The 2021 NNA Community Newspaper Summit will be held virtually via Zoom. Events arrayed through the weeks of March 8 and March 15 provide NNA members and NNA Foundation audiences a unique opportunity to learn, engage readers and reshape our leading role in civic participation.
Your registration will admit you to these all events.
More speakers are being added, and NNA has requested a briefing from the White House Press Office. If scheduled, the event will be limited participation, NNA members only, on a first registration basis.
Click here to read speaker bios.
1 p.m. • Friday, March 5
NNA Issues Briefing
An opportunity to learn about NNA’s legislative priorities and receive issue papers for your Congressional visits.
2 p.m. • Monday, March 8
International Women’s Day*
Congressional leaders discuss largest-ever female class in Congress and their priorities for 2021
Speakers: Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee — confirmed
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota — invited
1 p.m. • Wednesday, March 10
Outlook on the economy*
“We’re not in Kansas anymore: Observations on the economy and the news media”
Speaker: Mark Hamrick, Washington Bureau Chief and Senior Economic Analyst for Bankrate.com
Hamrick is best known for his analysis of the economy, including the job market, the Federal Reserve, business trends, consumers and politics. He is quoted by major media outlets and appears on radio and television hundreds of times a year. An award-winning business and financial news journalist, he joined Bankrate in 2013 after leading business news for Associated Press Broadcast for nearly 20 years.
A native of Kansas and son of a newspaper editor, Mark began his career as a high school student working at KGGF, a commercial radio station in his hometown of Coffeyville. He lives in Potomac, Maryland with wife Jeanne, a strategic communicator who began her career as a journalist. Like many people, they’ve both been operating out of home since March, grateful to be able to continue to do their work.
3 p.m. • Wednesday, March 10
Congress and Newspapers
(NNA members only)
The Local Journalism Sustainability Act — a legislative proposal from the 116th Congress that would provide tax credits for your advertisers to use in your newspaper. Expected to be reintroduced in 2021. Join Ben for a legislative strategy discussion.
Speaker: Ben Owens, Legislative Assistant, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Arizona
12:30 p.m. • Thursday, March 11
America’s Elections: What we learned from 2020 and how we can improve them”?*
Speaker: Benjamin L. Ginsberg, nationally-recognized election lawyer
Ben Ginsberg is a nationally known elections lawyer with 38 years’ experience representing participants in the political process. His clients have included political parties, political campaigns, candidates, members of Congress and state legislatures, governors, corporations, trade associations, PACs, vendors, donors and individuals. He represented four of the last six Republican Presidential nominees.
Ben, currently a CNN contributor, appears frequently on television as an on-air commentator about politics and the law and has written numerous op-eds. He is a guest lecturer at the Stanford University Law School and has been a Fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics and an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. He served as national counsel to the Bush-Cheney presidential campaigns in the 2004 and 2000 election cycles and played a central role in the 2000 Florida recount.
Prior to entering law school, Ben spent five years as a newspaper reporter at The Boston Globe, Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, The Berkshire Eagle (Massachusetts), and The Riverside Press-Enterprise (California).
Wednesday, March 11 & Thursday, March 12
Outreach Days
Please set up meetings with your Congressional Delegations to discuss NNA issues.
3 p.m. • Monday, March 15
First Check-in
(NNA members only)
Report back on Congressional visits, discuss issues with NNA’s Board of Directors
1 p.m. Wednesday, March 17
Newspapers and the Social Media Platforms*
Speaker: Emily Bazelon, New York Times magazine writer and former editor of Slate
Bazelon has written extensively on the challenges created by social media platforms, proposals for regulation and interface with legacy media. This will be a conversation between Bazelon and community newspaper editors.
4 p.m. • Wednesday, March 17
Happy St Patrick’s Day
NNA Members convene for Happy Hour
Speaker: Courtney Paxton, “About Beer!”
Bring a beverage of your choice and hear from this daughter of a long-time newspaper family who had a successful marketing career for a Virginia microbrewery.
This also will be the second check-in to share information with the NNA Board from Congressional meetings.
2 p.m. • Thursday, March 18
NNA First Amendment Award
Honoring Tom Boney, publisher of the Alamance News, Graham North Carolina
4 p.m. • Friday, March 19
Third check-in
(NNA members only)
Final opportunity to share information from Capitol Hill.
*A Country Editors Forum event, courtesy of National Newspaper Association Foundation, open to NNA members and all community newspapers
