The group’s message, said Barrett, is straightforward:

- Newspapers are very much alive and growing when you consider the print and online audience together. And they talk to far more people than their radio, television and Internet competitors.

- Newspapers have earned the public’s trust because they employ professional journalists to verify news for truth, accuracy and context, and they are usually the first source of local news.

- Advertisers continue to invest in newspapers because they deliver results. They still move goods and services more reliably than other forms of promotion.

- Newspapers remain essential to our democratic system of government, serving as a watchdog against crime and corruption, and a guide dog for information that allows the public to make informed decisions on the issues of the day.

“Newspapers don’t have an audience problem,” said Barrett, who is also president of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. “Newspapers have a revenue problem, driven primarily by the recession.”

In addition to Barrett, leaders of the public outreach campaign include Brian P. Tierney, publisher and CEO of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News; Randy Siegel, president and publisher of Parade Publications, and Jay Smith, former president of Cox Newspapers.