It’s been an honor to serve as TPA president

By Ken Esten Cooke, TPA President 2023-2024

“Why would you want to sit still in a world that’s forever moving?” 

— Philosopher Luc Jogart

And just like that, my year as Texas Press Association president comes to an end. I have been so proud to serve great people, both TPA members and staff, some of whom I’ve known and looked up to since I was a child.

With relatively deep roots in community journalism, it’s been interesting to be a publisher and serve TPA during a challenging era. But I honestly love this industry and I am determined to help it thrive again in these changing times.

We face monumental challenges, to be sure, but we also have grand opportunities for the taking. Where we used to rely on a once-per-week communication cycle, we can now reach people from all over the world at the press of a button — the ability to instantly publish news. We have new ways of communicating and new digital products to explore, master and sell.

Our cost of doing business has increased for labor, mailing, insurance and more. But we also have tools that would have seemed magic just two decades ago, like the design and email software many of us use.

Most of all, we must remember that even if our print page count is down from the “glory days,” the work we do is incredibly important to our towns. We need to show that “swagger” for what we do and promote our importance to the communities we serve, as my predecessor Leonard Woolsey said.

I encourage all of you to go watch the Texas Tribune’s recent forum on community journalism, featuring our friend Pat Canty, publisher of the Odessa American. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvDpWvoZEqE) Pat, a gritty publisher in a tough market, represented our industry so well.

“I’m a big believer that we do God’s work,” Pat, in his ever-present bowtie, told the panel. “Newspapers play an important role in civic engagement — keeping people informed so they can engage in society.”

“[Watchdog journalism] is why most of us got involved in this business,” he said, separating us from the social media free-for-all. “Our news organizations still do a good job at that, even with reduced staffing. We still abide by standards and practices.”

Amen, Pat.

What I’m Reading

“Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and The Washington Post,” by Martin Baron.

This is a fascinating read for anyone with ink in their veins. I’m only 100 pages in but there’s a lot to glean from Baron and Bezos pivoting the Post into the digital era.

Bezos poked at the Post staff when they boasted about timidly introducing digital subscriptions in 2013: “I’d like my car to be free. I’d like my house to be free. Sorry for the misunderstanding for 20 years. We gave away content for free. Our bad.”

Other philosophical thoughts to Baron from Bezos:

“The death knell for any enterprise is to glorify the past, no matter how good it was.”

“You can be profitable and shrinking. That’s a survival strategy, but it ultimately leads to irrelevance, at best, and extinction at worst.”

“Should it be as easy to buy a subscription to The Post as it is to buy diapers on Amazon? I think it should.”

Baron, who was portrayed as a dour, humorless editor in “Spotlight,” reports liking the optimism and energy brought in by his new owner. A fresh set of eyes on our traditional industry is important, along with investing in new technology and keeping a focus on readers.

We small papers can’t do everything The Post does, but we can take the attitude that accurate information will always be a desired commodity that people will support. (And we can hope that the reckless social media will one day have its reckoning.)

I follow a line of TPA presidents that includes my great grandfather and a host of other industry leaders. My predecessor Leonard modeled how to be an optimistic leader.

This month, I’ll hand the gavel to Bill Patterson of the Denton Record-Chronicle. A visionary operator, Bill also has a family history in journalism and a respect for its importance and history. TPA will be in good hands with Bill.

I appreciate my wife, Christine, for putting up with my usual state of being over-committed. She keeps me strong when we face criticism for taking an unpopular stand. I also am grateful to my parents for raising me to think independently and brother Kyle for holding down our family paper.

And I’m so appreciative of Mike Hodges, Donnis Baggett, Candace Velvin, Sue Brown and all the TPA staff. They make our organization as strong as any press association in the nation, and they help our regional associations in addition to the TPA membership.

I hope I’ve given you a few things to think about, or even just a chuckle. Just know I have the utmost respect for you, the TPA members. My wish as I rotate out of the president’s position is that we all continue to support TPA and the important work it does on our behalf.