The president of the Columbia-based National Newspaper Association says the organization is terminating its contract with the University of Missouri.

The association is citing a change in focus as the reason for the parting of ways. It also ends the leadership of Missouri School of Journalism professor Brian Steffens as executive director of the NNA. Cheryl Kaechele is National News Association president. She says the organization plans to change its focus, particularly in its Missouri office, to one that is more marketing oriented.

"The decision to part ways had nothing to do with anything except that it made sense because of the direction change that the organization was taking, to a more marketing driven organization, in Missouri.'

The NNA had asked for the university to change the contract between the two agencies, to include a new executive director with a strong marketing background. Dean Mills is the dean of the Missouri School of Journalism. He says he was unable to agree to that condition Mills says the challenges faced by the NNA reflect the challenges faced by the newspaper industry - and was not a problem of leadership.

"It's the reality for all news organizations these days, that with money being tight, you have membership problems, and I just think it was a bad judgment call on their part."

Brian Steffens says he was surprised by the developments. He says when the NNA brought its headquarters to MU's campus in 2002, it arrived with about 100,000 dollars in accounts payable. He says the organization now has about 600,000 dollars in reserves. But Steffens says the organization has dipped into reserves the last two budget years, and membership, he says, has dipped slightly in the last two years. Kaechele says the organization plans to maintain its office in Columbia, in addition to its office in Washington D.C., but she says directors are looking for new headquarters off campus, in Columbia. Kaechele says there are no plans to move the organization headquarters out of Columbia. © Copyright 2012, KBIA