News & Announcements

Running a community newspaper comes with its own unique set of challenges and opportunities. During the WNA Community Newspaper Forum, speakers will offer best practices and resources for creating community connections, funding journalism, growing your digital footprint & building trust through meaningful engagement.

The program, which is free to WNA members, will run from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 21. Sign up here.

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The Coalition to Repeal Wisconsin’s Personal Property Tax issued a letter Thursday to Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Legislature regarding a newly introduced bill, LRB 4737, that would repeal the state’s personal property tax.

The coalition, which advocated for the passage of the bill previously passed by the Legislature and vetoed by Evers, identified its concerns with LRB 4737, including the proposed funding plan to replace lost revenue, among other items. The group of trade and business associations — which includes the Wisconsin Newspaper Association — noted it believes the items are not relevant to the main issue and only bring unnecessary politics into an otherwise bipartisan tax cut.

The Leonard C. Goodman Institute for Investigative Reporting has announced that Monday, Oct. 11, is the deadline for investigative reporting grant applications.

The Goodman Institute offers story-specific grants for investigative features to be published by In These Times magazine. Those selected to receive grants will be awarded up to $10,000, along with compensation for travel and reporting expenses. Answers to frequently asked questions and more information on formatting requirements and acceptance benchmarks are available on the In These Times website.

A federal judge last week ruled the Marquette County sheriff violated the First Amendment rights of a teenage girl with whom he threatened arrest over her social media posts about COVID-19, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

The posts, which Amyiah Cohoon shared on her Instagram account in March 2020, detailed her experience with what she believed to be a case of COVID-19. When a member of the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office visited her home on March 27 and ordered the posts to be taken down, she complied but later sued the sheriff with support from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.

The Wisconsin Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists recently issued a formal introduction to newsrooms across the state in conjunction with Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

In its introduction letter, NAHJ Wisconsin says it believes “Latinos in Wisconsin deserve to see themselves represented in the news media and see accurate coverage of their community.” The letter asks for help in this effort from Wisconsin newsrooms. Among its requests are that newsrooms be intentional about hiring Latino journalists and support the talent already within those newsrooms.

Wisconsin Newspaper Association Executive Director Beth Bennett has issued a position statement on behalf of the WNA Board of Directors regarding proposed legislation that prioritizes civics education by mandating that it be taught in grades K-12 throughout Wisconsin. 

"The Wisconsin Newspaper Association enthusiastically supports the passage of AB 563. The development of the civics curriculum, while not specifically outlined in the bill, should include input from all within the education community who are charged with setting curriculum standards in Wisconsin," the statement reads. "The passage of AB 563 will go a long way toward empowering and encouraging young students across Wisconsin to become engaged with government on local and statewide levels."

In advance of World Homeless Day on Oct. 10, Multi Media Channels is challenging Wisconsin newspapers to once again join in the fight to eradicate homelessness by urging readers to contribute to organizations that support the homeless community in our state.

As part of the campaign, MMC has made ads available for republication and the Wisconsin State Journal has provided an editorial about the importance of eradicating homelessness.

The 81st annual National Newspaper Week, a celebration of the impact newspapers have in their communities, will be observed Oct. 3-9. This year's theme is “Community Forum." 

WNA members are encouraged to localize content to reinforce the importance of community newspapers. Columns, editorial cartoons, ads and more are available for publication and can be accessed on the National Newspaper Week website.

Bill Lueders, editor of The Progressive and president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, will be inducted this month into the National Freedom of Information Coalition’s State Open Government Hall of Fame.

Lueders is one of four inductees who will be honored during a virtual ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 30. Joining Lueders in the Hall of Fame class are Barbara Petersen of Florida, Jane Briggs-Bunting of Michigan and Craig Staudenmaier of Pennsylvania.

• RELATED: 2021 National FOI Summit to be held virtual on Sept. 28-29