The Quill articles from June 2008

The Quill archives from June 2008

Consider a leadership position with SPJ.(From the President)(Society of Professional Journalists)
June 1, 2008... The Society of Professional Journalists needs leaders. We need committed leaders who want to plant the flag of quality, ethical journalism. We need courageous leaders not afraid to speak out and help influence the national dialogue....

Geo Beach: One tough SPJ'er.(SPJ REPORT: www.spj.org)(Society of Professional Journalists)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] So, just how tough is living in Alaska? SPJ member Geo Beach will show you each week on the History Channel. Beach hosts the new weekly series "Tougher In Alaska With Geo Beach," which began airing in early May....

Two New York journalists receive New America Award.(SPJ REPORT: SPJ News)(Karen Frillman and Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska)(Society of Professional Journalists)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Karen Frillman from WNYC, New York Public Radio, and Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska of the Polish Daily News have won SPJ's 2007 New America Award for the series "Polish Immigrants in a Changing City." No other places were awarded in the contest. ...

SPJ sends strong message to U.N. secretary-general.(SPJ REPORT: SPJ News)(Society of Professional Journalists's letter to Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... SPJ President Clint Brewer sent a letter in May to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for denying press credentials to the journalists of Taiwan who wish to cover events within the U.N. and its affiliates. In his letter, Brewer said...

SPJ leaders express concern over Pentagon's operation.(SPJ REPORT: SPJ News)(Society of Professional Journalists)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Leaders of the Society of Professional Journalists on May 9 urged the nation's media to hold their military analysts to the same ethical standards journalists are required to meet concerning potential conflicts of interest, financial ties and...

Green appointed Freelance Committee chairwoman.(SPJ REPORT: SPJ News)(Amy Green of the Society of Professional Journalists)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Former Associated Press religion reporter Amy Green has been named Freelance Committee chairwoman. A freelance journalist based in Orlando, Fla., Green started as an editorial intern for People in Miami in 1998. After working for the AP,...

Chamberlin receives FOI honor.(SPJ REPORT: SPJ News)(freedom of information)(Bill F. Chamberlin)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Before the national freedom of information movement started, Bill F. Chamberlin was working on FOI issues. Before the National Freedom of Information Coalition was even an idea, Chamberlin was laying the groundwork for an academic program at...

Lehrman joins Santa Clara University.(SPJ REPORT: SPJ News)(Sally Lehrman)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... SPJ national board member Sally Lehrman will become Santa Clara University's first Knight Ridder San Jose Mercury News Endowed Chair in Journalism and the Public Interest. A member of SPJ's board of directors, Lehrman is a distinguished...

BALCO reporters speak at Sunshine State Awards.(SPJ REPORT: Chapter News)(Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative)(Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, the San Francisco Chronicle investigative team that exposed the explosive BALCO steroid scandal, spoke at the 14th annual Sunshine State Awards banquet sponsored by the South Florida chapter of the...

Indiana Pro chapter hosts Battle of the Media Bands.(SPJ REPORT: Chapter News)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... The Indiana Pro chapter hosted its inaugural Battle of the Media Bands, aka BOMB, June 6 at Radio Radio in Indianapolis. The $5 cover benefited college journalism scholarships. To learn how this event can work for your chapter, e-mail...

SPJ/LA hosts panel on ethnic media.(SPJ REPORT: Chapter News)(Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... The Greater Los Angeles Pro chapter hosted a discussion with journalists from the Latino, African-American, Asian and Arab-American media on covering the city's diverse ethnic communities. Since L.A. has become an ethnic majority city,...

William O. Douglas chapter discusses FOI issues.(SPJ REPORT: Chapter News)(freedom of information)(Society of Professional Journalists)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... SPJ's William O. Douglas Professional Chapter, Washington State University, and the TriCity Herald hosted a conversation April 24 about Washington's open meetings and open records laws. Tim Ford, ombudsman for the Washington State attorney...

Charles F. Long.(SPJ REPORT)(Obituary)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Charles E Long, the editor of Quill from 1969 to 1980, died April 14 in Winfield, Ill. He was 70. "Charlie was an excellent editor, always in search of stories that would inform and inspire both professional journalists and journalism...

James Day.(SPJ REPORT)(Obituary)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... James Day, a public television pioneer, creator of acclaimed and pacesetting public television programming, television interviewer and professor died in April 24. In 1954, Day created San Francisco's acclaimed public television station...

[SIGMA][DELTA][CHI] Awards.(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... The Sigma Delta Chi Awards date back to 1932, when the society first honored six individuals for contributions to journalism. The current program began in 1939, when the organization awarded the first distinguished service awards. These...

