editorial and/or ONE column per writer per month will be accepted.

4. All entries for the previous month must be at the OPA office by the 15th of the current month.

5. Winning entries will be reproduced on the OPA Web site at www.OkPress.com.

Entries must have been previously published. Contest open to all OPA member newspapers.

Although Oklahoma Natural Gas Company selects representative contest winners’ work for use in this monthly ad, the views expressed in winning columns and editorials are those of the writers and don’t necessarily reflect the Company’s opinions.

JUNE 2009 EDITORIAL WINNER DAVID GERARD, MUSKOGEE PHOENIX

The 10 AgainThe Ten Commandments monument

in Stigler on the Haskell County Court-house lawn has received a lot of media coverage and comment over the past three years.

We’ve commented several times, upholding our belief that the monument was religious in nature and should not be displayed. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver rendered that decision this past week when asked to review a lower court decision favorable to the monument. The appellate court may not have the final say. Another appeal may follow.

However, the Denver court made the correct call. Backers of the Haskell County monument said openly that the display was religiously motivated. And even though most people in Haskell County may favor the display, this coun-try was founded on the principle that we protect the rights of all citizens, not just the majority. That’s especially true when it comes to religion.

What’s very distressing is that Okla-homa lawmakers don’t get this. They approved and the governor seconded the

placing of a similar monument at the state Capitol, which will certainly be challenged in court.

Rep. Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, who pushed for the Capitol Command-ments, has said he carefully crafted the bill so that it stressed the Decalogue’s historical influence, rather than its reli-gious importance.

Perhaps Ritze is concerned about history, but we tend to think that like those in Haskell County, he is motivated by his religious beliefs. In effect, he’s circumvented the law to get what he wanted.

But again, the greatest mistake by the Ten Commandments supporters is thinking that their rights are infringed upon because our government, and Constitution, distances itself from sup-porting any religion, even the majority religion, over any other.

But anyone has the right to put a Ten Commandments monument in his or her yard and on any private property that will accommodate the stone. But when one is erected in a public spot, it infring-es on the religious rights of others.

Column:JERRY

WHITEDOwasso Reporter

Editorial:DAVID

GERARDMuskogee Phoenix

every day’s like christmas better newspaper contest at … · 2009-08-18 · the children of...

Documents