NAA Roundup

Member Announcements:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Named Nation’s First Newspaper Facility to Achieve Zero Waste by U.S. Zero Waste Business Council (Cox Media)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been awarded Gold-level certification from the U.S. Zero Waste Business Council (USZWBC) for successfully diverting nearly 99 percent of its waste from landfill, incineration and the environment. The AJC is the nation’s first newspaper printing facility to receive the certification.

GateHouse Media, LLC and Poynter Institute to Launch Professional Development Initiative (GateHouse Media, LLC)
GateHouse Media, LLC and The Poynter Institute are partnering on a new training certificate program for company journalists featuring detailed professional development programs targeting specific journalism skills. The programs, set for 2016, will feature digital newsgathering, social media and newsroom leadership and will include online instruction from Poynter faculty and industry experts.

NYT Debuts VR Film of 2016 Campaign Trail (New York Times)
The New York Times has released its next virtual reality film, focused on the presidential campaign. Footage includes up-close looks at candidates Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton.

Pioneer Press unveils a rebuilt, redesigned TwinCities.com (TwinCities.com)
The Pioneer Press launched a new TwinCities.com website. The new site features a new design fixes problems with the previous site, improving loading time, and incorporating responsive design and changes to advertising to make it less intrusive on the reader experience.

The Wall Street Journal reorganizes its newsroom (Politico)
The Wall Street Journal announced a restructuring of its newsroom that includes changes to be more adaptable to the digital news environment. As part of the restructure, Page One will be divided into two teams responsible for news and enterprise. Centralizing media and mobile efforts is also a goal of the restructure.

The Washington Post builds new feature to add context to election coverage (Journalism.co.uk)
The Washington Post launched a new feature on all of its politics articles called Backdrop. A pop-up button that appears in the lower left-hand corner of articles gives readers the option to access key background information about the campaign trail without having to leave the article page.

Staff Announcements:

Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.: Alexander Gould has been named publisher of The Meridian Star.
Jeff Masters has been appointed publisher of the Thomasville Times-Enterprise, succeeding the late Norman Bankston.
Chris White has been appointed general manager of the Thomasville Times-Enterprise.

Gannett Co., Inc.: Michael Kuntz will be joining USA TODAY as senior vice president of digital revenue.

GateHouse Media, LLC: Adam Reinebach has been named CEO and President of Dolan Publishing group.

Morris Communications: Steve Stone has resigned from his position as senior vice-president and CFO of newspapers for Morris Communications.

New York Times Co.: Amanda Cox has been named editor of The Upshot, an NY Times title that presents news, analysis and data visualization about politics, policy and everyday life.
Kevin Quealy has been named deputy editor of The Upshot, alongside Laura Chang and Damon Darlin.

NOLA Media Group: Ricky Matthews is leaving the helm of NOLA.com and the Times-Picayune.

NAA Announcements:Business people meeting

NAA Announces “Top 30 Under 30” Awards Program at NAA mediaXchange 2016: NAA has launched the inaugural “Top 30 Under 30” Awards program to honor young industry leaders. The program provides an opportunity to showcase the energy, innovation and vitality of the news media industry – and its rising stars. To qualify, applicants should be employed at an NAA member news media company (journalists or those in business or technology departments) and must be under the age of 30 as of March 31, 2016. Entries for the program will be accepted today through Friday, March 11, 2016. The winners will be recognized at NAA mediaXchange 2016, taking place April 17-20, 2016 in Washington, DC.

What We’re Reading:

Read All About It/Newspaper becomes a learning tool for elementary students in Hillsboro and Marion (Hillsboro Free Press)
The Hillsboro Free Press features Kid Scoop, a full-color page of kids’ activities. Through delivering newspapers to classrooms, the activities are helping introduce local elementary school students to newspapers.

What media companies can learn from Facebook’s incredible mobile turnaround (Fortune)
Last year, Facebook booked more than $4 billion in mobile advertising revenue, representing a major turnaround from previous years. A key to their success in mobile has been focusing on the user experience (not just advertisers).

149-year-old Canadian newspaper’s final front page is pretty much perfect (Poynter)
Canada’s Guelph Mercury published its last print edition today. The paper began 149 years ago.

Newspapers aren’t dying as fast as you think (Poynter)
NAA’s audience development, circulation and revenue analyses demonstrate that the overall picture of newspapers is much different than Richard Tofel’s recent claims of rapid demise.

Digital priorities for publishers – a global snapshot (WAN-IFRA)
Digital news media executives around the world shared their top three digital priorities for this year, highlighting global digital trends.

Could Facebook’s Instant Articles help hyperlocal news? (Knight Digital Media Center)
Starting in February, Philadelphia-based mobile-first startup BillyPenn.com will become the first local independent publisher to use Facebook Instant Articles to distribute news articles. The platform has been adopted by several large publishers, but this is the first local publisher to try the social media platform.

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