Winner: The Associated Press: deadline reporting (Circulating 100,000+): "Benazir Bhutto's assassination".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspaper/Wire Services)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 8:12 a.m. EDT APNewsAlert RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) A party aid says Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was injured in a suicide attack and is now undergoing surgery. 8:29 a.m. EDT APNewsAlert...

Winner: The Post & Courier: deadline reporting (circulation less than 100,000+): "Courageous".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspaper/Wire Services)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Two-by-two, Charleston firefighters waded through the belly of the burning furniture store. Swirling black smoke choked the air around them and swallowed all light. Sofas, chairs and bedding blocked their path at...

Winner: Susanne Rust, Meg Kissinger & Cary Spivak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: nondeadline reporting (circulation 100,000+)): "Chemical Fallout".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspaper/Wire Services)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Now in the news every day, bisphenol A and other endocrine disrupters were the subject of a late fall story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Take a look at your shoes, your shampoo, your carpet. Your baby's...

Winner: the Post & Courier: nondeadline reporting (circulation less than 100,000: "Sofa Super Store Fire").(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspaper/Wire Services)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Charleston, S.C., Sofa Super Store fire was still smoldering when Executive Editor Bill Hawkins and his team at The Post and Courier began their investigation. Nine firefighters had died in the blaze, the...

Winner: Loretta Tofani, the Salt Lake Tribune: investigative reporting (circulation 100,000+): "American Imports, Chinese Deaths".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspaper/Wire Services)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Wei Chaihua, 44, left his pristine life in rural China to make his fortune in the city. In Foshan, China, he worked in a factory that made parts for CharBroil grills and gas stoves--without proper respirator...

Winner: Erin Middlewood & Stephanie Rice, The Columbian: investigative reporting (circulation less than 100,000): "Child Care Nightmare".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspaper/Wire Services)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Greg Knudtson received a frantic call from his wife, Tomoko: "Emergency, emergency. Jenna quit breathing." The Vancouver couple had just entrusted their 11-week-old daughter to the family's child care provider,...

Winner: Louise Kiernan, Chicago Tribune: feature writing (circulation 100,000+): "The Beekeepers".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspaper/Wire Services)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Gerald Whitehead, the oldest member of the trio at 49, had been released from jail just a week before, after being cleared of a heroin-possession charge, the most recent stumble in the struggle to turn his life...

Winner: Alan Prendergast, Westword: feature writing (circulation less than 100,000): "The Caged Life".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspaper/Wire Services)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] when the goon squad showed up at his place attire in the morning, Tommy Silverstein knew something was up. He wasn't accustomed to greeting guests at such an ungodly hour--much less a team of correction officers,...

Winner: Naomi Schalit, Kennebec Journal: editorial writing: "For I was Hungry".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspaper/Wire Services)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If you want to know about hunger in Maine, look in the top left-hand drawer of Margot Casell's oak desk. That's where you'll find a small box of yarn and canvas, topped with a purple and green flower. You...

Winner: Bob Dyer, Akron Beacon Journal: general column writing.(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspaper/Wire Services)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Hundreds of local schoolkids apparently weren't paying attention when their teachers were talking about the Fifth Amendment. That would be the one about self-incrimination. Why else would so many area teens post their photos on the...

Winner: David Johnston, Mark Mazzetti, James Risen & Scott Shane, The New York Times: Washington correspondence: "Interrogation Secrets".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspaper/Wire Services)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Few elements of the Bush administration's campaign against terrorism were more carefully hidden from the public than the CIA's secret overseas interrogation program for al-Qaida operatives, The New York Times...

Winner: Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times: Foreign Correspondence: "Zimbabwe's Pain".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspapers/Wire Services)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I first stumble across Junica Dube's story while writing an article about hospitals, which turns out to mean writing about death. It's just a few days after the baby died; Junica is still in the hospital, too...

Winner: The Washington Post: public service (circulation 100,000+): "The Other Walter Reed".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspapers/Wire Services)(Walter Reed Army Medical Center)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Behind the door of Army Spc. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above...

Winner" Wisconsin State Journal: public service (circulation less than 100,000): "Elder Abuse: A Silent Shame".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspapers/Wire Services)
June 1, 2008... An elderly recluse starves to death. A con man bleeds nearly $250,000 from two women in their 90s. A nursing home aide sexually assaults a 73-year-old Alzheimer's patient. An eccentric 88-year-old woman with $50,000 in her...

