ASNE Plans Membership Drive to Combat Steady Slide

By: Joe Strupp After four straight years of steady membership declines, the American Society of Newspaper Editors will launch an expanded membership outreach to expand its ranks.

The effort comes at a time when ASNE membership has dropped by 18% in four years, from 914 in 2000 to 750 in 2004. Annual dues, meanwhile, have increased, from $590 in 2003 for editors at the top-circulation papers to $600 in 2004 and a planned increase to $625 in 2005.

"I don't think anything has happened that frightens us," ASNE Executive Director Scott Bosley said about the membership slide. "But there have been changes in the industry and people are not spending as much on a lot of things."

While specifics of the drive are still being finalized, Bosley said it will likely include a mass mailing to non-member editors, with a follow up contact from an ASNE member in their area.

"We have not put together a brochure like this with a systematic mailing in a few years," said Bosley. "We thought it was time to put ourselves in front of people who are not members. There a number of people we can approach.

"Business is not robust and the economy is coming back slowly," Bosley said about the need for a membership kick as the costs increase and membership drops. He pointed to a dwindling number of retirees who still maintain their memberships, including many who are retiring younger and often going into other professions where they don't seek to keep their newspaper connections.

Membership renewals were sent out just last month and are due with annual fees in January, according to Chris Schmidt, ASNE finance and membership director. She acknowledged that membership needs a boost, saying the new campaign will focus "on the appeal of ASNE." But she declined to offer specifics now.

In recent years, the association has made small changes to help drive membership, such as instituting a tiered dues system in which those at smaller papers pay less. Last year, ASNE altered its convention schedule, which had the yearly Washington-based gathering taking place outside of Washington every four years. From now on, it will be held in a non-D.C. site every three years, in Seattle in 2006 and Chicago in 2009.

ASNE's dues-collection policy also has eased up to give members more time to pay. "We used to drop them [for non-payment] by the summer," said Schmidt. "But now we don't really kick them out until they fail to pay at the end of the year."