Briefing

hall of fame, susan shemanske, kent eymann, jean alexander, elliott maraniss

WNA seeking 2021 Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame nominations

Aug. 13, 2021

The Wisconsin Newspaper Association is accepting nominations for the 2021 Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame class through Monday, Sept. 13. Inductees will be announced by Sept. 30, and recognized on Thursday, Nov. 18, at The Madison Club.

Nominations are open to anyone — living or deceased — who has contributed above and beyond the call of duty to the Wisconsin newspaper industry. This includes publishers, editors, reporters, photographers or any other newspaper personnel who’ve made significant contributions to the industry. It is expected that the individual should have dedicated at least 15 years to newspapering. However, length of service is not a major determinant.

Jim O'Rourke

O’Rourke Media Group, Modulist announce partnership

Aug. 13, 2021

O'Rourke Media Group, which publishes several Wisconsin newspapers, has partnered with media services company Modulist, the companies announced Tuesday. Through the partnership, Modulist will handle the processing of obituaries, business announcements and personal milestones, as well as create an online portal through which readers, funeral homes and other businesses can quickly and easily submit listings.

O'Rourke Media Group, which launched in October 2018, publishes the (Hudson) Star-Observer, Ripon Commonwealth Press, and (Kiel) Tri-County News. It also recently acquired Unified Newspaper Group, which includes four suburban Madison weekly newspapers: the Fitchburg Star, The Oregon Observer, The Stoughton Courier Hub and The Verona Press.

Bennett to lead Newspaper Association Managers

Aug. 6, 2021

Beth Bennett, executive director of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, was elected president of Newspaper Association Managers today during the group’s 98th annual conference in Madison. Bennett has led the WNA since 2010 and previously served as the Illinois Press Association’s director of government relations. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the National Newspaper Association and is a past president of TEMPO Madison.

wisconsin watch staff, wcij grant

WCIJ, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service receive $1.4 million grant

Jul. 30, 2021

The American Journalism Project has awarded a $1.4 million grant to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service to be distributed over three years, WCIJ announced Friday.

The grant is intended to support the efforts by WCIJ and NNS to reshape local news in Milwaukee and across the state and will help them support additional staff positions. The two nonprofits have partnered since spring 2020 on the News414 project, which uses text messages, social media and other tools to provide important news to underserved audiences in the Milwaukee area.

John Foust, advertising, ad-libs

A simple way to develop ad campaign ideas

Jul. 30, 2021

Empty advertising headlines that speak to no one in particular are ineffective and a waste of the advertiser's budget.

In his most recent "Ad Libs" column, veteran sales trainer John Foust provides a four-step formula that can help you generate more sales for your newspaper and for your advertisers. The end result will be a series of targeted and consistent messages, instead of the same watered-down ad over and over again, he writes.

Bill Lueders

Your Right to Know: Lawmakers seek to keep their misconduct secret

Jul. 29, 2021

Last month, a judge ruled that the state Legislature violated the open records law when it withheld records regarding the sexual harassment of a female staffer. However, an order to release the unredacted records has been put on hold as the governmental body appeals the decision — despite the fact that the former legislator who the allegations were lodged against says, if it were up to him, they would have been released long ago.

polco, coronavirus, voter registration, presidential debates, covid-19

New poll question aims to gauge readers’ concern about delta variant

Jul. 28, 2021

A new poll question about readers' level of concern regarding the delta variant is available to be used by WNA members. We are asking the question in light of a surge in new COVID-19 cases fueled by the variant that prompted new CDC mask-wearing guidance.

Poll questions are available through a WNA partnership with Polco aimed at helping newspapers better engage readers and access enhanced data and insights. WNA members who have signed up for an account with Polco can access their local version of the new question, as well as local poll results, on their dashboards. Those who have not signed up can do so here.

capitol report, wispolitics

Marquette Law School poll considers changes for 2022 election cycle

Jul. 26, 2021

Marquette University Law School pollster Charles Franklin has a challenge as Wisconsin prepares for another election cycle. While the failures of 2016 forced the polling industry to make changes to better account for voters who turned out for Donald Trump, those tweaks still didn’t catch the surge in turnout among Trump supporters in 2020, leading to another round of questions about why polling failed once again to accurately gauge the electorate.

Franklin says he's looking into making additional tweaks to the Marquette University Law School poll’s methodology. The first MU Law School Poll of Wisconsin voters in 2021 will be released Aug. 11.

colby, wisconsin state cheese

Results available for poll on Wisconsin state cheese

Jul. 22, 2021

Polco users and readers visiting WNA member websites from July 7 to 20 were asked whether colby should be named the official state cheese of Wisconsin. Out of 485 respondents, 43% said they believed it should, while 38% said there should be no official state cheese in Wisconsin.

Poll questions are available through a WNA partnership with Polco aimed at helping newspapers better engage readers and access enhanced data and insights.

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Wisconsin Newspaper Association