The American Press Institute (API) and the Newspaper Association of America Foundation (NAAF) announced today that they will merge to create a dynamic new organization focused on meeting newspapers' crucial multimedia training and development needs. The merger agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both organizations.

Lou Silverstein, former corporate art director of the New York Times Company and my mentor, taught me almost everything I know about newspaper design and a lot about life, too. He noticed everything: the landscape, the way people interact, signage, colors, hotel china patterns. Lou used all of those things to give each New York Times paper that he designed a special voice – many with a southern accent. He knew that good design should reflect the environment around it – just like a good newspaper – and perform an elegant dance of form and function.

We asked Street Fight columnist Rick Robinson to lead off the discussion at API's seminar, New Revenue Models for Community Markets, on Monday, Dec 5 with a session on strategies for sustainable, hyperlocal business models. He asked a bunch of high-profile experts what they thought and then wrote about it in his popular Turf Talk column.

Location-based services (LBS) like Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt are adding another dimension to the mobile marketing toolkit for local businesses. And, with new geolocation sites launching every day, it is crucial for merchants to take a closer look at how they can turn local-mobile advertising, promotions and incentives on LBS sites into a golden opportunity. Localeze Vice President of Market Development, Gib Olander, who will speak at API's upcoming seminar,  New Models for Community Markets, Dec. 5-6, has three tips for how to get started.

Online video is booming. Nearly 160 million U.S. Internet users will watch video online regularly this year, eMarketer estimates, and according to comScore, 180 million users watched online video in August. With those rising numbers, it’s not surprising that publishers like Gannett are dedicating significant resources to video opportunities. Kate Walters, Senior Director/Video and Photo will talk about the "huge opportunity" for media companies to develop digital online video capabilities at API’s New Revenue Models for Community Markets seminar, Dec 5-6, 2011 in Reston, Va.

While Groupon and LivingSocial lead the way in the national race, deals programs launched by local media companies are catching up and, in some cases, passing national players in their local markets. Street Fight advisor and columnist Rick Robinson thinks that “daily deals are just a foot in the door to the broader hyperlocal market.” Rumble with Rick about the business of hyperlocal, big new ideas, shifting consumer behavior, and technology-enabled innovation projects at API’s New Revenue Models for Community Markets seminar, Dec. 5-6, 2011 in Reston, Va.

Leaders can inspire their staffs to follow or to emulate them by modeling the actions and behaviors they desire. But ultimately, the decision to move or not, to follow or not, to change or not rests with the individual. This is why leaders are often better served to identify their team’s perceived de-motivators and deal with them directly to clear the way for them to motivate themselves.  Management coach Libby Wagner, who will appear at API’s upcoming seminar,The Next Generation of Media Managers, Nov. 14-15, calls this “Clearing the Swamp,” and she has three golden rules for accomplishing it.

Howard H "Tim" Hays,  the long-time editor and publisher of The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif., was chairman of the API board of directors from 1978 to 1983. He died Oct. 14 at the age of 94. In his tribute to his friend and colleague, former API Executive Director William L. Winter writes of Hays'  lifelong love of journalism in service to the public good. His connection with API, Winter recalls, gave Hays one of numerous outlets through which he could exercise his passion for giving back to a calling he held so dear.

People think you need a good eye to be a photographer, says Jeb Wallace-Brodeur, an award-winning photographer for The Times Argus in Barre, Vt. But for him, what you need is an open mind. After covering the devastation of Hurricane Irene -- a tropical storm by the time it reached Vermont, but no less deadly in its impact --  he's learned to trust the goodness of people. "While I was drained by documenting the endless destruction, the generosity and warmth of those affected by the storm was inspiring."

Matt DeRienzo, who accepted the APME 2011 Innovator of the Year award for the JRC newspaper's Connecticut-based, The Register Citizen, will lead a session on The Newsroom Café at API’s seminar, The Battle for Community: Crowded, Competitive and Hyperlocal.