News Briefs

Crosbyton under 1 owner

CROSBYTON — D.L. “Debbie” Ervin is the new sole owner of the Crosby County News & Chronicle.

She and Terry Ervin purchased the newspaper in December 2001. Terry Ervin moved to New Mexico to join Eastern New Mexico State University.

Debbie Ervin’s daughter Shawnette is general manager for the News & Chronicle. Ben Gillespie will continue to serve as editor.

Flour Bluff ceases publication

CORPUS CHRISTI — The Flour Bluff Sun ceased publication in September after 27 years.

Texas Coast Publications, Inc., a company formed by Mark Henry, Sean French and Bill DeFries, bought the newspaper June 30, 2002 from Marie Speer. The Speer family founded the newspaper and Coastal Bend Sun with the first issue dated April 22, 1976.

The Sun reported a weekly circulation of 1,525 on its 2002 postal statement.

Denison Post closes doors

DENISON — The Denison Post ceased publication after just three years.

The newspaper started as a weekly in April 2000 and went daily in June 2001 under a funding agreement with the Denison Development Alliance, an economic development board. The agreement stated the newspaper had to maintain daily circulation, a minimum payroll and employ at least 20 people.

In April the Post switched to semiweekly and and eliminated six positions.

In June the Post agreed to pay back about $10,500 out of more than $95,000 it received and the board allowed the newspaper to continue as a semiweekly if it continued to publish until May 31, 2004, the Sherman/Denison Herald Democrat reported.

In September the Denison city attorney told the Herald Democrat that the Post now will have “to repay more than the previously agreed upon $10,500.”

The Post reported 2,508 circulation on its October 2002 postal statement.

The publisher could not be reached for comment.

Odessa launches weekly Spanish newspaper

ODESSA — The Odessa American on Sept. 11 launched a Spanish-language weekly newspaper, El Semanario.

The newspaper will carry translations of local stories found in the daily editions of the American. The newspaper will be free and delivered to 120 locations in Odessa.

The launch coincides with announcements by two other Texas dailies that started or expanded their Spanish-language newspapers.

The Dallas Morning News on Sept. 29 debuted its Al Dia, a six-day Spanish newspaper publishing about 40,000 copies. The newspaper has original content and is not a translation of News stories.

On Sept. 2 the Fort Worth Star-Telegram expanded its 9-year-old Spanish newspaper to daily and changed the name to Diario La Estrella.

According to the TPA database, there currently are 31 Spanish newspapers that publish weekly in Texas and two existing dailies El Nuevo Heraldo, which is published by The Brownsville Herald, and El Dia in Houston.

Paris redesigns with help from American Press Institute

PARIS — The Paris News Sept. 14 unveiled a redesign after months of research and assistance from the American Press Institute.

The gothic banner displayed on the front page for more than 130 years has returned. Managing editor Phillip Hamilton wrote in a column that the banner was revived because readers said they preferred it to the modern logo. The logo use was inconsistent, he said, because the modern version appeared in print but the traditional logo was on racks, the newspaper building and promotional materials.

API assisted with the redesign. The non-profit institute is well-known for its journalism education and training but design and web-conversion assistance is a new service API offers through its Extended Learning Center, available to newspapers of all sizes.

In July, API completed a redesign and conversion with The Daily Oklahoman and earlier finished two projects for weeklies belonging to Chesapeake Publishing Co.

For more information contact Warren Watson at 703-620-2611 or wawatson@americanpressinstitute.org. The API Web site is www.api.org.

Computer problems revive paste-up process at daily

HENDERSON — The Henderson Daily News experienced power outages and problems accessing its network server Sept. 3 so the staff had to revert to paste-up to produce its afternoon edition.

Individual computers still were working but the network was down for most of the day. The newspaper apologized to readers for any delays in delivery.

The problem serves as a reminder for newspapers to conduct regular computer back-ups that include everything needed to produce an issue remotely, such as fonts, graphics, staff column mugs, etc.

McKinney helps puts old newspapers to work

MCKINNEY — The McKinney Courier Gazette is partnering with the school district and a local company for a community newspaper recycling program.

The McKinney Independent School District received 10 recycling containers from Independent Environmental Services Inc. to kick off a new recycling program that coincides with the 2003-04 school year. The bins are located at local schools and the newspaper office but are available for the public to use to recycle newspapers.

Mike Linder, a recycling specialist with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, told the Courier Gazette that one acre of commercial forest could be saved each year if just one family recycles its newspaper for a year.

A four-foot stack of newspapers produces as much paper as a 40-foot pine tree, he said.

UT’s daily gets boot at football stadium

AUSTIN — The Daily Texan is prohibited from displaying its football special sections at home games on the University of Texas campus.

Students were not allowed to distribute the publications during the UT versus Arkansas game Sept. 6, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

In the past, the Texan placed extra copies of game-related sections in newspaper racks in a hall next to the stadium. Last year Host Communications, Inc., which has an exclusive contract with the university to produce and sell game programs, complained and the boxes were removed.

This year the Texan decided to try a hands-on distribution approach, director of student publications Kathy Lawrence told the American-Statesman, but was not allowed to distribute the tabs.

A UT official said the whole block that surrounds Royal-Memorial Stadium is controlled by the agreement the day before and after the game and no competing publications are allowed.

Chris Plonsky told The Associated Press that UT has a revenue-sharing based contract worth “upwards of $2.5 million” with Host Communications, which has had a contract since the 1980s.

Wanda Garner Cash, president of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and TPA first vice president, told AP the agreement was stifling free press.

“Since this is a state-supported university, I am not sure how they are legally able to prohibit either free or paid distribution of a newspaper,” Cash said.

“It just doesn’t seem right to grant a private company a monopoly on athletics coverage.”