The Quill articles from April 2004

The Quill archives from April 2004

Election coverage: don't fall short: in the race to cover the candidates, don't lose the public's trust.(From The Editor)
April 1, 2004... It didn't take long for us to decide on a theme for our annual ethics issue. In December, when we were setting the editorial calendar, we were seeing daily coverage of the Democratic primary race. That coverage provided media watchers...

Freedoms of the academy are at risk: censorship by administrators and other students sends wrong message.(They Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967)
April 1, 2004... I just finished reading a book by David Maraniss titled, "The Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967". Maraniss meticulously follows three threads that eventually intertwine on a day in mid-October 1967:...

Lawsuit: Newsday inflated circulation.(Odds & Ends)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... A lawsuit filed Feb. 10 in the U.S. District Court in Central Islip, N.Y., alleges that Long Island newspaper Newsday boosted distribution numbers over 10 years in order to increase circulation and the rates it charges advertisers. The...

City Council subpoenas local reporter.(Odds & Ends)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The subpoena of a Cincinnati alternative newspaper reporter by the City Council led to a half-hour questioning in early February, but the answers she provided added little to the council's investigation of alleged overtime abuses by...

Job hunters turn to online ads.(Odds & Ends)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Fewer newly hired newspaper employees found their jobs via newspaper ads in 2003 than a year before, according to a study by CareerXRoads.com. Further, the Internet continues applying pressure on dailies in the employment category, the report...

Canada, U.S. go after journalist, source.(Odds & Ends)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The Royal Canadian Mounted Police raided the homes and office of an Ottawa journalist Jan. 20 to investigate possible leaks of classified information about a Syrian-born Canadian with suspected ties to Al Qaeda. Suspect Maher Arar was...

NYT issues no-gun policy for reporters.(New York Times)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Following an internal debate among New York Times employees, the newspaper issued a policy banning its correspondents, photographers and freelancers from carrying guns while on assignment. The issue came up last year in the wake of the...

Military isn't required to include media.(Odds & Ends)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... A federal appeals court ruled Feb. 2 that the Pentagon does not have a constitutional obligation to provide the media access to U.S. troops during combat. In a case involving Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, the U.S. Court of...

Connecticut may renew newspaper tax.(Odds & Ends)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... A 6 percent sales tax on newspapers, adopted in early 2003 to pull state finances out of deficit, was recommended for renewal by Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland in February, sources said. When first passed, it was targeted for elimination...

Paper loses suit over political ad.(Daily Clintonian)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... A jury in Indiana awarded a $235,000 verdict to a mayor who sued a newspaper for libel after it published a political advertisement accusing him of wrongdoing. The Daily Clintonian was ordered to award Mayor Ron Shepard $225,000 in...

U.S. denies access to foreign reporters.(Odds & Ends)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... A rising number of foreign journalists, confused by tougher enforcement polices, have been detained and refused entry at U.S. airports in late 2003 and early 2004, provoking concern and criticism in the United States and abroad. Most of the...

Do poll stories help voters? Sometimes an overreliance on numbers can steer us wrong.
April 1, 2004... Now that the first part of the election cycle is winding down, journalists are taking a short breather between the primaries and the presidential campaign itself. Along with catching a breath, we can also take time to evaluate our...

Can we get election calls right this time? News organizations say they've learned from the past, but information for the 2004 election is still coming from a single source.
April 1, 2004... For the first time in four years, we will all get to watch how the network news organizations perform when the presidency of the United States is at stake. There is probably no need to remind anyone, but the last time not one of the...

Reporting and endorsing: readers and candidates don't always realize how endorsements affect (or don't affect) news coverage.
April 1, 2004... Most newspapers make endorsements in political races. It's part of what editorial boards consider to be their responsibility to the community. If a newspaper has ideas about what its city, state and nation should be like, it has ideas about...

Candidate coverage and consequences: dealing with impacts of reporting.
April 1, 2004... Elections often are considered an opportunity to toss the rascals out of office. But what if a reporter is worried that his work might allow a rascal to get into office? That was the dilemma facing Victor Crown, assistant editor of...

Code of ethics.(Society of Professional Journalists)
April 1, 2004... Preamble Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and...

Getting past the game: while politics have become a race to the finish, voters may be better served by issues coverage than political strategy.
April 1, 2004... Howard Dean's collapse in the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination showed that traditional "horserace" reporting of political campaigns has some serious shortcomings. Dean seemed to have everything going for him. The former...

Protecting yourself.(Chapter Briefs)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The Fort Worth Pro Chapter scheduled a February meeting on the topic of identity theft. They invited Assistant District Attorney Joe Shannon to share information about identity theft, including common methods and safeguards against it. ...

Pack your lunch.(New York Deadline Club)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... In March, the New York Deadline Club scheduled a brown-bag lunch discussion about covering New York's schools. Education reporters were to share how they cover their beat and offer insights on the state of education in the city and the press'...

