The Quill articles from June 2002

The Quill archives from June 2002

Good journalism makes award-winning blueprints: look for valuable lessons in the work of the 2001 Sigma Delta Chi award winners. (From the Editor).(Brief Article)(Editorial)
June 1, 2002... Every year, SPJ's Sigma Delta Chi Awards recognize the best work in American journalism from the past year. The prestigious awards go to journalists from all types of media performing all types of journalism. There are categories for print,...

A powerful experiment: Civic Journalism has made a lasting impact on American journalism.(journalistic ethics and awards)(Editorial)
June 1, 2002... This issue of Quill celebrates some of the best examples of our craft, the winners of the Sigma Delta Chi Awards in Journalism. As SPJ was assembling the judges' findings in April, I attended an event built around another set of awards -- the...

New York Times wins record 7 Pulitzers. (Odds & Ends).(Pulizer Prize awards, United States)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Many of the 2002 Pulitzer Prizes, which were announced by Columbia University April 9, focused on the Sept.11 terrorist attacks and their aftermath. The New York Times won a record seven prizes, including one in the public service...

'Nightline' to remain in current time slot. (Odds & Ends).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... ABC and Ted Koppel have reached an agreement that ensures that his late-night news program, "Nightline," will remain in its 11:35 p.m. slot for at least two years, people close to the talks said in early April. The deal patches up, at...

CBS finds new affiliate in Jacksonville. (Odds & Ends).(leaves WJXT)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... After more than 50 years, CBS and WJXT in Jacksonville, Fla., have decided to go their separate ways. Channel 4's parent company, Post-Newsweek Stations, and the CBS television network were unable to come to a contract agreement, WJXT...

Supreme Court rejects Leggett's appeal. (Odds & Ends).(journalist Vanessa Leggett litigation on confidential communications)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Vanessa Leggett, a novice crime writer who spent more than five months in jail for refusing to turn over research notes about a Houston murder, lost a Supreme Court appeal April 15. In turning down Leggett's request, the Court did not...

Lack of training is top complaint. (Odds & Ends).(journalists, United States)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... A lack of on-the-job training is the major complaint of working journalists, according to a survey released in Washington in April by the Council of Presidents of National Journalism Organizations. Princeton Survey Research Associates...

Judges allow cameras in murder cases. (Odds & Ends).(California and New Hampshire)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... A California judge has agreed to allow television coverage of the trial of a man accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, and the New Hampshire Supreme Court has issued an emergency order allowing cameras and tape...

Court finds TV 'eight voices rule' arbitrary. (Odds & Ends).(United States Federal Communications Commisison regulation)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has remanded he Federal Communications Commission's "eight voices rule" back to he FCC for reconsideration and justification. The eight voices test, which was established in August...

Standards under pressure. (Deadline Reporting).(journalism awards)
June 1, 2002... Covering a major breaking news event is the ultimate challenge. It's the decathlon of journalism. Success depends on our ability to excel in a variety of demanding skills. Those who master them become valuable resources the public can use for...

Follow the whole story. (Continuous Coverage).(journalist awards)
June 1, 2002... On the television show "M*A*S*H," they called it "meatball surgery" Fix up the wounded as best as you can, stabilize them for transport, and get them to a hospital as quickly as you can for more comprehensive treatment. As a broadcast --...

Investigations offer service. (Investigative Reporting).(investigative reporting awards)
June 1, 2002... In February, I was invited to Gannett Co. headquarters to help judge the best journalism of 2001 produced by the company's metro newspapers. As we were debating the finalists, we agreed that one entry should have more properly been judged for...

A story that makes a bond. (Column Writing).(The Quill journalism awards)
June 1, 2002... "I 've met the woman of my dreams who owns the dog of my nightmares." It was a brilliant opening line followed by a Texas columnist's first-person account of his courtship. It made me laugh, it made me cry, but most of all, it made me...

Going beyond headlines. (Documentaries).(The Quill awards to radio and television programs)
June 1, 2002... Though often dark and troubling, its subject an ancient grievance or an insoluble problem, the documentary is an optimistic form. It proceeds on the presumption that people can learn. That people can feel. And that people can change. At...

Good features use narrative. (Feature Reporting).(journalism awards)
June 1, 2002... Good features that grab a reader and donit let go have much in common. The stories have anecdotes, telling quotes, scene setting and tight, lively prose. But what sets top-notch feature writing apart from the pack of promising prose is...

