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Ask an Expert Questions and Answers

I was asked to run for City Council because I have so much knowledge about community issues. Do I have an ethical problem if I run?

Most definitely. It is called conflict of interest.

Editors of both large and small papers are often confronted with this dilemma. Louis Day, in his textbook Ethics in Media Communications, defines a conflict of interest as a “clash between professional loyalties and outside interests.”

In this case, the clash would be between your responsibilities as a city council member vs. your professional loyalties as a journalists. A fundamental duty of a journalists is to be an observers of events instead of participants.

In your case you would have the ultimate responsibility of the coverage of your city council. As a city council member, you would be acting on issues that have impact your community.

I think it is almost impossible to completely separate the two duties — there will come a time when your action as a city councilman will influence how you cover a story. None of us are totally objective creatures.

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Ask an Expert Questions and Answers

Are city employees’ salaries public information or are they protected for personal privacy?

The Texas Public Information Act makes it very clear that the salaries of public employees are “public information and not excepted from disclosure” [Texas Local Gov’t Code §552.022(a)] under the act. Specifically, in the section defining categories of information that are public, included are “the name, sex, ethnicity, salary, title, and dates of employment of each employee and officer of a government body”. [Texas Local Gov’t Code §552.022(a)(2)]

A city employee is, of course, an employee of “a municipal governing body in the state,” and is thus subject to the Public Information Act [Texas Local Gov’t Code §552.003(A)(iii)]

The only exception to the categories of public information in §552.022(a) is for records that are “expressly confidential under other law.” No privacy laws specifically make public employee salaries confidential. In fact, the confidentiality exception in 552.022(a) is very narrow; in one hotly-debated example, the Texas Supreme Court construed the confidentiality exception to include reports compiled for ongoing litigation, which are privileged under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure [see In re City of Georgetown, 53 S.W.3d 328 (2001)].

In that case, current Attorney General Greg Abbott was serving as one of the court’s justices, and he made a telling statement in his dissenting opinion. He disagreed that 552.022(a) should be extended even this far, instead suggesting that the items in this section (which includes public employee salaries) were intended “to create a set of ‘super public’ categories of information to which” other exceptions should not apply. [53 S.W.3d at 341]

The reasoning behind this is obvious. As taxpayers, we fund our government’s activities. It is our business how much our government spends our tax dollars, including how it pays its employees. Nearly every state makes public employee salaries open to inspection, either in the state’s freedom of information laws or through court decisions regarding the law (as was the case in California in 2007, when the state’s supreme court interpreted the Public Records Act to include employee salaries; see International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 21, AFL-CIO v. Superior Court of Alameda County).

On occasion, government employees bristle at this level of openness, particularly when lists of employees’ names and salaries are posted on the Web. In Maine, for example, a bill was introduced in the legislature in April that would make employee salaries confidential, largely in response to a database posted by MaineOpenGov.org. That bill never reached a vote; it was killed unanimously by the legislature’s judiciary committee shortly after the bill was introduced.

If a government body in Texas is denying access to public employee salaries, it must provide a specific confidentiality provision recognized under Texas law that would serve as an exception to the general rule that this information is open under the Texas Public Information Act. If denied on confidentiality grounds, requesters should be sure to ask for the specific code, chapter and section of state law that the government body is relying on as an exception to 552.022(a); a bare assertion of “personal privacy” should not deter this request for information that is specifically deemed open to inspection under Texas law.

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Ask an Expert Questions and Answers

Are spec ads more trouble than they’re worth?

Successful (and experienced) newspaper ad salespeople know and will tell you that spec ads can be very powerful, and once in place, they help the selling process proceed to a close, resulting in an ad in your newspaper.

Don’t think that spec ads are for new advertisers only. Rethink your spec ad selling strategy and consider incorporating their use with your best customers and with some new, strategic ad alliances you want to pursue (. . . clean your car inside and out — a joint car wash retailer/oil change retailer promotion . . . weather outside is frightful, the fire inside is delightful — a joint video rental retailer/pizza delivery promotion).

Why create and use spec ads, both for print and online? Very simply, spec ads allow you and your newspaper to strategize, show, save and succeed with your new and existing advertisers.

