The Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association, the association that represents daily, weekly and other newspapers across the state, has elected Fredric D. Rutberg, publisher of The Berkshire Eagle, as the association’s president for 2023.

Also elected as officers to lead the organization during 2023 were:

• As vice president: Dan Krockmalnic, general counsel, Boston Globe Media Partners, Boston.
• As treasurer: Erika Brown, editor and publisher, The Cricket, Manchester.
• As secretary: Bill Ketter, senior vice president/news, CNHI, North Andover.

The election was held during the MNPA’s annual meeting. The new officers assumed their roles effective Jan. 1, 2023.

Rutberg succeeds Jane Seagrave, publisher of the Vineyard Gazette Media Group, who served as MNPA president during 2021 and 2022.

“As a retired judge and now newspaper publisher who helped bring The Berkshire Eagle back under local ownership, Fred is uniquely qualified to serve as MNPA president,” Seagrave said. “His knowledge of law and publishing will help ensure that the MNPA remains strong in its mission to protect the state’s newspapers.”

The MNPA is an advocacy organization that represents newspapers and the news media on legal and legislative matters of common concern. Its focus is on protecting the rights of a free press under the First Amendment and fighting to strengthen and maintain government transparency.

The Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association has elected Jane R. Seagrave, publisher of the Vineyard Gazette in Edgartown, as president for 2021.

Others elected as MNPA officers for the year are:

• Vice President: Marianne R. Stanton, Editor & Publisher, The Inquirer and Mirror.
• Treasurer: Fredric D. Rutberg, President & Publisher, The Berkshire Eagle.
• Secretary: Dan Krockmalnic, General Counsel, Boston Globe Media Partners.

Before becoming Vineyard Gazette publisher in 2011, Seagrave was senior vice president and chief revenue officer for the Associated Press in New York city. Her long career in journalism spans some three decades on both the editorial and business sides of the industry.

After graduating from Bowdoin College in 1976, she became director of publications for the Massachusetts Municipal Association. She then spent six years as a reporter for AP in Boston, Grants Pass, Ore., and Santa Fe, N.M. In 1987 she went to work for Lawyers Weekly Publications in Boston, and also enrolled at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she obtained a master’s degree in public administration in 1989.

Later she served as chief executive officer of Localbusiness.com and chief online strategy consultant for American Lawyer Media in New York. From 2003 to 2011, she was at the AP, as a vice president and director in new media markets and then as a senior vice president in global product development, which included presiding over the transformation of AP from a wire service to a multimedia digital news provider.

The Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association will hold its annual meeting and election of officers on Oct. 29, 2020, at 11 a.m. Eastern time.

The event will take place virtually as a Zoom meeting. Preregistration is required. You may register at this page.

The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

• Report of the Finance Committee and approval of the 2021 budget.
• Report of the Nominating Committee and election of officers and executive board members for 2021.
• Annual report on legislative affairs.
• Annual report on legal affairs.
• Annual report of the president.

We hope to see you there. Any questions about the meeting may be address to Robert Ambrogi, MNPA executive director, ambrogi@legaline.com.

At its 2018 annual meeting, the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association elected Karen Andreas, regional publisher of The Eagle-Tribune and North of Boston Media Group, as its president.

A 30-year veteran of the media industry, Andreas will lead the MNPA for a two-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2019. She will succeed George Arwady, president and CEO of The Republican in Springfield.

“I’m honored for this opportunity to work with my colleagues from all over the state to ensure that newspapers continue to thrive and succeed,” Andreas said. “The work our journalists provide for their communities is critical to our democracy.”

The MNPA also elected as officers:

• 1st Vice President: Jane Seagrave, Publisher, Vineyard Gazette.
• Treasurer: Marianne R. Stanton, Editor & Publisher, The Inquirer and Mirror.
• Secretary: Fredric D. Rutberg, President & Publisher, New England Newspapers.

Formed in late 1972, the MNPA focuses on advocacy for the newspaper industry in the legislature, courts and executive branch.

The MNPA also serves as a resource for editors and reporters, and for advertising and circulation personnel who seek advice pertaining to business issues.

A resident of Danvers, Andreas has overseen North of Boston Media Group as its regional publisher for the past five years. Along with The Eagle-Tribune, she is regional publisher of The Salem News, Daily News of Newburyport, Gloucester Daily Times, as well as the weekly Andover Townsman, Haverhill Gazette, Derry News and Carriage Towne News. The media group also includes 15 quarterly magazines, such as The Andovers, Haverhill Magazine and North of Boston Business.

Andreas is very active in the community, serving on boards such as the Lawrence Partnership executive committee, Merrimack Valley YMCA board of directors, and Northern Essex Community College’s foundation board, to name a few. She is also one of 15 media professionals on the National Advisory Board of the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, which teaches journalism excellence worldwide.

Stanley C. Rosenberg, president of the Massachusetts Senate, will be the featured speaker at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association on Thursday, Nov. 30.

The meeting will also feature an in-depth program on the law of using drones in journalism, presented by Mickey H. Osterreicher, Esq., general counsel to the National Press Photographers Association.