The power of strong opinion. (Editorials).(Editorial)
June 1, 2002... "Afghanistanism" has long been considered a derogatory remark to any political cartoonist or editorial writer. It describes the commentaries of knee-jerk, middle-of-the-road colleagues. Whenever it came to local issues, those colleagues would...

Questioning our world. (Research about Journalism).(awards for research about journalism)
June 1, 2002... Good researchers operate much like good journalists. They choose important topics, study what others have already revealed, and systematically collect data. Then they carefully analyze their findings, draw supportable conclusions, and write...

Change is a sign of service. (Public Service).
June 1, 2002... Give them what they want, or give them what they need? Editors and reporters may not put it that bluntly as they decide what to publish or broadcast every day, but it is the perennial dilemma of the news media. The public service category...

New justifications for access restrictions: more governments are closing meetings and records to the public. (Collecting Information).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Bad signs in the news: * Political leaders set ground rules for reporters as to what can and cannot be reported from a budget briefing. * Government employees are barred from speaking with reporters about certain subjects. *...

Critics say energy Info is missing. (In-Brief).(documents relating to Dick Cheney's energy task force appear not to be censored says court challenge)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The Bush administration turned over thousands of documents in late March related to Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, including some showing the industry's attempt to influence the direction of the administration's energy plan....

Historians criticize Bush's policy. (In-Brief).(limiting historical research on the Richard Nixon years)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The author of an acclaimed work on President Kennedy is trying to write a book about President Reagan. But at an April forum with two other leading historians, Richard Reeves held up an index of government documents that he has been...

N.Y. Post to get JonBenet files. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... A federal judge has ordered the district attorney's office to turn over investigative documents in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case to The New York Post, which is defending a libel suit filed by the Ramsey family. The materials are under...

Ethics week will promote Society's mission: grant will help make journalism ethics a national discussion. (Weighing the Impacts).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Ethics has been identified by the leadership and membership of the Society of Professional Journalists as one of SPJ's two main missions. In membership surveys, and in strategic planning meetings conducted over two years ending in 2001,...

Newsrooms feel heat over Middle East coverage. (In-Brief).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... American newsrooms are facing increasing accusations of biased coverage of the Middle East conflict from readers, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. In April, nearly 1,000 Los Angeles Times subscribers ordered suspension of home...

Editor says Enron offered him job. (In-Brief).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The business editor of India's largest television network says that Enron Corp. offered him a plush $1 million per year job in an effort to silence his criticism of the company's plans to build a plant there, according to CBS' "60 Minutes."...

Better sources make better coverage: it's easy to only seek out sources that reflect our own demographics. (Varying the Voice).
June 1, 2002... When I first took over a newspaper column about AIDS nine years ago, men in San Francisco were dying at an alarming rate. Most were gay, white and male. I began reporting weekly on gay, white men and their struggle with the disease until we...

Censorship is no laughing matter: restricting student speech is sending the wrong message. (Developing Minds).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... On April 3, The George Street Observer, the College of Charleston's student newspaper, published an April Fool's edition called the George Street Disturber. The mock paper satirized actress Halle Berry's Oscar acceptance speech; linked a...

Former student editor indicated in $50,00 theft. (In-Brief).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The former editor in chief of the student newspaper at William Paterson University in New Jersey has been indicted for allegedly stealing $50,000 in advertising revenue, including an unauthorized trip he took to Amsterdam for a...

Students admit stealing college newspapers. (In-Brief).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... At least three University of North Florida students have admitted responsibility in the disappearance of more than 1,600 copies of the weekly student newspaper in April, the paper's editor said. David Johnson, editor in chief of The...

KOMU-TV policy cited in proposed cuts. (In-Brief).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The Missouri House, unhappy with a KOMU/TV8 policy in early April, decided to slash the station's budget by $500,000. However, the state Senate restored the funding to the University of Missouri's NBC affiliate in Columbia. During final...

The media's role: it's a journalist's job to report the news, but politics and culture bring potentially dangerous challenges to journalists from other countries. (Covering the Globe).(Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Northern Ireland)
June 1, 2002... Last Spring, seniors and graduate students at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis studied the roles of news media in several different countries. Their work resulted in papers that examined each of these countries. We have...

U.S. reporter is shot, wounded in Ramallah. (In-Brief).(Anthony Shadid)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... A Boston Globe reporter was shot and wounded in the shoulder in Ramallah on March 31, and Israel warned that foreign journalists were at risk and should not be in the occupied West Bank city, The Associated Press reported. Anthony...