Strategize: Spec ads help to open the door and begin the idea and need exchange, not only with new advertisers, but also with your existing customers. Presenting a spec ad helps you help your advertiser visualize a new sales or marketing strategy, and encourages those advertisers to take that first step in a business partnership with you and your newspaper.

Show: Spec ads give you and your newspaper the opportunity to teach someone how to buy advertising, through a well thought out ad and ad campaign which showcases you and your newspaper’s marketing expertise and strength as a creative selling medium, both in print and online.

Save: Spec ads will save your advertiser time and money. Time is saved which was previously spent wondering (discussing?) “what to run” … “when to run it” … “how much to price”. . . “what to say”. . . “how to say it”. . . “what will it look like”! You and your newspaper will also save time and money because of fewer rough ad drafts, proofs, production time, deadline impacts, and error adjustments.

Success: Spec ads will help foster the outcome you and your advertiser envision. For your advertiser, that may be more sales, more revenue, more profit, or overall market share growth. For you and your newspaper, it may also mean more income for you, more revenue for your paper, more profit, and enlarging customer base or overall market share
growth.

Idea generation for spec ads is easily accomplished if you remember where and how to look for ideas. Where? First and foremost, at your potential or existing advertiser’s place of business. Does an existing business card give you an idea of how to develop an ad that matches the image this retailer wishes to convey? Does the same business card provide easily accessible and usable art work, logo and/or address/phone information for spec ad development? Are existing ads or past ads (from other media — chamber book, yellow pages, direct mail, other newspapers) available to incorporate into your spec ads? Are there other printed materials available — restaurant menus, catalogs, flyers?

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Ask an Expert Questions and Answers

Are court records covered by Texas public information laws?

No. They are open to the public but not because of the state’s open government laws. Court records are considered public documents under common law. That means a person can view documents during reqular business hours at the district clerk’s office or in other specified offices where those records are kept at the county courthouse. Sometimes a judge may have a record checked out, and those records, too, can be viewed by the public by going directly to the judge’s office. A written request is not needed for court records.

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Ask an Expert Questions and Answers

It feels like I’m all over the place, do you have any suggestions on how to manage my sales territory?

Managing your sales territory to generate additional revenue for you and your paper is not a case of working harder, but working smarter. Here are seven suggestions to get you headed in the right direction:

  • ‘What is it you are trying to manage?’ Do you want to increase ad revenue, account count, development of a particular geographic area, ad count, or more use of a particular newspaper product?
  • Optimize your selling opportunities for success by structuring your day to assure less in office, production time and more out-of-office, face-to-face selling time.
  • Practice Time Management. Plan, plan, plan. Learn to prioritize. Stop procrastinating and wasting time (identify your time wasters). Know yourself and understand the value of time (both that of your client’s and your own). Say no!
  • Delegate and use all available resources. Everyone at your newspaper (circulation, production, newsroom) is part of your sales and marketing team, from top to bottom. Remember, no one can do it all.
  • Organize your information. Ideally, you have or will develop a pitchbook (it may be as easy and simple as a ring binder) to keep all appropriate sales information at your finger tips and presentation ready.
  • Assess your accounts specifically and realistically. What degree of potential $$ exists with each account? What problems may be evident, what may change, what’s the future? Review, too, the urgency or priority of each account. Who may be at risk from competitive challenges, both from other retailers or other media?
  • Reward yourself by taking care of yourself. Ensure both your professional and personal growth. Take time for you. Maintain a positive attitude, don’t dwell on past failures and rejections – use them to build on future successes. Think of a new way to handle an old problem. Keep growing. Learn from others. Have fun!!

As you grow and develop and your territory or account list changes and evolves, remember to learn and work on inventing the future rather than trying to redesign the past. Good luck!

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Ask an Expert Questions and Answers Photojournalism

Some parents posted sports photos of their kids on Flickr. Can we just grab a couple for the paper?

Not so fast…just because they are “out there for everyone to see for free” doesn’t automatically give you the green light to run them as you please. While the first amendment grants us great leeway and courts have determined that prior restraint isn’t allowed (with rare exception…troop movements, etc.) this doesn’t give you carte blanche to scavenge in Internet for photos of little Billy scoring the winning run in yesterday’s extra-inning thriller and plant them on the sports page.

