The Quill articles from September 2008

The Quill archives from September 2008

SPJ has a vital role in this changing profession.(Society of Professional Journalists )
September 1, 2008... My year as president of the Society of Professional Journalists has been one of the most rewarding and enriching duties of my life. The hard work and passion of our volunteers is a joy to witness. The determined nature and excellence of the...

Federal shield law's future remains uncertain.
September 1, 2008... STAFF REPORT The proposed federal shield law remains in limbo after Congress left on August recess. Despite some opposition, SPJ leaders are still hopeful the bill will soon become a law. The opposition, which includes former...

Survey: sunny news amid industry turmoil.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... STAFF REPORT A recent survey, funded in part by the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, brought recent graduates some good news regarding the journalism job market amid the turmoil in the traditional media industries and the large number of...

Charles M. Coffey.(Obituaries)(Obituary)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Charles M. "Chuck" Coffey, 67, of Indianapolis died June 24. After graduating from Beloit College in 1963, Coffey joined the U.S. Air Force. In Roanoke, Va., he was news editor and correspondent for Times-World Corp. at WDBJ radio and...

Jim Thistle.(Obituaries)(Obituary)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Jim Thistle, 66, died July 29 at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Thistle, considered one of the pre-eminent news directors in Boston, graduated from Boston University's School of Public Communication in 1964. He went on...

Idaho chapters help educate local journalists on covering Native America.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Several Idaho-based SPJ chapters, including the Snake River Pro chapter and student chapters from the University of Idaho and Washington State University, joined forces with SPJ headquarters to sponsor an Ethnic Media Training workshop in...

Book club preps Mississippi chapter for presidential debate.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The University of Mississippi chapter sponsored a summer online book club in conjunction with the university's hosting of the first presidential debate Sept. 26. Participants were asked to read "Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir" by...

Chicago Headline Club awards local graduates with scholarships.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The Chicago Headline Club announced the winners of their joint-sponsored scholarships for summer 2008. The winner of their joint summer scholarship with the Asian American Journalists Association was Alissa Dos Santos. The graduating...

Colorado Pro chapter hosts summer lecture series.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... In July and August, the Colorado Pro chapter welcomed journalists from across the country to its two summer lecture programs. The Rocky Talk Lecture Series, co-sponsored by the Rocky Mountain News, welcomed Pulitzer Prize-winning writer...

Front Page Follies honors Sunshine Boys with parodies.(Jack McElroy and Richard Hollow)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The East Tennessee Pro chapter put on quite a show July 19 for a good cause. The 2008 Front Page Follies, an annual show sponsored by the SPJ chapter, praised "The Sunshine Boys"--Knoxville News Sentinel editor Jack McElroy and First...

Long Island-area journalists learn trends in video technology.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The Press Club of Long Island held a well-received video program June 11. About 40 people attended the workshop for reporters and editors with new responsibilities for capturing video and sound for Web sites, budding news videographers...

Valley of the Sun Pro chapter helps journalists recover.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... After hearing of the horrendous flooding and tornadoes that devastated businesses and homes across Iowa in early June, the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix) Pro chapter decided to help. Chapter members learned that media practitioners in Cedar...

Paul Steiger, keynote speaker for Deadline Club's dinner.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The 2008 New York City Deadline Club awards dinner featured remarks from Paul Steiger, editor-in-chief of investigative reporting group ProPublica and former managing editor of the Wali Street Journal. Steiger's keynote speech touched on...

Louisville Pro chapter awards area elite at Journalism Awards.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The Louisville Pro chapter hosted the 28th Metro Journalism Awards at the Louisville Zoo on June 26. Journalists were welcomed by the zoo's director, as well as a menagerie of animals. More than 200 awards were given in 98 categories....

Journalists get tech savvy thanks to L.A. Pro chapter.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The Greater Los Angeles Pro chapter hosted a free SPJ New Skills seminar July 12 to help area reporters get caught up on the latest in multimedia technology. Attendees learned the basics of digital audio recording, video editing and...

A Pulitzer isn't enough, speaker says at Kansas City Press Club.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... In the current state of journalism, even a Pulitzer doesn't equal job security. Kevin Helliker told about 100 people at the Kansas City Press Club annual meeting June 7. Helliker, a senior editor at the Wall Street Journal, discussed his...

