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Opinion business is changing, but NCEW is poised to help: president passes the reins.


Well, that certainly went fast! One day a brand new Masthead mast·head  
n.
1. Nautical The top of a mast.

2. The listing in a newspaper or periodical of information about its staff, operation, and circulation.

3.
 editor is "encouraging" a brand-new NCEW NCEW National Conference of Editorial Writers  president to please get his inaugural column in on time and not screw up the new Masthead editor's first deadline, and the next day the soon-to-be-past president is writing his final column (while the veteran Masthead editor waits patiently). It has been a remarkable year.

I'm going to be doing a fair amount of thanks giving here, all deserved. Thanks first to all of you for electing me and giving me this opportunity to serve. Further thanks for giving me such a visionary, hard-working, and thoughtful Executive Committee and board with which to work. What this group has accomplished this year is astounding a·stound  
tr.v. a·stound·ed, a·stound·ing, a·stounds
To astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise.



[From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen,
. And thank you, Kate Riley, for your patience and your help. You made me look good--or at least read good.

Our jobs are changing. Our craft is changing. And this organization is changing. Economic pressures from Wall Street to your neighborhood car dealership This article is about car dealerships. For the indie pop band, see Dealership (band).

A car dealership or vehicle local distribution is a business that sells new cars and/or used cars at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or
, an ever-changing competitive media landscape, and new technologies and our use of them are fueling the changes. Yet opinion journalism is as vital as ever. We know this. We've spent the last year gathering evidence. We've talked to people within and outside our industry, and they have told us we are important to the future of journalism. If we change. So we will. We will create new partnerships. We'll do research. We will ask questions and find out what will keep the readers (and viewers) we have, and attract new readers and we are not giving up on young readers--the ones we have or the ones we want. We will create new relationships with those readers and new venues for reaching them and engaging them in the work of "keeping the conversation going." We may do it in print for some time yet. We may do it on the Web exclusively. Most likely we'll do both. We will learn how to do both, and why we must.

This past year we gathered further evidence of the vitality of opinion journalism from you, NCEW members. You contributed to our organization and its Foundation in numbers in numbered parts; as, a book published in numbers.

See also: Number
 neither has witnessed before. Board members and committee chairs talked to hundreds of you, asking for money and ideas. You made an investment, and we recognize that. You have strengthened NCEW and by continuing to do so you ensure this organization's ability to grow and better serve every member.

For those of us on the boards of NCEW and the Foundation, it's been an exciting year. We've used the results of six years of strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people.  to finally move past just keeping up with our industry to begin to anticipate and plan for its future, and ultimately to lead that future. We will try to convey that excitement to you as much as possible until we are certain you share it.

All of this would have been a daunting daunt  
tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts
To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay.



[Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin
 challenge for a president who has never worked for a newspaper, were it not for a board and committee leadership team of some of the most talented and dedicated people this organization is proud to have as members. Would that every president could look to his or her side and see Vanessa Gallman, David Holwerk, and Tom Waseleski. Every strategic step we took was vetted for three years down the road. This organization is in very good hands. If you wanted to get a pretty accurate preview of the impact of the opinion journalism of the future you might start with the readers of the Dayton Daily News The Dayton Daily News (DDN) is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio. It is owned by Cox Enterprises.

On August 15, 1898, James M. Cox purchased the Dayton Evening News.
. Those fortunate readers are regularly invited into the conversation by Eddie Roth and his innovative use of multimedia. Eddie has shared that passion with NCEW and is leading our most solid and grounded steps in creating our future. I encourage you to ignore his efforts to deflect de·flect  
intr. & tr.v. de·flect·ed, de·flect·ing, de·flects
To turn aside or cause to turn aside; bend or deviate.



[Latin d
 such recognition.

Finally, I thank J.R. Labbe and John Taylor John Taylor, or Johnny Taylor may refer to: Academic figures
  • John Taylor (1704-1766), English classical scholar
  • John Taylor (1781-1864), British publisher and Egypt scholar
  • John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University 1486-1487
, the other two amigos of this year's team. More times than I can recount I found myself simply swimming against the tide, so I'd call J.R. and John, exchange an email or two, and once again land safely back on the beach. Sharing with both of them a passion for opinion journalism, deep affection for NCEW and its members, and an extremely exciting vision for the future has been the most satisfying piece of a very rewarding year. I feel lucky and grateful.

NCEW president Neil Heinen is editorial director at WISC-TV in Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

The 2006 population estimate of Madison was 223,389, making it the second largest city in Wisconsin, after Milwaukee, and
. Email: nheinen@ wisctv.com
COPYRIGHT 2007 National Conference of Editorial Writers
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2007, Gale Group. All rights reserved.

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Title Annotation:PRESIDENT'S LETTER: Straight talk from Neil Heinen
Author:Heinen, Neil
Publication:The Masthead
Date:Sep 22, 2007
Words:752
Previous Article:Hey, NCEW, you rock! Generous members met the fundraising challenge.(NCEW FOUNDATION)
Next Article:Convention.(MEMBER NEWS: Remembrances, milestones, awards)



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