The Oklahoma Publisher Official Publication of the Oklahoma Press Association www.OkPress.com Vol. 90, No. 6 www.Facebook.com/okpress 24 Pages • June 2019 INSIDE OPA members attend annual convention MILT PHILLIPS AWARD: Rod Serfoss, publisher of the Clinton Daily News, was this BY KAYLEA HUTSON-MILLER year’s recipient of the OPA Milt for the Oklahoma Publisher Phillips Award. With a charge to “never give up,” from PAGE 6 keynote speaker Mike Boettcher, mem- MUSSELMAN AWARD: The bers of the Oklahoma Press Association ONF selected Rusty Ferguson, opened the 2019 convention. publisher of The Cleveland The event, which took place June 7 and American, as the Beachy 8 at the Grand Casino Hotel & Resort in Musselman Award winner. Shawnee, was filled with breakout sessions PAGE 7 and speakers designed to educate and promote journalism throughout the state BETTER NEWSPAPER of Oklahoma. CONTEST WINNERS: Check Friday’s sessions included a rundown out who won awards in the annual of the 2019 Oklahoma legislative session newspaper contest. by Senate Appropriations Chairman Roger PAGES 13-17 Thompson. Thompson, also a newspaper publisher/ OPA members gather in the foyer of the Grand Casino Hotel & Resort to view items in the DONATE TO ONF to receive owner of the Okemah News Leader, field- ONF Silent Auction and to speak to exhibitors at the 2019 OPA Convention. this Will Rogers print. Details at ed questions from his colleagues, while Photo by Richard R. Barron | The Ada News OkPress.com/will-rogers. talking about the nuances of the state budget. During his hour long discussion, Thompson talked about numerous issues including funding for the state’s prison systems and allocations for mental health issues. He also addressed questions about rural health care, charter school funding and what needs to be done to ensure the state has adequate funding for the budget- ary needs. ELECTION OF OFFICERS, DIRECTORS Attentive members focus on a speaker during a session at the OPA Convention. In the annual business meeting, OPA members elected new officers and direc- Photo by Richard R. Barron | The Ada News tors for the 2019-2020 term beginning July 1. Officers elected to a one-year term were Ray Dyer, El Reno Tribune, as president; Mike Strain, Tulsa World, as vice presi- dent; Jeff Shultz, Garvin County News Star, as treasurer; and Brian Blansett, Tri- County Herald in Meeker, as past presi- dent. Members also voted to renew a three- year term as director for Zonelle Rainbolt, The Cordell Beacon, and for Don Mecoy from The Oklahoman to fulfill the third year of a three-year term as director. Sheila Gay, publisher of the Woodward News, was elected to a three-year term as director. AWARDS In addition to the OPA Better Newspa- per Contest Awards (see pages 13-17 for Oklahoma’s congressional delegation speaks to members at the convention. The panel list of winners), many other awards were included Moderator Mike Strain, Tulsa World; U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe; U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas; U.S. presented. To read more about this year’s Rep. Tom Cole; U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern; and U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn. award winners, see pages 6-9. Photo by Richard R. Barron | The Ada News 2 The Oklahoma Publisher // June 2019 ROOTS ON 66 BY OPA PRESIDENT RAY DYER, Co-Publisher of the El Reno Tribune Community comes together in aftermath of May tornado Sleep. There wasn’t much of it for dozens and dozens and dozens of people after the freak tornado destroyed lives and property in El Reno the night of May 25. First responders, city employees, law enforcement, administrative personnel, community volunteers and elected leaders pushed themselves hour- after- hour try- ing to help in any way they could. An El Reno firefighter said he’d been going for about 36 hours. The adrenaline and seeing the massive need kept him and many others pushing forward, trying to make a difference. They did. They still are. And as if to add salt to the wound, the tornado touched down only a few days after our community and our state was hit with massive flooding. People were working to recover from that disaster when another landed upon us. Gov. Kevin Stitt said seeing the devastation in person made it more real. He said television can’t do justice to the magnitude of the situation. Mayor Matt White over and over asked for prayers. I’m thinking those