No. 1 task: Get Congressional staffs to see our newspapers

Dec 9, 2020

BRETT WESNER
NNA Chair
President, Wesner Publications, Cordell, Oklahoma

CAT/Postal Committee members,

I hope you are having a safe but productive holiday season.  We will try not to bother you in December, but I do need to raise a couple of priorities.

First, attached is the letter we sent to the Biden-Harris transition team. Our emphasis is on federal advertising.  We also were involved in getting a mandate for the Defense Department agencies to examine their advertising policies, with an eye to directing more dollars to local media. That mandate is in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is a must-pass bill before this Congress adjourns.

Second, it is time to think about the new Congress. We are dealing with a lot of new people. Many do not know NNA. We’ll be rebuilding our CAT as we learn about Congressional placements and priorities.

Here is where I need your help.  We keep hearing that people in Washington think we have gone away.  Gone out of business. Kaput. They read plenty of stories about news deserts. They see only digital media.  In my own experience, one of my senators visited our office in Oklahoma and marveled at our issues. “I had no idea you were doing this,” he said.

Our number one task is to get Congressional staffs to see our newspapers. We can’t easily get newspapers to into the  DC offices for security reasons but we can add the district Congressional offices We have to turn this around. I hope you’ll make it a priority to get your Congressional offices on your mailing list. Sell them a subscription if you can. Below is an easy email to use if you don’t already have one. It is imperative to our effectiveness for them to know who you are.

If you don’t know anyone in your Congressional district offices, send an email to Tonda, tonda@nna.org, and she’ll help you track it down.

Please write and tell me you’re on it.  We are all in this together. And thanks for the time and talent you share with NNA as we work on behalf of our industry.

Sincerely,

Brett Wesner
NNA Chair
President, Wesner Publications, Cordell, Oklahoma
brett@wespubco.com