March primary blues …

I sure hope the March primaries were better for you than they were for me. No, I’m not talking about the poor field of candidates and the lack of real statesmen out there. I’m still looking for that man or woman who cares more about me and other Texans in this state than in their own self-serving needs. I mean when you have a very high-ranking elected state official saying we need to sacrifice our elderly during COVID so we can all go to Walmart to boost the economy, there’s something seriously wrong with the state leaders of the 21st Century. I don’t think Sam Houston would have been that callous. This prominent official survived that stupid comment and was back out on the GOP Primary campaign trail in that old truck of his in those TV ads. But there were no print ads in any of my papers. I hope you got some, but I doubt you did. I did get a stack of mailers almost every day from candidates. I even got mailers from candidates outside my area. Obviously, someone’s campaign manager didn’t do his or her homework and wasted money. Money that could have been used to inform local voters who read their local newspaper. And, like you, I got plenty of press releases from campaign staffers urging me to share their candidate’s message and come cover their candidate’s many stopovers in our area. So … it appears newspapers are important when candidates want free publicity and need to get their message out, but they just can’t find a spot for newspapers in the candidate’s advertising campaign budget. That’s a problem. At least it was a problem for me in East Texas. I can only hope other newspapers in Texas saw some political revenue. I saw zero on the state and national level and I had several local candidates running for U.S. Congress, as well as state offices. And if you didn’t get any political ads, I can only hope you did as I did and complained to the candidate’s press secretary and/or campaign manager. We have got to speak up for ourselves. We have got to call these people out. Sure – we need to cover the campaigns so our readers can make an informed decision at the polls. That’s our job and I am sure you do an excellent job at that, as I feel we do. But we sure as hell don’t have to give free publicity to these candidates who think TV viewers and Facebook watchers are the answer to them being elected. So, the next time you receive a call or press release about an upcoming candidate rally, please share your rate card and sales representative’s name and phone number with them. Make the candidate pay to promote the rally. The old saying is still true – why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? Let your readers know that the person asking for their vote doesn’t care enough to advertise in their local newspaper. Instead, they are wasting campaign contributions – your readers’ hard-earned contributions in many cases – with mailers that wind up in the trash and Facebook ads that do what Facebook ads do best – nothing. One last thing – a non-political thing. Regional press association conventions are coming up. Please attend and support your regional press associations. On March 25-26 the Panhandle Press Association Convention will be held in Hereford. And April 7-9 the joint convention for the North & East Texas Press Association and West Texas Press Association will be held in Hamilton. Then on April 21-23, the South Texas Press Association will meet in Corpus Christi, followed by the Texas Gulf Coast Press Association gathering in Sugarland May 12-14. The 2022 convention merry-go-round concludes July 28-30 with the Texas Press Association Convention and Trade Show at the Embassy Suites by Hilton San Marcos Hotel Conference Center & Spa. Please attend and support your regional and state press associations. Many of you do, and I appreciate you being involved. But many of you don’t and all I can say is you are really missing out on some great fellowship. I hope to see you on the road in 2022.