May 9, 2012Learn how to engage your community

Community engagement isn't fundamentally about technology. It's attitudes and perspectives that invite, listen to and take into account community conversation and perspectives. 

In this new training opportunity from the Missouri Press Foundation, Joy Mayer of the Missouri School of Journalism will teach you not only about the digital tools that make that conversation easier, but she'll offer her expert insight into how to open your newsroom up to interaction with your community. You'll look at digital tools make that easy, and you'll talk a lot about social media and other free, easy paths to online interaction.  

Mayer's presentations at past trainings at the Reynolds Journalism Institute have received tremendous feedback, so this summer, MPF is bringing you a full day of Mayer and community engagement focused on small community newspapers.

Plan now to attend this Community Engagement for Community News seminar from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, July 20, at the Reynolds Journalism Institute on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia. The cost is $40, if you register before July 1, and includes lunch.

Mayer is an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism and faculty editor at the Columbia Missourian, where she is the director of community outreach. She teaches classes in participatory journalism, multimedia design and print design. Her work focuses on community engagement in journalism, and how news and information can be more of a conversation and less of a lecture.

May 9, 2012MPA Porter Fisher Golf Classic June 15

The Missouri Press Porter Fisher Golf Classic will be on Friday, June 15, at the A.L. Gustin Golf Course in Columbia. Shotgun tee-off for the 4-person scramble will be at 9 a.m.

Cost will be $50, which includes greens fee, cart and lunch.

A registration form is at mopress.com/current_forms.php. You can register for golf now by contacting Kent Ford at MPA, 573.449.4167 or kford@socket.net.

Mulligans will be sold at the course for $10 player, good for one "do-over" per nine holes. When you register, any contribution to the prize fund will be much appreciated.

The golf course is part of the University of Missouri Athletic complex. It's along Stadium Boulevard just west of the Providence Road intersection, where the football stadium is.

May 9, 2012SEMO Press Meeting will feature technology, design sessions

Newspaper design specialist Ed Henninger will be the featured speaker at the Friday, June 1, meeting in Cape Girardeau of the Southeast Missouri Press Association. Registration for the annual meeting will be at 9:30 a.m. in the University Center at Southeast Missouri State University.

Henninger will speak at 9:45 a.m. and again at 1:30 p.m.

The luncheon speaker will be Stephanie Padgett, assistant professor of strategic communication at the Missouri School of Journalism. She'll talk about the impact of technology, gadgets and social media on local news.

After lunch, Padgett will talk about gadgets and social media in advertising sales. That session will be concurrent with Henninger's.

At 2:35, Mark Kneer, general manager of the Southeast Missourian in Cape Girardeau, will talk about post office concerns. That will be the final session of the annual meeting.

May 8, 2012Most Helpful, Most Believable, Least Offensive

Political ads in newspapers 'most believable'

Between the general elections of 2002 and 2010, newspapers significantly increased their perception as providing Missourians with the "most helpful" and "most believable" political advertising.

During that period, Missouri voters who were surveyed said political advertising on television is much more "offensive" than ads in any other media.

Those are some of the findings of post-election surveys commissioned by the Missouri Press Association (MPA) and conducted by Pulse Research, Inc., of Portland, Oregon. Surveys of Missourians who voted were conducted after the November elections in 2002, 2006 and 2010.

"The results of these surveys show that in spite of the volume of political advertising on television, radio and the internet, Missourians see newspapers as the best place to look when they want information to help them decide how to vote," said Doug Crews, executive director of MPA.

While the "most helpful" perception of advertising in newspapers rose from 12 percent in 2002 to 21 percent in 2010, the same rating for television advertising went from 9 percent to 13.5 percent and for radio advertising from 0.5 percent to 3.8 percent.

"Most helpful" ratings for social media advertising were 1.3 percent in 2010 after not registering in the earlier surveys. Websites for candidates and issues actually fell on the "most helpful" question, from 15.5 percent in 2002 to 6 percent in 2010.

"Candidates and issue advocates would do well to take note of these findings," Crews said. "When people are looking for information to help them decide how to vote, they look to advertising in newspapers."

Missourians also perceive political ads in newspapers to be much less offensive than advertisements on television. In the 2010 survey, only 2.5 percent of the respondents said newspaper ads were the most offensive, while 53.8 percent said political ads on television were the most offensive.

When asked what medium had the "most believable" political ads, newspapers polled 19 percent, television got 7 percent and radio 3.8 percent.

This research shows that few Missourians are offended by political ads in newspapers, and many find them to be very helpful and believable, Crews said. At the same time, about 71 percent of the people surveyed "agreed" (15.4 percent) or "strongly agreed" (55.7 percent) that negative ads on television made them less likely to vote for that candidate or issue.

Other media choices in the surveys included live speeches, candidate brochures, telephone calls, websites, social media, several other mediums, "other" and "don't know."

Pulse Research polled 400 Missourians who voted in November from all counties in the state for the 2010 survey.

The complete survey results are available here: Post-election Summary Report 2002-2010,  2010 Phone Survey Post-Election Results and 2010 Online Survey Post-Election Results.

For graphics, advertisements and images about the survey go here.

MPA, founded in 1867 and based in Columbia, represents 280 member newspapers.

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