The bell began to ring after a moment of presidential separation. President Maureen Merrill had to tell President-Elect Bill Bolster to stand down… or stand in a corner… just do the social distancing thing and let it ring. There were 26 at the start of the meeting.
JB Leep recited the Four-Way Test… and that’s the truth.
A virtual pledge came from Catherine Hanron.
We were asked to be inspired by the soundtrack of Rotary International’s film, Because of You. Film at eleven.
No visiting Rotarians today:
Guests of Rotarians:
Our speaker for the day was introduced as a guest Daedalus Howell, publisher of North Bay Bohemian
Announcements:
Tom Hassur was on hand this morning to be recognized as the Club’s June Powerhouse of the month.
Food Insecurity Drive is ongoing this month and Heather Cullen and Barbara McChesney shared that last week was a little slow, but we know we can do better.
President Maureen shared that Bill Bolster is waiting in the wings to take the reins on July 1 as President of the Rotary Club of Windsor. He will be followed by Pam Moulton, who will be followed by Glenn Sugden in 2022- 2023. Hopefully, we will be out of quarantine by then.
We took a trip to Uganda where our club put together a few projects with Rotary Foundation dollars. Those in attendance got to see a classroom setting where the children were anxious to see their teacher. We also found out the Rotary Club of Sebastopol provided the same village with a clean water well. We can make a difference around the globe.
Next week will be two of our newest member craft talks.
Program:
We met the interim editor of the North Bay Bohemian, Daedalus Howell. Daedalus got his start in the newspaper business as a paperboy. Today he is enjoying the life of a filmmaker and newspaper editor. He is a writer and a former contributor for more than 30 years to the North Bay Bohemian and today has the title of interim editor, for both the Bohemian and the Pacific Sun in Marin.
Mr. Howell began his talk letting us know the journalism world is incredibly active, yet it is a difficult time to be in the print business. Activity to the company’s websites has been exceptional, but he shared that the problem with online is how to monetize the activity so that journalism can survive.
We found out the Bohemian was initially a free paper published by a duo of artists looking to promote creativity. From its start in someone’s kitchen is now a part of a much larger media group. The Bohemian provides an alternate voice to The Press Democrat, which is considered mainstream. In his opinion, the job of the Bohemian is to pick up a bigger story that is appreciated by the alternative audience.
The Bohemian is extremely strong for its artistic perspective, while the Pacific Sun is noted as being the longest-running independent newspaper in the country. He feels that the Pacific Sun has a unique position as a Marin paper.
Daedalus offered that his role as an editor comes on the heels of a Pandemic, which adds to his difficulty trying to cover the costs of the paper. Advertising revenue is down dramatically, but there is hope. In addition to consolidating the newspapers production team, which is done via homework. This new model allowed the paper to step away from the cost of real estate to a home-based business.
The minimalist approach to producing a newspaper has allowed the company to expand its production by adding an East Bay paper to its list. For all the print production they have found a greater expansion through their online presence. Back to the need to find a way to pay for the knowledge, information, that people are looking for. This has allowed them to expand into Podcasts and other products associated with the brand of the newspapers.