Winner: Jim Litke, The Associated Press: sports column writing.(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newspapers/Wire Services)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... "Jim Litke is the face of AP Sports. A bald head. A quick smile. A snappy comeback," Associated Press Sports Editor Terry Taylor said. "Litke is informed, insightful and just cynical enough, with an easygoing manner that makes people want to...

Winner: Gene WeinGarten, The Washington Post Magazine: magazine writing: "Pearls Before Breakfast".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Magazines)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "It was the most astonishing thing I've ever seen in Washington," [passerby Stacy] Furukama says. "Joshua Bell was standing there playing at rush hour, and people were not stopping, and not even looking, and were...

Winner: Brian Grow, Keith Epstein, Robert Berner & Geri Smith, Business Week: magazine investigative reporting: "Poverty Series".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Magazines)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] An exhaustive, yearlong BusinessWeek investigation into new and abusive credit practices by big companies eager to profit from the working poor yielded four key findings: * Big financial firms such as General...

Winner: Consumer Reports: public service in magazine journalism: "America's Health-care Crisis".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Magazines)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You might think you don't have to worry about paying for medical care if you have health insurance. But you would be wrong. Thus begins Consumer Reports' series on America's health-care crisis. The initial...

Winner: Mine Safety & Health News: public service in newsletter journalism: "The Crandall Canyon Mine Disaster".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Newsletters)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] could not believe what I was seeing on CNN news and reading on MSHA's website: a television crew and accompanying reporters, and family members, being allowed inside the Crandall Canyon Mine to view the rescue...

Winner: John Moore, Getty Images: breaking news photography:: "The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Art/Graphics)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan after eight years in exile and survived a suicide bomb blast during her arrival procession in Karachi. Her Dec. 27 campaign rally in Rawalpindi was her largest event, drawing...

Winner: Mona Reeder, The Dallas Morning News: feature photography: "The Bottom Line".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Art/Graphics)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Texas politicians celebrate the virtues of small government by touting the Lone Star state s thriving economy, low cost of living, business-friendly government and booming suburbs. But there's another side to that...

Winner: Robert Gauthier, Los Angeles Times: sports photography "Stanley Cup: A Day With Hockey's Holy Grail".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Art/Graphics)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Winning the Stanley Cup was just the beginning. Each member of the Anaheim Ducks earned the right to have his name engraved on the most revered trophy in sports and each to celebrate with it for one day this summer. To document how some took...

Winner: Michael P. Ramirez, Investor's Business Daily: editorial cartooning.(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Art/Graphics)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "I truly believe in the power of the visual medium," says Michael Ramirez, cartoonist for Investor's Business Daily. "People love cartoons. If you do it properly, editorial cartoons can have a significant impact on...

Winner: Los Angeles Times: informational graphics: "The Southern California Wildfires.(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Art/Graphics)
June 1, 2008... According to Graphics Editor Les Dunseith: "The fires began on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 21, and for the next five days, Southern California burned. From the mountains above Santa Barbara to the Mexican border, wildfires raged through...

Winner: WBBM Newsradio 780: breaking news in radio journalism: "August 23 Storms".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Radio)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... This is a tornado warning--one that requires you to take shelter immediately.... This is a dangerous storm. On the afternoon of Aug. 23 and the morning of Aug. 24, WBBM Newsradio 780 provided nearly nonstop coverage of an outbreak of...

Winner: Jay Field & Julia McEvoy, Chicago Public Radio: investigative reporting in radio journalism: "Gage Park".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Radio)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] When the story broke, it made national news. The school district in Chicago fired a rookie principal for refusing to enroll additional ninth-graders. In news story after news story, officials with the Chicago...

Winner: Jeb Sharp, Jennifer Goren & Ray Fallon, PRI's The World, BBC World Service, Public Radio International, WGBH Radio Boston: feature reporting in radio journalism: "Rwanda": Trying To Move On".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Radio)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] At first I don't see the individual bodies, just shapes. Then my eyes begin to focus. It's not the skeletal remains that are shocking. It's the stories that are written on those remains. You can see where machetes...

Winner: Mills College Public Radio Reporting Class of 2007, KALW-FM: documentary in radio journalism: "The Drop Out Dilemma".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Radio)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We can find out in five minutes how many cars crossed the Bay Bridge last month. It is shameful that we cannot know last year or in the decades prior how many students actually dropped out of California schools....

Winner: Michigan Radio: public service in radio journalism: "Grading Michigan Schools.(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Radio)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "It's easier to go to jail than it is to go to school, and that's sad." --The Rev. Richard Wilson, head of the Empowerment Academy program In November, Michigan Radio presented "Grading Michigan Schools;' a...

