Delayed 2021 convention provides members post-pandemic reunion

DENTON – Jim Bardwell received the gavel of Texas Press Association presidential leadership from a long line of predecessors at the 141st TPA Convention and Trade Show in Denton.
The traditional passing of the gavel was followed by the Texas Newspaper Hall of Fame ceremonies featuring a surprise guest speaker. Inducted were Charles Moser, Brenham Banner-Press; the late Morris Roberts, publisher of the Victoria Advocate and Founder of M. Roberts Media; Don Richards, lifelong newspaperman and attorney; and Tommy Thomason, founding director of the Texas Center for Community Journalism.
In addition, Bardwell presented the Golden 50 Award commemorating five decades in the industry to Moser.
Bardwell welcomed members to the delayed 2021 convention, originally scheduled in January, noting everyone was ready to see TPA family and friends after surviving a pandemic year with unprecedented economic and social consequences.
Bardwell, publisher of the Gladewater Mirror, Lindale News & Times and the White Oak Independent, was elected president of the Texas Press Association at a special virtual membership meeting held Jan. 21. 
The virtual vote was held in place of the usual in-person convention, which was delayed  due to COVID-19 concerns.
Bardwell succeeded Ramona Ferguson, publisher of The Banner Press Newspaper, who became chairman of the board. 
Other new officers include Leonard Woolsey, publisher of The Galveston Daily News, as first vice president; Ken Cooke, publisher of the Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post, as second vice president; and Lisa Chappell, publisher of the Greenville Herald-Banner, as treasurer.
With the decision to make the annual meeting a summer event, Bardwell and this slate of officers will serve 18 months, until the 2022 Convention in San Marcos.
In his column on Page 2, Bardwell outlines the plans he announced at the convention.
Keynote speaker Grant Moise, publisher of The Dallas Morning News, shared his company’s path to growth during the luncheon program. Moise served as the newspaper’s general manager before his promotion to publisher in 2018 and has managed mergers and acquisitions in his 13 years in various executive roles with the company.
While no one has solved the newspaper business model for the future, Moise said he believed The Dallas Morning News is positioned well. “We have a strong balance sheet,” he said. “We have a focused strategy. And we’ve already diversified our revenue sources in marketing services beyond what most other major metro newspapers have,” he added.
“After considerable thought and analysis, our management team has determined that our business in the future is largely supported by subscription revenue and the need for more aggressive investment in our digital products,” Moise said. “We are rebalancing our financial resources to support these new foundational elements, so we are positioned for success and can deliver quality journalism for many years to come.”
The rebalancing included cuts in commercial printing operations, staff reductions (before the pandemic) and other reorganization measures to allow more investment in technology, customer service and the online experience of subscribers.
“The future of our business is local, so the local strategy is critically important to us.  Our goal is to be able to super-serve advertisers and marketers to reach customers across North Texas,” Moise said. “Whether that is hyperlocal (neighborhood) or across Dallas/Fort Worth, our goal is to be the dominant player in the region.”

Hall of Fame

Charles Moser
Jim Moser, Moser Community Media, presented the Hall of Fame honor to his father Charles Moser, whose career included 40 years as publisher of the Brenham Banner-Press, as well as stints with the The Baytown Sun and the La Porte Bayshore-Sun. He also served as group manager for the Rockport Pilot, Port Lavaca Wave, Madisonville Meteor and Cuero Record. He continues to serve the newspaper industry with Moser Community Media.
Jim Moser pointed out that in addition to being a leader in the industry — president of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association and director of Texas Press Association - Charles Moser was also a community builder through his newspaper and his personal service. He has held leadership positions in civic clubs, chambers of commerce, Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park, the Historic Simon Theatre in Brenham, and on the boards of trustees for Trinity Medical Center and Scott and White Hospital. Since retiring in 2010, Moser serves on the Blinn College Board of Directors and the Brenham Community Development Corporation.
Moser said it was an honor to be recognized and noted that he had enjoyed his years in the newspaper industry, especially his more than 40 years at The Banner-Press.
“My selection also recognizes the outstanding work and dedication of the employees of the Banner who made it an outstanding community newspaper during my time there. They were a major contributor to whatever success we had,” Moser said.

Morris Roberts
Texas A&M University Chancellor and former Texas Comptroller John Sharp surprised the TPA audience when he came to honor the late Morris Roberts, whom he called “my first mentor” in politics. “He even wrote the first donation check to my first campaign,” Sharp noted.
Prior to his service as Texas Comptroller from 1990 to 1998, Sharp represented Victoria County in the Texas House of Representatives from 1978 to 1982 and in the Texas Senate from 1982 to 1986. He was also elected to the Texas Railroad Commission, serving from 1986 to 1990.
Sharp has served as chancellor of the Texas A&M University System since 2011. Appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, he also headed the state’s recovery efforts after Hurricane Harvey.
Sharp said Roberts taught him to respect the press, noting that while Roberts supported his efforts on behalf of Victoria, he also “held my feet to the fire” when he thought Sharp was taking a wrong turn. 
Sharp said he still keeps clippings from the Victoria Advocate, especially Roberts’ editorials criticizing a decision Sharp had made.
“He could do that because the whole community was behind him,” Sharp said. Roberts himself had also represented Victoria County in the House and Senate in the 1930s.
“I’m honored to be here to speak about the person who had the most profound impact on my life,” Sharp said. “If you think I did some good in my life, it’s because of Morris Roberts, and he was the best.”
Roberts had an opportunity to purchase the Victoria Advocate in 1942 with 10 local businessmen and became the editor and manager of the newspaper. By April 1961, he purchased all of the stock and became the sole owner of the Advocate. He built and expanded buildings for the newspaper and installed a new offset press (the largest in Texas at the time) and established the newspaper as a major influence for progress throughout the South Texas region. In addition to the Victoria Advocate, M. Robert Media today includes the Longview News-Journal, Tyler Morning Telegraph, Marshall News Messenger, Kilgore News Herald and Panola Watchman.
The award was accepted by Kay McHaney, Roberts’ daughter, who expressed appreciation and noted she is “proud of the passion that he had for the credibility of local journalism.” McHaney served as M.Roberts Media board secretary and treasurer. With her were other company officials, her children and Roberts’ grandchildren, Gordon McHaney, chairman of the board, with Sarah McHaney; and Stephen McHaney, company president and publisher of the Longview News-Journal.

