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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 2015)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015 DIGITAL EO Media Group redefines newspaper publishing Local stories with national interest, such as the Can- yon Creek Complex fire in Eastern Oregon in August, can reach people online and through social media. W hen I give visitors a tour of our building, they are fas- cinated with the enlarged news- paper mastheads on our walls. Their names capture the history of our newspaper — from the 19th century Tri-Weekly Astorian forward. seven years since our last Showing visitors our ELJ GLJLWDO VDOHV SXVK :H digital world is less ro- made a major gain in dig- mantic. It comes up when LWDO VDOHV 2XU DGYHUWLVLQJ I get to a room that hous- representatives discov- HVRXU¿OHVHUYHUV:KHQ ered that merchants in our communities have become I succeeded my father more comfortable with the 28 years ago, that room digital world. contained a mainframe The sales consultant computer that served the who coached our sales Steve QHZVSDSHU¶V ¿UVW HOHF- staff, Mike Blinder, was Forrester tronic newsroom system. very impressed with the My dad’s death was only 15 years size of The Astorian’s digital audi- ago, but he would not recognize the ence. digital landscape in which we operate. Crindalyn Lyster, our corporate Some newspaper owners have GLJLWDOPHGLDGLUHFWRUQRWHVWKDW³:H EHHQ FRQÀLFWHG DERXW WKH GLJLWDO are the leaders in our community on world. Just last week I read that a digital. No one competes with us in publisher is unplugging his Internet our markets.” operations. e forget how young the Inter- :HKDYHQRWEHHQFRQÀLFWHG2XU QHW LV :KHQ /\VWHU VWDUWHG DW board of directors and management have chosen a measured, incremental The Astorian, our production process consisted of cutting strips of type and path into electronic publishing. pasting them on to the page. Today she dvertising in our printed products is our corporate digital media director. and subscription sales remain Based at the Chinook Observer, Lys- our dominant source of revenue. But ter travels throughout our company. digital advertising sales are growing. In Salem she has a staff of three in- The Astorian’s advertising staff re- cluding Travis Clark, Matt Neznanski cently did a sales blitz. It had been and Debbie Evans. The editor of the W A EO Media Group News of the Canyon Creek Complex fire spiked traffic on the Blue Mountain Eagle’s Facebook page. It’s anybody’s guess where digital is leading publishing Hermiston Herald*DU\:HVWLVDOVR part of our digital team. Digital speeds our production process. It also accelerates our news cycles. Digital news delivery makes our weekly newspapers into dailies, and it gives our daily papers a 24- KRXU QHZV F\FOH :KHQ D QDWLRQDO story breaks in one of our territories, digital allows us to keep possession RIWKHVWRU\:HXVHGWRUHO\RQWKH Associated Press to move big stories beyond our market boundaries. To- day our digital sites and social me- dia do that for us. ,Q WKH KRUUL¿F (DVWHUQ 2UHJRQ ¿UHVWKHBlue Mountain Eagle had a story of national interest. Through its website and social media, the Eagle’s audience grew dramatically. The Ea- gle’s “likes” on Facebook went from WR7KHWRSGD\RIWKH¿UH story was Aug. 15, when Facebook posts reached 175,332 people. During WKH¿UHSRVWVDYHUDJHGSHRSOH SHUGD\YHUVXVSULRUWRWKH¿UHV 2EVHUYHV /\VWHU ³,Q ZHUH dabbling in Facebook. Now we use it DOOWKHWLPH,WLVDELJWUDI¿FGULYHU W here are digital forces leading newspaper publishing? Plenty of consultants are prepared to take our money to answer that question. Every week I see invitations to seminars and workshops on the topic. “Driving Dig- ital Revenue” is the title of a Novem- ber conference sponsored by Inland Newspaper Association. Everyone is looking for that next big thing. I agree with Lyster who says this DERXWWKHIXWXUH³,W¶VDQ\ERG\¶VJXHVV because digital changes every day. It’s hard to know what that shiny object will be that sticks.” — S.A.F Open forum Thankful for care L ately, I have found myself at the point of needing to trust the care of a beloved parent into the hands of strangers. It is a decision that haunts most loving families. The fears, anx- ieties and feelings of failure and guilt will ring familiar to all in my place. My self admission that I could no longer safely meet the needs of my PRWKHU EURXJKW PH ¿QDOO\ WR &ODW- sop Care Memory Community. My heart is so full of gratitude, that it is GLI¿FXOWWRNQRZZKHUHWREHJLQ%XW I will. Firstly, I must recognize the beau- tiful facility, which was well worth waiting for. It is bright and sunny, welcoming and peaceful, expansive