Past Captain’s Corner Entry
Posted on Saturday, April 03, 2010
Mr. Tom Conner, Publisher of the Northwest Florida Daily News as well as other Freedom Publishing newspapers in the Florida Panhandle area, was the guest speaker at the 18 March 2010 Dinner Meeting of Seagull Flight #61, Fort Walton Beach, FL. He spoke to fifty-two Seagull Members, providing an up-date on the state of the Printed Media in today's environment.
Mr. Conner believes that the old standard of the print media, the daily or weekly newspaper, is here to stay, even if in a much changed format. Although the current economic situation, along with increasing costs and reduced advertising, has caused the Daily News and most papers to cut back in size and staff, there is still a viable demand for the printed news. The Daily News has maintained a base of about 55,000 readers per day.
In addition, the Freedom Publishing operation has made a concerted effort to incorporate the electronic media, primarily computers, to reach an expanded audience with both news and advertising. The Northwest Florida Freedom papers have been linked by computer to improve their coverage of area news while reducing the reporter staff. The electronic links allow the papers from Pensacola to Panama City to have instantaneous access to reported news events occurring across the entire area. As a result, major news events can now be covered on a timely basis.
Mr. Conner also discussed the editorial philosophy of the Daily News and the entire Freedom Publishing Company. It is a "Libertarian" philosophy of small government, minimum regulation and interference in citizen's lives and strict adherence to the US Constitution. He explained the development of the local editorial page articles in response to an audience question. If the editorial addresses a national issue, it is usually written by comeone from Freedom Publishing. If the article is of local interest, it is a product of the Daily News Editorial Staff, usually the Editorial Page Editor.
As expected, Mr. Conner did an excellent job of providing a current look at the "Media World" and at our own "Mullet Wrapper", the Daily News.
Of special interest to all Seagulls is our meeting schedule for the remainder of 2010. The Eglin O'Club closes at the end of June and will not reopen bor business until January 2011. As a result, the 2010 meeting schedule had to be revamped. WE WILL MEET AT THE EGLIN O'CLUB IN APRIL, MAY, AND JUNE. WE WILL TAKE A TWO MONTH, JULY AND AUGUST, SUMMER BREAK AND WILL MEET FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR AT THE NEW HURLBURT FACILITY. The annual Christmas meeting will be at Hurlburt in conjunction with our local MOAA. Please look at the NOTAM page for a tabular layout of the places and dates.
A reminder - The April meeting is our annual JROTC Recognition Night and will include wives, etc.
A second reminder - Join the troops for 1st Friday at the O'Club.
For the Flight Commander
Seagull #2
