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Tag: Kansas Publishing Ventures

HATCHing a better world is possible

HATCHing a better world is possible

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Toward the end of my favorite movie, “Almost Famous,” you see William Miller in his room, looking through Polaroids and trying to figure out how he is going to put everything he experienced into words for Rolling Stone magazine. Much like that, I find myself looking through my own photos, exhausted and trying to contemplate the unbelievable experience I just had attending the HATCH Heartland Summit in Nebraska City, Nebraska. I was skeptical of my invitation to HATCH. I don’t…

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News is changing all over the country, not just here

News is changing all over the country, not just here

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Lindsey and I purchased The Clarion, our first little newspaper a little over 10 years ago. The Clarion covers all those sleepy little towns between Wichita and Hutchinson along K-96 Highway. When we purchased The Clarion all of the core communities, Maize, Colwich, Andale, Mount Hope, and Haven were different, had differing levels of economies and were split between three school districts ranging from 6A to 3A. Now, those communities are vastly different and in far more ways than I…

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A little about Press Club

A little about Press Club

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(This column originally ran in Harvey County Now based in Newton, KS) I am not from Newton. I didn’t grow up in Harvey County, and outside of Harvey County Now, I haven’t one connection to the whole community. Without this newspaper, I probably wouldn’t know a soul in Newton or in Harvey County outside of my stint as a reporter for the Harvey County Independent when I was in my early 20s. My wife and I grew up in Reno…

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Why newspapers shouldn’t get too close with Internet giants

Why newspapers shouldn’t get too close with Internet giants

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I felt a little froggy this morning and decided to watch Editor and Publisher’s live panel on “The Future of Local NewsMedia – The Experts.” I usually slow roll my Wednesday morning after a long day of production on Tuesdays and figured, what the hell, I want to be pissed off this morning. For the most part, this panel didn’t piss me off actually. I disagreed with many on what the future looks like, and I certainly don’t buy into…

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Two years of Newton Now

Two years of Newton Now

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There wasn’t one person, outside of Joel Klaassen (founding publisher of The Hillsboro Free Press) that thought we would succeed long-term with Newton Now. We got a lot of support early. I love these people more than you can know. They wanted us to succeed, but I could see it in many eyes as we told them our plan to launch a competitive weekly newspaper in a market that had a 5-day corporate newspaper. They were going to support us….

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South Dakota is pretty great. Yeah, I said it.

South Dakota is pretty great. Yeah, I said it.

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South Dakota is pretty great. Now, I am not sure how many people have written those words who weren’t from the Dakotas, but I am here to tell you, South Dakota is great. That comes from a native Texan and an adopted Kansan. I love my homeland, but South Dakota was somewhere I could see myself living if we ever left the great State of Kansas. Why? I love newspapers, and South Dakota does, too. Both Dakotas are mostly comprised…

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Clearing the air on our digital strategy

Clearing the air on our digital strategy

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Sometimes you have to vent. A few weeks ago was that time for me, and as the comments came in and the questions about my sanity ensued, I realized that maybe not everyone knows the purpose of this blog or my intent. In my post a few weeks ago, I used some lewd language and was fairly angry as I wrote a post about a paid news site giving away their content and assuming they are going to make money…

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Invest in your core: Make your print product look great

Invest in your core: Make your print product look great

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It is time for us to start designing our print products the way readers want to see them. Media “experts” all over the world will tell you to ignore your print product or not invest much into it because the internet is going to take over soon anyway. Well, after 20-years of the newspaper industry still making a damn fine living (some better than others) off their print products I think the end is still far away. That leads me…

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