As news becomes a more competitive commodity, newspapers must evolve their delivery process to accommodate new postal regulations. Publishers and journalists also need more digital training to protect and retain revenues from their content monetized by the major online platforms.
The News Media Alliance (NMA) and the National Newspaper Association (NNA), through its foundation, are jointly addressing these challenges. Their new postal and digital training initiatives will arm newspapers, publishers and journalists with the knowledge and tools to stand their ground.
Brett Wesner, president of Wesner Publications and NNA chair, and Danielle Coffey, NMA executive vice president and general counsel, are the visible leaders of the joint policy group the two organizations have created. Still, many others are contributing to the effort.
The postal education program is a National Newspaper Association Foundation (NNAF) project. It has been named the Max Heath Postal Institute after the foundation’s longtime advocate and trainer, Max Heath, who passed during July 2021.
“Max was untiring for decades, helping numerous newspapers and their publishers and circulation departments to understand the complicated and convoluted regulations and processes of the United States Postal Service,” said Wesner. “With the increased newspaper delivery rates and slower schedules, which the USPS instituted during late summer, newspapers, especially small, local publications, are at a competitive disadvantage.”
The NMA is advising the NNA on digital publishing policies to help its members understand the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (U.S. House bill H.R. 1735 and U.S. Senate bill S. 673). Together, the two advocacy groups will also address and support policies that protect journalists in their critical roles in a democracy with a strong First Amendment.
“Navigating the publishing and advertising rules of Google, Facebook and other platforms where consumers search for or view news is just as complex and frustrating as dealing with the USPS,” said Coffey. “Newspapers and journalists deserve a fair, digital playing field to publish and display their content to attract the most readers. They also need an equal portion of the ad dollars generated from search results to boost revenues to save more newspaper jobs, especially in lower-income and rural communities.”
Coffey added that the postal and digital training programs and other offerings will be available shortly, and the NMA plans to dedicate resources to add to the good work of NNAF through this joint effort.
Wesner further explained that more daily newspapers are converting to mail distribution because private delivery services have become too expensive. Plus, many papers have little or no experience with using USPS services and struggle the most with out-of-county deliveries. Without the necessary education which the Max Heath Postal Institute is now offering, many newspapers will continue to spend too much time and money maintaining their traditional delivery schedules.
The NNAF’s first step was the development of a training curriculum both for newspapers that have never used mail delivery and those that have but are becoming overwhelmed by the higher costs and more stringent regulations.
An Oct. 21, 2021, presentation entitled “Liberating your Newspaper from Costly Address Change Notices” was the first program of the new curriculum. More presentations covering similarly specific topics are being planned and scheduled.
For more information, visit the News Media Alliance website, newsmediaalliance.org, and the National Newspaper Association website, nna.org.
Bob Sillick has held many senior positions and served a myriad of clients during his 47 years in marketing and advertising. He has been a freelance/contract content researcher, writer, editor and manager since 2010. He can be reached at bobsillick@gmail.com.
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