Don Richards
Past TPA President Laurie Ezzell-Brown honored Hall of Fame honoree Don R. Richards, whom she called a friend and advisor “who calms me down” when needed. She also praised his work with communities through his work in media law, administrative law and utility law. In addition to community newspapers, he represents a large number of rural telephone and electric utility clients.
An award-winning community journalist who grew up in the business, Richards is a senior partner with the Lubbock law firm of Richards, Elder & Gibson. He has practiced media law and has been honored for his free legal counsel and contributions for open meetings law and the free flow of public information. He has been the publisher for The Banner of Love for 34 years.
Ezzell-Brown praised Richards for his grace and patience in advising her and other community newspaper publishers in the throes of legal challenges while reporting and publishing the news. She noted Richards is generous with his legal counsel and personal knowledge of the Texas newspaper industry, both through advice to individual newspapers and as a speaker and presenter to Texas Press Association, the Panhandle Press Association and other regional groups.
“He is a First Amendment friend to the press,” she said.
A sixth-generation Texan and fourth-generation journalist, Richards was born in Stonewall County and grew up in Jayton, where his father owned the weekly newspaper. His father, Afton Richards, was a recipient of the TPA Golden Fifty Award in 1982 and his grandfather was president of the original South Plains Press Association in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Richards received his undergraduate degree in journalism from Texas Tech and served as editor of the student newspaper, The University Daily. He paid his way through college working the night shift as a linotype operator at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. He then spent several years in the newspaper business, first as editor of several West Texas community newspapers, then as publisher of The Azle News. Newspapers he edited won 40 awards in a five-year period from 1974 through 1978 from the PPA, WTPA and TPA. In 1978 he won first place in community service from the Texas Press Association, the Panhandle Press Association and the West Texas Press Association. Before attending law school, Richards served as a congressional aide to Lubbock Rep. Kent Hance.
Among those joining Richards and his wife, Caryn, at the ceremonies was his brother Charles Richards, a veteran newsman with more than 40 years working for the Fort Worth Press, Dallas Times Herald, UPI and the Associated Press.

Tommy Thomason
As he honored journalism professor Tommy Thomason in the Hall of Fame ceremonies, Austin Lewter, publisher of the Whitesboro News-Record and co-owner of the Jefferson Jimplecute, said he represented a generation of young publishers and editors who benefited from Thomason’s guidance at the Texas Center for Community Journalism at Texas Christian University.
Lewter pointed out how important mid-career training was for journalists like himself working in small communities for small companies without many newspaper industry mentors.
Thomason brought academic and professional training to those “in the trenches,” Lewter noted, adding that many of the journalists who took advantage of TCCJ seminars and workshops have gone on to lead newspapers themselves and are mentoring other young journalists.
Thomason’s vision of providing specialized training/continuing education for Texas community journalists became a reality at TCU in partnership with the Texas Newspaper Foundation when training sessions began in 1998. In 2009, the effort was consolidated into the Texas Center for Community Journalism with Thomason as founding director.
“Our strategy was to conduct meaningful, practical training sessions in an atmosphere of laughter and fun, and to do it in a way that honored newspeople as professionals,” Thomason said following his retirement from TCU in 2019. The center has since moved to Tarleton State University in Stephenville.
Lewter noted the importance of “no-cost” training sessions and noted at the same time that the programs always featured top experts in their fields.
He said he was among those who returned to TCU several times to attend different sessions, gaining valuable training and insight, but especially the personal guidance of Thomason. He read statements from fellow students James Taylor, Goldthwaite Eagle; Wyndi Veigel, Marshall News Messenger; and Callie Metler, Throckmorton Tribune and New Stamford American.
“He saw something in each of us,” Lewter said, calling his group the last generation of newspaper publishers while expressing confidence that community news will continue to exist.
Thomason said newspapers will continue to be important to the communities they serve. “Texas newspapers are the only institutions in their communities that exist to inform citizens and make sure the public’s business is done in public,” he said. 
“You are the only people digging up this kind of information, honor rolls, city council meetings, basketball games, public records — and you get it right. If you weren’t there, where in the world would your communities get this information?”
Thomason knew the work of the trenches first-hand. In addition to teaching at five universities, including 35 years at TCU, he began his career in journalism in the early 1970s with the Associated Press, working as a sportswriter in Arkadelphia and Little Rock, Ark. He also worked in public relations in Dallas and as a copy editor for several regional magazines.
Understanding how Texas newspapers serve their communities, Thomason said that in addition to working with young students at TCU, “I decided to spend the rest of my career building into your people, the people who are actually producing the journalism that is so important to their communities and invest myself in the mid-career education of community journalists.” He said the experience has enriched his life, especially seeing young people who started attending sessions years ago grow into leadership positions in Texas newspapers.