Briefing Archives | Page 9 of 28 | Wisconsin Newspaper Association

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

New poll question: What is the most important issue for elections and voting in 2022?

Feb. 10, 2022

A new poll question asking readers what they believe to be the most important issue concerning elections and voting in 2022 is available to be used by WNA members. We are asking this question as a follow-up to our previous poll, in which respondents selected election security and/or voting rights as the top priority for 2022.

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 for their own dashboard.

Reader memories fill in details on general stores

Feb. 7, 2022

Chris Hardie's recent story on local general stores generated a lot of reader response through both email and social media, the WNA past president writes. The responses also filled in some of the missing information on the history of the Wisconsin stores.

In his most recent column, which is available for publication by WNA members, Hardie incorporates the information gleaned from reader feedback.

Volunteers needed to judge Arkansas advertising contest

Jan. 21, 2022

As part of our 2022 contest judging partnership, the Arkansas Press Association needs at least 10 volunteers from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association to judge its advertising contest next month. The deadline to sign up is Friday, Feb. 4. All judging will be done online and is scheduled to begin Monday, Feb. 7, with a deadline of Friday, Feb. 18.

If you have any questions, email WNA Membership & Programming Specialist Jordan Schelling at jordan.schelling@wnanews.com.

Nominations sought for 2022 Opee Awards

Jan. 14, 2022

The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, a nonprofit group that works to protect access to public meetings and records, is now accepting nominations for its annual Openness in Government Awards, or Opees.

Nominations and supporting documentation should be submitted by Wednesday, Feb. 2, to FOIC president Bill Lueders at blueders@gmail.com. The winners will be selected by a Council committee, as in past years. The Council reserves the right to issue special awards or to not give an award in a particular category.

Registration now open for 2022 Wisconsin Civics Games

Dec. 4, 2021

Registration is now open for the 2022 Wisconsin Civics Games. The competition, which aims to promote civics education and encourage Wisconsin high school students to develop an interest in public service, returns after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regional competitions will be held virtually on Friday, April 22. The top-performing teams will advance to the state finals on Friday, May 13, at the Wisconsin State Capitol, and members of the winning team will receive $2,000 scholarships toward tuition to a Wisconsin college or university of their choice.

Your Right to Know: School investigation records should be public

Dec. 1, 2021

In the latest "Your Right to Know" column, Matthew DeFour of the Wisconsin State Journal uses two hidden-camera cases at Madison East High School to illustrate the need for school investigation records to be available to the public.

Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, a group dedicated to open government. The column is available to WNA members for republication at no cost.

New poll gauges concern about omicron variant

Dec. 1, 2021

A new poll question gauging readers' level of concern about the omicron variant of COVID-19 is available to be used by WNA members. We are asking the question in light of the recent wave of travel and other restrictions that have been introduced in an attempt to slow the spread of the variant.

Results from our previous poll question regarding mandatory civics education in Wisconsin schools are also now available.

Use fresh ads to catch more customers for your advertisers

Nov. 29, 2021

In his latest "Ad-libs" column, John Foust outlines how everybody wins when you develop fresh ads for loyal customers rather than continue running the same basic ads that have grown stale over time.

Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals and offers training videos to sales departments looking to save time and get quick results from in-house training.

WNA Foundation honors 2021 Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame inductees

Nov. 21, 2021

Nearly 70 colleagues attended the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame banquet and fundraiser to pay tribute to their peers. The ceremony also took a moment to honor Hall of Fame member Bob Wills, a longtime open government champion and newspaper editor who died earlier this year.

This year’s class included Harland and Helen Everson, longtime publishers of The Edgerton Reporter; William “Bill” Hale, former owner of the Grant County Herald-Independent and other newspapers; Phil Haslanger, longtime editor and manager of The Capital Times; Margaret “Meg” Jones, former reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; J. Anthony Josey, founder of the state’s first successful newspaper, the Wisconsin Enterprise-Blade; and Lucius W. Nieman, founder of The Milwaukee Journal.

anthony shadid, shadid award, journalism ethics

Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics nominations due Jan. 18

Nov. 19, 2021

The Center for Journalism Ethics at UW-Madison is seeking nominations for the 2022 Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics. The deadline for submitting nominations is Jan. 18.

The Shadid Award, now in its 13th year, recognizes ethical decisions in reporting by journalists working for established news organizations or publishing individually. Winners of the Shadid Award receive a $1,000 prize and will be invited to accept the award and discuss their reporting at an awards ceremony in New York on May 17.