Although sites like Flickr encourage sharing of photos, it’s not without conditions. Flickr even allows various licensing levels to be selected by their users, further muddying the copyrights water. For instance, a user can set the license usage for their work as “public domain” if they so choose. If no licensing level is set though, does that mean they are automatically in the “public domain?” Can a newspaper claim a “fair use” exemption?

If the game becomes a legitimate news event, (such as a photo of someone during the game who is later abducted, murdered, killed in a car wreck on the way home, or even wins some great prize), you might have a better “fair use” defense for publication, but despite no clear copyright label, under current copyright law an image is copyrighted the instant it is created by the photographer, unless it was created under a “work for hire” agreement. Absent such an agreement (or any other written or verbal contract or permission), legally you are violating the image creator’s copyright, which is punishable by a fine of up to $150,000 per incident.

Of course most courts are lenient if you show a good faith effort to remove the photo that is in violation (especially on websites), but it’s a little harder to do in print…and an apology and correction won’t always absolve you of any monetary liability. Courts tend to see this as a copyright issue, not a freedom of press issue, and a photo does NOT have to be officially copyrighted or even labeled as such to invoke copyright protection, although if the copyright owner does not register their creation within 90 days of publication (their original publication on say Flickr, not YOUR re-publication of their images) it does limit damages that can be awarded to “actual damages” (which would be fair market value of the image). Also, for any NON-PUBLISHED images, the author has up to 5 years after creation to register their copyright in order to collect punitive damages.

Remember, all images are automatically copyrighted by their creator unless they are covered under “work for hire” rules, such as your editorial employees. Even a freelancer in your employ is not automatically covered by “work for hire” copyright rules, so make sure you have an agreement with the photo’s owner before you publish it…otherwise you may find yourself dealing with a copyright attorney.

For more information about photography and copyright law, go to http://templatelab.com/copyright-basics/.

 

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Ask an Expert Questions and Answers Newswriting Reporting

Sometimes the direct quotes in my stories look dull when they hit the paper. How can I come up with better quotes?

It’s always frustrating to read direct quotes from local officials that really don’t add much to the stories, such as when a local city or county official, trying his or her best to stay on point, is asked for reaction to a local measure that just passed and says, “We think this is in the best financial interests of our residents.” Or when a local craftsman, whose initiative and talent have produced murals that have spruced up some unattractive downtown buildings says, “I’m proud of all the community support we’ve received.” Or when the star or coach of the high school team says of a big win, “We just had to come together as team.”

Sure, these folks made those statements, and surely they’re accurate, but just as surely these lines don’t add much to the reader’s understanding of the issue. They don’t add insight to the story, and they don’t move the story along.

And moving the story along is what direct quotes are intended to do. Direct quotations are supposed to enlighten and entertain the audience and illuminate the issue being covered, not to mention indicating a sufficient probe into the situation at hand.

Sometimes, though, a reporter can settle for the first words that come out of the source’s mouth. One of the reasons for these types of accurate but non-meaningful direct quotes is that too often the reporters ask open-ended questions that fail to direct the nature of the response. The question posed might be, “What’s your reaction to the vote?” Or, “How do you feel now that the project’s completed?” Or, “Tell me what this victory means.” By asking this question, the reporter has left it up to the source to come up with a meaningful sound bite, and, depending on the source’s political position or articulateness or experience with news media, the results can be politically-correct or drab or, in the case of the coach or ballplayer, clichéd from too many nights of ESPN SportsCenter.

If the direct quotes illustrated so far are indicative of the best one’s available, it either means the reporter had a tin ear, didn’t have ample time or didn’t engage the source in a meaningful interview. And sometimes, in the latter situation, it’s because the reporter might not have been knowledgeable enough or confident enough or comfortable enough to ask more challenging questions.

Let’s take the first example, the local official who has touted the fiscal wisdom of the government’s vote, and let’s say it was to cut back on operating hours of the local library.

And let’s say the reporter is knowledgeable and confident enough but hoped to get a meaningful response from the open-ended question. Well, that obviously didn’t work, so here’s a follow-up, a close-ended question that more narrowly defines the range in which the official can respond: “How does the money saved justify the inconvenience to library patrons?” And if the source replies, “Well, it was a tough call.” Now, you’ve got something to work with, and to that the reporter could follow up with, “How was it a tough call?” And let’s say the response there is, “We know we’ve got a lot of elderly residents and working-class parents who’ll find it harder to get there on the reduced hours, but we had to make cuts somewhere.” Now your direct quote reads:

“It was a touch call,” Jones said. “We’ve got a lot of elderly residents and working-class parents who’ll find it harder to get there on the reduced hours, but we had to make cuts somewhere.”