Sen. Rosenberg was unanimously elected by his colleagues to be the 93rd president of the Massachusetts Senate on Jan. 7, 2015. He is the first Jewish and first openly gay legislator to lead the Senate in its over 300-year history.

The day begins with the MNPA’s annual business meeting at 10 a.m., followed by the program on drone law at 11 a.m. The luncheon begins with a reception at noon. The meeting will be held at Bastille Kitchen, 49 Melcher Street, Boston.

The meeting is open to anyone. Registration, which includes lunch, is $90 for MNPA member newspapers and their employees, $95 for all others.

Click here to register online or click here to download registration forms.

Attorney General Maura Healey will be the keynote speaker at the 2016 annual meeting and luncheon of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association.

The meeting will also feature presentation of the inaugural William L. Plante Jr. Open Government Award. The award will be presented to Sen. Joan B. Lovely, D-Salem, and Rep. Peter V. Kocot, D-Northampton, for their efforts this year to spearhead major reform of the state’s public records law.

The award is named for Bill Plante, the MNPA’s executive director from 1984 to 2004 and former editor of several Massachusetts newspapers.

The meeting will be held at Bastille Kitchen, 49 Melcher Street, Boston. The day’s full agenda is as follows:

• 10 a.m. Annual business meeting and election of officers and executive board.
• 11 a.m. Panel: The New Public Records Law: What It Does and Doesn’t Do.
• Noon. Networking reception (open bar).
• 12:30 p.m. Luncheon, award presentations and keynote.
• 2:00 p.m. Adjourn.

The meeting is open to anyone who would like to attend. Registration, which includes lunch, is $90 for MNPA member newspapers and their employees, $95 for all others.

If you have any questions about the event, please address them to MNPA Executive Director Robert Ambrogi, (978) 309-9188, or info@masspublishers.org.

To register for the event online please click here or for printable registration forms please click here.

The registration deadline is Monday, November 28, 2016.

Registrations should be sent to: MNPA Annual Meeting, c/o New England Newspaper & Press Association, 370 Common Street, Suite 319, Dedham, MA 02026. Fax to: (781) 320-8055. Payment by check preferred but credit cards accepted.

Registration is now open for the annual meeting and luncheon of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, at Bastille Kitchen, 49 Melcher Street, Boston. This year’s featured luncheon speaker is Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker.

The day’s full agenda is as follows:

• 10 a.m. Annual business meeting and election of officers and executive board.
• 11 a.m. Panel discussion: The Right to Be Forgotten: How Newspapers Should Handle Requests to Take Down What They’ve Reported.
• Noon Networking reception (open bar).
• 12:30 p.m. Luncheon and keynote.
• 2:00 p.m. Adjourn.

The meeting is open to anyone who would like to attend. Registration, which includes lunch, is $90 for MNPA member newspapers and their employees, $95 for all others.

Two ways to register:

• Register online.
• Download form to mail or fax.

If you have any questions about the event, please address them to MNPA Executive Director Robert Ambrogi, (978) 309-9188, or info@masspublishers.org.

Registration deadline is Monday, November 30.

The Massachusetts House of Representatives today passed a history-making bill that will require newspapers to publish legal notices on the Web. The bill now goes to the Senate.

The bill, House 1566, “An Act Concerning Electronic Publication of Certain Legal Notices,” was sponsored by Rep. Jeffrey N. Roy (D-Franklin) with the support of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association, which provided input on the language of the bill.

The bill would require that newspapers publish legal notices not only in their print editions, but also on their own websites and on a statewide website run collaboratively by the state’s newspapers, through the MNPA.

The bill would help ensure that legal notices are available to and accessible by the broadest-possible number of Massachusetts citizens, both through the newspapers’ print publications and online.

The MNPA has proposed additional changes to the language of the bill with the hope that they will be incorporated before the bill can become final.

If you have questions about the bill, please call MNPA Executive Director Robert Ambrogi: 978-309-9188.

Mike Sheehan, chief executive officer of The Boston Globe and former CEO of the advertising firm Hill Holliday, will be the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association.

Boston Globe owner John Henry named Sheehan CEO of the paper last January. He oversees all day-to-day operations at the Globe.

• Register online.
• Download registration form.

The annual meeting will also feature a panel discussion on the Massachusetts public records law.

The meeting will be held on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014, at Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse, 200 Dartmouth St., Boston.

The day’s full agenda is as follows:

• 10 a.m.: Annual business meeting and election of officers and executive board.
• 11 a.m.: Panel discussion: The Massachusetts Public Records Law: Its Weaknesses and How to Fix Them.
• Noon: Networking reception.
• 12:30 p.m. Luncheon and keynote.
• 2:00 p.m. Adjourn.

The meeting is open to anyone who would like to attend. Registration, which includes lunch, is $85 for MNPA member newspapers and their employees, $95 for all others.

Register online here or you may download the registration form and send it by mail or fax.

If you have any questions about the event, please address them to MNPA Executive Director Robert Ambrogi, (978) 546-3400, or info@masspublishers.org. Registration deadline is Friday, November 28.

Registrations should be sent to: MNPA Annual Meeting, c/o New England Newspaper & Press Association, 370 Common Street, Suite 319, Dedham, MA 02026. Fax to: (781) 320-8055. Payment by check preferred but credit cards accepted.