prayers were answered. You could see them being answered by the outpouring of support from neighbors and strangers. They were being The Vinita Daily Journal building sustained significant damage to the front quarter of answered through the heroic acts of selflessness on the part of first responders and the building when high winds in the May 22 storm caused roof and water damage. hundreds more. They were being answered when someone handed a thirsty per- Vinita received 4.25 inches of rain in the storm, bringing the three-day total to 11.75 son a bottle of water, or when a child was given a stuffed animal to hold tight. inches. More than 20 inches of rain fell in Vinita in a 23-day period from April 30 to The twisted rubble of the Skyview Mobile Home Park is a deadly reminder May 22. there is fury in this life that no army can defend us against. Photo by Angela Thompson, Vinita Daily Journal Just as evident, the response to the pain caused by that fury reminds us there is a love that can never be blown away. No matter how strong the wind. The Oklahoma standard was on full display in El Reno during the latter days of May. Bill Harper to be inducted into OOAHF Bill Harper, a former longtime Tulsa Oklahoma high school officiating. He World/Tulsa Tribune writer and editor, did it for nearly four decades. OKLAHOMA PRESS ASSOCIATION will join the latest induction class for the Harper was associated with the Tulsa Oklahoma Officials Association Hall of World and Tulsa Tribune from 1956 Fame. until his retirement in 2013. He entered CALENDAR OF EVENTS Induction is July 20 during the OOA the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame FREE registration to Online Media Campus (OMC) webinars convention at Southmoore High School. in 2008. Harper was a fixture in northeastern Instructions on how to access current and archived webinars were mailed to publishers in January. Please refer to that flier for instructions or email [email protected] or [email protected] for directions on how to register. 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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON EVENTS, visit the OPA website at www.OkPress.com [email protected] or contact Membership & Meetings Director Christine Frank at (405) 499-0040, ® 800.223.1600 www.metrocreativeconnection.com 1-888-815-2672 or email [email protected]. miadwizard.com The Oklahoma Publisher // June 2019 3 New study fi nds Google receives an estimated The $4.7 billion in revenue from news publishers’ content Oklahoma ARLINGTON, VA – The News Media Publisher Alliance today published findings from a new study that analyzes how Google uses and benefits from news. ISSN 1526-811X Among the major findings of the Official Publication of the study is that news is a key source on Oklahoma Press Association which Google has increasingly relied to drive consumer engagement with its PUBLISHER products. The amount of news in Google search Mark Thomas results ranges from 16 to 40 percent, [email protected] and the platform received an estimated EDITOR $4.7 billion in revenue in 2018 from crawling and scraping news publishers’ Jennifer Gilliland content – without paying the publishers Platform giant profits from news content to publishers’ detriment [email protected] for that use. The study, containing analysis con- services, Google is tailoring its products “We have called for legislation that ducted by experts at strategy and eco- OPA OFFICERS – ramping up its use of news – to keep would provide a limited safe harbor for nomics consulting firm Keystone Strat- Ray Dyer, President users in the Google ecosystem. news publishers to be able to collective- egy and written by the News Media According to the report, since Janu- ly negotiate for better terms with plat- El Reno Tribune Alliance, includes a qualitative overview ary 2017, traffic from Google Search to forms such as Google and Facebook,” of Google’s usage of news content, an Jeff Shultz, Treasurer news publisher sites has risen by more Chavern said. “This is the only solution analysis of the amount of news content Garvin County News Star than 25 percent to approximately 1.6 to correcting the current marketplace on Google Search and Google News, billion visits per week in January 2018. imbalance, which allows the platforms Mark Thomas, and an estimate of revenue Google Corresponding with consumers’ shift to dominate the web and related adver- Executive Vice President receives from news.