Winner: "NBC nightly news with Brian Williams": breaking news in television journalism (top 25 markets): "The Massacre at Virginia Tech".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Television)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Anchor Brian Williams: "This is easily the saddest place in our nation tonight because this place will now be known forever as the scene of the largest mass shooting in U.S. history.... This one single incident...

Winner: Rich Newberg & the News 4 Team, WIVB-TV: breaking news in television journalism (all other markets): "Lynn Dejac: Conviction Set Aside".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Television)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Rich Newberg: "In the days ahead, leading up to your new trial, how will you handle it? What will you do, and are you confident your name will be cleared?" Lynn DeJac: "I'm 100 percent confident my name will be...

Winner: Steve Kroft, Ira Rosen, John Solomon & Sumi Agarwal, CBS News-60 Minutes: investigative reporting in television journalism (top 25 markets): "Evidence of Injustice".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Television)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For 40 years, the FBI relied upon a forensic science called bullet-lead analysis. Based on the belief that the lead in bullets had unique chemical signatures, it was believed possible to break down and analyze and...

Winner: Debbie Dujanovic & Kelly Just, KSL-TV: investigative reporting in television journalism (all other markets): "Meth Houses".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Television)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This story began as a real estate law article. Home sellers in Utah do not have to disclose whether a house was ever contaminated by meth. The reporters, Debbie Dujanovic and Kelly Just, began knocking on doors to...

Winner: Scott Pelley, Shawn Efran, Philip Ittner & Andy Soto CBS News-60 Minutes: feature reporting in television journalism (top 25 markets): "The Purge".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Television)
June 1, 2008... Christians in Iraq are being hunted, murdered and driven from their homes in a wave of ethnic cleansing perhaps more brutal than any in the community's 2,000-year history. Before the U.S. invasion, Iraq was home to more than a million...

Winner: Brad Hicks, WITI-TV: feature reporting in television journalism (all other markets): "Heroin in the Suburbs".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Television)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In November 2005, the heroin overdose death of a teenage girl in the quiet suburban town of Cedarburg, Wis., stunned the entire community. No one ever imagined kids in Cedarburg were doing heroin. Her death was...

Winner: Kyra Phillips, Mark Nelson, Steve Robinson & Robert Howell, CNN: documentaries in television journalism (top 25 markets): "SIU: Judgment in Jena".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Television)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the summer, "CNN: Special Investigation Unit" began to document the story of Jena, La. Long before 20,000 marchers converged on this small town, SIU was there meeting with the families and officials caught up in...

Winner: Sarah Hill, Scott Schaefer, Stacey Woelfel & Scott Schmidt, KOMU-TV: documentaries in television journalism (all other markets): "Mercy in Motion: The Culture That Crawls in Vietnam".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Television)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... In the United States, this man would have a wheelchair. But in Vietnam... one of the world's poorest countries, Thuong Nguyen had to learn to walk without legs. This father of six works as a shoe repairman. He mends worn sandals... though...

Winner: WMAR-TV: public service in television journalism (top 25 markets): "Mortgage Meltdown".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Television)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For investigative reporter Tisha Thompson, the story began when she was trying to buy my first home and almost signed up for one of the most dangerous subprime mortgages available, even though my husband and I had...

Winner: WLOX-TV: public service in television journalism (other markets): "Home Sweet Meth Home".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Television)
June 1, 2008... You can't see it, but we're finding it. Remnants of toxic chemicals used to make meth... anhydrous ammonia, lithium, sodium hydroxide... once filled these rooms, coating every inch of a house. Years later, the meth is still there. ...

Winner: Clarisa Gerlach & Staffs of TBO.com, WFLA-TV & The Tampa Tribune: online deadline reporting (affiliated): "Path of Destruction: Central Florida Storms".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Online)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Jessie Graf returns to the remnants of her house just as darkness falls. The double-wide that once belonged to her parents has been condemned. A blue tarp covers part of the roof, but the back half of the mobile home is open to the...

Winner: editorial design team, Bankrate.com: online deadline reporting (independent): "Fed Alert: Breaking Fed News".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Online)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For four years, the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee had raised interest rates or held them steady. With economic woes building and the housing market being torn apart, the committee finally cut rates by a...

Winner: Jason Szep, Reuters: online nondeadline reporting (affiliated): "Mormonism in America".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Art/Graphics)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] From a cell in the Purgatory jail 10 months after his arrest, fundamentalist Mormon leader Warren Jeffs is still God's voice on Earth to thousands of polygamists in this isolated community. For Jason Szep,...

