Mark Maassen is a business executive specializing in selling advertising for newspapers and a 1980 Bachelor of Journalism (BJ) graduate from the Missouri School of Journalism. [1] He has been the Executive Director of the Missouri Press Association since 2015 [2] after two years as Assistant Executive Director [1] and 33 years in advertising and management with the Kansas City Star. [2] He also served as president of the board of directors of the Missouri Press Association in 2013. [3]
He was elected President of Newspaper Association Managers on August 4, 2023. [4] [5] [6]
After Gannett sold a dozen small community newspapers in Missouri to local owners, Maassen said, "I am bullish on Missouri newspapers, especially the community newspapers." [7] In a discussion of staffing problems with people buying rural newspapers in Missouri, Maassen suggested "a scholarship program that pays students at the Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Mo., $10,000 per year for four years, in exchange for a commitment to work at a local newspaper for at least two years after they graduate." [8] The first two such scholarships were announced March 3, 2022. [9]
After Missouri Governor Mike Parson threatened criminal prosecution of St. Louis Post-Dispatch journalist Josh Renaud, Maassen said: "The newspaper and the reporter did nothing wrong. It's not uncommon for elected officials to blame the media" when they expose problems. In this case, Renaud found a security problem with the state's website. He privately reported the problem to state authorities while promising to withhold publishing anything about it until the problem was fixed. [10] [11]
In an interview for KKFI radio in Kansas City, Maassen praised the Missouri Independent, which is an online-only news organization covering government, politics and policy. Their stories are often republished in local newspapers around the state. They have won multiple awards from the Missouri Press Association. He also noted that Missouri currently has 207 newspapers with at least one in each of Missouri's 114 counties. Other states have news deserts and ghost newspapers; Missouri does not. [12]
The Tennessean is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett, which also owns several smaller community newspapers in Middle Tennessee, including The Dickson Herald, the Gallatin News-Examiner, the Hendersonville Star-News, the Fairview Observer, and the Ashland City Times. Its circulation area overlaps those of the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle and The Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, two other independent Gannett papers. The company publishes several specialty publications, including Nashville Lifestyles magazine.
Gannett Co., Inc. is an American mass media holding company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation.
The S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as the Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. It has undergraduate programs in advertising; broadcast and digital journalism; esports communications and management; magazine, news, and digital journalism; public relations; television, radio and film; visual communications; and music business. Its master's programs includes advanced media management; advertising; audio arts; broadcast and digital journalism; Goldring arts journalism and communications; magazine, news and digital journalism; media studies; multimedia, photography and design; public diplomacy and global communications; public relations; and television, radio and film. The school was named after publishing magnate Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr., founder of Advance Publications, who provided the founding gift in 1964.
The Detroit News is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival Detroit Free Press's building. The News absorbed the Detroit Tribune on February 1, 1919, the Detroit Journal on July 21, 1922, and on November 7, 1960, it bought and closed the faltering Detroit Times. However, it retained the Times building, which it used as a printing plant until 1975, when a new facility opened in Sterling Heights. The Times building was demolished in 1978. The street in downtown Detroit where the Times building once stood is still called "Times Square." The Evening News Association, owner of The News, merged with Gannett in 1985.
The Courier Journal, also known as the Louisville Courier Journal, and called The Courier-Journal between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is a daily newspaper published in Louisville, Kentucky and owned by Gannett, which bills it as "Part of the USA Today Network".
The Register-Guard is a daily newspaper in the northwestern United States, published in Eugene, Oregon. It was formed in a 1930 merger of two Eugene papers, the Eugene Daily Guard and the Morning Register. The paper serves the Eugene-Springfield area, as well as the Oregon Coast, Umpqua River valley, and surrounding areas. As of 2019, it had a supposed circulation of 18,886 daily.
The Clarion Ledger is an American daily newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi. It is the second-oldest company in the state of Mississippi, and is one of the few newspapers in the nation that continues to circulate statewide. It is an operating division of Gannett River States Publishing Corporation, owned by Gannett.
Michael Gallagher is an American newspaper editor. Gallagher was formerly an investigative journalist for Gannett News Service until he was convicted of voicemail hacking in an investigation into Chiquita's business practices. He began his career as a reporter at the Kalamazoo Gazette in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The Missouri School of Journalism housed under University of Missouri in Columbia is one of the oldest formal journalism schools in the world. The school provides academic education and practical training in all areas of journalism and strategic communication for undergraduate and graduate students across several media platforms including television and radio broadcasting, newspapers, magazines, photography, and new media. The school also supports an advertising and public relations curriculum.
The Radio Television Digital News Association, formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news directors, producers, executives, reporters, students and educators. Among its functions are the maintenance of journalistic ethics and the preservation of the free speech rights of broadcast journalists.
The Courier News is a daily newspaper headquartered in Somerville, New Jersey, that serves Somerset County and other areas of Central Jersey. The paper has been owned by Gannett since 1927.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is the administrative arm of the Missouri State Board of Education that works with school officials, legislators, government agencies, community leaders, and citizens to maintain a strong public education system. Through its statewide school-improvement initiatives and its regulatory functions, the department strives to ensure all citizens have access to high-quality public education. In addition to the commissioner of education, the department organization reflects functions under two divisions; Financial and Administrative Services and Learning Services.
The Religion News Association (RNA), formerly the Religion Newswriters Association, is an American non-profit professional association which seeks to promote better reporting on religion in the news media and to provide help and support to journalists who cover religion.
The Chart is the student newspaper of Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri. The paper was founded in 1939 by Kenneth McCaleb, a student at what was then Joplin Junior College. The newspaper is printed weekly during the fall and spring semesters, for a total of 24 issues a year, and is written, edited and graphically designed by Missouri Southern students.
Paul Miller was an American newspaper executive and journalist. He headed the Gannett newspaper chain from 1957 to 1973. Miller also served as the top official of the Associated Press from 1963 to 1977.
Michael Lynn Parson is an American politician serving as the 57th governor of Missouri since 2018. A member of the Republican Party, Parson assumed the governorship when Eric Greitens resigned, as he was lieutenant governor at the time. Parson served the remainder of Greitens's term and was elected governor in his own right in 2020.
George Albert McElroy was an American journalist. Born in Houston, Texas, he served in the United States Armed Forces before pursuing a career in journalism. Among many "firsts" achieved by McElroy, he became the first African American to earn a master's degree in journalism from the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri.
Harry Sylvester McAlpin Jr. was an American reporter. He was the first African-American reporter to attend a U.S. Presidential news conference in 1944.
John Collins Quinn was an American journalist and the former president of Gannett Company, and former editor-in-chief of USA Today.
The Missouri Press Association is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit founded on May 16, 1867, by editors and publishers in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was responsible for establishing the Missouri School of Journalism, the first school of journalism in the US, at the University of Missouri.