And now you’ve got a direct quote with some meat to it, that comes from an official source and registers with readers who may support the measure and those who oppose it. And you’ve gotten some insight into how the local government works, which isn’t always the case when relying purely on what’s said at the governmental meetings. And, if there’s not much time for the interview, that’s the line of questioning that ought to kick-start the conversation instead of the open-ended question.

The same goes for the local artist. Instead of asking for his reaction, ask why he or she was motivated to undertake such an endeavor or how the project will benefit the community. Those questions will prompt some soul-searching by the artist that should provide insight to the readers. And if the answer is that “so many people have volunteered their time and money, it makes this project all the more rewarding,” then voila!

And the coach? Ask how the team, as initially described, came together. A simple “tell me how they did it” should kick-start that line of questioning. And if the reporter noticed that the team was more selective on pitches or made more passes before attempting to score, ask the coach how those actions contributed to the win. Bottom line, ask probing questions that prod the source to give more meaningful answers that will have meaning.

And the more questions that are asked that push for meaningful answers, the more follow-up questions should leap out at the reporter. And that translates into more interesting copy for your readers.

Remember, some of these sources may have a vested interest in staying as non-committal as possible, or they may not know exactly what it is the newspaper is looking for, or they may live in a world where the cliché is crystal clear to them but babble to your readers.

The key for the reporter is to engage them in conversation, to be inquisitive, and to be interested in finding out and understanding how and why your community thinks and acts like it does. Try it, and you’ll like it.

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Ask an Expert Questions and Answers

I’m not very good at cold calling. Do you have any suggestions?

I can easily understand where you are coming from, having been there early in my career. Don’t give up yet! It’s easy (and fun!) to make cold calls, if you warm them up beforehand. How do you do that? By visiting your potential advertiser before making the initial sales contact and by being prepared.

The “recon mission” strategy can warm up those cold calls, enabling you to be better prepared, and ultimately more successful. On your recon mission your objective is not to make initial contact or get acquainted, your objective is to gather information, to learn more about, and further qualify your potential advertiser.

The recon mission takes place at your potential advertiser’s place of business. Visit your potential advertiser, look around and walk around, asking yourself these questions: What image is this retailer conveying? What’s the store’s appearance, inside and out? Who are the clientele? What’s the customer service like? What is the depth, variety and look of the merchandise? Is the store signage welcoming, are promotions prominently displayed and recent are advertising efforts or campaigns displayed?

As you gather your information, a picture of your potential advertiser should begin to form. During your recon mission, did you pick up some new ideas or competitive information that will help you with your other clients? Have you begun formulating what benefits your newspaper offers that will match the needs or goals of this potential advertiser?

Your answers to all of the aforementioned questions will help you plan your strategy and better prepare you for your initial meeting with your potential advertiser’s decision maker, owner or manager. Your first meeting, your cold call (and your likelihood for success) is warmer because you have some information, you know a little about what your potential advertiser wants to achieve and you have had the opportunity to at least think through some possible matches between your newspaper’s benefits and your potential advertiser’s goals. You are confident about what you will achieve during this initial meeting. Be careful; don’t be too confident, we’re not selling yet. We are still gathering information.

In preparation for your cold call, ask yourself what your objective is and what questions you are going to ask, not what you are going to tell or sell.

As you walk into your potential advertiser’s place of business ask to speak to the owner or manager. Once that person (or the key decision maker) is identified, address them by name, and introduce yourself, your newspaper, and your intentions (Good Morning, Katie. My name is ____, with ______; do you have a moment to talk about newspaper advertising?). If your prospect says no, ask when a convenient time would be (tomorrow? 2:30?), and set up a subsequent appointment before you leave. Give your potential advertiser a copy of your paper and a business card.

As your potential advertiser mentions a need (we want to reach homeowners), match it with a benefit your newspaper offers (71 percent of our readers are college-educated homeowners). Ask questions. Gather information. Remember to keep this first meeting short. Tell your potential advertiser you would like to set up a subsequent appointment to gather more information or to come back with some ideas, suggestions and recommendations (and proof) showing how your newspaper will meet his or her needs or goals, and basically be a resource to him or her.

