Board Member Quits NAA p.

By: George Garneau

Judith Roales says association neglects small newspapers sp.

IN A RARE departure from the Newspaper Association of America's harmonious public face, a resigning board member has accused the trade group of neglecting small, independently owned newspapers to further the interests of the large media conglomerates that dominate the association and the industry.
"Too often, we at the smaller independent companies find ourselves not just out of sync, but directly opposed to NAA positions and programs," Judith Roales, president of Independent Newspapers Inc. of Dover, Del., said in her resignation letter.
Roales withdrew the Delaware State News from NAA, severing Independent's ties to the Reston, Va.-based trade group. Last year, Independent pulled its Cambridge (Md.) Daily Banner out of the association, the biggest and most powerful lobbying representative for the nation's newspaper owners.
In a separate development, Ted Natt, publisher of the 25,000-circulation Longview, Wash., Daily News, quit NAA in January, after more than 20 years in the association, to protest what he called the "outrageous" $600,000 salary of NAA president and CEO Cathleen Black.
Roales was named in 1990 to the board of the American Newspaper Publishers Association, where she held one of several seats traditionally reserved for small papers.
Last year, ANPA merged with the Newspaper Advertising Bureau and other newspaper marketing organizations. The resulting NAA expanded the executive board to 30 members and created a seven-member executive committee above it and a 71-member board of governors below it.
Roales, who said she bore no animosity toward and retained many friends in NAA, said it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to support NAA programs. Ironically, she said that NAA was making greater efforts to increase membership among small newspapers.
She said she felt "a moral obligation" to support NAA and to encourage others to join. "But as a newspaper professional and publisher of small, privately held papers, I find little that I believe will benefit us. In fact, in spite of the number of times 'small' newspapers are mentioned by the NAA board, committees and staff, much of the activity is irrelevant, not cost-effective for us, and in some cases downright damaging."
Roales said that the interests of large media conglomerates increasingly diverged from those of small, closely held newspapers.
Because of NAA's efforts in marketing, circulation and legislative policy "and its almost total abdication as a defender of the First Amendment for other than business expediency, it is impossible for the organization to adequately serve both groups," she said.
In an interview, Roales said that NAA's efforts to act essentially as a national advertising representative benefited big-city papers most and had the potential to remove advertising from smaller papers. She also took issue with the time devoted to alternate delivery systems.
Roales' resignation and critique break a tradition distinctly devoid of vigorous open debate on industry issues.
"We didn't have anybody leave the board for policy differences in the 16 years I was there," said Jerry Friedheim, who headed the association until 1991.
One of NAA's stated goals is to "speak with one voice" for more than 1,400 member newspapers?and it usually does.
Roales described the executive board on which she sat as little more than a "rubber stamp" for the executive committee, and she took particular umbrage with the association's attempts to portray the newspaper industry as a seamless monolith.
"The newspaper business' strength depends on all its different voices. This underlying effort to turn the industry into one homogenous voice goes against my grain and against what I think a newspaper organization ought to do," she said.
Black said in a one-paragraph written statement, "We regret the resignation of the Delaware State News from NAA." She said Roales served "with distinction."
Uzal Martz, the president and publisher of the 30,000-circulation Pottsville (Pa.) Republican, who is also NAA treasurer, executive board member and on track to becoming chairman, said, "As a publisher of a small newspaper, I get my money's worth out of NAA."
Martz said he had not heard much opposition from Roales in the past but he disputed the notion that larger papers benefit more from NAA.
For example, he said NAA helped his newspaper develop an audiotex system, and the paper on its own could never afford the lobbying necessary to fend off the Bell operating companies.
"To me as a small newspaper, I could never fund the organization that is necessary on a national level to protect the level playing field for audiotex service," he said.
He said there was "spirited discussion" during the merger last year over the role of small newspapers and the result was relatively low dues for small papers.
Nevertheless, NAA's membership has declined from 1,535 newspapers at the time of the merger last year to 1,450.
For his part, Natt said NAA has made progress in addressing the needs of small papers but not enough to justify Black's salary. The group has focused too much on audiotex and too little on improving newspapers to ensure future readership, he said.
"Electronics may be sexy but that's not my bread and butter," he said.
NAA spokeswoman Nancy Jones declined to comment on Natt's resignation on the grounds that the association had not been notified.
E&P disclosed (May 2, 1992) how several publishers of small papers were unhappy with the new NAA, including its CEO salary, which more than doubled when Black was hired.
"You can't please everybody," said Martz. "I'm not surprised that some publishers, for whatever reason, are not satisfied."
While Martz said he could understand how sales pitches to giant national advertisers such as General Motors and K mart would be seen as benefiting larger papers, "I don't see anything done to skew benefits to larger papers," he said.
Martz said larger companies that have their own environmental, telecommunications and human resources departments question why they should support NAA's similar programs, which benefit smaller papers.
He also defended Black's salary, saying NAA is a $35 million-a-year business and newspapers are a $40 billion-a-year business, and, "Like anything else, you get what you pay for."
In the end, he said, an organization has to provide value to members, and for him it does.
"I can justify my dues," he said.