yet secure. &RPPXQLW\,ZDVVNHSWLFDORIWKH term. That says a lot more than most care groups are able to deliver, well meaning as they are in the beginning. CCMC has provided that and more. The individual connection that each and every staff member has PDGHZLWKP\PRPUHÀHFWVWKHRYHU- all intention of the administration. But that would not have worked, simply as a business model or vision without the people — each person who was chosen to be in this place at this time. It is for each of them that I will be always grateful, and to the wisdom of the director, who chose them. You can not know the joy of see- ing someone who has taken the time to really know your parent, and show true affection and concern, until you have been in our socks. My hope and prayer for anyone ZKR¿QGVWKHPVHOYHVDWWKHSODFHRI needing to ask for help with an aging parent who has lost the ability to make some of the basic choices of daily life, LVWKDWWKH\ZRXOG¿QGDFRPPXQLW\ like I have found at CCMC. 7KH\ DUH RXW WKHUH :KR NQHZ" Thank God. VICKI TATE Astoria revolving door for renters, who offer little, if any, value to Gearhart, while stressing community resources. A predominantly Vacation Rentals %\2ZQHU95%2GHVWLQDWLRQVKLIWV the very core and nature of a full-time community, eventually changing it into a transient resort destination. This is not a healthy change, and one that should not be taken lightly. Hopefully the council will act fairly and respon- sibly to put the brakes on the prolif- eration of absentee home ownership. Please protect the community of Gearhart by limiting homes for hire. 9,&.,($%5$+$0621 Gearhart tleman in the audience said he worked for minimum wage all his OLIH EXW KRSHG WR HDUQ SHU year if NorthernStar would receive the approval it was seeking to build a OLTXH¿HGQDWXUDOJDVIDFLOLW\DW%UDG- wood. :KHUH GLG KH JHW WKDW QRWLRQ" NorthernStar had advertised it would HPSOR\DERXWSHRSOHWRRSHUDWHLWV facility, once built, with an average VDODU\ RI WKRXJK LWV 6HFX- ULWLHVDQG([FKDQJH&RPPLVVLRQ¿O- ing, soliciting prospective investors, stated it would hire only half that PDQ\SHRSOH Apparently, the gentleman didn’t realize that the salary for the staff’s unskilled employees would be much Don’t be gullible less than the average for the entire ne adage commends, “Hope staff. Therefore, he urged approval springs eternal.” However, an- for the LNG facility, hoping he would Limit rentals other adage warns, “There are two WKHQREWDLQDMREWKHUH²RQH just want to add another voice of sides to every coin.” of the delusions NorthernStar shame- RSSRVLWLRQ WR WKH LQÀX[ RI VKRUW :KLOHWKHKXPDQSHQFKDQWWRKRSH OHVVO\ VWRNHG XQWLO LW ¿OHG IRU EDQN- term rentals in the Gearhart commu- for a better future bolsters our spirits, UXSWF\ LQ ELONLQJ RXU FRXQW\ nity. As a home owner in Gearhart for it also leaves us vulnerable to those RXWRIWKHLWRZHGXV FORVHWR\HDUV,EHOLHYHWKHIDEULF who beguile and manipulate via false 1RZDGD\V2UHJRQ/1*DOVRGDQ- and integrity of our small communi- promises. Hope can bring us succor gles promises of “good jobs” for us ty is at risk when home ownership is or make us suckers. DVLIWKH\ZHUHEDLWRQ¿VKLQJKRRNV solely a commitment to being an ab- 'XULQJ D 6HQ 5RQ :\GHQ WRZQ But if any LNG facility is approved, sentee landlord. Properties become a KDOOPHHWLQJLQDQROGHUJHQ- it would be built by bringing in pet- O I ro-chemical, cryo, mechanical, elec- trical, and civil engineers; architects; pipeline-laying riggers; high-tech construction contractors with their al- ready-trained crews; etc. How many of us have the skills and experience to compete for those good jobs? :KHQ FRPSOHWHG WKH PLQLPDO staff for operating the facility would consist of highly-compensated exec- utives and well-compensated special- ists, again brought in from elsewhere, with the rest being unskilled laborers. Those of us who might be hired as unskilled laborers for an LNG facil- ity would be paid what little money unskilled labor routinely fetches, be- cause workers are paid in accordance ZLWK KRZ GLI¿FXOW LW LV WR UHFUXLW SHRSOH TXDOL¿HG WR ¿OO WKH SRVLWLRQV Unfortunately for too many of us, unskilled labor is the easiest to re- cruit; and corporate investors invest to make money, not to charitably hire more people than needed, nor pay higher wages than necessary. Hope is a good thing. But we need to shun false promises made by those ZKR H[SORLW WKH ÀLS VLGH RI EHLQJ KRSHIXOEHLQJJXOOLEOH 6+(/&$1725 Astoria STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher • LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager • CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager • DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Founded in 1873
