Inland Press Association
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Inland Press Association, founded in 1885, is a 123-year-old United States-based not-for-profit organization owned by its member newspapers and operated by a volunteer board. Inland has over 1,200 daily and weekly newspaper members in all 50 states, Canada and Bermuda. The association provides business research, training, networking and idea-sharing services to member companies.[1]
Inland has an affiliated foundation, which provides continuing-education programs for newspaper managers and employees focused on practical assistance for day-to-day newspaper operations. [1] Inland also administers the Newspaper Business Development Network[2], a separate organization for newspaper staff members involved in generating new revenue for newspapers.
Inland is known internationally for its business research projects for newspaper companies, performing confidential cost and revenue studies, the industry standard for newspapers in North America and Latin America. The organization performs the Newspaper Industry Compensation Survey, the industry standard for newspaper compensation planning and Employee Attitude Surveys for newspaper companies.
The daily and weekly newspapers in the association reach nearly 20 million U.S. homes. Member newspapers range from the very large -- the Chicago Sun-Times, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Denver’s Rocky Mountain News, the Omaha World-Herald, the Seattle Times, the Tampa Tribune, the Columbus Dispatch, the Tacoma News-Tribune, Tucson’s Arizona Daily Star, the St. Petersburg Times, the Indianapolis Star, the Atlanta Journal & Constitution, and others to community daily and weekly newspapers from states as far west as Alaska and Hawaii and as far east as Bangor, Maine; Rio Grande, New Jersey; and Hamilton, Bermuda.
Inland also offers an annual calendar of journalist study missions to other nations to improve the understanding of other cultures. Inland delegations have visited more than 50 countries ranging from Albania to Zimbabwe. During these visits, Inland delegations have met with President (then opposition leader) Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia; President (then Vice President) Eduardo Duhalde of Argentina; President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa; President Suleyman Demirel of Turkey, and other leaders.
Inland provides a monthly publication for newspapers, including practical business and journalistic assistance, in areas such as revenue development, editing techniques, and management education. Inland’s foundation provides more than 30 training seminars and Webinars each year, dealing with the practical aspects of newspaper operations in all departments.
Inland also offers other human resources services including employee attitude surveys; news media job fairs; e-mail networking system; job description exchange; sales comp plan exchange; and online job board and resume search. It also offers legal hotlines, contests to motivate and encourage employees and exchange ideas, idea books, a libel insurance premium discount plan, conventions for professional education, job opportunity information, job fairs and other projects to support and encourage a diverse newspaper industry workforce, aid to journalism education and more.
[edit] History
The Inland Press Association first convened on May 7, 1885, in Chicago. The 19 publishers that first met at Chicago’s Tremont House represented papers from Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa. Since then, the association has grown to include more than 1,200 newspapers from all 50 states, Canada, and Bermuda.[2]
Inland has a long history of catering to the needs of newspapers of all sizes, and has a strong constituency of independent and family-owned newspapers. In 1885, newsprint trusts hurt small newspaper publishers. In order to compete, they needed the strength provided by an alliance. Three men, Robert Mann Woods of the Joliet Republic-Sun, E.A. Nattinger of the Ottawa Times and John W. Fornof of the Streator Free Press, called the first meeting and formed a newspaper alliance that has grown through more than a century of service. Many of the original members still retain Inland membership. One original family, the Bliss family in Janesville, Wis., still participates actively in Inland.
Inland’s research services also have evolved through decades of use and improvements. The first cost and revenue study was conducted in 1920, through its roots date back to surveys dated around 1911. The precursor of the Newspaper Industry Compensation Survey was established in 1930. The first advertising linage reports were done in 1931, providing the report with a 66-year history of helping newspapers find new revenues.
Inland began offering its education programs in 1978 with "Editing Small Newspapers." Inland has educated more than 15,000 newspaper employees through its seminars and workshops. The foundation sponsors more than 30 training programs and Webinars each year, attracting more than 1,000 participants annually.