In the dark.(media coverage of disasters)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Press Club of Long Island members participated in a discussion about the challenges the media face when covering disasters. Print, radio and television journalists shared how they covered the blackouts that occurred on the East coast last...

Intern at SPJ convention.(Society of Professional Journalists)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Each year, SPJ sponsors internships for 12 bright, motivated and hard working student journalists to staff The Working Press, a daily tabloid newspaper that covers the events of the SPJ National Convention. Student writers, photographers...

Seeking candidates.(Society of Professional Journalists)
April 1, 2004... This fall, SPJ will elect 12 leaders to serve on the Society's board of directors. SPJ's 23-member board of directors provides direction for how the organization carries out its mission to improve and protect journalism through programs...

Time for some spring cleaning: take stock, clean house and plan ahead.(From the Executive Director)
April 1, 2004... I celebrated my two-year anniversary with SPJ on Feb. 26 and so decided it was probably time to get my office organized. As any SPJ staffer can attest, I have been pretty much buried under paper since my arrival. My usual organizational...

Auction to benefit LDF.(Legal Defence Fund)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... In September, SPJ will host its annual Legal Defense Fund Auction during the National Convention in New York City. Already, the auction is shaping up to be one of the organization's most exciting events. Initial auction items include:...

Recognizing excellence: nominate outstanding SPJ members for national awards.(Society of Professional Journalists)
April 1, 2004... Each year, SPJ honors students and professionals for outstanding service to the Society, its chapters and its members. Nominations for the following awards will be accepted until May 1. Awards are presented Sept. 9-11 at the SPJ National...

Two new chapters established.(SPJ Executive Committee approved provisional status for two new SPJ campus chapters at Quinnipiac University and Illinois State University)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... In January the SPJ Executive Committee approved provisional status for two new SPJ campus chapters at Quinnipiac University and Illinois State University. Recognition as a provisional chapter is the first step in a one-year process to...

Calendar of upcoming events.(Calendar)
April 1, 2004... 2004 * April 2-3 Region 5 Conference Bowling Green, Ky. * April 2-3 Region 12 Conference Nashville, Tenn. * April 14 Scripps Leadership Training Application deadline * April 16-17 Region 10 Conference Troutdale, Ore. *...

SPJ objects to bogus reports.(Society of Professional Journalists)
April 1, 2004... The Bush administration's use of fake TV news reports to praise the changes it made in the Medicare law is re-igniting an old controversy. Over the last couple of decades it's become common practice for marketers of all types to adopt the...

When is sex a story? Committing resources to the governor's affair: how far should the media go?(Media Leaders Forum)
April 1, 2004... This is the 15th in a series of case studies exploring hot top media managers make difficult decisions. The intersection of sex and politics has always been a perilous one for journalists. The pendulum has swung from no disclosure, a la...

For political scandals, timing is everything: sex scandals are always hard stories, but pending elections add an extra ethical wrinkle.
April 1, 2004... Reporting sexual misconduct by politicians is never an easy call for journalists. Each case is different and presents new dilemmas for journalists, of course, but the stories of former senators Bob Packwood and Brock Adams present two cases...

Calendar puts open records to good use: police log shows the quirkiness of a small community.(Collecting Information)(Calendar)
April 1, 2004... Thursday, Jan. 1 A man believing himself to be God appeared in the lobby of the Lewis and Clark Motel at 7:40 p.m. and refused to leave. He was later identified to be a 26-year-old man from Butte. They're the kind of thing that might...

County rules may be unconstitutional.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Critics argued that an unconstitutional chilling effect may have been placed on one county's government employees in Wisconsin had a proposed speech policy been approved. Officials and workers in Price County, Wis., who say something that...

Judge refuses expedited records access.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... A U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., refused in December to rule that a Freedom of Information Act requester was entitled to expedited review. Judge James Robertson's decision is among the first to address the "expedited...

Mayor charges council with FOI violation.(freedom of information)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... A Pennsylvania mayor filed a criminal complaint Jan. 29 alleging that the Darby Borough Council had broken the state's open meetings "Sunshine Act" law. Council President Janice Davis called the complaint "grandstanding," but Mayor Paula...

Hispanic leader was a mentor, friend: Del Olmo left big shoes for the next generation of Latino journalists.(Varying The Voice)(Frank del Olmo)(Obituary)
April 1, 2004... Frank del Olmo was my mentor, my colleague, my boss and my friend. I met Frank in 1978, when as a senior at Pepperdine University I did an internship at the Los Angeles Times. At that time, there were only a handful of Latinos at the...

NAHJ gets more Latinos into newsrooms.(National Association of Hispanic Journalists launched the Parity Project in April as a fast-track approach to improve the hiring and news coverage of Latinos at newspapers in the United States)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... While the newspaper industry works to increase racial diversity in newsrooms, a new diversity project is already garnering success. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists launched the Parity Project in April as a fast-track...

AOL buys BlackVoices site from Tribune.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... BlackVoices.com, the popular Internet site serving African-Americans, is returning to America Online. AOL reacquired BlackVoices from Tribune Publishing Company, which owns the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times newspapers. Terms of...

