Our December meeting/social was a huge success, as the group heard of the evolution of the newspaper industry from Memphis’ own.  After almost four decades in the business, Paul Jewell, marketing director for The Commercial Appeal, addressed the challenges facing the newspaper in the current economic and disruptive digital environment.  Paul was a wonderful speaker and had such a unique story.  He has worked at the Commercial Appeal all of his adult career, and even used to be a paperboy!  There have been a lot of changes in the newspaper industry.  A few newspapers in the south are not daily anymore and there is a lot of surprising pushback from their communities – New Orleans is a prime example.  These trends have us marketers really wondering how this will impact what we do.  It was good to hear that our “hometown” paper has no plans to reduce their printing days, and is currently evolving their offerings to adapt to the changing environment.  We had a great group discussion and a lot of insights were shared.