ONE MORE TIME: Happy New Year from your friends at MPA-MPS! Our office will be closed Monday-Tuesday, Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, in observance of the holiday. Normal business hours will resume Wednesday, Jan. 2. We hope all our members, clients and associates have a very safe and festive holiday weekend.

Register now for the Mid-Winter Conference

Register now to attend the annual MPA Mid-Winter Conference, Feb. 7-9 at the Jackson Hilton Garden Inn Downtown. Once again a special "half-price" registration rate is being offered for first-time attendees or for MPA members who have not attended the last three Mid-Winter Conferences (since 2009).
Additionally, the MPA Education Foundation is offering $100 tuition scholarships to attend the conference. Ten grants are available on a first-come, first-served basis and only one grant is available per newspaper. They are intended to defray the travel and registration costs associated with attending the conference.
Complete details on the conference are available at the Mid-Winter webpage.

Tickets on sale for annual benefit roast

Tickets are now available for the 2013 roast of BancorpSouth Chairman Aubrey Patterson. The event will be held Feb. 7 at the Jackson Marriott Downtown.

Patterson, who recently retired as CEO of the Tupelo-based bank, is a former chairman of the Mississippi Economic Council and served on the board of the state Institutions of Higher Learning.

Tickets are $80 each for the general public or $50 for MPA Foundation member newspapers. Tables of eight are available for $600. Contact Kimberly Haydu for additional information or click here to purchase tickets.

Send your rate updates to MPS

Newspaper members are reminded to send their rate updates for 2013 to MPS as soon as possible. Rate adjustments need to be entered into MPS' One System soon so that we can quote accurate figures to clients for the coming year.

Forward rate cards by email to Andrea Ross or by fax to 601-981-3676.

ID badges for 2013-14 now available

MPA is offering photo ID badges for newspaper members for $10 each. The credit-card sized badges are laminated and include a photo of the staffer.

All cards issued bear the signature of the MPA executive director and are valid through Dec. 31, 2014. Click here for more information.

These special order badges do not replace the traditional MPA press cards that are mailed to each publisher in January. For more informartion, contact Member Services Coordinator Monica Gilmer.

Job Bank highlights

Recent job postings listed with MPA include an advertising director position with The Meridian Star, copy desk chief for the Daily Journal in Tupelo, and photographer at The Natchez Democrat. Find out more on these jobs and many others at the MPA Job Bank.

Have a posting for the Job Bank? Email member services coordinator Monica Gilmer. It's a free listing for MPA member newspapers or professionals seeking employment in-state.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Dec. 31-Jan. 1 New Years holiday; MPA-MPS office closed
Feb. 7              MPA-MPS Board Meetings
Feb. 7              MPAEF Board Meeting
Feb. 7              MPAEF Benefit Roast
Feb. 7-9           MId-Winter Conference
March 28         O.C. McDavid Journalism Conference
Click here to visit the MPA Calendar

INDUSTRY HEADLINES

Paper stirs controversy with list of gun permit holders

From The New York Times
In the days after the Connecticut school killings, a newspaper in nearby Westchester County, N.Y., decided to respond by publishing the names and addresses of handgun permit holders in its readership area. The newspaper, The Journal News, said that informing people about legal weapons in their neighborhoods was a public service. Not everyone agrees.

Google News crumbles and more 2013 predictions

From Forbes
With the digital and mobile era clearly setting in across the global landscape, media is continuing to transform on a daily basis. As smartphones and tablets begin to overthrow PCs, advertisers and publishers alike are stuck in a search for a way to hit their target audience and still generate revenue. With new doors opening and others closing nearly everyday in the world of publishing, 2013 will be the year that mobile consumption finally raises the bar on both advertising and publishing in the digital age.

Tribune papers to drop AP service

From Time Out Chicago
The Chicago Tribune and six other newspapers owned by Tribune Co. are dropping the services of Associated Press, effective in early January. In addition to the flagship Tribune, other company-owned papers cutting ties with the 166-year-old global news provider are the Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Hartford Courant, Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Daily Press of Newport News, Virginia.