Sewell Chan, the editor in chief of the Texas Tribune, will join the Columbia Journalism Review full time as the new executive editor, effective Sept. 16.
By Bill Patterson, TPA President 2024-2025
I am excited about the opportunity to serve as president of the Texas Press Association for 2024-25. What a great organization with great energy, passion and enthusiasm for the work we all do every day!
While our business is filled with daily challenges, for me it’s also filled with excitement about what the future holds — especially the possibilities of a digital future. If you haven’t begun serious discussions about disrupting your traditional business model and building a digital future, I strongly suggest you do so.
By AUSTIN LEWTER, Director, Texas Center for Community Journalism
I was thrilled to honor a friend last week at the TPA Convention and Trade Show in College Station.
I nominated Dan Eakin for a Golden 50 Award and they let me present the award to him.
Dan surpassed the 50-year mark years ago. He has logged 68 years in the newspaper business.
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.
By JIM PUMARLO, Consultant
Hardly a year passes without legal requirements for public notices coming under assault. It’s happening this year in the Minnesota Legislature, where the Minnesota School Boards Association is seeking authority for school districts to remove public notices from newspapers.
The initiative comes on the heels of Alden Global Capital shutting down eight community newspapers. The proposal not only attacks the essence of open government, it also significantly decreases citizen access to vital information.
By Austin Lewter, director Texas Center for Community Journalism
Are you a news ambassador?
If you are running a community newspaper, you sure are. And that means you have a role with a new initiative we are rolling out at the TCCJ.
We look to build a Texas cohort collaboration of News Ambassadors, a collaborative journalism project under the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.
ELDORADO – Randy and Kathy Mankin recently marked the 30th anniversary of their purchase of The Eldorado Success newspaper.
The couple bought the newspaper April 29, 1994, from Gary and Cathy Smith, who published the Hansford County Reporter-Statesman in Spearman for many years thereafter. The Mankins have called Eldorado home since moving from Lubbock in 1979.
KERRVILLE – Greg Burney has assumed duties as publisher of the Kerrville Daily Times, succeeding Jennifer McCullough, who announced her retirement March 6.
“Greg Burney is a lucky guy, because he’s working for a company that has a tremendous owner that believes in community journalism. That just means for him, his path is going to be clear and successful. When you truly love a community, everyone benefits,” McCullough said.
McCullough’s last day at The Times was April 26.
BOERNE - Marcy Branson is the new area publisher for the Boerne Star and Bandera Bulletin.
The announcement was made by officials at Granite Media Partners Inc., owner of both publications.
Granite Media officials said Branson, a 27-year veteran in news, sales and advertising organizations, brings a unique type of energy to the Hill Country Group, as well as decades of experience.
By Austin Lewter, director, Texas Cener for Community Journalism
William Faulkner has often been cited as one of the greatest American novelists of the 20th century.
He was born Sept. 25, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi.
His publishing career began in 1919 but he was most prolific in the 1920s and 1930s.
Faulkner was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature for “his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel.”