Sunshine State Awards honor journalism's best in Florida.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The South Florida Pro chapter held its popular Sunshine State Awards banquet May 31, honoring print, online and television journalists for their work in 2007. The awards and banquet were the chapter's biggest effort of the year, raising...

Detroit sponsors programming day at ISWNE conference.(International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors )(Brief article)(Conference notes)
September 1, 2008... Editors from across the U.S., Canada, Australia, Scotland and England traveled to Wayne State University in Detroit for the 54th annual International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors conference June 25-28. The society's mission is to...

Toward a more transparent government.
September 1, 2008... When, in their boundless wisdom, our Founding Fathers ensured our basic liberties by guaranteeing a freedom of the press, they could not possibly have imagined the limitless reach of the media as it exists today. But today, despite the degree...

Parting the clouds: sun shining on states after new legislation.
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Although the sun is not completely shining on all the records FOI advocates would like to see open, it has not been all rain clouds this year. Many states have had successes in not only opening up more records but...

Concealed weapons, concealed records?
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A growing number of state governments are tightening the reins on databases involving concealed weapon permits, making it nearly impossible for reporters to uncover information potentially vital to the public's...

Public information theft.
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Donald W. Meyers was trying to earn his degree from Brigham Young University in the 1980s when he came face-to-face with one of America's greatest fears: identity theft. Collection agencies were writing him,...

Context clues: how text messages fit with FOIA.(Freedom of Information Act)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Keeping FOIA relevant in our technology-friendly society does not end with databases and access to government e-mail. Just five years ago, public officials might have considered their e-mails private. Then...

Chilling: free speech.(Rachel Ehrenfeld's book and freedom of speech)
September 1, 2008... Rachel Ehrenfeld came to the United States from Israel because of this country's unique brand of free speech. As an American citizen living in New York, she wanted the First Amendment's robust protections as she researched and wrote about...

'An opportunity lost'.
September 1, 2008... A Coalition of Journalists for Open Government study released in July revealed that federal government agencies made almost no improvements in 2007 when it came to responding to Freedom of Information Act requests, even though they were given...

Wrangle that wiggle room away from agencies.
September 1, 2008... If your state's open meetings and public records laws are anything like the laws in Maryland, there's probably a lot of gray area that provides wiggle room for agencies and government bodies looking to delay or outright deny public access....

Leap the Native American journalistic divide.
September 1, 2008... When most U.S. journalists try to cover Native America, they run into a cultural divide and don't even realize it. The result is a frustrating attempt to cover what should be a simple story under ordinary circumstances. The primary...

FOIA requests challenge freelancers.(Freedom of Information Act )
September 1, 2008... The Freedom of Information Act is a vital tool for journalists, granting a generous wealth of information and accessibility. Created by Congress and implemented through the Federal Communications Commission in 1966, the act has allowed for...

Learning ethics as a second language.
September 1, 2008... So many calls to the SPI Ethics Hotline are questions on deadline, and we're always happy to help. Then came a request from Ohio, where Stephanie Calondis Geiger of the Columbus Council on World Affairs was teaching journalism to 60...

Don't give readers whiplash.
September 1, 2008... What's the first thing we should do if we are writing for an English-speaking audience and for a U.S. print medium? Do I hear, "Write in English"? Can't go wrong with that answer. Yet there are passages in American newspapers and...

Investigative insights.(Gems: Toolbox)
September 1, 2008... We've seen some terrific investigative stories in recent months. Thanks to federal and state freedom of information laws, reporters from newsrooms large and small were able to dig up important information that people in power would like to...

From news to novels.(Mike Doogan's Lost Angel)
September 1, 2008... Are there moments in your day when you turn in yet another story about the recent city council meeting and fantasize about one day writing a novel? Every newsroom has more than a few dreamers. I count myself as part of that group. But...

Speak for the silent.(Democratic Republic of Congo's human rights case)
September 1, 2008... If 6 million people were killed or simply vanished off the face of the Earth, you might expect an immediate international outcry, in-depth analysis of this humanitarian catastrophe. You'd expect story to be on the front page of every...