Winner: The Center for Public Integrity: online nondeadline reporting (independent): "Wasting Away: Superfund's Toxic Legacy".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Art/Graphics)
June 1, 2008... If you think Superfund sites, also known as hazardous waste sites, are someone else's problem, think about this: Nearly half of all Americans live within 10 miles of the 1,304 active and proposed Superfund sites listed by the EPA. Well...

Winner: Bill Dedman, MSNBC.com: investigative reporting in online journalism (affiliated): "Cause for Alarm".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Online)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Worn by a million firefighters in the U.S., the PASS device is a motion sensor that makes an awful racket if a firefighter stops moving for 30 seconds while battling a blaze. It flashes its lights and lets loose a...

Winner: the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists at the Center for Public Integrity: investigative reporting in online journalism (independent): "Collateral Damage: Human Rights & U.S. Military Aid Before & After 9/11".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Online)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] After more than a year of reporting and research, combing through thousands of foreign lobbying records and haggling with government officials of FOIA requests, the Center for Public Integrity's International...

Winner: The Dallas Morning News: public service in online journalism (affiliated): "Faces of TYC: Abuse & Scandal Plague the Texas Youth Commission".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Online)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] These are the faces behind the news, people whose lives have been changed forever: abused youth, broken-hearted parents, beleaguered staff, courageous whistleblowers and committed watchdogs. They were caught up in...

Winner: The Center for Public Integrity: public service in online journalism (independent): "States of Disclosure: Tracking the Private Interests of Public Officials".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Online)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] In six years of reporting on the legislative branch of state governments, the Center for Public Integrity showed how state legislatures put private interests ahead of the public good. With "States of Disclosure:...

Winner; Jerome Aumente, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey: journalism research: "From Ink on Paper to the Internet; Past Challenges & Future Transformation for New Jersey's Newspapers".(2007 Sigma Delta Chi Awards--Research)
June 1, 2008... Newspapers are in the business of story telling, and this book is a story about the newspapers of New Jersey. In a microcosm, the daily and community newspapers of the Garden State present a wonderful opportunity to examine in vivid detail...

Writing about denials: FOI news pegs and authoritative sources for stronger stories.(Toolbox: FOI)(freedom of information)
June 1, 2008... One of the most effective ways of overcoming a public records denial is to tell people about it. Yet a lot of journalists hesitate to write stories when government hides information from the public. Some say it's "insider baseball,' a...

The Pentagon's handmaidens.(Toolbox: Ethics)
June 1, 2008... On April 20, 2003, CNN Chief News Executive Eason Jordan shed light on the network's selection of military analysts it had hired to interpret combat developments in the Iraq war. He told Howard host of CNN's "Reliable Sources": I went to...

Setting the scene.(Toolbox: Gems)
June 1, 2008... Stories come alive when readers feel like they're at the scene of the action. The writers of the following descriptions accomplish this by using vivid sensory details, action verbs and dialogue. Nouns Jeanne Marie Laskas' "This Is...

Electronic intelligence? No such thing.(Toolbox: Words & Language)(spell checkers)
June 1, 2008... Relying on a computer's spelling or grammar checker teaches us that nothing takes the place of careful proofing. Although such software can be enormously helpful, it is a machine and not a brain. It can't and doesn't understand linguistic...

Jobless and on the prowl.(Toolbox: Diversity)
June 1, 2008... Newspapers have been the be-all and end-all for me. They were when I was a kid reading the paper, front page to comics, spread out on the floor every day. They were in 1980, when I started working, full of excitement, in a bucolic suburban...

Less space doesn't mean less story.(Toolbox: Narrative Writing)
June 1, 2008... I recently had a reason to re-read a story from my past. What I came away with was a realization of just how much the narrative landscape has changed in the past few Those of us who want to write narratives in newspapers are going to have to...

A free press comes with responsibility.(Toolbox: Gen J)
June 1, 2008... I visited Taiwan earlier this year as part of an SPJ delegation, I expected to encounter a fair number of surprising things. I expected to eat strange sea creatures, find myself lost a few times and meet wonderful, welcoming people. (I didn't...

A good attitude goes far.(Toolbox: Career)
June 1, 2008... OK, I admit it: I'm a pretty huge fan of t pageants. I participated in pageants for years, and even won a crown. Although I don't catch every national pageant aired on television these days, I still see the value of pageants. One of...

Inspiration from abroad.(Toolbox: Global)(Li Changqing and Cacho Ribeiro)
June 1, 2008... For persistent efforts in reporting the truth despite personal danger and imprisonment, two journalists from Mexico and China recently received international awards. Li Changqing, who was released in February after three years in jail,...