Controversy surrounds Russian network bid. (In-Brief).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... A team of journalists kicked off the air in January won the right in March to start a new television network in a deal approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has sought to eliminate criticism from the country's independent media....

Me myself and I: the problem with pronouns; a few simple rules can help eliminate typical confusion. (Mastering the Art).(Editorial)
June 1, 2002... If my mail from readers is any indication, solving our pronoun problems would also get rid of the grammar problems that bother people the most. Few gaffes generate as much heat as confusing the subjective pronouns I, he, she, we or they with...

Negotiating for electronic records: doing your homework will help get the data you need.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Before you can begin to use computer-assisted reporting on your beat, you need to get the data in hand. Just like dealing with paper documents, getting electronic information from a government agency can be difficult at times, but by...

Diane H. McFarlin, publisher of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida. (People & Places).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Diane H. McFarlin, publisher of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida, took over as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 12. Joining McFarlin in ASNE's leadership are Peter K. Bhatia, executive editor, The...

Daytime talk-show pioneer Phil Donahue is returning to television. (People & Places).(same time slot as Bill O'Reilly, Fox News and Connie Chung, CNN)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Daytime talk-show pioneer Phil Donahue is returning to television. In a bid to upgrade its lagging status among the all-news cable channels, MSNBC was expected to sign Donahue to be host of a prime-time discussion program, starting this...

USA Today appointed Brian Gallagher, 53, to executive editor. (People & Places).(replaces Bob Dubil)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... USA Today appointed Brian Gallagher, 53, to executive editor, effective June 1. Gallagher replaced Bob Dubill, who is retiring. Gallagher served as editorial page editor for three years and worked on efforts to define USA Today's long-term...

The Pulitzer Prize board has appointed Sig Gissler. (People & Places).(to replace Seymour Topping)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The Pulitzer Prize board has appointed Sig Gissler, former Milwaukee Journal editor, as administrator of journalism's top honors. Gissler worked at the Journal from 1967 to 1993. He succeeds Seymour Topping, former New York Times managing...

Bryant Gumbel has decided to leave his post as anchor of "The Early Show" on CBS. (People & Places).(Steve Friedman will be replaced by Michael Bass)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Bryant Gumbel has decided to leave his post as anchor of "The Early Show" on CBS, a position he has held for the past two-and-a-half years. Steve Friedman, 55, executive producer of "The Early Show" and a leading figure in the history of...

Texas writer Vanessa Leggett. (People & Places).(Pen American Center award for freedom of speech defense)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Texas writer Vanessa Leggett has won the PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award in recognition of the 168 days she spent in the Federal Detention Center in Houston for refusing to reveal her confidential sources to a federal grand jury....

Financial journalist Louis Rukeyser. (People & Places).(hired by CNBC as host of financial show)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Financial journalist Louis Rukeyser, 69, ousted by PBS after 32 years, has returned to television as host of a new show. "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" debuted at 8:30 p.m. ET on April 19 on cable news financial network CNBC. That's the same...

Howell Raines, who has served just nine months as executive editor of The New York Times. (People & Places).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Howell Raines, who has served just nine months as executive editor of The New York Times, has been named Editor of the Year by Editor & Publisher. "Raines did more than drive his own paper to new levels of distinction -- he set the bar for...

Jane Scott. (People & Places).(journalist retires from Plain Dealer)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Jane Scott, 83, never has been at a loss for a great rock 'n' roll story. Now, after delighting several generations of (Cleveland) Plain Dealer readers with countless firsthand tales about music's most colorful characters, she is ready to...

Tom Toles, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for The Buffalo (N.Y.) News. (People & Places).(hired by The Washington Post)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Tom Toles, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for The Buffalo (N.Y.) News, has been hired by The Washington Post to take over the role the late Herbert Block held at The Post for a half-century. Toles, 50, is syndicated in 200 newspapers. He...

Mike Wallace, who turned 84 in May, says that next fall he will severely reduce his involvement with "60 Minutes," the CBS news magazine that he helped start in 1968. (People & Places).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Mike Wallace, who turned 84 in May, says that next fall he will severely reduce his involvement with "60 Minutes," the CBS news magazine that he helped start in 1968. Wallace, the oldest full-time news correspondent in network television,...

