The National Newspaper Association (NNA) recently announced the first paid advertising commitment by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) directed toward rural community newspapers as a part of HHS’s “Risk Less. Do More” campaign.
NNA appreciates the efforts of Congress, in particular, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), Representatives Robert Aderholt (R-Alabama), Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) and Stephanie Bice (R-Oklahoma), to direct HHS in Report Language to ensure that appropriated funds reach rural communities with key health messages via rural newspapers. We also appreciate HHS’s positive response to connect with these underserved rural communities.
NNA also thanked members of the NNA Congressional Action Team for effective outreach to highlight the benefits of community newspapers as an advertising medium.
“It is my great pleasure today to announce the first investment in the health of rural Americans through community newspaper advertisements by HHS and its affiliates in many years,” NNA Chair John Galer, publisher, The Journal-News in Hillsboro, Illinois, said. “We are grateful to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and his remarkable team, including the department’s professional media buyers, for including rural journalism in its outreach. Their effort meets the facts on the ground that this is the only medium thousands of people have access to, and where, in many cases, people are the hardest hit by the triple threat of COVID-19, RSV, and the flu.”
NNA believes this to be only the first leg of this campaign, and the association expects to have further announcements going forward. At the same time, NNA says it’s important to understand that it is not involved in any way with choosing the media outlets that are or will be included in the HHS project.
“Our role in this project is, first, to make clear the importance of our media as a tool for promoting public health,” Galer said. “Secondly, we were asked to provide complete data to HHS and its media buyers about existing community newspapers within the markets in which they expressed interest, whether they are members of NNA or not. And in fact, media buyers have noted that our data were remarkably reliable, and that has encouraged buyers to adopt our recommendation to focus on rural and small town newspapers.”
Particular thanks go to the state press associations for gathering the data HHS required from 18 media markets within a five-day deadline and putting together ad buys on time for this week’s rollout.
Without the continued support of its membership (through dues and donations), the NNA would not have had this success.
“We hope our membership grows with this effort, and encourage non-members to reach out to Lynne Lance, NNA executive director at lynne@nna.org if you are interested in joining this amazing association of community newspapers,” Galer said.
