Media Partnerships and Sharing

PUBLISHERS ADVANTAGE INITIATIVE TM

&

BROADCASTERS ADVANTAGE PROGRAM TM

As a public service and benefit to journalists, we make entire 30 minute episodes as well as short segments (1 to 7 min.) available to members of the print & broadcast press at no charge. 

This includes offering new programs in advance of their television broadcast so your readers, viewers, and listeners can get them first on your Website via our “Publishers Advantage Initiative TM.” 

This year we are expanding our effort to serve even more Coloradans by offering our content, again at no charge, for the Websites of all journalism outlets in the State, including the Websites of radio & television stations, independent Websites, and others.  This expansion includes the “Broadcasters Advantage Program TM,” which is modeled after the Publishers Advantage Initiative.  More details are provided below.

In a previous pilot project test for the Publishers Advantage Initiative, 44 Colorado-based print and electronic publications representing 823,000 subscribers participated.  We are now expanding this across Colorado with our new, simplified content delivery system.  With this design, you will have even greater and easier access to the video programs and segments we produce.

In addition, effective immediately, each participating publication, station, Website, or other outlet in either the Publishers Advantage Initiative or the Broadcasters Advantage Program gets to keep all of the revenue it generates using our programs and segments based on viewing on its Website (such as from roll-ins). 

Our program is led by award-winning journalist Aaron Harber — recognized by his peers when he received the highest individual honor bestowed by the Colorado Broadcasters Association as “Broadcaster of the Year.”  If you view the 60-second award television spot, be sure to see the entertaining comment by Aaron at the very end: HarberTV.com/Award.

Aaron also was the recipient of the “Geosciences In The Media” award from the approximately 40,000 member AAPG at its national conference, based on his record-setting number of programs on Energy & Environment (over 300) and number of expert guests he has had on his program (over 400).

If you would like to view a short, introductory video about “The Aaron Harber Show TM,” please go to HarberTV.com/Info. 

As members of the Colorado Press Association and the Colorado Broadcasters Association, we are excited about leading this effort to support journalism.

THE PUBLISHERS’ ADVANTAGE INITIATIVE TM

“The Aaron Harber Show TM” (HarberTV.com) produced by USA Talk Network (“USA-TN”), has agreed to make its content available, at no charge, to select print and electronic publications via the “Publishers’ Advantage Initiative TM” and to radio & television stations via the “Broadcasters Advantage Program TM” for use in 2018.

The purpose of this initiative is to bolster journalism by allowing publications and electronic media the opportunity to use fact-based, public interest television programming on their Websites to increase subscriber and other reader interest as well as boost advertising revenues.  This is done by allowing publications to premiere content on their Websites before it is broadcast on television. 

BACKGROUND

Aaron Harber, previously a columnist for The Denver Daily News and The Colorado Statesman, has been published by The Denver Post, The Washington Post, The Rocky Mountain News, The Times-Call, and The Daily Camera, the Pueblo Chieftain, and The Colorado Springs Gazette, among many others. 

Aaron and the entire USA-TN team value the information provided by journalists and has developed a plan to provide video content free of charge to support publications who maintain high journalistic standards. 

USA-TN television program examples include:

 

Participating publications can offer their readers access to our video content and, as a result, can attract new subscribers, readers, viewers, and advertisers. 

Your readers and viewers will be able to interact with the program, such as sending in program topic suggestions and even specific questions for television program guests.  And participating publications will be among the first to receive op-ed columns by Aaron.

USA Talk Network covers all of the expenses related to the production and distribution of the television programs and related short clips, as well as any columns written by Aaron (go to Huff.to/AaronCol for his Huffington Post columns and to bit.ly/ColumnsAH for most of his columns).

Many publishers have asked, “So why is Aaron doing this?”  The answer is threefold. 

First, Aaron believes this will expand the public service contribution of his programming.  He knows viewers of his programs are voracious new consumers.  They are very well-educated, are highly involved in their communities, are opinion- and thought-leaders, and ultimately are decision-makers.  This fits well with the profiles of newspaper readers. 

Second, Aaron believes the survival of bona fide journalism is important to the health of the Republic.  He is convinced our democratic system is irreparably damaged every time a newspaper or other journalistic outlet reduces its staff or  closes its doors. 

And Aaron recognizes most of the news on television which meets traditional journalistic standards originates from print publications (such as television assignment editors who get many of their leads from the daily newspaper) so he created “The Publisher’s Advantage Initiative” to support publications as a way to “return the favor.”

For quite some time, Aaron has written extensively about the future of newspapers and journalism in general (bit.ly/SavingJournalism).  Below is one of the many responses Aaron received to a column he originally penned in 2009: 

“Aaron, I started reading your column with very low expectations, thinking what can a broadcaster tell me about newspapers?  In fact, it’s the best darned thing I’ve read on the topic.  Thanks for giving this dilemma such deep and thoughtful treatment.”  
~Sincerely, Kevin Helliker, Senior Writer, Wall Street Journal  

Third, although there is no payment required, USA-TN anticipates all Publishers Advantage Initiative and Broadcasters Advantage Program participants will promote the later date availability of the shows on television (i.e., after their readers and viewers can first watch the program on each publication’s or station’s Website). 

USA-TN also expects participants to highlight new programs when they are featured on each publication’s Website as well as in print but only when the publication independently determines such highlighting is justified. 

Each participant can include links from its Website to HarberTV.com as well as to any specific programs it selects and always is free to make its own editorial commentary.

For those publications which elect to publish news stories about the Election series programs in advance of their broadcast based on their news value (all as determined solely by each publication), Aaron usually will be available to respond to any questions. 

In some cases, a publication or station may want to highlight an archived program because the guest featured on that show may suddenly be in the news.  This allows the publication to offer special video content to its readers and subscribers without incurring any kind of acquisition cost. 

USA-TN also will provide a weekly advertisement that each publication is welcome to run on a space-available basis.  All of this is voluntary.  Hence, there is no financial or advertising requirement or quid pro quo from USA-TN related to the promotion of or reporting about the programs.  These decisions are solely left to the discretion of each publication.

For more information & to sign up contact:
Aaron Harber, Executive Producer of “The Aaron Harber Show,” (Producer@HarberTV.com).