Corbin Wyant, publisher of the Naples (Fla.) Daily News since 1985. (People & Places).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Corbin Wyant, publisher of the Naples (Fla.) Daily News since 1985, is retiring June 30 as a result of The E.W. Scripps Co.'s policy requiring executives to retire at age 65. Under his tenure, the Naples Daily News went from a six-day-a-week...

Deaths.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Thomas Charles Abbott, a popular religion columnist for Greenwich (Conn.) Time, died April 1 of respiratory failure at Greenwich Hospital. He was 76. Abbott, a former business reporter who had a long career in public relations, also was a...

McBrayer served Society, profession.(Staley Thomas McBrayer)(Obituary)
June 1, 2002... Staley Thomas McBrayer, SPJ's national president in 1967-68 and a former newspaper publisher, died April 14 in Fort Worth, Texas. He was 92. In the 1940s, McBrayer and his wife operated several small newspapers in the Fort Worth area....

New Region 12 director named at SPJ board meeting. (Chapter Briefs).(Society of Professional Journalists)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Kent Flanagan, president of the SPJ Middle Tennessee Pro Chapter, was named Region 12 director by the SPJ Board of Directors at its April board meeting. Flanagan replaces Don Elkins, who resigned in April. He currently works as bureau...

Emerson College chapter wins campus award. (Chapter Briefs).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... BOSTON -- The Emerson College Student Chapter was awarded Organization of the Year recently at Hand Me Down Night, the college's annual awards ceremony. The chapter's officers were congratulated for reviving a nearly defunct...

Five named to Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame. (Chapter Briefs).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... GREENCASTLE, Ind. - The Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame inducted five new members during an April 13 ceremony. The Hall of Fame, created in 1966 by the Indiana professional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, is housed at...

SPJ regional conferences focus on wartime, tragedy reporting. (SPJ Regional Conference Wrap-Ups).(Society of Professional Journalists)
June 1, 2002... Editor's note: Regional wrap-ups not appearing in this issue of SPI Report will be published in the July/August issue. REGION 1 SYRACUSE, N.Y. Like any good quick-thinking journalist would do, Steve Kroft took what was thrown at...

Society chooses 2002 Pulliam/Kilgore FOI interns.(The Society of Professional Journalists; Freedom of Information)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... INDIANAPOLIS -- The Society of Professional Journalists has selected the 2002 Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information interns. Mike Sherry of the University of Missouri and Amanda Lehmert of Emerson College will work 10 weeks this summer...

Mug/coaster set now available exclusively for chapter gifts. (A Look Back at SPJ).(advertisement)
June 1, 2002... Tired of handing out the same-old plaques to your outstanding guest speakers or chapter leaders? Brush the dust off your awards presentations with a boxed SPJ stainless steel travel mug/coaster set. SPJ Headquarters now is offering these...

SPJ names 2002 Green Eyeshade Award winners.(Society of Professional Journalists)
June 1, 2002... ATLANTA -- The 2002 Green Eyeshade Awards were awarded to recipients at the SPJ National Writers Workshop/Region 3 Conference in Atlanta. The competition is open to journalists in 11 southeastern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida,...

SPJ asks UT-Tyler to rehire journalism professor. (Headlines).(Society of Professional Journalists; Vanessa Curry)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The Society of Professional Journalists demanded in late April that the University of Texas at Tyler renew the contract of campus newspaper adviser Vanessa Curry if university officials could not adequately explain why they refused to...

SPJ helps fight FEC rules on candidate debates. (Headlines).(Society of Professional Journalists; Federal Election Commission)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... SPJ fought the Federal Election Commission on regulations that burden the ability of news organizations to sponsor debates between political candidates without running afoul of federal campaign finance laws. Under long existing...

SPJ says Israel should stop threatening journalists. (Headlines).(Society of Professional Journalists)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... SPJ asked the government of Israel to stop the intimidation and injury of journalists trying to cover the conflict in the West Bank. SPJ also called on all journalists in the region to observe SPJ's Code of Ethics and urging all...

SPJ helps win open records victory in New Jersey. (Headlines).(Society of Professional Journalists)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The Society helped convince a Superior Court Judge in New Jersey that police reports -- and 911 tapes -- are public records under the state's laws. In the case of Asbury Park Press vs. Lakewood Township Police Department, the Society and...

Annual banquet recognizes recipient of Eugene C. Pulliam Editorial Fellowship.(Joe Holley)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... WASHINGTON -- The Society of Professional Journalists and the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation honored the 2001 Pulliam Fellow and got a glimpse of one man's insight into the state of journalism and the industry's future during the annual Eugene C....