Remember, you are building a relationship. The more information about your potential advertiser that you assemble the easier it will be to match needs and benefits. YOU are in charge of building the relationship.

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Ask an Expert Questions and Answers Software

My Adobe Illustrator program will not let me save files as .ai (Illustrator) files. I get an “unknown error” message every time that I try to save that way. Help?

When it comes to software and hardware problems I always try to find a short-term action and a long-term strategy.

Short-term Action

What you describe indicates it is most likely a preferences problem.

Somehow, over a period of time, the preferences file has been corrupted and you will need to either delete/recreate the preferences folder or reset the preferences.

This situation can also occur with other Adobe CS products.

The reset option will help those programs too.

The options below cover the reset/delete preferences process for both Mac and Windows OS.

There can be small differences between CS2, CS3 and CS4, but the basics are the same.

If this does not solve the problem, uninstalling and reinstalling the program might work.

On rare occasions, the non-save function and error message you received can be attributed to pirated or incompatible fonts. Swapping out fonts you know are legal and dependable might also solve the problem.

For the Mac

Option 1

  1. Save and close Illustrator.
  2. Open the Finder and then go to Go > Home > Preferences.
  3. Look for a folder named Adobe Illustrator CS2, CS3 or CS4 settings.
  4. Look in this folder for the Adobe Illustrator Prefs file. Trash this file.
  5. Empty the trash
  6. Restart Illustrator. Reset any custom preferences and close Illustrator. The preferences file should be recreated.

Option 2

  1. Hold down Shift + Command + Option + Control when opening the program.
  2. If you get a dialog asking if you want to delete the settings folder, select, “yes.”
  3. Restart Illustrator. Reset any custom preferences and close Illustrator. The preferences file should be recreated.

Option 3

  1. In some versions of Illustrator, choosing a custom workspace you have saved under Window>Workspace will reset the program preferences. In other versions you can select Default or Basic. Sometimes, just saving a new workspace will reset the preferences.

For Windows XP

Option 1

  1. Save your work and close Illustrator. Double click on My Computer on your desktop and open C:>Documents and Settings > User >Application Data > Adobe > Adobe Illustrator CS2, CS3 or CS4 Settings. In this folder trash the file named AIPrefs. Empty the trash.
  2. Restart Illustrator. Reset any custom preferences and close Illustrator. The preferences file should be recreated.

Option 2

  1. Hold down Shift + Control + Alt when opening the program.
  2. If you get a dialog asking if you want to delete the settings folder, select, “yes.”
  3. Restart Illustrator. Reset any custom preferences and close Illustrator. The preferences file should be recreated.

Option 3

  1. In some versions of Illustrator, choosing a custom workspace you have saved under Window>Workspace will reset the program preferences. In some versions you can select Default or Basic. Even saving a new Workspace will reset the preferences.

Important note for Windows users

If you have problems finding the AIPrefs file, do an Advanced Options search for AIPrefs with the “Search hidden files and folders” option checked. Trash the AIPrefs it locates.

Long-term strategy

It’s also important to develop a long-term strategy to deal with software issues. See Broc’s related blog post on that topic.

 

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Ask an Expert Questions and Answers

When retailers in my community ask me how much to invest in advertising, what considerations should I be taking into account?

Thanks for your question. Most retailers set their investment in advertising dollars based on a percentage of sales. The accepted advertising industry norm is 3 percent to 5 percent of monthly sales as a monthly ad budget. However, the amount of dollars a retailer invests in advertising also can depend on a number of factors:

  • Business Location. High traffic area? Low traffic area? The lower the traffic, the more rural or out of main street flow, the larger dollar investment in advertising required.
  • Top-of-Mind Awareness. A new business as opposed to an established business with awareness, familiarity and trust will need a larger dollar investment in advertising.
  • Competitive Market. Businesses in a market with a number of competitors will need a larger dollar investment in advertising as opposed to the one-of-a-kind business in a market.
  • Price vs. Value. A business that guarantees lowest price or features continual sale efforts will need a larger dollar investment in advertising to continually reinforce this message.

Remember, when a business advertises price, or the business is only selling price, the business will have to continue to lower the price, or come up with enhanced incentives on an ongoing basis in order to continue building their customer base.