There was a happy buzz of conversation throughout the Michigan Union’s Anderson Room with dozens of conversations before today’s meeting. President Mark Foster rang the bell to begin, and our Club’s bow-tied pianist extraordinaire, Tom Strode, played our National Anthem. Barbara Eichmuller recalled some of the all-time best observations by Andy Rooney, everybody’s favorite on 60 Minutes TV news show, including “Love, not time, heals all wounds.”
After a quick reminder from Barbara about the upcoming Happy Hour at the Sessions Room, Richard Ingram, the 2007 Michigan School Vocal Music Association Teacher of the Year, led us in Singing in the Rain.
President Mark announced this week’s birthdays which also include Rotary Founder, Paul Harris who was born on April 19, 1868. Visiting Rotarians and guests were introduced and welcomed with a warm round of applause.
President preceded his groaner puns (what do toreadors try to do? Avoid-a-bull.) with the request that we keep our songs, inspirational welcomes, and introductions to two minutes or less so that we don’t pinch our guests’ speaker’s time.
Ed Johnson reminded us that on Saturday, April 20 all Road Warriors are invited to Adopt-a-Highway Clean-up. Currently, 18 people have signed up and more would be welcome to rid our portion of the I-94 / State Street entrance/exit of litter.
Doug Ziesemer presented a personal remembrance of former Club member Don Booth, who was our club’s president in 1988 – 89. Booth was a 19-year member, now residing in San Diego, CA. Ziesemer fondly remembers starting his own CPA career at Icerman Johnson & Hoffman where Booth was his first boss, and an inspirational mentor.
Rosemarie Rowney and John White took us back in time to April 13, 1955, the day after the life-changing polio vaccine was announced to be “Safe, effective, and potent.” White reminded us that the vaccine was financed with $1M in dimes raised through the kids and families — the March of Dimes. Rowney fast-forwarded us to Rotary’s goal to eradicate polio. Today $2.1B have been raised by Rotarians to fight this disease. Polio has been reduced to 99.9% with only four cases noted in 2022. We are this close to eradicating polio. Rowney and White then unfurled a colorful photo poster of our Club members posing to show that we are this close, taken earlier this month at the steps of the Union.
Steve Schram introduced today’s speaker John Hiner, president of MLive, and a 20-year Rotarian in the Bay City Club. Hiner introduced his colleague, Sam Dodge, active journalist at MLive.
Hiner addressed the changes in the media industry and how a fundamental problem with newspapers was their identity crisis: how to produce reliable and verifiable information in the instant, and often unexamined, world of the internet. He noted that Ann Arbor News circulation peaked in 1993, while profitability peaked in 2006. In 2007, Hiner reported that newspapers lost their circulation and advertising revenues by the rise of cell phones, Craigslist and then facebook. At this time one-third of journalists were lost. Hiner noted that in 2009, the Ann Arbor News closed and AnnArbor.com website started with the assumption that the community at large would contribute news content instead of employing professional journalists. The newspaper model was turned into a web presence and a paper version printed two days a week. Writers posted on-line first, then checked and corrected copy in subsequent postings.
In 2013 Hiner came from the successful Flint / Bay City papers, began MLive and reinstituted the Ann Arbor News. A writer by training and career, Hiner said that his job as President was, and continues to be, on the survival of newspapers. The current business model is that the news department is the profit center because of the news stories themselves. There was a central consolidation of printing, HR and circulation. News generates revenue now through first-party data from ads, stories behind paywalls and sports betting. Monies generated from these income streams go back directly to paying the journalists. Hiner is proud of the fact that during his tenure, more journalists have been added to the staff.
Hiner recalled as a young writer, his editor said “if you write like a machine, you will be replaced by a machine.” He noted that AI is already in use writing real estate listings, and even helping by summarizing bullet points from meetings. He affirmed that human judgment was the most important factor of all.
When asked how we as a community can help, Hiner responded: be a subscriber. Build a relationship with the Ann Arbor News through a tailor-made (free) e-newsletter, and read entire on-line articles so that the paid ads can pay the Ann Arbor News. He also said that there were many ways to get your Ann Arbor News including on line, web, mobile app, text, email, social media, podcasts, and apple news /google.
The Club members thanked him with a warm round of applause.
President Mark closed the meeting by asking all to rise and recite the four-way test:
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Steffek Blaske
Reporter