Papers create weekly section in Hoy.(spanish language newspaper)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Dow Jones & Co. and Tribune Co. announced in early February they would collaborate on a new weekly section for the New York, Los Angeles and Chicago editions of the Spanish-language newspaper Hoy. The edition will come out on Thursdays. The...

Hispanic pub starts English edition.(La Semana Del Sur is working to bridge the gap between Hispanic and traditional American cultures)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... A community newspaper in Tulsa, Okla., is working to bridge the gap between Hispanic and traditional American cultures. La Semana Del Sur, a Hispanic paper, has a weekly circulation of 5,000 copies. By March, the newspaper was planning to...

Share your experiences with students: a classroom visit gives students a newsroom perspective.(Developing Minds)
April 1, 2004... As many professionals do, regardless of occupation, I receive my share of invitations to speak at school career days. And let me tell you, I go out of my way to accept every offer. Due to the hectic pace of our job and meeting...

J-school receives $31 million donation.(University of Missouri at Columbia made history in February when the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation donated a record $31 million to set up an institute for advanced studies in journalism)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The reputable J-school at the University of Missouri at Columbia made history in February when the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation donated a record $31 million to set up an institute for advanced studies in journalism. The gift is the...

Students reject loaded lease agreement.(Boston College newspaper)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Officials at Boston College gave up their attempt to gain more control of the school's student newspaper in February by removing stipulations from an office lease proposal that would have imposed new advertising and editorial policies on the...

Principal confiscates junior-high paper.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... A junior high school principal in Mesa, Ariz., confiscated a recent issue of the student newspaper because an editorial was critical of the school's dress code enforcement, student journalists at the school said. In mid-January, Fremont...

Students challenge Pennsylvania ad law.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The University of Pittsburgh student newspaper in January continued its legal challenge of a state law that prohibits alcohol advertisements in student publications. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit...

Russian Center helps journalists reclaim rights.(Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations)(Interview)
April 1, 2004... Oleg Panfilov is the director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations (CJES), founded in 2000 by the Russian Union of Journalists in order to defend media freedoms in the Russian Federation. Maria Trombly recently met with him...

Options for health insurance: freelancers have a lot to consider when paying for their health.(Mastering The Art Freelance Journalism)
April 1, 2004... So you need medical insurance, and you aren't one of the lucky ones who has another job or a spouse who can cover you. I can sympathize; I'm going through the same search myself, and I thought it would be a good time to share some of my...

Find details in small stories: narrative writing isn't just for long-term projects.(Mastering The Art Using Narrative In Coverage)
April 1, 2004... Many editors and reporters think only of big projects and multipart series when they consider narrative possibilities. While those are obvious vehicles, they miss opportunities that come in the form of routine assignments. For reporters and...

How does the victim get to be the goat? There's a place in ethical reporting for human decency.(Mastering The Art)
April 1, 2004... Nothing engenders more distrust of the media than careless or hurtful treatment of victims. Yet, despite all good intentions, further victimizing the victim does happen in news stories. Consider the bare bones of this story, which appeared in...

Walter M. Brasch.(People & Places)(2004 recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Walter M. Brasch, former president of SPJ's Keystone Pro chapter, was the 2004 recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award. He received the award at Bloomsburg University, where he teaches journalism. In...

Maria Shriver.(People & Places)(quit NBC News on Feb. 3, admitting it would be too tough to juggle a journalism job with her duties in Sacramento)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... After months of speculation and debate inside and out of the media industry, California first lady Maria Shriver quit NBC News on Feb. 3, admitting it would be too tough to juggle a journalism job with her duties in Sacramento. Shriver, a...

The interactive museum of news being built in Washington, D.C., the Newseum, added more than 500 journalism-related artifacts to the museum's collection in 2003.(People & Places)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The interactive museum of news being built in Washington, D.C., the Newseum, added more than 500 journalism-related artifacts to the museum's collection in 2003. One new object is the bomb-shattered automobile that belonged to Don Bolles, an...

Former New York Times magazine editor Adam Moss, most recently the assistant managing editor for features at the newspaper, left in February to become editor in chief of New York magazine, The New York Times reported.(People & Places)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Former New York Times magazine editor Adam Moss, most recently the assistant managing editor for features at the newspaper, left in February to become editor in chief of New York magazine, The New York Times reported. His last day at The...

Princell Hair.(People & Places)(new CNN Vice President ordered massive shakeup)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... New CNN Vice President Princell Hair moved to exert his influence on CNN's news gathering operation when he ordered a massive shakeup that is consolidating bureaus, creating an editorial director position and several new departments,...

Deaths.(People & Places)(Obituary)
April 1, 2004... Longtime sports journalist Angelo Biondo was known as a wellspring of institutional memory for the now-defunct Chicago Daily News. Biondo died Jan. 22 in West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park, Ill., after battling pneumonia and congestive heart...