I attended the 146th annual Texas Press Association (TPA) Convention & Trade Show June 18-20 at the Hyatt Regency DFW Airport Hotel along with Hubby, Daughter and several of my colleagues. We attended numerous informative sessions on current industry topics and participated in several Q and As.
The ways in which we report the news and keep our communities informed is ever evolving. While it’s vital that we meet the challenge, it’s also difficult because it’s a moving target. Regardless, we must continue pivoting in order to do our jobs and remain relevant in our respective communities.
I always look forward to the TPA convention because it’s a great opportunity to network, see what others in the field are doing, compare notes and pick up some useful nuggets here and there. I usually come away feeling rejuvenated and ready to work harder. This year was different, however, and it gave me pause. Between the depressing stats on decreasing readership and distrust of the media, the ubiquitous chatter regarding both the threats and benefits of AI, and someone actually verbalizing the fact that the Austin policymakers don’t give the proverbial tinker’s damn about rural Texas – let’s just say I found myself thinking more and more about retirement.
Rufus Friday, the executive director of the Center for Integrity in News Reporting in Little Rock, was the keynote speaker for one of the luncheons.
Recalling Walter Cronkite and his solid reporting, objectivity and fairness, Friday reported that a Gallup poll revealed that trust in mass media has fallen from 31% to 28% since last year, an all-time low for the past 50 years. The poll also revealed that the U.S. ranks last among 46 countries in media trust at 29%.
“The mission is to reduce bias in news reporting, rebuild public trust in media, and recognize and reward objective and impartial news reporting,” Friday said.
He said that can be done by creating and publishing a statement of core journalistic values; clearly differentiating news and opinion; and design, package and present news reporting and opinion differently.
Suzanne Bellsnyder spoke about rural issues in the Texas Legislature. A former policy director, chief of staff and senate advisor, Bellsnyder is the editor of Texas Rural Reporter and the owner of two community newspapers in the Panhandle.
“The real political divide is shifting from partisan to urban versus rural. Rural voters still decide statewide elections, but policy is increasingly shaped by urban priorities. Rural Texas is iconic Texas and it’s being left behind,” she said.
“Why does the legislature matter to your readers? Texas was built on local control – decisions closest to the people. Power is increasingly centralized in Austin. State policies are overriding local control on taxes, schools and growth. Rural communities have less influence as authority concentrates. When decisions move to Austin, rural voices get diluted,” she said.
Bellsnyder said the big topics for rural areas in the upcoming legislative session will be water, data centers and education.
“This data center issue is so complicated. There’s so many layers to it. It is true that counties have no control over this. The county officials are being pitted against big legal firms from Google,” she said.
Following our afternoon classes, we left the hotel complex and car-pooled over to the American Airlines CR Smith Flight Museum for dinner and tours.
Located on the campus of the American Airlines Flight Academy which is situated at the southern end of DFW Airport, the museum has a 25,000-square-foot exhibit gallery and a 10,000-square-foot hangar that houses the Flagship Knoxville, a retired fully restored 1940 Douglas DC-3 aircraft.
The museum is dedicated to the history of American Airlines and commercial aviation and is named for Cyrus Rowlett Smith (1899-1990), the innovative aviation pioneer who became president of American Airlines in 1934 at the age of 35 and led the airline for 34 years, helping to shape the entire airline industry.
Following classes the final morning, we all gathered in the convention hall where the trade show and silent auction had just ended, eager to find out who the winning bidders would be. I ended up snagging a collection of columns written by Leon Hale, a coffee cup and a T-shirt that says “Journalism Matters.”
From there we reassembled for the final luncheon and presentation of the Texas Better Newspaper Contest awards. This year, 103 newspapers from throughout the state submitted 1,020 entries in 17 different categories. Competitors were divided into divisions in which newspapers competed against publications of similar circulation. The entries were judged by members of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.
In a field of tough competitors, Polk County Publishing Company brought home 14 awards.
